Hi guys, I’m from NYC but I toured Roanoke College in VA and I really really liked it. The one thing I’m worried about is how open the student body is because it doesn’t seem all that diverse. I’m black and gay, and I was wondering if I would face significant hardships because of it. I just wanted to know about student life, and I was also wondering how open the frats are to someone like me. Any help is appreciated!
I don’t know the answer (don’t know Roanoke student culture), but, as a Virginian, I hope you get positive responses. Roanoke is a very nice area, and I’m glad you had a good visit. It seems like I’ve seen plenty of other positive comments about the school on here recently. It would be great if it works out and you attend. UNC-Asheville is another school you might look at. It has some similarities to Roanoke, and I believe I saw some positive remarks about gay life there here on CC. You might search for that above. Anyway, it might give you another possibility. Good luck!
I am going to visit Roanoke very soon. I’m not sure how much I can glean from my first campus visit, but I can at least look for info on clubs, etc. My D has already visited and did get the impression, like you, that it isn’t very diverse. I second the comments of the poster above, who suggested UNC Asheville. Again, no first hand experience, but they have a reputation for being very open.
Acceptance is one thing; a viable dating scene is something else entirely. Roanoke has a small undergrad student body (~800 male undergrads), so the gay dating pool will be pretty limited. Moreover, there aren’t many colleges nearby with significant G/B enrollments. (With Hollins nearby, there’s a lot more women in the area than men.)
I’d try to get in touch with a current student, as they’ll have a more accurate view of queer life on campus than anyone on CC. The link below has contact information for the Black Student Alliance and the Lambda Alliance.
https://www.roanoke.edu/student_life/clubs_and_organizations/multicultural