<p>I was wondering about the college life of UR and Rhodes College. I am very liberal-minded and I wanted fellow students who have similar views as I do. I was wondering how socially liberal are the students at this school? I am looking for an accepting, respectful, gay-friendly college campus. Are these places what I'm looking for?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Most colleges in the US would fit the bill. </p>
<p>In any college you go to, you’ll find people all across the political spectrum, but you will definitely be able to find the right niche for you.</p>
<p>Richmond has previously been thought of as a somewhat homophobic campus but has taken many strides to defeat that in the past couple of years, especially this past school year, with the rebirthing of a lot of once-inactive LGBT activist/support groups. A lot of students have stepped up to the plate to really change the environment here. However, I would say if one of the most important things to you is having a gay-friendly campus, it would be silly for you to come to a school where it is an issue being worked on when there are plenty of schools where it’s not an issue at all.</p>
<p>kelliebm explained things perfectly. Richmond should be OK but there are a lot of places where things can be even better. </p>
<p>Just curious, why exactly are you looking at Rhodes and Richmond? What are your academic interests? I can suggest a few more schools based on that.</p>
<p>I wish Richmond was a better place for that sort of thing. So some of the students are still not very accepting of gay students?</p>
<p>Thanks Bluebubbles! I’m basically looking for a smallish liberal arts college (Maybe up to 5,000 or so students) that’s a gay friendly, more liberal-leaning school. I’m interested in psychology and studying abroad. I’m a hardworking student. I would like the college to be more on the eastern side of the US, and I would prefer the college to be in a more urban-suburban, near a big setting but it’s not a deal-breaker. I’m not looking for a place like Yale or Vanderbilt or Ponoma.</p>
<p>How’s College of Wooster in this aspect?</p>
<p>Look at Sarah Lawrence.</p>
<p>Sure, glad to help. As a fellow gay, I had this issue too and looked for much of the same things you’re looking for. </p>
<p>Richmond is a college campus so on average, people are a lot more open-minded and educated about things like gay rights. However, it IS in the south and there will be a substantial conservative population. I don’t think you’ll have any real problems but I think you can choose better places. </p>
<p>First of all, are you a guy or a girl? If you’re a girl, any of the Seven Sisters will be perfect. </p>
<p>Tufts sounds right up your alley! Extremely gay friendly, nice Boston suburb, fantastic psych program for its size, and huge study abroad/international program too. Also look at Brown, Haverford, and maybe Penn. </p>
<p>Wooster is in Ohio, which isn’t the most exciting/urban/gay-friendly place in the US but the school itself is very liberal and has solid programs across the board. I have a friend who goes there and she really likes it. If you like Ohio though, take a look at Oberlin. You couldn’t get more gay-friendly than them.</p>
<p>In terms of political leaning, Rhodes students are split pretty much right down the middle in terms of conservative/liberal (that’s based on freshman survey and senior exit survey). There are several GLBTI support programs on campus such as Safe Zones, Gay Straight Alliance, etc. There is also a social regulations code that prohibits harassing behavior and it is taken seriously; there is a very big emphasis on community at Rhodes.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you come visit and see how it feels. You can arrange through the admissions office to stay with a student overnight in the dorms to get a feel for the social life of the college.</p>
<p>duckie, i don’t know if the issue is really that students aren’t accepting - you just don’t see a lot of homosexuality on campus, and i think a lot of people shy away from being open about it because of that. not because they would be ridiculed, but just because it’s not a very prevalent thing… does that make sense? that’s the impression i’ve gotten. but like i said, many strides have been taken this past year. there was a “day of silence” on campus where everybody wore those “gay? fine by me” tshirts and it ended up being a huge success & had a lot of work put into it. UR has a great study abroad program, like seriously AWESOME so if that’s important to you, definitely at least come and visit here… but be aware there ARE better choices for you to make as far as socially liberal/gay-friendly campuses.</p>
<p>Try any NESCAC school, Sarah Lawrence, Boston University, Vassar, Swarthmore, Haverford, etc.</p>
<p>look at lesser known upstate NY schools also: Skidmore, Ithaca and schools that have strong theater programs: such as Muhlenburg in PA. Also there is a College of Wooster that is near Boston.
And look at the Colleges that Change Lives website: Clark near Boson, Goucher near Baltimore, etc.</p>
<p>Any chance the school outside of Boston is WPI --Worcester Polytechnic Institute not College of Wooster. I think many are confused by the two because of the similar pronunciations.</p>