i am a closeted lesbian who is a senior in high school applying to colleges. I currently live in a fairly conservative area and go to a fairly but not overwhelmingly conservative high school. I always wanted to go to a more liberal place for college, but applying up north is too cold and too far away from me. My current out of state list is UNC, UVA, wake forest, Emory, and Vanderbilt. How will I do at these schools socially as an LGBT person?
Side note: I am very feminine and most people would not assume I’m gay at first glance. I am somewhat preppy and would fit in to the preppy scene, however I fear that people might see me differently after finding out I’m gay. Also, I worry I won’t be able to meet any girls to date at these colleges. Thanks for your help!
Emory is probably the most liberal and gay-friendly of those options. Wake Forest is the most conservative of those options.
There are so many fantastic options for you further away from home. Are you done visiting colleges and sure about staying close to home?
I’m open to maybe the DC area, but other than that I really don’t want to go further north because I have no family there and absolutely hate cold weather!! Like I said, I’m less worried about being an out cast at these school as I fit in pretty well with straight girls, my worry is more that there won’t be anyone there for me to date and that I may be lonely if people find out and are close minded
I have thought about GW and potentially some more liberal schools in Virginia. Any thoughts?
I know of some schools! Do you have a preference of what parts in Virginia? Radford University isn’t exactly liberal or conservative, you would have a mix there. James Madison, Roanoke College, Hollins University, William&Mary, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University are all good options you should look into. There’s more colleges/universities but those are the ones that I/my friends went too.
@FluentInCarbs thanks for the suggestions! I have looked at a couple of those schools. The one on my list I am most worried about is wake so I may take that one off my list and replace it with another Virginia school! The others I think I’ll have pretty good experiences at
@sse13000 anytime! let me know if you have more questions. All of those universities/colleges are slightly different from each other. I would say Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason are very similar, Roanoke College and Hollins are similar, Radford and James Madison are similar, William&Mary is different from all the other schools.
I’d cut off wake forest. Very conservative. I don’t know about UVA, but I’ve heard its good. UNC is pretty good too. For safeties, you should consider UNC Asheville. UNC Greensboro is also known for its high gay population, but I don’t think there are a lot of lesbians here, it’s mostly gay guys which is half the reason I go here.