@amarylandmom Please checkout Holy Cross as it is test optional. That is the school with the very highly regarded Economics/Accounting program. I realize you are Jewish but that will give him an edge in getting accepted and Holy Cross is a top school. Catholic schools are trying to become more diverse.
Lafayette does not have business but Economics is just as relevant a major.
Thanks so much, BatesParent. I definitely will look into Holy Cross. I will admit that I was an economics major at Wellesley and loved my experience there and the major, but for this particular child, I think having the more concrete accounting skill would be a plus arrow to have in his quiver . . .if he likes it as much as I think he will. I just would prefer not to rule it out before he starts his college career though he can himself rule it out once he is there!
George Washington comes to mind–midsize, great city, business majors, finances not a consideration 
If finances are truly not a consideration, applying early decision to one of those reach schools might result in a nice surprise. Some of those schools love admitting full pay students who they know will attend for sure. Tulane doesn’t have binding early decision, but they do have early action and single choice early action. These both signal that you are clearly interested (and with single choice, most interested) in Tulane. They are huge on demonstrated interest, maybe more so than any other college.
Lehigh will be as much a reach as Tulane. That’s one of those schools where you will likely need to apply early decision. They are also big on demonstrated interest. If you live in the region (which you do) and you do not visit, they will definitely decline admission.
A lot of the suggestions above seem to be much smaller than the medium-size schools OP said were appealing. Some mid-size schools, in cities or nice college towns, good for business, and within academic reach might include Northeastern, Richmond, Delaware, Pitt, Miami (both OH and FL), and James Madison. While smaller than these, and more rural (though under an hour from Boston), hard to find better accounting than Bryant. Glad it’s on your list.
Even for a secular Jew, I think any school named Holy Cross is a nonstarter. Has OP checked out the Jewish B Student thread?
@Chardo, I appreciate your thoughts! Right now, before visiting Lehigh, I think my son will do SCEA at Tulane. I agree with your comments on Lehigh. My older son attends Bucknell, so I feel like if the younger is going to do ED to Lehigh or Bucknell, he’d have the better shot of admissions at Bucknell where my older is very involved on campus. But both schools seem a little reachy in my mind for my younger.
I visited Lehigh with my older son, and I actually preferred it to Bucknell . . .but it is hard challenging to get into, I know.
GW is a good idea for us. Easy to check out so why not?
Northeastern and Richmond have both been on my radar, but given his ACT scores, I’m a little reluctant to show him many more schools that are reaches - - and am trying to focus on schools where he has a better shot. We might visit Northeastern just because I’m going to be in Boston anyway, but my list there is getting pretty extensive! I feel like Northeastern is very test score centric so that seems like it might be a non starter.
So happy to hear about Bryant!! I have heard good things, but not specifically about the accounting program.
Lol on Holy Cross. Love the idea that it is test optional, but I do think my son might not feel quite at home at schools with religious affiliations. Whenhen did send me to the listing of schools for Jewish B students so I will definitely track that thread to see if I spot any surprises.
With his grades and rigorous course load it does seem like he should be able to score higher. Has he tried the SAT as well - some students do better on one than on the other. Also consider getting a tutor to hone in on what could be the issue on the tests. My S’ friend had a GPA just below 3 and an ACT of 34 and he was wait listed at Tulane.
Of course, it’s definitely a good idea to find some other achievable colleges to love. I will agree that Lehigh is equal or greater reach than Tulane but a good shot with ED. Particularly if you have some diversity factor, including geography.
^ that’s the problem being from Maryland. Lehigh has plenty of those, so geographic diversity won’t help.
Accounting is probably Bryant’s best program. I know several highly successful Bryant accounting grads. Great recruitment.
@singermom4 , He has taken the SAT twice and the ACT twice and the four scores are remarkably close. I think his ACT is better on a percentile basis, but pretty equivalent on the concordance tables. I am going to go out on a limb here and say this is an issue of IQ. He doesn’t have test anxiety or anything like that. He also doesn’t have a particular area of weakness. Similar scoring across all the topics. I spent $3500 on tutoring for my older son and the only material score increase was on writing. So I am not sold on the idea that the needle can be moved a whole lot. He is continuing to self study for the ACT so maybe he will bump to a 28? I feel like our best bet is to find good schools he can get into and be happy at and maybe he will get super lucky with Tulane. Not sounding good with that example of your son’s friend. Yikes.
I know this sounds terrible, but I sorta wonder if his high grades are in part because he is unusually charismatic. He is willing to redo sub par work and has little trouble persuading teachers to be flexible. So I think his test scores could possibly be a valid representation of his academic potential. Of course I wish he could have what he wants (Tulane), but also realize it’s a long shot.
Excited to hear Bryant grads doing well with their accounting degrees. Thanks @Chardo
UMD, Drexel, and Champlain College in Vermont, TCNJ, Indiana Bloomington, University of South Carolina Columbia, UDEL, Auburn University, Purdue, and Penn State can be options. What campus scene does your son prefer?
With his love of Tulane, I recommend that your son apply there as Single Choice Early Action. Tulane loves students who love it, and is very averse to being considered a safety (not that it would be for him).
http://admission.tulane.edu/apply/instructions/
Most Catholic schools are quite hospitable to non-Catholics, even atheists. I knew an atheist who graduated from Notre Dame and loved every minute of it.
So… having said that, your son might also consider Loyola University New Orleans. It is literally right next door to Tulane and shares dining services with Tulane. Some cross registration for classes happens as well. Perhaps he could transfer from Loyola to Tulane after a couple of semesters. Just a thought.
Loyola is a Jesuit school, and Jesuits are among the most tolerant of Catholics. The current pope is a Jesuit.
@amarylandmom - much of test taking is strategy as well. Rather than taking an expensive ACT package from one of the tutorial centers we hired a private tutor (lucked out with an excellent one at $25/hr) who initially just watched him take the tests. He only made a few recommendations but it did force S to spend the time writing several tests. Sometimes the issue is fatigue so rather than just practicing a section at a time, he should plan to some entire tests. In my S’ case, his score jumped from 27/28 (two prior tries) to 33 (and then it did stick there after two more attempts to raise it to match aforementioned friend’score). I don’t want to harp on the test score but aside from Tulane, a higher test score will also qualify him for merit scholarships.
@TheDidactic, I think he definitely wants Greek life - - mostly because his older brother is VERY involved in leadership on his campus. He’s not a huge spectator sports guy, but does like to socialize a lot so would attend if other friends are going for sure - - definitely more about the tailgate than the football. If he were in a city, I think he would take advantage of elements of that - - especially music concerts. I am definitely familiar with some of the schools you suggested (niece at USC, nephew at Auburn, many friends’ kids at UMD and Delaware), but I think they are all a bit larger than my son is hoping for . . .Boulder is an outlier for him in terms of size, and I think if he is going to go for a big school, that’s where he will end up bc of the skiing, great college town, incredible gym, etc. Of course, I’m hoping he gains acceptance somewhere with better academics and more of the size he likes.
@NROTCgrad, I think it is highly likely he will apply SCEA to Tulane just to give him every edge - - unless he falls more in love with some other school between now and the end of the summer (doubt it). Hopefully we don’t regret doing that since if they reject him we will then have the very nerve wracking wait until March until we know he is admitted somewhere. Might need to find one rolling admissions option in the event Tulane doesn’t work out. I think with SCEA my son can apply to an in state public, but I assume not to an OOS public? I don’t totally understand the rules.
Appreciate the idea of Loyola. We did see it while walking to Tulane . . .definitely needs to be considered.
@singermom4, Wow on your son’s ACT score. I will admit that surprises me how that happened. I actually taught GRE prep classes briefly, and to be honest, I felt it definitely was beneficial for math, but not all that much for the other sections. But maybe it really depends on the tutor. My son is doing full ACT tests as part of an online program we found. The ACT tests are in the official ACT book (red). I do agree that the first time he took it, timing was an issue and that benefits from practice. I just wish we could find a tutor that we KNOW is good. That’s the tricky part. I’d be more inclined to spend the money if the quality was more clear. But I think what you are saying is don’t give up yet on the idea that his test scores may improve and that they could still be impacted.
@amarylandmom
My reading of Tulane’s rules for SCEA is that he cannot apply EA or ED to any other schools, but he still can apply “early” for regular decision. This is not a major restriction. The only thing to avoid is EA or ED at any other schools besides Tulane.
Applying regular decision, but early, can be almost as good as EA or ED. For example, I know two young people here in Ohio who applied regular decision to Ohio State yet were admitted prior to Christmas. This is an outstanding way to approach “safeties.” Get the safety done early, and reduce anxiety.
I do not see any restrictions by Tulane on the location of the regular decision colleges.
By the way, it might (or might not) show serious interest in Tulane to apply to Loyola. At least it would show interest in New Orleans. I do not know, but maybe even mention Loyola to the admissions folks at Tulane. Also @fallenchemist is an expert on Tulane admissions. I hope that he chimes in here.
@amarylandmom - D is another data point for a child improving on her ACT score on the third try to a 31. Like your son, she scored 27 twice on the ACT. I think your son can raise his score. @singermom4 is right - sometimes it’s more strategy than knowledge. When we did take the entire ACT exam, I ran out of steam a couple of times, so I made sure D went to the exam with plenty of water and snack food. She said that definitely helped on the sections after the break. Practice was the other key thing - just taking a section or two a week helped D tremendously getting familiar and comfortable with the test questions. Taking pre-calculus her junior year also helped with the trig and unit circle questions.
I wish D took the ACT one more time to try for the 32 - that seems to be where the big merit scholarships begin - but she was ecstatic with the 31.
Another thought… Rhodes College in Memphis is sort of like a small Tulane. Excellent liberal arts college (although I understand that maybe that’s not what he is looking for).
Ditto the Miami of Ohio suggestion which may have been overlooked as it was sandwiched with a lot of great suggestions.
You might look at Trinity University in Texas, or Davidson. Both have an environment like Tulane but aren’t as competative.
@NROTCgrad, thanks for that great idea of applying early even though still RD. I didn’t realize that might be helpful, but if has been to others, it might be a perfect approach for my son. Then we can still go ahead with SCEA with Tulane without sacrificing much and maybe will have another decision in hand so we don’t have be biting our nails until March. If he got into say, Boulder, I’d be pretty satisfied. We are familiar with Rhodes and our school sends a good number of students there who are happy! Unfortunately, I think it might be a tad too small, but more importantly, while they have a Commerce and Business major and some accounting classes, they don’t really have a full blown accounting program. I do think it checks a lot of other boxes my son would like . . .but am hoping we can find a school that will take him that checks a few more! We will see . . .
@SlackerMomMD, wow, that really gives me hope. Thank you for sharing your story. Honestly, I think if my son could get a 30, he would be very well situated for admission given his school and grades. I have just been hoping and hoping, but felt pretty disheartened when he did do quite a bit of studying between ACT 1 and ACT 2 and only raised 1 point. His best score was the writing lol. But I won’t give up completely. It’s just hard because we really have to decide which schools to explore now, and I definitely don’t want to just show him reaches in the hopes he gets the higher score. But if he does happen to get a 30, that will really help with Tulane, and then we can always squeeze in a visit to Richmond in the fall if need be.
@AggieChemist, you are the second person to suggest that one. We will definitely look into it. I don’t think he is competitive for Davidson . . .and not sure they have accounting. But I bet the University will have the program.
@janjmom, thanks for making sure I didn’t miss it!!! Will investigate.
So far of all the suggestions, I’m very excited about College of Charleston which looks like a likely admit to me and where I think he would be very happy. Definitely will explore Trinity and The College of New Jersey as both of those seem very viable. I really, really appreciate everyone’s help. I plan to do at least a web search on each suggestion just to get a feel for some options. There really are so many excellent choices once you get your mind past the name brands (a little hard for me at times I will admit, but this particular child I feel can thrive regardless - - I felt a lot more worried about my older one. But we found the right place for him, and he has really blossomed there.).
Thank you very, very much!!!