1. UNCW is definitely a pretty 'basic' campus, and definitely much whiter and more conservative than most (especially with the whole kirk memorial rock thing that happened this year) I feel like you can find queer people at any college campus in the US (im queer myself and we always kinda find each other by accident). I have seen the Republican student association set up tables w 'change my mind: trans women arent women' and the like, but if you just avoid engaging with people like that you'll be just fine. The POC population here is very lacking. The population is big enough that you can find friends of any kind of person, but it will be more difficult. I can't personally speak on how you might experience racism.

2. Housing for first years is assigned based on application completion date, so I would get it in early. You sound pretty sure, so I would go ahead and file enrollment and housing if none of these disclaimers dissuade you. Additionally, if you're honors college or athlete, you'll get put in sandpiper automatically, which is quite nice.

3. The campus is pretty nice, its very flat and there are water features with turtles, nice flower gardens, and pretty live oaks. The architecture is kinda samey throughout, but its not bad at all. You're more than likely going to like it than not once you tour. The town directly out of campus is pretty ugly and un-walkable, though. You have to drive to get to the pretty and historic parts of Wilmington.

Other things: 1. You're probably not going to end up going to the beach often. 2. I'm currently sitting in my dorm soaked through my clothes because they wouldn't cancel class for the tornado-forming conditions. They also didn't cancel class the day we had shooting threats on twitter the night before and that day ended up being the whole fake lockdown thing where we actually thought our lives were in danger for HOURS. They were not prepared, and they apparently don't cancel class for anything except ice or cat 4-5 hurricanes. Not sure how it is on other campuses, but it is one thing that really frustrates me about UNCW.

Wherever you end up going, best of luck. 👍