Holy Cross vs. Occidental vs. Miami of Ohio vs. American U

College Search & Lists
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So, at the time I am writing this, I have been awarded admission and full tuition scholarships at The College of the Holy Cross and Miami of Ohio. I think there is also a fair chance that I will at the very least be awarded a large enough scholarship at American U and/or Occidental to not go into debt and so I am also considering them. While this is a nice problem to have, I am still having trouble deciding between them.

Some info about me:

I did alright in high school. Well enough to where full tuition at Miami was to be expected but definitely not well enough to where my full tuition scholarship at Holy Cross was anything other than a complete surprise. (I had a near perfect SAT so that may have helped). I want to do as well as I can in college but am also worried that I might fall behind due to mental health.

I’m transgender and I’m worried about my safety if I were to go to Holy Cross. Since being accepted there, I’ve talked with a few officials there and it seems like the administration is at least working to cultivate a trans-friendly environment, but there was a hate crime committed against a gay student in October of last year.

I would prefer an urban campus but rural/suburban is by no means a deal-breaker

I plan on majoring in philosophy with psychology as a possible double major.

I want to go to law school, specifically a T14 if possible. Assuming I get the scholarships from American and Occidental I’m competing for, I will basically deplete all of my college funds paying for my undergraduate education. If I were to go to Holy Cross or Miami, after paying for room and board, I might have 60,000 dollars left to cover law school costs so I’d still have to go into debt anyway but significantly less.

As far as getting into law school, different schools offer different strengths and weaknesses

    Holy Cross is probably the most prestigious of the schools I'm considering (not that it's comparable with elite schools) but it's sort of notorious for grade deflation. Having a low avg college GPA combined with a relatively academically qualified pool of students probably means that I would not have a great GPA at Holy Cross.

    Miami is probably the least prestigious but I was accepted into one of their scholars programs and their pre-law program seems pretty competently run. Also, being a public university, it has some grade deflation. At a college visit, they said that about of a third of their students who apply to law school get into T25 institutions but I think they got that data from voluntary response polling so it might not be entirely accurate

    American is in DC so obviously has access to DC law firms as well as proximity to Georgetown which is a great law school. It's probably seen as about the same prestige-wise as Miami in the eyes of law school admissions officers. I haven't really found much info on grade inflation/deflation but what I have found indicates that grading is about average.

    I know little about Occidental, but if it's like most private schools, it probably has some grade inflation. I just really like the idea of studying in LA tbh and it seems like it's probably not that much less prestigious than Holy Cross.

I think I might want to do some research as an undergrad in psychology, so if I change my mind and decide I want to go into academia instead of law, I’ll have that option open

I’d love to hear any of your thoughts and will gladly answer any questions if it helps you guys help me to come to a decision.

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Occidental is known for being one of (if not the most) diverse LAC. Also, it is extremely accepting, and liberal. You would not have trouble fitting in. It is known to be rigorous, and they have a program where if you do incredibly well, you can be admitted to Columbia law school your 4th year. They also have Campaign semester and semester at the UN. A great school!

Ohio Miami is VERY conservative. Don’t know about Holy Cross.

American is liberal leaning, top scholarships are 30k if honors, great location. Less rigorous academics than Oxy.

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http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22070071#Comment_22070071

Check out this thread regarding LGBTQ at Holy Cross

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@havenoidea It’s good to know that about Miami. That definitely impacts my decision. The scholarship I’m in the running for at American is actually through a competitive tuition exchange agreement that the school my mom teaches at (John Carrol) makes me eligible for and is a bit more than 30k. Thank u for the info.

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@wisteria100 Thanks for linking that thread. If you know anyone that has info specifically on trans issues at Holy Cross, that would be awesome. A lot of places can be very LGB-friendly but not so friendly to the TQ part of the acronym. I think this could, in particular, be an issue with a community rather than school administration.

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@ScreeeenName You may try contacting or emailing the professor who is leading the transgender digital archive project. He/she would likely have good perspective

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Update for anyone who cares. Got accepted to Oxy but didn’t get the scholarship I needed so I won’t be going there. :frowning:

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Are you still deciding? I live near AU, I would think that being transgender would be fine there, and DC has fantastic networking opps as Human Rights Campaign Fund is here, as are many incredibly successful people in the LGBTQ community. Good luck!

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AU is very proactive when it comes to the LGBTQ community. They allow housing across gender lines and have specific housing for LGBTQ students who wish to room with others in the LGBTQ community. They are pronoun aware and faculty and staff wear name badges with their preferred pronouns. I would not say American leans liberal -it is very liberal ranking #9 most liberal school in the US according to Niche. One of my D’s friends is transgender, so I understand your concerns and I think your safety and acceptance at the college is far more important than the ranking of the college or it’s perceived prestige.