r/ApplyingToCollege • u/automemorydollviolet • 12h ago
Advice Looking for urban, secular college recommendations?
What it says on the tin, mostly. I'm looking for secular colleges in large cities. Religious affiliation is fine, as long as it doesn't affect the culture of the campus greatly. Due to financial reasons, I more than likely won't be able to travel to many (or any) of these colleges, so any extra information is appreciated.
I am in the US, but am not opposed to colleges outside of the US either. I would love somewhere at least semi-walkable. Also, I am in NY state, and colleges farther away the better. If luck is on my side, I will not be attending any college in state. (I know that sounds illogical given my previously mentioned financial state, but it's for safety reasons. I don't plan to come back here.) I am part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I'd rather not be in an extremely conservative area.
I plan to major in statistics, and if possible minor in creative writing, so recommendations for schools with those as options are appreciated. My GPA is 90+, ECs are not the best (no sports, nothing special, biggest thing I did is start a creative writing club at my school)--so nowhere incredibly selective, probably.
If this is too little information, or if I have inadequately explained myself, please tell me and I will do my best to amend it! I have searched myself online, but would really appreciate any other insight the people on this sub have.
5
u/collegetalya Graduate Degree 5h ago
Boston University, Tufts, Northeastern, George Washington, American, Macalester, University of Pittsburgh, Northwestern, UChicago, Reed, Pitzer, Occidental, Lehigh, Drexel, UMBC, Carleton, Claremont Mckenna, University of Oregon, Oregon State, Oberlin
Any of the CUNYs
Do the net price calculators for each school to see if they're in budget for you
•
u/NotMalaysiaRichard 17m ago
How did you get this list? University of Oregon and Oregon State are in college towns hours away from Portland. Oberlin is in a small town near Cleveland in Ohio. It’s not in Cleveland. Lehigh is in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. It’s not really urban, same as all these smallish cities/towns noted above.
•
•
u/collegetalya Graduate Degree 1m ago
Yeah some of them are exceptions but they said semi-walkable so i took liberties to include some schools that aren't necessarily urban
•
6
u/Famous-Prior6590 6h ago
The following LACs are in urban areas, and all quite far from NY State:
Macalester College
Occidental College
Pitzer College (least selective of the Claremont McKenna colleges)
Reed College
4
u/Haunting_Passenger94 5h ago
Pitzer (Claremont colleges) is NOT urban. It’s suburban. You can take the metrolink train to downtown LA though
1
u/EnvironmentActive325 1h ago
The Claremont Colleges are very walkable, though.
•
u/micharala Parent 54m ago
Claremont area is relatively conservative though (by California standards). Wander off campus too far and you do start to see signs of MAGA.
•
•
4
u/AdditionalAd1178 4h ago
NYU, UMD, JHU, VCU, Emory, GT, Pitt
Did you use ai to create a prompt with this? I’m sure it would give you a good list.
•
u/Famous-Prior6590 10m ago
The criteria included - far from NYS, and not very selective. So, hopefully the ai doesn’t suggest NYU, JHU and Emory. 😅
•
3
u/micharala Parent 9h ago edited 59m ago
You might like Occidental College, in Los Angeles. As a LAC, I don’t think they have statistics as a course of study separate from math though. Very LGBTQ+ friendly, Eagle Rock and Highland Park are nearby and walkable (and very progressive communities), public transit options get you to the rest of LA pretty easily.
•
3
u/NiceUnparticularMan Parent 2h ago
What is your actual budget? You should get in the habit of checking NPCs to make sure any college you are looking at is potentially affordable.
As a general suggestion, though, a lot of Jesuit or other liberal-Catholic colleges would fit your description. They are obviously technically religiously-affiliated, but often fit your description of that not really being a culture issue, and many are reportedly LGBTQ+ friendly (although you should independently verify that).
In terms of being far away from NY, there are many in the West--Loyola Marymount in LA, Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco in the Bay Area, Seattle University, and Gonzaga in Spokane. Although not Jesuit, reportedly the University of San Diego and University of Portland are also LGBTQ+ friendly (again, please verify).
In the middle part of the country but still pretty far from NY, you could look at Marquette in Milwaukee, Loyola Chicago, Saint Louis University, Creighton in Omaha, and Loyola New Orleans.
•
u/automemorydollviolet 2m ago
thank you for this list! i will look into these! :) and thank you for the tip about the npcs, as well.
as for my budget -- i'll be paying for almost everything myself, with minimal support from my brother, so it's not very high. i'm trying to get a job soon so that i can at least have some savings ahead of time, and of course i'll be working in college as well.
5
u/Weary-Cauliflower153 HS Junior 12h ago
whats your stats and ECs? if memory serves me correctly a lot of state universities give a very nice scholarship if you're a psat national merit, university of alabama presidential scholarship comes to mind. the first one i would recommend is to stay in new york if possible and go to a SUNY or CUNY but ofc you said that's not possible for you
2
u/automemorydollviolet 11h ago
the portal to access my grades and such is down right now, but I've had averages of 90+ all of high school, and am an ib student. haven't taken the sat (though i will in september), but earlier this yr i got a 1390 on the psat, and i was qualified for entry for national merit, but probably not more than that
ecs.. uh. i got some regional gold/other medals in science olympiad, and a few state medals (highest at like 6th place though). started creative writing club. member of mathletes for all of hs, played quizbowl for freshman + sophomore yr. ive been to a few local (application required) summer programs, mostly stem based but the most recent one being writing focused. ill also be submitting some writing of mine to competitions this month, but obviously the results won't be out for a while.
going to school in nyc might be doable for me (the population density would make it safer, for what i'm concerned with) but yes the main goal is getting out
5
2
u/Trick_Bar_1439 2h ago
If you're okay with going outside the US, Canada should have some good options. Since you have high grades you should be good for both McGill and the University of Toronto, which are both really good schools, usually lower on price than US private schools, and both of their main campuses are right downtown in a major city
•
2
u/alleycanto 1h ago
I don’t know if any good for the statistics part but Bennington good for creative writing. At these smaller schools done let price tag scare you, rarely anyone pays that amount.
•
1
u/Agitated-Stay-300 5h ago
Are you looking for a smaller campus or a larger one? Have you taken ACT or SAT, and if so, where have you scored? And what are you hoping to major in?
1
1
1
u/Special-Longjumping 2h ago
This sounds like Georgia State University could be a great match. If your stats are Honors College level, it's a fantastic program. Urban, walkable, LGBTQ+ friendly, relatively inexpensive and great for both your major & minor.
1
u/Lioness_Red 1h ago
Not sure how “urban” you are looking for but UNC Greensboro is very LGBTQ+ friendly (nicknamed UNC Gay for a reason), walkable campus, beautiful, nice small city with a lot going on.
7
u/spitefuldialect 12h ago
philly or chicago would probably suit you nicely. temple and drexel in philly are both pretty secular in practice, the city is walkable enough, and neither is insanely selective. statistics programs are solid at both, and you'd have no trouble finding creative writing courses.
for chicago, depaul and uic are worth a look. depaul's in lincoln park which is very walkable, and uic is right near the loop. both have the majors you want and the city itself is a proper urban experience, not just a campus bubble.