Gay College Index?

Having commenced the college search process, I am pretty much expected to assess colleges on the basis of their subjective desirability, such as size, classes, etc. I know of stuff that you can find at Barnes & Nobel which basically indexes every single college and briefly describes social situations on the campus. I even encountered one that ranked the girls and guys of any given campus. I know I probably won't be able to find something like this on such a mainstream bookshelf, but are there any books, past magazine features, websites, etc. that you know of which address the college situation of gay and lesbian students? I am cognizant that the more laid-back the school, the more gay-friendly ambiance it will have, but this may not always be the case. Think about a small-town, conservative, yet vibrant school. It'll have your beer-drinking types but will probably be useless in terms of practical help.

Now, for gay guys like me who aren't the party going type and who aren't exactly filled with social acumen, there is a huge, defining difference between negative and positive liberty. The former may be used to describe conditions which allow pursuit and consumation of gay relationships. The latter, however, may be used to describe colleges expressly gay-friendly which provide services like counseling, anti-discrimination policies, gay-straight alliances, and other such things. Obviously, both are indispensable.

(To conclude a post that's already way too long) does anybody know of any type of reference material which may contain such indexed information?

 

no clu eof a referenc ematerial, but if htey have an lgtba centre or pride centre its probably gonna be a lot more open/friendly than a college that doesnt (not a guarantee, just a generality)

 

I was wondering the same thing for a while. I went to a college counsellor recently, and he gave me some resources on colleges with good music programs and "gay-friendly" colleges. He gave me two lists from the same book, "Colleges Particularly Broad-Minded and Accepting of Students Who Are Different" and "Colleges with a Diverse Student Body." Here, I picked out all of the colleges that appear on both lists. I would type out both lists in their entirety, but I've got a bunch of homework to do tonight.

Bard C (NY)
Bates C (ME))
Bennington C (VT)
Brown U (RI)
Bryn Mawr C (PA)
California, U of, Berkeley
California, U of, Santa Cruz
Carlton C (MN)
Chicago, U of (IL)
Cincinnati, U of (OH)
Clark U (MA)
Columbia U (MA)
Earlham C (IN)
Eckerd C (FL)
Emerson C (MA)
Eugene Lang C (NY)
Goucher C (MD)
Grinnell C (IA)
Hampshire C (MA)
Harvard U (MA)
Lewis and Clark C (OR)
Macalaster C (MN)
New York U
Oberlin C (OH)
Oregon, U of
Princeton U (NJ)
Reed C (OR)
St. John's C (MD)
St. John's C (NM)
Sarah Lawrence C (NY)
Smith C (MA)
Swarthmore C (PA)
Vassar C (NY)
Wesleyan U (CT)
Yale (CT)


I hope that's helpful.

 

I had no idea about the gay situation at my school before I came.

There are about 10 gay men. I met people in the city; you don't need to limit yourself to people at school.

 

it would be easier to check out which are the most gay friendsly places to live and then go from there
S

 

I'm actually scheduled to visit Swarthmore on Friday. Only problem is that it's a little on the small side. I mean, small in that it's not much bigger than my high school. And I do know that they require quite a bit in the way of extracurricular activity. But it's a good liberal arts school, from what I head. Very academically superior.

Thanks for those two book titles!

I wouldn't limit myself. Let's just say I want to increase my chances.

 

Those actually aren't book titles, those are just the names of lists that came from a book. I don't know what the book is called.


Do you know what area of the country you want to go to school in?

 

i'd say just go with your gut. catholic schools in texas are probably not a good idea.

i go to the university of pittsburgh, large gay population, very friendly city campus, but it could be better.

 

I was accepted at Bard and Hampshire I just chose to go to Bard. Judging from the Facebook group and the number of people who have already come out within it, it was the right choice.

 

That's really awesome. Congratulations!

A couple weeks ago, I visited some schools: Bard, Vassar, Wesleyan, and Brandeis. I really liked Bard, though it was a little too spread out and maybe a little small for me. But that's just my preference, and I bet you'll be happy there. (I mean I don't really know you, but it sounds like you're happy about it.)

My favorite of the colleges I visited was definitely Vassar, but it's a really hard school to get into, so I'm going to have to work my ass off and play my cards right if I want to get in.

 

Thanks! The campus is also a tad too sprawling for my tastes, which is why Bowdoin was probably my favourite overall, however I wasn't accepted there. The fact that the buildings and the setting are so beautiful totally makes up for that, though. I don't mind how small the student population is because that's what I wanted. It's actually about the exact same size as my high-school.

Vassar would likewise be sweet, supposedly Bard has a rivalry with it, although Vassar doesn't know about this. Good luck in the application process!

 

Thanks man.

Yeah, actually, until last year, there was a club at Bard called "P.I.R.A.T.E.S." I don't know exactly what it standed for, but basically, people from Bard would dress up as pirates and "raid" the Vassar campus. It's such a crazy place. :tongue:

 

My friend is withdrawling from Vassar after one year, and he thought he'd love it. :leaving:

 

Way to be a downer...

 

Aw damn, that's too bad....

Heh I dunno, if that happened to me, I'd just transfer somewhere. I've heard of people who didn't get into certain schools when they applied as high school seniors, but then when they applied as transfers, they got in.

What didn't your friend like about Vassar?

 

Besides, everyone is different. You could be in love with it and can't imagine going anywhere else while someone despises it. If you think you love it, then I would go for it.

 

I'm bumping this thread because I found pretty much exactly what I was looking for with just enough time to apply and stuff, and I'd also like to give those people on here in 11th grade and getting ready to look at colleges a book to check out.

I purchased: http://www.amazon.com/Advocate-College-Guide-LGBT-Students/dp/155583857X

and there's also: http://www.amazon.com/Bisexual-Stud...9859/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1/105-8924522-6002059

and i'm sure there's more if you look.

 

I spent three semesters at Indiana University in Bloomington studying vocal performance. It's smack dab in the middle of nowhere, which is probably it's so awesome. Bloomington is the biggest little hippie town where anything is cool. They've got an annual Rocky Horror screening where tons of fabulous costumes come out plus a GLBT Film Festival with a party afterwards... alcohol, eye candy, adonis dancer wearing nothing but a g-string and covered in chocolate. Great place!

Oh, also, how could I forget. The Kinsey Institute is at IUB. Even better!

 

Ha, sounds nice. It's like that with a lot of the colleges -- small, agrarian towns surrounding big colleges atmospheres. IU is in that first book whose amazon page I posted, but I can't say that I considered it.

 

Hey, where did you end up going?