<p>I'm a long time lurker and infrequent poster. I am blown away by the breadth and depth of knowledge, as well as the patience and compassion, of the many regular posters here.</p>
<p>Here are our criteria:</p>
<pre><code>Central or Eastern time zone
LAC or small university (think Brandeis-size)
Intellectual but laidback
Politically liberal
Crunchy/quirky
Artsy with good fine arts offerings
Good language department
Horseback riding available as a club sport
Decent number of Jewish students
I know you experts are up to the challenge!
</code></pre>
<ol>
<li><p>Her stats, just the basics or even ranges</p></li>
<li><p>Finances...does she need merit aid, does she need a school that meets 100% need or is this not an issue?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3.Central as in Minnesota or eastern as in Florida, Georgia, or the Carolinas, or as in New England?</p>
<p>A little smaller than Brandeis, but the biggest of the LACs, and made larger by the 5-Colleges - Smith. Superb langauge departments. Equestrianism - there is a team, and club. Very, very active Hillel, with a combined kosher/hallal kitchen (open to all students), and a Friday night kosher kitchen with singing. Large fine arts department. Liberal, crunchy, and quirky. Intellectual. Laid back it isn't.</p>
<p>I suspect that, given the criteria, you should start with the horseback riding, as it is likely to be the most limiting factor. Earlham would also work, though its arts offerings are limited. Vassar might also fit the bill. Bard also has an equestrian club.</p>
<p>Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Skidmore and Wesleyan on the timezone, intellectual, liberal, Jewish, LAC or small university, crunchy/quirky aspects of your list!</p>
<p>Goucher-- near Baltimore has an equestrian team. Check their website as they may list the schools they compete against and give you a list of other schools to consider. Skidmore -Saratoga Springs NY may have riding at club level. Not sure if it is a Team sport. Think those schools will meet most of your other criteria. Was it Carolyn's daughter who was looking for a school with riding?? Someone's kid was looking in that direction last year- so maybe collectively we can remember "the mom "with knowledge on this subject.</p>
<p>College of Charleston. They have a nice Judaic Studies center...brand new...and Charleston (the town) has a sizable Jewish population. Brandeis sounds like it would be a good choice.</p>
<p>Everyone is listing LACs and not small universities. So this doesn't really fit what everyone else has been saying. But Carnegie Mellon University sounds like it would fit your daughter. I don't know if it has horseback riding or not though.</p>
<p>Something you and your D need to think about...how high on the priority scale is having a Horse Club...I mean would that override other interests</p>
<p>lets just say, she heaven forbid, couldn't ride the horses, would she be happy at the school</p>
<p>there was a girl a few years back that wanted to play soccer at a school, so was looking for a school with a good club program- suggestions made were to be sure and think about being happy in a school if she got hurt, as can happen with sports, even if she couldn't play again- one school had a great soccer program, but was not such a good match</p>
<p>as well, other interests may come up and they do, many kids DO follow the EC in college, but many many do not, so having a good match in other areas is super important</p>
<p>these schools sound right, but really check out the other stuff and not just go, oh ponies!!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses! Skidmore's website looks great--but they only have riding on a varsity level, which may be too intense. Wesleyan was another school we had thought about, but their website doesn't reflect a current equestrian team of any kind--they did have one as recently as 2 years ago, so it's worth a call at the appropriate time.</p>
<p>I had understood Dickinson to have kind of a "preppy" feel--a more frat type environment.</p>