Campus climate was a huge factor in the schools S23 looked at. I do think it’s a really important consideration.
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This mama is now busy googling Syracuse to see what the campus climate/culture is… 
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My D23 has some FL school acceptances - and I am now heavily disposed against any FL public at this point not just for climate reasons, but because I can longer be sure that she would not as a public FL college student have her educational opportunities hijacked for political purposes. There are too many other colleges where this is not a variable. So to FL, I now say “thanks, but no thanks”.
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I think this has been brought up. I do think you need to separate the school from the state.
We are Jewish - and my son’s had no issues at Bama. Of course, there are 1000 Jews. Campus Pride gives Bama a 4.5 of 5.0 rating… My son says he’s seen not a hint of anything at Bama and there are same sex couples that interact like anyone else. I think one has to look deeper and not just at the state. That Alabama is 60% OOS with a ton of NYers and Illinois residents - perhaps that changes the dynamics.
No idea what’s happened at Purdue. As a Syracuse alum, I was saddened to read the happenings of a few years back but like I was sad to read about Mizzou 10 years ago, etc.
I get it - I get the sentiment.
But I do think in certain cases one has to look deeper.
Should a Jewish student, for example, avoid UTK because some idiot vandalized a rock a few times?
It’s a personal call - but even at Michigan and other schools such as UCLA or Stanford., there are anti semitic and other incidents. I read that the founder of one of these hate groups is a student at Chicago - should the school be avoided?
Unfortunately, we can’t eradicate these prejudices - but I’m not sure one can eliminate schools that have had certain issues - or who would be left?
I do respect the rights of everyone to take all these things into account for themselves, of course.
I don’t know the right answer but I do agree with your point that campus climate should matter.
The Florida governor is not only trying to change colleges, get majors dropped and pull independent thinking but today he replaced his Disney municipal board with the founder of the state chapter of Moms of Liberty. Why? And he’s trying to change the New College to be like Hillsdale - anyone want to look up Hillsdale?
So I do agree with your point - and yes, Florida is becoming scary although the residents love him.
But I think it’s hard to paint all schools with a similar brush - is what I’m trying to get at.
Thanks
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You can try to separate the school from the state but one does need to look at the surrounding community. How would a student be treated at the grocery store, at a restaurant, on the bus, in an Uber, etc.?
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I do think campus climate is a factor, especially for urm students. There are other tangible factors that also add ir detract from the student experience, such as facilities, food offerings, commuter vs residential vibe.
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I suspect in most cases - hopefully fine.
But yes it’s an individual call and there are people EVERYWHERE that are - not accepting.
Unfortunately, there are no safe zones anymore with social media and as we’re learning the regular media - helping to exacerbate issues in our society.
But again - everyone has to judge each situation/school for themselves. Don’t want to get political - but I concur that @ProfSD brings up an important point.
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Re climate, I agree with everything everyone is saying, it boils down to a very personal choice, no judgment on anyone either way. It’s personal preference, feeling safe, etc. You and your kid have to be okay with funding and going to a school in whatever state that school is, or maybe it doesn’t matter at all to you the politics of the government in charge. With regards to Florida, it clearly is going to have an impact on the public schools, unfortunately, the way it’s going now. Not sure most Floridians are paying attention to what’s going on in politics, but I hope the school administrators themselves speak up.
Might be too political, but for us, abortion is now also a litmus test. If it’s illegal or highly restrictive in a state, our kids are not applying to any schools in that state, despite some wonderful schools, we’ll look elsewhere. It’s a healthcare issue. If they cannot get the healthcare they need in a state or if they can be prosecuted for getting or helping someone get the healthcare they need, they aren’t going to school in that state.
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It’s not just about whether random people on the street are accepting. Take Covid for instance. There were plenty of states that acted in a VERY unscientific manner and did nothing to protect their students. I wanted my S22 to apply to WashU because its a great school but my son did not want to go there because of what he perceived to be fairly irresponsible policy making in the face of a historic pandemic.
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I am. I thoroughly researched specific schools for D20 and S23. While I mentioned my friend’s concern about FL, I was talking about specific schools for my kids.
We did. I can’t speak about the experiences of Jewish students, but D20 and S23 made sure to talk to Black students on campuses. They also followed specific blogs and Instagram pages for URM student organizations and browsed campus newspapers. We looked at organizations like NSBE and Black student groups on various campuses to follow what they were doing and what concerns they had, and we sometimes reached out with questions. (Shout out to the fabulous Black male coalition at WUSTL! They sold S23 on applying more than any tour or admissions talk.) My kids asked other Black students about their experiences with leadership positions, research opportunities, Career Services, and club memberships. Current Black students were more than willing to talk candidly to a prospective Black student.
I looked deeper into numbers. I researched retention and graduation rates for Black students in comparison to the general population. I looked at resources and spaces for URM on campuses and faculty numbers and rank. I reached out to current and past colleagues to see if they knew any faculty at these schools who would be willing to share their thoughts with me.
I’m not looking for an environment that is free from racist incidents. That doesn’t exist. But what I am looking at is the university’s response when it happens and their larger history with Black students. Our issue with Syracuse (when D20 was looking at universities) was not just with the problems among the student body, but with the fact there was a long history of problems and the university administration failed to act. They swept everything under the rug for years until students finally went to the press. My issues with Purdue are specific to engineering and Black student experiences there. The abysmal numbers are one thing, but the discontent is quite another. (Though I do acknowledge there are some great admins there trying to turn things around. But they’re not close to being there yet.)
We are AA, so our research was tailored to match our concerns. I can’t speak to the experiences of other marginalized groups. Everyone needs to do their own research according to what they want and need.
As you can probably tell, the college search was exhausting for me. I’m thrilled to be done!
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Totally agree. What did Wash U do or not do?
And I can appreciate his view - and that’s fair - ie everyone needs to do what’s right for them.
I personally don’t understand with hundreds dying daily and the positive test rates while we’ve given up in protection against it - and I choose not to. I still mask at Costco, Kroger, in airports, etc. as ridiculous as people think it makes me look. But that’s what I want to do.
As for @profsd, as mentioned, I think your points are very fair - and if they’re important to you, then I absolutely think it’s right that you consider them. You really did do an impressive amount of research - maybe you can publish a book 
Or a blog - I mean, I’m sure many on the CC or on other outlets could benefit from your detailed findings.
I wish your student luck - I forget where - but I’m hopeful that all your hard work leads to the perfect school!!
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nevermind - not a relevant response by me - sorry!
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Trying to post a link, but you can simply google some of the racist and anti-Semitic events in 2019. The press then uncovered a long history of student concerns that were ignored and swept under the rug.
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After ruling out the $50k + COA schools, culture and fit are our number one priority for our daughter bar none. More important to her success than ANYTHING else.
Edited to add that the factors that make up a college climate are varied. For our DD it includes many of the factors listed above and a bunch of others.
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Very, very cold, with significant amounts of lake-effect snow—I mean, it’s Upstate New York, what else would you expect?
{pause}
Yes, yes, I know—I’ll just show myself out now.
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And I feel the same way about states that are attacking trans-youth and going after “gender affirming care” - not going to support those states. Kids are on board as well. But that’s just me and my family, again, no judgment to anyone else and the choices them make.
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Of course things start flowing in after D23 makes her decision. Nothing huge but a nice sweetener to a school and an semi-expected amount from another one.
I have a huge sample size of two in this game so take this for what it is worth. My D19 hit a home run with a 34 on the ACT. She did that June right after junior yr hs. She had a solid GPA but she had some B’s. She took 2 APs soph yr and 5 APs jr yr. Then she backed off and took 3 her sr yr. She had swam her entire life up until the end of jr hs. She did normal ECs but didn’t hold leadership positions. D19 also worked a lot lifeguarding and doing swim lessons and then private swim lessons where the money was at for her. D19 wasn’t accepted at two T20 schools, but everywhere else and did very well on scholarships. Also D19 made mostly 3s & 4s on AP tests.
D23 came along. She got a 31 on ACT. I started to get worried. Remember we are merit$ hunters. She had a slightly better GPA. She was able to take 2 APs Frosh, 2 APs Soph, 3 APs Jr and 4 APs Sr. Also note D23 is taking Calc BC. D19 took AP stats. D23 played tennis varsity 4 yrs and was captain 2 yrs. She also helped start a game club freshman year and was VP soph and Pres the last two yrs. Both in NHS. D23 applied to one T20 and didn’t get in. She has done slightly better on AP tests getting more 5s.
Both very similar kids, but I was worried D23s ACT would hurt her merit. Well it appears it hasn’t. D19 ended up at MiamiOH with a COA of $17K which later became $14K because of additional scholarships and moving off campus. D23 ended up with the same original deal from Miami that D19 got. There was one small LAC in common for them that they got similar deals. D23 has decided to take her full ride from Central MI saving herself and parents money. She wants to be a HS teacher so school reputation is not huge.
I wouldn’t say we cracked the code on this crazy process, but I do think leadership positions matter to some schools. I think reducing APs is probably not a great idea. I think not taking the hardest classes is not a good idea. Also there has been a change from scores to GPAs in the last 4 years. Lastly, I think D19 was more bland on paper than D23 is. I think some of D23’s quirkiness and her being different came through in her essays. The scholarship contest at Central MI was write 2 in person essays about anything in US History. She of course wrote about two obscure things that I suspect the readers had to look up.
I will now retire in this game happy overall that my kids will get degrees and not end up having loans. That was my goal all along.
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My daughter has always been a “sucker” for the underdog. Even if not personally affected, she would not thrive in an environment where she was frequently upset about / distracted by unnecessary challenges that fellow students from certain minorities might face, when there are obvious and easy solutions.
So it’s not even as much an overtly “political” choice, or about own access to healthcare, etc. - it’s the atmosphere/perception created by state politics that can make a college a poor choice for some.
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With all the bragging about 35 and 36 ACT scores, people keep forgetting that a 31 composite ACT is an exceptionally good score. It represents the 95th percentile:
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