Terabith Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Okay...I know this is crazy, but Dungeons and Dragons is my kid's major extracurricular activity. She also makes all A's in the top level of classes at public high school, has high test scores, sings in choir, is involved in theater. But she's been playing something like 10 hours of D&D a week since fifth grade. She will be a tenth grader next year, so we're just starting to poke around, and scholarships/ financial aid are going to be absolutely mandatory. I think she's going to prefer a smaller liberal arts school with smaller classes. But finding a school where role playing is at least available, if not part of the culture, is something that is very important to her. I've fiddled with lots of google searches, and I'm not sure exactly how to phrase that. Does anyone have any suggestions of where we should start looking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) Colleges and universities always host a big assortment of on-campus clubs, so you might check the website of each college of interest for the list of of formally organized clubs and see if there is a Gaming Club. Also, I would imagine a lot of D&D and other gaming is played informally on campus, outside of a club, so once attending a college, she could ask around the dorm and see if that turns up leads to other regular D&Ders or other role-play gamers. Also, it seems like a lot of engineering and computer students are gamers of various types, so that might also be a place to check once on campus. Also, you might look at the board game stores in the town of each college of interest, as game stores usually have at least one night of the week, or a time on the weekend, where they have tables set up for playing D&D, or Magic, or other popular board/card games. And this article on the Geeks & Sundry website suggests places to search for D&Ders. Edited June 25, 2019 by Lori D. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom1720 Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 Has she been a DM? My son just started his own group in his dorm. He had been a DM as far back as age 9 -- getting his elementary school friends to play -- so this wasn't a big deal to him and had planned on it from the beginning. He took all of his basic supplies to school, plus extra dice sets. She could do the same thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 I would go about this the other way around. She should look for schools that have the studies she's interested in, make a good, broad list and then from there search those individual schools and communities gaming clubs, nearby game stores, etc. If you look at Donna's "nerd vibe" thread, that's a good brainstorm of a few larger schools with the right vibe to have an active gaming community. For LAC's, in my experience, most women's colleges won't fit the bill (unfortunately). I think ones that are a little bit more dorky and weird are more likely to work. But it might surprise you. Nearly everywhere these days will have some sort of gaming scene. It's really more of a question of finding out how active it is. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 University of Alabama- Huntsville was the most obvious. University of Nevada-Reno In pockets on campus, and the gaming store in the mall is so big it had to split into two storefronts. University of Toronto depends on what college you are in-each has a different feel. At all of those, you see students sitting around gaming and dedicated gaming rooms. MTSU had flyers up about gaming groups, etc, but we didn’t see it as obviously there. James Madison didn’t really have the vibe on campus, but has a nice gaming/Anime store not far off campus. University of TN has a nice gaming store nearby with multiple locations, but again, didn’t have a tabletop gaming vibe on campus. Sewanee felt like the students were doing an elaborate Harry Potter Cosplay, but I’m not sure if the observation would be appreciated :). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 My ds is a big D&D kid. His dorm has 5 separate groups running right now. I think you might be looking for the nerdy culture, which you are likely to find at tech schools or in pockets at any large university. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 On 6/26/2019 at 4:54 PM, lewelma said: My ds is a big D&D kid. His dorm has 5 separate groups running right now. I think you might be looking for the nerdy culture, which you are likely to find at tech schools or in pockets at any large university. Yeah....but she's not really a tech school kid or a large university kid. Granted, we're early in the process, but my sense is she is a small, liberal arts college kid. She likes EVERYTHING but doesn't have any strong passions. No idea what she wants to major in, but wants to be able to take math and science and music and do theater and sing in a choir and take English and history classes. She thrives in smaller classes where she has personal relationships with professors. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 48 minutes ago, Terabith said: Yeah....but she's not really a tech school kid or a large university kid. Granted, we're early in the process, but my sense is she is a small, liberal arts college kid. She likes EVERYTHING but doesn't have any strong passions. No idea what she wants to major in, but wants to be able to take math and science and music and do theater and sing in a choir and take English and history classes. She thrives in smaller classes where she has personal relationships with professors. Look at the small liberal arts colleges listed in "Colleges that Change Lives". Lots of great nerd schools there. My ds graduated from College of Wooster, and had, for a time, 4 separate D&D groups he played with weekly. Thanks to the miracles of the internet, he has continued to DM weekly games with his college buddies, even while he was living in Japan! 3 years post graduation and they still play every Saturday night. I'm trying to remember all their majors -- not a single computer or engineering type in the bunch, though there were 2 geology majors and one chemistry. Maybe the others were history and poli sci? Another avid D&Der I know is in seminary right now, so clearly techies are not the sole population passionate about role playing games! Beloit College, as I recall, had a sci-fi/fantasy dorm. And the great thing about these small schools is that everyone can be involved in anything, from sports to the arts. And they are filled with professors who want to teach and mentor. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 5 minutes ago, JennW in SoCal said: mentor. So nice to see you Jenn! You had a huge impact on how I educated my teens. And I just wanted to thank you while you were currently on the board. Ruth in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 5 hours ago, Terabith said: Yeah....but she's not really a tech school kid or a large university kid. Granted, we're early in the process, but my sense is she is a small, liberal arts college kid. She likes EVERYTHING but doesn't have any strong passions. No idea what she wants to major in, but wants to be able to take math and science and music and do theater and sing in a choir and take English and history classes. She thrives in smaller classes where she has personal relationships with professors. Don't rule out large universities with small departments and/or honors programs. I went to a huge university, and the combination of large and small really worked for me because I really got the best of big and small. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, Terabith said: Yeah....but she's not really a tech school kid or a large university kid. Granted, we're early in the process, but my sense is she is a small, liberal arts college kid. She likes EVERYTHING but doesn't have any strong passions. No idea what she wants to major in, but wants to be able to take math and science and music and do theater and sing in a choir and take English and history classes. She thrives in smaller classes where she has personal relationships with professors. Just wanted to echo @happypamama My Dd who is majoring in foreign languages decided against small colleges (where initially she put all her focus) and decided on a large flagship U bc she felt it would be easier to find exactly what she wanted in terms of friends, activities, mentors, etc in a larger population than the smaller communities. She was right. She marches to a different drummer and she definitely has an easier time finding people who share her interests when she is in larger group than a smaller one. (She is at a summer program right now where the cohort is small and she has not connected with any of them bc most of them are partiers /drinkers and that is just not her thing.) Edited June 28, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom1720 Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 7 hours ago, Terabith said: Yeah....but she's not really a tech school kid or a large university kid. Granted, we're early in the process, but my sense is she is a small, liberal arts college kid. She likes EVERYTHING but doesn't have any strong passions. No idea what she wants to major in, but wants to be able to take math and science and music and do theater and sing in a choir and take English and history classes. She thrives in smaller classes where she has personal relationships with professors. He's at a school with 9000 undergrads, so not particularly large -- he wanted that 5000-10000 range. Also not a tech school, not a school I would call "nerdy", and has a required core. He and his group are almost all econ or finance majors. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) Ds is at a small state tech school - when we visited the first time the nerdy/ gaming culture jumped out as perfect for him 🙂 its been a good fit. There r official clubs on campus but the dorm lounge is the unofficial gamer hang out. Edited June 30, 2019 by Hilltopmom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) Almost every school we visited had gaming communities. I don't think this is uncommon at all. We even visited a couple that had learning communities focused on board games. And my kid is going to a large university after saying through the whole process he wouldn't be going to a large school. There are many ways to make big schools smaller. I think it's good to keep options open, especially if financials come into the picture. He found more options and flexibility at the larger school, Even compared to some LAC schools that say they cater to multi interested students. He found he would have more options and opportunities and actually got more individual attention from faculty from a larger school during the admissions process. Edited June 30, 2019 by FuzzyCatz 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 On 6/26/2019 at 10:34 PM, dmmetler said: University of Alabama- Huntsville was the most obvious. University of Nevada-Reno In pockets on campus, and the gaming store in the mall is so big it had to split into two storefronts. University of Toronto depends on what college you are in-each has a different feel. At all of those, you see students sitting around gaming and dedicated gaming rooms. MTSU had flyers up about gaming groups, etc, but we didn’t see it as obviously there. James Madison didn’t really have the vibe on campus, but has a nice gaming/Anime store not far off campus. University of TN has a nice gaming store nearby with multiple locations, but again, didn’t have a tabletop gaming vibe on campus. Sewanee felt like the students were doing an elaborate Harry Potter Cosplay, but I’m not sure if the observation would be appreciated :). LOL!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 To find if D&D is prevalent, you'll have to go beyond looking for gaming clubs. Many seem to focus most on video games; some focus on board games. None of the colleges my kids looked at had gaming clubs that focused on RPGs. That said, ds did manage to game while at college, even though he ended up at a liberal arts college with no gaming club at all. Ds began GM'ing well before college and continued on through. When he graduated, one of his former professors invited him to join a monthly game he hosts too. Gaming has become very mainstream and I have little doubt she'll be able to find it anywhere she goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 On 6/27/2019 at 10:36 PM, JennW in SoCal said: Look at the small liberal arts colleges listed in "Colleges that Change Lives". Lots of great nerd schools there. My ds graduated from College of Wooster, and had, for a time, 4 separate D&D groups he played with weekly. Thanks to the miracles of the internet, he has continued to DM weekly games with his college buddies, even while he was living in Japan! 3 years post graduation and they still play every Saturday night. I'm trying to remember all their majors -- not a single computer or engineering type in the bunch, though there were 2 geology majors and one chemistry. Maybe the others were history and poli sci? Another avid D&Der I know is in seminary right now, so clearly techies are not the sole population passionate about role playing games! Beloit College, as I recall, had a sci-fi/fantasy dorm. And the great thing about these small schools is that everyone can be involved in anything, from sports to the arts. And they are filled with professors who want to teach and mentor. I agree with this suggestion. Another CTCL to look into is Knox College. I know D&D is quite big there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 (edited) On 6/26/2019 at 2:34 PM, dmmetler said: University of Alabama- Huntsville was the most obvious. I had to come back to this thread because dd is an honors mentor there and she was showing me the schedule for moving in and welcoming new students. Dungeons and Dragons was one of the things listed, so I asked her if they had set up a one shot or other activity. She said no, they just have so many incoming students who play that they set up a session for them to meet and start making plans, lol. Edited August 17, 2019 by katilac 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
answerdeskwtm Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 zombie thread, please start a new one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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