Oberlin!!
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Some of the ones on your original list where I think your son stands a better chance of admission are Sarah Lawrence, Macalester, and Trinity, all schools I was developing on my own mental list. Iād second the suggestion of Emerson and would recommend giving thought to U. of Iowa. Would your son be interested in a bigger state school if he was in their honors college? I donāt know the requirements at Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Washington, but theyāre all urban locations and an honors college can help make a big university feel like a much smaller one.
A couple other possibilities:
- Reed in Portland, OR
- U. of Hartford in CT
- CUNY-Brooklyn College as a highly affordable option in NYC
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Have you looked into Carleton in MN?
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Agree with those who suggest nixing Bucknell and also adding that Trinity may not be the right scene, either.
Also agree with adding Kenyon and Connecticut College. Maybe take a look at Franklin & Marshall. Skidmore would be good but finances will likely be an issue.
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Any interest in JHU?
Just throwing out there and I think OP knowsā¦the list is crazy reach heavyā¦even if he has 4 36s on ACT bcuz with the current scores itās likely test optional. I mean Columbia admits 4%.
You have no safeties but Trinity and Mac are likely targets.
So when you say big city then yes we are suggesting many that arenāt. But are known for writing. But your NYU and Columbia are reaches.
Pitt, UMN, DePaul, USC, Arizona, Emory, Ga Tech, Rice, SMU, UNM, Washington, Wisconsin, VCU, is the writing more important or in city more important ? And obviously LGBTQ friendly.
Of course you have some on your list as pointed out, like Bucknell, that are as urban as Antarctica.
Good luck.
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Lists 13 schools:
- Northwestern University
- Columbia University
- Iowa
- Emory
- Oberlin
- Hamilton College
- Brown University
- WashUStL
- MIT
- University of Michigan
- Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
- Colorado College
- NYU
P.S. The author of this article is a graduate of both the University of Chicago and NYU so ranking Northwestern as the #1 school carries significant weight as it must be hard for a Chicago alum to praise Northwestern University.
USC has a great program for writing for TV & film.
Based on your sonās interests & on his desire to be in or near a major city, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, & USC should be given serious consideration in my opinion.
I second adding Iowa and Oberlin.
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This article discusses NYUās fundamentally enhanced financial aid program:
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Emory would be a good fit. Atlanta is very LGBT friendly. Emerson could be a good fit. Fordham Lincoln Center could work.
Northwestern or DePaul in Chicago also might work.
CMU in Pittsburgh is also well known for Fine Arts. Lots of famous alumni writers.
You probably could remove Bucknell.
You really only need 2 safeties. I donāt see any on your list. Being in Florida would he consider FSU? S21 is there now for digital media but runs with the film school crowd. Very similar stats as your son. Math challenged compared to English. Heās written some articles already for the Honors paper.
Has your son earned or received any awards or recognition for ācreative writingā ?
Does he have any interest in writing for theater,TV, or film ?
Does he want to pursue acting /theater while in college ? As a major or just as an extracurricular activity ?
Any theater or acting awards / accomplishments ?
I do not understand why Bucknell & Vanderbilt are on your sonās list of targeted schools.
A student who has Brown and Wesleyan on his list probably should look into Connecticut College and Skidmore.
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I would look at U Chicago on the top side. So many kids we met across all majors were minoring in creative writing. I guess maybe not so surprising if you consider they all had to voluntarily write their uncommon essay.
I would take a look at Kenyon and itās Creative Writing Scholarships. Grinnell too.
I think he is going to love Wesleyan.
May I ask if he has taken the SAT? And if not, why?
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Iāve seen a lot of schools above where the far majority of students - especially with a 28 and 26 in two sub-sections of the ACT - are - highly unlikely - and yes, you can apply TO, but schools with single or low double digit acceptance rates are unlikely for all.
Which āurbanā schools can we recommend that the OP can use as a target/safety - Iām throwing out AZ, Pit, UMN, Depaul, VCU, UVM, U of SC, College of Charleston and thereās so many more.
Just saying - weāve obliterated the high end and admittedly 90% of what OP asked about is high end - but the reality is - most those names that we unfortunately continue to mention, are likely a noā¦or at least shouldnāt be counted on. For the top writing schools, other majors may be a target/safety but perhaps the writing program have limited major entries and they go to a no if those majors are small in capacity.
Just want to throw that out there.
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So it looks like right now your sonās composite ACT score is a 32 (correct?), is in the top 1% of his class, and has extracurricular leadership/honors in cheer, musical theater, debate, and writing. Based on that information, this is how Iād sort your current list.
Extremely Likely (90%+)
Likely (60-90%)
- Bucknell (34%ā¦ACT 27-31)
- Sarah Lawrence (53%ā¦ACT 27-32)
- St. Johns (60%ā¦ACT 26-32)
Possible (25-55%)
- Boston C (27%ā¦ACT range of 31-34)
- Trinity (33%ā¦ACT 30-32)
- Macalester (32%ā¦ACT 29-33)
Unlikely (less than 25%)
- Harvard (4%)
- Princeton (6%)
- Yale (6%)
- Columbia (5%)
- Brown (7%)
- U. Penn (8%)
- Vanderbilt (9%)
- Hamilton (16%)
- Boston U (19%)
- Wesleyan (16%)
- Tufts (15%)
With the schools in the unlikely bucket, itās just a matter of odds. There are way more qualified applicants than there are spots, and as terrific as your sonās stats are, his ACT score is on the low end for most of these institutions. Many of these schools have become significantly more selective since we were applying for college, and several have become much more selective in just the last 10 years.
Below is how I would sort the schools that have been suggested so far in this thread. I did not include Vassar as you said your son didnāt care for Poughkeepsie, and I didnāt include McGill as itās a different type of admissions system from the U.S. and Iām not as familiar with it, though I hear it is highly stats based. And there were some, like Skidmore & Franklin and Marshall where I was teetering between Likely and Possible, but I added some of the stats so you could better gauge yourself.
Extremely Likely (90+%)
- Iowa (83%, ACT 22-29ā¦unless thereās special admissions for the creative writing program, in which case, I donāt know)
- Hartford (76%, ACT 22-29)
- Arizona (85%, ACT 21-29)
- New Mexico (94%, ACT 17-25)
- Virginia Commonwealth (87%, ACT 21-28)
Likely (60-90%)
- Dickinson (40%, ACT 27-31)
- Emerson (33%, ACT 27-31)
- U. of Pittsburgh (57%, ACT 28-32)
- Fordham (46%, ACT 27-32)
- Skidmore (30%; 27-31)
- SUNY College at Purchase (52%, ACT 24-30)
- CUNY Brooklyn (45%, ACT 22-29)
- Minnesota (57%, ACT 25-31)
- Franklin & Marshall (30%, ACT 28-31)
- DePaul (68%, no test scores)
- Southern Methodist (47%, ACT 29-33)
- Florida State (36%, 27-31)
Possible (25-55%)
- George Washington (41%, ACT 29-33)
- Kenyon (34%, ACT 30-33)
- American (36%, ACT 27-32ā¦likes students to show it a lot of demonstrated interest)
- U. of Miami (27%, ACT 28-32)
- Brandeis (30%, ACT 31-33)
- Oberlin (36%, ACT 28-33)
- Reed (39%ā¦no test scores)
- Wisconsin (54%, ACT 27-32)
- Washington (52%, ACT 27-33)
- Connecticut College (37%, ACT 30-33)
Unlikely (less than 25%)
- NYU (16%)
- Williams (13%)
- Swarthmore (9%)
- Emory (16%)
- U. of Southern California (11%)
- Carleton (19%)
- Johns Hopkins (11%)
- Georgia Tech (21%)
- Rice (9%)
- Northwestern (9%)
- Carnegie Mellon (15%)
Which categories do you feel you still want more suggestions? If there has to be some give between the reputation of the creative writing program and the urban location or the size of the university, where would you son feel most comfortable making compromises?
FYI: People keep adding suggestions while I research the statistics, so itās most of the suggestions in this thread.
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Based on survey responses, these colleges may be especially LBGTQ friendly:
I would take out Arizona and SMU and possibly F&M and DePaul and Dickinson as not sufficiently lgbtq+ friendly. Rice is in Texasā¦ they are literally taking trans kids from their parents.
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I forgot to add my latest suggestions. 
If youāre looking for a Florida public as an extremely likely admittance, New College of Florida seems to have the intimate, small college vibe and is very accepting on the LGBTQ front as well.
Beloit in Wisconsin Iād put at a high likely and University of Puget Sound as an extremely likely. They have student:faculty ratios of around 9 or 10:1, with student bodies composed mostly of out-of-state students, and both are on the Colleges that Change Lives list, and both are classified as urban.
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Rice is located in Houston, a liberal city with a gay former mayor.
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Where did you see that Sylvester Turner identifies as gay?