Small, less-competitive school suggestions

I’m trying to get started with a list of colleges for D23 and hoping for some suggestions for less-competitive, LGBTQ-friendly LAC or smaller state schools. We’d like to stay under $50k/year including OOS tuition and living expenses. Less would be great, but really we (aka her grandmother) can pay more if it is the best fit for her.

Wish list:

  1. Small classes with lots of collaboration and professors encouraging/initiating student interactions. No 100+ seat lectures.
  2. NOT highly competitive (D23 is top 2% hs class but only 60% -ile PSAT, has anxiety, and puts too much pressure on herself already). She is interested in education or child/special needs psychology, so prestige is really a non-factor.
  3. Preferably in or near large city with good public transit, but traditionally structured campus environment with most students living on campus. Maybe Northeast, California, Florida or Chicago area?
  4. Non-Catholic and far away from deep south Texas (the only place we’ve ever lived). She is openly gay, super non-confrontational, and doesn’t want to be around people who would make it an issue.
  5. Highly encourages study abroad, internships, co-ops, etc. She wants to do the Disney college program, study in S. Korea, and talks about teaching English overseas for a while.

I’m hoping for a school that will support her in every way (except financially) and help her find her passion. Her criteria are rather specific yet wide-open and hard to search. I’m considering hiring one of those college consultants because I feel clueless how to even help her get started making a list.

For what major? How near to a large city is near enough?

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Sarah Lawrence College might work.

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Maybe Endicott college outside of Boston? They have required internships, small setting, and smaller class sizes.

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Would she consider a women’s college? Mt. Holyoke might be a good choice.

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Close to urban area knocks out a bunch of my favorites – Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Earlham in Richmond, Indiana, Beloit in Wisconsin, Lawrence in Appleton, WI. Kalamazoo College could hit all the right buttons, as Kzoo is a neat, artsy smaller city.

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You might look at Colleges That Change Lives, here: https://ctcl.org/. Some possibilities from that website include Bard College, Hampshire College, Antioch College, Earlham College, Kalamazoo College. Most are not in large cities, but they still might merit consideration.

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Smith College - could be a reach. Macalester in St Paul, Seattle U, University of Puget Sound (great Asian studies dept) - plus check out the information on Colleges that Change Lives - an older book, but I think they also have a website and great schools outlined in that book.

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Maybe UNC Asheville?
It doesn’t check all the boxes (not a big city, surrounded by more conservative areas), but it’s a very nice place to go to college and for LGBTQ+ students and allies.

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Seattle University is Catholic & OP has ruled out Catholic schools.

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Occidental College in Los Angeles may be a great fit–but not for child/special needs educational psychology type major. Usually this area of study is found at large state public universities.

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Baldwin Wallace in Ohio. Pretty much hits all the marks except being IN a big city. It’s a suburb of Cleveland though.

Fairleigh Dickinson in New Jersey. Any school in Massachusetts pretty much! Also look at schools near Denver!

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I understand - but it is quite liberal, very visible LBQT population and in a funky part of Seattle. Worth a look, in my opinion.

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Montclair state in NJ is in a small fun city and there are several train stations in town to take to NYC.

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Lots of good schools. I’d add Scripps and Pitzer. I’d also add Willamette and Bryn Mawr if 30 minutes from the city is close enough. The price of all of them would depend on her aid package.

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Lewis and Clark, in Portland, is a great LAC but probably not too reachy/stressful for your D. Lovely campus, good access to the city. It’s a very LGBTQ+ friendly city and I assume the school is the same. L&C has a grad school of education & counseling (which has a special ed program) and has a “teacher pathways” program for undergrads. They do give merit aid; no idea if their offer would come in under 50K or not, but potentially worth a try.

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What may be a factor for education is whether the college’s program is well matched to the teacher credentialing requirements in the place she wants to teach in.

Member Institutions has a list of public LACs.

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U of San Francisco is in this category too. (Both are Jesuit institutions, which tend to be far more liberal/accepting.) The students I know who have gone there are either LGBT themselves or strong allies. And… it’s San Francisco. (Also the merit is good, and so are the education programs.) Of course, it’s a perfectly legitimate choice to rule out Catholic colleges; just fwiw.

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Another vote for Lewis & Clark. Also Goucher College, University of Puget Sound, and Occidental all fit the description.

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TCNJ could also be worth a look. It’s New Jersey’s public LAC - fewer than 7000 undergrads. If your D is serious about special ed, it has a more substantial program than most other schools we’ve discussed: https://specialeducation.tcnj.edu/ TCNJ is near Trenton, which is the state capital but not exactly a “destination city”… however, you can get to either NYC or Philadelphia on the train from there, in under an hour. The OOS “sticker price” is under 50K and merit would most likely bring it under 45K. Could be a nice safety if the program appeals. (Anecdotally, the one student I know who went there did a semester in Korea.)

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