So applying this logic to D26’s current list that she’s applying to PLUS some schools that we researched and crossed off the list:
- Univ of Arizona - leans fairly liberal. It is in Tucson, after all! But big enough to avoid protests if you want to and there’s no conservative rules to follow.
- UT-Dallas - haven’t visited yet. Suspect it’s pretty middle of the road.
- UT-San Antonio - probably liberal like U of A, but definitely not Reed College or UC Santa Cruz type of liberal. But its cybersecurity programs & low $$ win out + there’s an NSA data center in San Antonio and there’s a lot of cybersecurity internships available in the San Antonio area (and that’s D26’s major).
- GCU - has a cybersecurity major but they have rules about no males in your dorm room unless the door is open. Too conservative for D26 and too close to home so forget it. Although my friend’s kid attends there and he loves it.
- Embry-Riddle in Prescott - a little too far right of center. Plus would have needed a car in order to do anything off campus. No conservative rules on campus, but the vibe was too conservative for D26’s taste. Also would have been a tad too expensive.
- Univ of Tulsa - I suspect this place is a tad right of center, but at least from what I can tell online, the campus is very multicultural…there’s a Hillel organization, very active Muslim Student Association, etc. Somebody from our high school a couple of years before D24 attended there and loved it. Will be able to figure out more in a little over a week.
- Baylor - too expensive + requires chapel or Bible study attendance each week. Too much Greek life, too.
- Ole Miss - too much ‘Old South’ culture. Too much Greek life, too much bro culture. For D26, feels like for female students, there’s too much focus on dressing a certain way and looking pretty; also feels that it wouldn’t be very accepting of LGBT students (and 1 of her BFFs is non-binary).
- Univ of Alabama - crossed off list for same reasons as above.
- colleges in CA - crossed off list because of financial reasons + campus cultures (generally speaking) not friendly to students who are not passionately left left liberal. NOTE: this is my daughter’s impression. Am not stating that this is how it actually is.
- colleges in OR, WA & northeastern US- crossed off list for same reasons as CA schools + they were in the category of “too far away”
- Hillsdale College - crossed off list because doesn’t have right major, too cold, too much conservative politics, although their US history courses & liberal arts focus in general ed was pretty appealing to D26.
- University of the Incarnate Word - (reading the tea leaves on this). Majority Hispanic student population. Has a long track record of service, especially with needy populations in the area, so that’s talked about in the college’s part of their website where they talk about their values & mission. Expect this school is probably similar to U of A in terms of political leanings, probably a little more so about immigration politics topics. BUT our family lived for many years in southern AZ so immigration politics have been kind of a regular daily thing that D26 is used to hearing about. This school stayed on the list because of its geographical location, size, ease of getting admitted, major (its cybersecurity programs are accredited as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence) and potential merit scholarship $$.