My College List

whenhen
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 09:34:09 +0000

What didn’t you like about Michigan State? This might help narrow down schools that could be a good fit for you.

Me: white female, not a recruited athlete/musician/artist/etc, income about ~225,000, not first gen. There’s absolutely nothing about my demographics that a college is interested in.

Most colleges will be very interested in this. They do have to balance their budgets somehow.

. I also would not consider a school with any religious affiliation whatsoever.

Make sure that a school maintains an active religious affiliation rather than just a passive one. For instance I’m an atheist Jew and I attended Emory University which is technically Methodist. However, outside of a few scholarships for children of Methodist pastors and its name, Emory was not a Christian university. The same is true for a number of schools which at one point were religious but have since drifted away from that. To find out how religious a school actually is, look at the mission statements of the universities in question. Brigham Young University - Idaho, an LDS institution, states that

Brigham Young University-Idaho is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its mission is to:

1. Build testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and encourage living its principles.

2. Provide a quality education for students of diverse interests and abilities.

3. Prepare students for lifelong learning, for employment, and for their roles as citizens and parents.

4. Maintain a wholesome academic, cultural, social, and spiritual environment.

By contrast, Emory states that its goal is to “create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.”
There is no mention of religion in there, nor is there any reference to spirituality. The mission statement, while seemingly insignificant, can say quite a bit about how central religion is to the university’s goals.

Here are some suggestions:
-University of Arizona
-Colorado State University
-Seattle University (Jesuit school, welcoming to non Catholics)
-Trinity University (TX)
-Case Western Reserve University
-Bryn Mawr College
-University of Rochester
-University of Miami
-Iowa State University
-Santa Clara University (Jesuit school located in Silicon Valley)
-University of Southern California (occasionally give out strong merit scholarships)