Macalester is the school for you. It is the most LGBT friendly school. There are Mac alums who are celebrities, top politicians, and who work at NASA, Google, McKinsey, and who go to grad school at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc. Go on LinkedIn. Show your parents. There is no difference between Mac and Colby in terms of rankings. You are also more likely to succeed at Mac than at Berkeley - more leadership opportunities, more nurturing. Seems like a no-brainer, especially given cost.
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The OP may want to note Macalesterâs inclusion in this site:
Another vote for Macalester here. It was one of my daughterâs top choices back in 2020, and she went to their program for her study abroad. Very intellectual, friendly students, strong humanities, great location. Tell your parents their Russian professor has a PhD from Harvard 
Also, you donât have to be specifically a Comparative Literature major to study literature comparatively and theoretically, there are ways to do it within languages/literatures and English departments.
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Agree - I would take Berkeley off the list. The UCs are tough to navigate, the housing issue is a real problem in Berkeley, and you wonât have the personal attention and support that I think would help you transition to college in the U.S. Go with Macalester or Colby!
Have you discussed this with your parents ?
I canât speak to Macalester nor Colby (other than the people I knew who went there were quirky but brilliant).
My son is considering Cal and we visited last week where we went on a tour, talked to some engineering students not on payroll, spoke with a family friendâs daughter who is studying applied math/business, and he talked to a friend who is a freshman. Let me go over some of the points in your pro/con list.
Pros:
-Reputation: It does have great name recognition here and abroad. Iâve always gotten the sense that itâs very well respected and Cal grads can place at jobs often reserved for Ivies and do really well in grad school placement. There are certain companies that will recruit at Ivy + schools, Cal and Michigan and will exclude other UCs, including UCLA. One girl we spoke to said close to half of the kids in her science dept end up in grad or PhD programs right after college because of Calâs rep in sciences and cutting edge research.
-diversity: itâs very diverse and more so than your other choices. Itâs also maybe the original LGBT+ friendly school dating back 50 years.
-food: If youâre talking about the campus food, then everyone (besides the tour guide) says itâs pretty bad. In fact, the guide deflected answering a question on the food and emphasized the fact that you get a $300+ credit on Grub Hub each semester. The food in SF and Berkeley are great - behind perhaps only NY and Vegas.
Cons:
-no scholarships/cost of CA: It is certainly pricier for non-Cal residents. I think the reason UCs are so good is because there are a lot of talented Californians who forgo bigger names because they simply cannot afford the privates, so they go to UCs - true of any state flagships but especially true of the UCs. Expect to pay a lot for off-campus housing after Freshman year for places that arenât that nice either. Good food is also pricey. Cal is expensive but itâs more so in the SF/Bay area which leads to a lot of homelessness and frustration among residents with the unhoused population. Cost is why so many Californians move to Texas, Arizona, Montana, etc.
-competition seems brutal/internships: It is competitive. Our guide said it depends on your major and what you want to pursue and he admitted the pre-meds (there are a lot), pre-laws and generally pre-professionals work really hard and grind. Everyone we spoke to confirmed this. I didnât get the sense people were cutthroat or mean, just that they worked really hard and there are limited spots for on-campus research. Clubs arenât too bad to join unless they are business clubs in which those are more competitive to get into than Cal itself. It seems like there are a lot of internship opportunities as you have a lot of tech and others companies locally that provide internships better than any city in the US besides NYC. I donât know how this will relate to comparative lit but I suspect youâll be looking for a job beyond that after college anyway.
Cal is also close to snow (Tahoe) and the water but I wouldnât recommend going in due to the cold.
All that said, if you really like the vibe of LAC, Iâm not sure Calâs your place. It is for many people and may be for my son, but it is very big and you have to really be an advocate for yourself at places like this. Kids are stressed but generally pretty ambitious. Crime is also an issue and lack housing after Freshman year as others have pointed out.
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I have a student at Cal, and I think your pros and cons sound accurate for the groups of students you mentioned talking to (engineering, applied math/business) as well as other groups you mentioned (pre-meds, pre-laws, pre-professionals in general).
In humanities, for students who arenât on some kind of pre-professional track, I feel that there are slightly different pros and cons.
Humanities and languages at Cal are for the most part really good, and studying humanities at Cal isnât necessarily as grindy feeling or competitive as the overall Cal reputation suggests. We donât hear as much on these boards about Cal humanities majors like comp lit, so I think itâs important to note that Cal really does have a lot to offer humanities students⊠as long as the student is ok with being in an absolutely huge and bureaucratic university in an urban setting with housing issues, of course. (And I agree with you that the OP in this thread sounds like they are looking more for a LAC.)
On the other hand thereâs a fair bit of political polarization and social justice focus at Cal that a student might or might not feel is beneficial to their studies. I am sure there is a lot of this at other universities too (and at LACs!) and I canât compare to others; I am just comparing Cal humanities to Cal engineering/sciences and preprofessional students.
(Sources: sonâs friends in humanities at Cal, sisterâs major was in humanities at Cal, uncle was humanities professor at Cal and is still involved with Cal humanities to some extent, I have taken many humanities classes at Cal over the years as a community member and talked to students in these majors)
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