Applying to college with seasonal depression

[AustenNut]

First off, I want to commend you for realizing that SAD is something you need to take very seriously and incorporate into your planning for what happens in your future. I am happy to hear that you have appointments scheduled with health professionals and wish you the best as you deal with your health concerns.

I agree with others about your original college list.

@rosentsprungen

Oh, and if you want to slip in some more schools…

• mid- or smaller-size preferable but willing to be flexible
• not into greek life or partying
• good disability, mental health support
• liberal and preferably in a progressive state
• politics/economics major
• good classical music scene, students can take lessons and play in ensembles, preferably in a city with a decent orchestra… cool churches with decent choirs also wouldn’t hurt
• good diversity
• research and study abroad opportunities
• obviously not in super northern places

@rosentsprungen

The “must-haves” really are:

• good disability, mental health support
• liberal and preferably in a progressive state
• good diversity
• obviously not in super northern places

There are two schools that I haven’t seen mentioned yet that meet many of the things you want. They are in liberal/progressive cities, but they are in conservative states. I will list the racial group that has the highest percentage of enrollment, and what that percentage is for the schools I mention below.

Trinity (TX): This school in San Antonio has about 2500 undergrads and is the first school that came to mind as I was reading what you want. It’s a strong school academically that is trying to attract more students from around the country, so if you can provide geographic diversity, that could benefit you. It is 54% white and 16% of students receive Pell grants.

Loyola New Orleans (LA): This is a Jesuit school (like BC) that has about 3300 undergrads. It’s about 45% white and 39% of students receive Pell grants.

Another school that was already mentioned that I want to second is Agnes Scott (GA). It’s a women’s college (that’s pretty open with respect to gender definitions, I believe) that has about 1k undergrads, 35% white, and 41% of students receive Pell grants. Nearly all the Atlanta schools participate in a consortium whereby students can take classes at other member schools (like Emory, Georgia Tech, SCAD, Spelman, Morehouse, etc.). You might also want to consider Spelman a women’s HBCU with about 3100 undergrads , 85% black, 42% receive Pell grants, and has a particularly strong relationship with the men’s college, Morehouse.

Between Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia, Georgia is probably the most liberal of the three states, but San Antonio, New Orleans, and Atlanta are definitely all blue dots on their state maps.

A school in a progressive state that I’m not sure has been mentioned yet is U. of Redlands in California. It has about 2300 undergrads, 42% Hispanic, and 33% of students receive a Pell grant.

[Tigerle]

@dfbdfb, I recalled you had researched this, I did not remember the level of scientific precision! @momofboiler1, I think his post should be made a sticky or something, this affects so many people and one of the beautiful things about the US is that you so easily incorporate health needs like this into your college search without having to leave the country.

Even the very rough approximation of the map in post 42 is eye opening, showing how it’s never just enough to eyeball latitude or position on the continent.

Like…why is Wisconsin so different from both Michigan and Minnesota? And those poor Ohioans, are you okay?!?

I wanted to add that I am actually one of those people for whom temperature is almost as important as sunlight. Cold makes me shrink into myself and makes me cranky. Skiing on a sunny day does help, but what I really want is to relax in the sunshine. I start spreading out a sheepskin and wrapping up in a blanket to nap in the sun on my patio by February or March. But I love it best if I can just be in the sun.

The there is another question I have needed answered since OP started this thread: @rosentsprungen, you have described yourself as a Russified person of colour with Siberian ancestry. How did you come by your username?

[rosentsprungen]

My favourite Christmas carol, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen! (English version is Lo, how a rose e’er blooming). I’m not really religious or anything, just looove classical music. It’s one of those things where you choose it when you’re 12 and are simply doomed to use that username for the rest of your life.

[twoinanddone]

@randommom1

Just to bring this back to SAD, does anyone think if OP (or anyone for that matter) is well engaged in treatment (including medication), they don’t have to eliminate half the country from consideration?

But if the OP CAN make a choice that includes more sun, that seems ideal to me. Sure, if she wants go to Reed college and the only way to do that is with lights and medication and a special plan, it can be done, but if she’s just asking for suggestions that might be doable without the medication, why not consider some of the schools in a climate that works for SAD?

I have a friend with several medical problems and a recent one is turrets. She can control that in a large way with a gluten free diet. It’s not easy, but it is better than taking even more medications (and one of her original medications was giving her hallucination!). I know I’d prefer to ‘medicate’ SAD with sunlight and outdoor activity than with medication.

[dfbdfb]

@twoinanddone

Sure, if she wants go to Reed college and the only way to do that is with lights and medication and a special plan, it can be done, but if she’s just asking for suggestions that might be doable without the medication, why not consider some of the schools in a climate that works for SAD?

Yeah, when C23 was looking at possible colleges, there were some people here on CC and similar fora who were legit horrified that her preference need for places with more sunlight resulted in ruling out really good colleges for her field of interest like Berklee, NYU, Syracuse, Hofstra, Northeastern…and you know what? Who cares? The list has to be pared down somehow, might as well use metrics that are personally important to remove a decent sized slice and make the whole process more workable, you know?

[UTmeritseeker]

Yup, this! I was sad cutting out Pitt, the entire state of Ohio (which is full of options that fit D25), and UW-Seattle (the hardest cut of all) but taking them off the list was a no-brainer.

[billythegoldfish]

my daughter does not suffer from SAD, but prefers warm weather. she was an accomplished high school student and crossed all the Ivies, Michigan, Wisconsin, BU, Tufts…right off her list. she still had a big and diverse list of schools to apply to.

when it comes to the smaller prestigious LACS- that’s the only time it can get hard to find ones in warmer weather. they are concentrated in the Northeast, for whatever reason, if you use US News rankings to guide you.

[tsbna44]

True but there’s many great ones. Of course prestige means different things to different people. CA, MN, Iowa, VA, Arkansas, Florida,SC and more all have great ones. And many like in CA are very highly ranked if someone is concerned.

[dfbdfb]

@billythegoldfish

when it comes to the smaller prestigious LACS- that’s the only time it can get hard to find ones in warmer weather. they are concentrated in the Northeast, for whatever reason, if you use US News rankings to guide you.

Cue Pomona, Davidson, Claremont McKenna, Berea, Scripps, Occidental, and several others (including Richmond and Washington & Lee, depending on your definition of “the Northeast”) pointing to their own USNWR rankings and locations to go along with local weather.

[jr8888]

University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. 310 days of sunshine, a few inches of snow a year–not much compared with NAU which gets something like 120 inches.