I’m near so many of these schools and have an artsy '24 LGTBQ kid. Visits are SO important, as is talking to enrolled students in the community if you can. And then, of course, understanding your kid’s personality with regard to all of this. Mine’s an extrovert leader who would be totally fine on a campus with a smaller (by comparison, say Babson vs. Oberlin) LGBTQ scene, but has friends who need that to be a more encompassing environment/vibe if that makes sense. But we needed to visit because the specific art vibe was the thing that actually mattered most–what art is being done at the school and what’s possible? It’s so different school by school, and he had a very clear vision of what he wanted. Your kid wants poli sci / public policy so that’s different. There have been many great suggestions here and I’ll add what I know of them:
Very, very LGBTQ friendly:
Hampshire – amazing for LGBTQ kids. But go check out the academic vibe. Also, I’m not sure how good aid is there. Look into that.
UMass Amherst – the area is very friendly, but this is not like being on Hampshire’s campus despite being 10 min down the road. That could be a good thing for your kid! Def walk around and see.
Skidmore – very friendly. Tiny though! Will your kid be bored? Aid seems to be just OK from what we saw this year with our kids’ friends who got in.
Vassar – 10/10 as the kids say! Really good aid.
Marist College, which is right near Vassar, has awesome aid and great academics. Check this out as a safety.
Tufts – we have family enrolled who love it, some aid given.
Lehigh – our family loves this school (long history), and I know it gets 5/5 on the Campus Pride Index, but you really need to talk to kids there if you seriously consider it. This ain’t Hampshire.
Wheaton & Clark – great
I do think amazing EC’s and recs go a long way. Your amazing kid should apply to reaches and also find targets and safeties to fall in love with.
Marist is interesting for the OP as the student has leadership skills/interest
We went pretty far down the path this year with Marist for my S24. What we saw:
Honors at Marist is focused on leadership over pure academics so that might work.
My S24 received very large merit aid with 3.7 UW / 1380 SAT / 6 APs. We are not need based so I can’t comment on need aid, but Merit put it on par with other OOS flagships that also have aid. About $10k over our instate flagship Rutgers.
Marist is exceptionally good with experiential learning which helps with the location. We felt Marist has created a very solid combination of having great study abroad, good academic programs, potentially helping students get internships, having good relationships for outside opportunities, and very deliberately getting students into NYC.
Marist is a mix of LAC and pre-professional including some artsy/fashion students and even game design. Quite a variety.
I think even the OP’s GPA (while strong) is low for Swarthmore. But certainly the OP can research further and decide if the school is a reasonable option.
Thank you again for breaking this down so well. DS took your list and updated it for where they THINK they are interested. I feel like it is too reach heavy, but would like to hear opinions from others. What do you strongly feel would NOT be right for my transgender kid? We did check Campus Pride Index for all:
how do the NPCs look for these schools? tufts loves ED but that is tricky when you are seeking aid.
does your student have preferences about having a campus vs a more spread out city-style setup? i’m seeing mostly enclosed campuses in schools like wheaton, vassar, wesleyan, etc (those are those are the ones i’m most familiar with) so seeing BU, which is more of a city campus feel, surprised me.
Thanks for the reply. We do need aid - some for sure. They love the campus feel, but coming from a big city, BU didn’t feel TOO urban for them. I should add that they are in love with the Boston area, so they wanted to see every school. They didn’t like Brandeis or Northeastern (which would have been another big reach).
For the larger schools, you’ll probably want Honors, too.
The list looks good overall - time to run the NPCs!
Not sure BC and Lehigh would be best for a “purple hair” nonbinary or trans kid (fine for LGB) but you’d have to talk with actual students.
Btw, Lehigh has a newish full-tuition scholarship called Soaring Together, which is aimed at top students who are committed to advancing gender equity. It’s competitive, but definitely worth trying for it if applying to Lehigh.
I wanted to revisit the thread. Thank you for suggesting (or adding) Pitt. It wasn’t on our original list, but then S25 decided it might be a good bellwether for other Toss-Up schools and a school he would be happy to attend. He was accepted (!), so we will have that in our back pocket as we move forward.
