“Just outside” is pretty misleading. It takes at least an hour to drive from the Claremonts to downtown, and that’s without traffic - and there’s always traffic in LA. It’s not realistic to expect to go into LA on a regular basis, IMO.
Lots of good suggestions so far. A few that haven’t been mentioned yet:
[ul][]Agnes Scott (Atlanta) → single-sex college
[]Brandeis (Boston) → a smallish university
[]Davidson (Charlotte)
[]Lewis & Clark (Portland)
[]U Richmond
[]Rollins (Orlando)
[li]Willamette (Salem)[/ul][/li]Furman is in a smaller city (Greenville), but it’s worth a look for anyone interested in Rhodes.