<p>I'm a first-year student (technically a sophomore) at the University of Minnesota. I'm from Dallas but I was drawn here for a variety of reasons (big 10 sports, the city, the weather, the culture, how much credit is given for AP exams, etc.).</p>
<p>I really like where I'm living and the people I've met, but I'm starting to hate the school.</p>
<p>I've been thinking about transferring to a smaller liberal arts school next year.</p>
<p>I haven't done a lot of research but I like Carleton, Vassar, and Reed.</p>
<p>I'm a B student with a 1900 SAT, which I can always retake.</p>
<p>I'd rather live in an urban or suburban area than a rural one.</p>
<p>I want a school that's gay-friendly and is in a gay-friendly city.</p>
<p>What LACs would you recommend me look in to? What are some preliminary steps I should start taking?</p>
<p>LAC & urban or suburban brings down the number of schools to consider pretty quickly. How about Macalester, Lewis & Clark, (to a lesser extent) Willamette, U Puget Sound, one of the Claremont colleges depending on your interests and gender.</p>
<p>About what to do now: keep your grades as high as possible, participate in ECs at UMinn even though you’re thinking of leaving, and definitely get to know your profs/TAs for LORs.</p>
<p>I second Macalester. It’s in Minnesota, so you could still keep in touch with friends (it’s in St. Paul, the better city). It is considered one of the most gay-friendly schools, and it’s a really, really good LAC. What more could you ask for?</p>
<p>I completely understand where you’re coming from. I used to live in WI and went to U of M Carlson school of management. I hated it in Minnesota. Im trying to transfer to UCLA, I live in California now :)</p>