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Archive for: Gay Friendly Colleges

LGBT Friendly Colleges


“Campus Pride” has released its annual “Top 25 LGBT-Friendly Colleges and Universities.” So which colleges have made the list this year? The 25 universities, appearing in no specific order, include Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania of the Ivy League. Also on the list are several prestigious universities including Emory University, Oberlin College, Stanford University, UCLA, the University of California – Berkeley, the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan.

LGBT Friendly Universities, LGBT Friendly Colleges, Gay Friendly Colleges, Gay Friendly Universities

“Campus Pride” has released its annual list of the top 25 LGBT friendly colleges (photo credit: Ludovic Bertron from New York City, USA).

Rounding out the list of LGBT friendly colleges are Carleton College, Indiana University, Ithaca College, Portland State University, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of California – Riverside, the University of California – Santa Barbara, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Maryland – College Park, the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, the University of Vermont, and the University of Washington.

These rankings are based on LGBT-policy inclusion at the universities, student life, academic life, and other factors. At The Ivy Coach, we salute the 25 universities that have made “Campus Pride’s” prestigious list as these universities are leaders in the area of LGBT inclusion. If you’re a member of the LGBT community applying to college, these sorts of references are always good to check out. It’s important to know which universities have your back…and which ones don’t. But just because a university isn’t on this list, that doesn’t mean they aren’t welcoming to LGBT students. Many universities have made great strides to make LGBT students feel right at home on their campuses and this list does not recognize each of these individual efforts across our nation. So be sure to use this list as a starting point but to continue your research elsewhere!

Gay Friendly Colleges


The University of Pennsylvania has once again topped “Newsweek’s” rankings of gay friendly colleges. This marks the second straight year that Penn has earned this distinction. Five years ago, Penn also topped “The Advocate’s” ranking of LGBT friendly colleges and the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index regularly gives Penn strong numbers in this area as well.

LGBT Friendly Colleges, LGBT Friendly Campuses, Gay Colleges, Gay Accepting Colleges

The University of Pennsylvania once again has topped the rankings of gay friendly colleges.

And what other colleges excelled in this year’s “Newsweek” rankings for gay friendly colleges? Placing second is the University of California – Berkeley, followed by Oberlin College, New York University, University of Michigan, American University, Penn State University, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Indiana University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Pomona College, Brown University, University of California – Santa Cruz, Swarthmore College, Duke University, Rice University, Harvey Mudd College, Cornell University, Tufts University, Northwestern University, University of Southern California, Georgetown University, and University of Chicago.

Check out our post on resources for LGBT college applicants and contact us today for help with the college admissions process!

LGBT College Applicants


Gay College Applicants, Lesbian College Applicants, Gays and College Admissions, LGBT and College Admissions, LGBT and The Ivy League

Stanford University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, and Penn rank as some of the most gay-friendly colleges in the nation.

For LGBT college applicants, attending a university that is supportive of the LGBT community is often an important determinant in college selection. A gay college applicant may not want to attend a university that doesn’t have a GSA. Maybe they don’t want to go to a university like Pepperdine where Ken Starr, a gay rights foe active in the campaign supporting Proposition 8 in California, served as Dean of the Law School. If that’s the case, they should probably avoid Baylor University, too, because he’s now Baylor’s president.

So which universities should LGBT college applicants apply to if a gay-friendly campus is an important factor in their decision? Stanford University, Oberlin College, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, Amherst College, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, Emory University, and USC all have 5 star rankings for LGBT-friendly campuses, according to the LGBT- Friendly Campus Climate Index.

At one of those 5-star rated gay-friendly campuses, Dartmouth College, we wanted to demonstrate an example of the school’s LGBT positive vibe by showing you how an athletic team rallied around a gay player. The player happened to be the team MVP, an All-American, the fist goalie to score a goal in an NCAA Tournament game in two decades (against powerhouse Syracuse nonetheless), and the first professional male team sport athlete in North America to be openly gay during his playing career. He was drafted by the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse and later played for the Long Island Lizards. Did we mention that he has since been the lead author on a paper published in “Science” identifying the cell of origin for prostate cancer?