<p>Our son, a junior, is just beginning to think about college. Haven't visited U of M yet, but it's at the top of his list because he is a cerebral jock who wants strong academics and extreme rah-rah spirit. Hasn't taken SAT's yet, but so far has an excellent GPA, many honors classes and good ecs. Strong in math, but still has no idea what he wants to study or whether he wants a rural or urban environment. Unconcerned about weather. Interested in politics, currently working for a very liberal candidate. Although Michigan does seem to be ideal for our son, my husband and I both attended huge public schools and are concerned about large classes and other shortcomings. We'd like our son to at least take a look at a few mid-sized colleges as well as a smaller LAC, especially because we're OOS and would pay the same tuition at Michigan as we would at a private university. Vanderbilt and Colgate both seem to fit the bill for academics and school spirit, but we're afraid they'd be too conservative for our son. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Boston College perhaps (though I don't know your religious views). It's around 15,000 I believe. Or maybe USC, though that's only a little smaller.</p>
<p>I second BC and USC...bc is not overly conservative for a jesuit school. duke, wake forest come to mind, and maybe Bucknell for an lac.</p>
<p>Notre Dame?</p>
<p>I hadn't thought of Colgate as conservative, but maybe the alums I know from there are atypical. They sure did love the place.</p>
<p>Michigan gets some application overlap with Miami of Ohio, which suggests other prospective students see similarities. Might be worth a look.</p>
<p>Another thing to think about is whether one of the smaller schools within Michigan could prove a good fit. If he isn't bothered by a pretty stiff foreign language requirement, the Residential College at Michigan might give him a chance to have a "smaller" experience at Michigan.</p>
<p>Virginia and North Carolina are about half the size and meet most of the criteria.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone - This is very helpful!</p>
<p>Michigan may be public, but it is at least as good a all put a handful (literally 5) private universities. So spending the money on Michigan is not bad investment.</p>
<p>At any rate, here are a few schools that are well rounded. From my experience, no university is AS well rounded as Michigan, but those come close.</p>
<p>Boston Colllege
Brown University
Colgate University
Cornell University
Davidson College
Duke University
Georgetown University
Northwestern University
Stanford University
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University</p>
<p>Just to thow in my two cents about Michigan's class sizes. My son, a freshman, has five classes. One is jazz piano studio with one other person, three have about 30 students and one has about 200 in the lecture section, but the discussion group has about 35. Granted, he is in the honors program, but all our initial concerns about class size and lack of individual attention have been put to rest.</p>
<p>Alexandre, although those are all good schools, I don't think they are all good fits for the OP's son. She said he was a "cerebral jock" and wanted a school with a rah-rah spirit. Out of your colleges I would say remove Brown, Colgate, Davidson, Penn and Cornell. Even though those 5 are all extremely good schools and I'm sure they have some measure of school spirit, my impression is that her son is looking for more of a school where athletics are prominent (one in the major conferences i.e. SEC, Big Ten, ACC, etc.)</p>
<p>"Cerebral jocks" can definitely fit in nicely at Colgate and Cornell. I agree that Brown, Davidson and Penn are not as well suited for the jock, but they still have something to offer. But like I said, nothing beats Michigan in that domain.</p>
<p>I recommend stanford for your son. Huge athletic program. Very liberal, and an amazing college. However, it is Very hard to become accepted to this school. It sounds like a great fit otherwise.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Michigan and has mostly small classes. He is in the LAS Honors program.</p>
<p>Alexandre-Although they may fit well there, in my opinion (being one of these types of people) that athletics on a large scale is necessary...when you can go and cheer for your top 25 football team, or your team in March Madness, or the College World Series (or schools with such potential). IMO Colgate and Cornell don't offer this. By no means do they need to be in the top 25 of a sport, but I think they should be a part of a big-name conference. Keep in my this is only what I think, and the OP could be completely different.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, I really appreciate this dialog. This whole territory is foreign to me - I sat under a tree reading poetry in college. SubMachineNips - You're right...My son is dreaming of large scale athletics.
Hoedown & SBDad - Thrilled to find out about the Residential College and other small classes at U-M (S loves languages and has spent summers and spring breaks doing immersions in addition to sports.) Alexandre - Thanks for the insider's perspective. </p>
<p>Went over these excellent suggestions with my son. Based on his very extensive sports knowledge and a few anecdotes from older classmates, he would like to visit the following schools (still keeping Michigan at the top of the list):</p>
<p>Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Cal (we're in-state - that's why he eliminated USC - too close to home)</p>
<p>He acknowledged Stanford would be his dream school, but doesn't think he could get in. Also thinks Duke would be perfect, but a longshot. Will have to wait for SAT scores to have a better idea.</p>
<p>How about Villanova or Wake Forest? I'm not quite sure just how strong of a student your son is, and those two provide less competitive schools in comparison to Cal, NW, Georgetown, Stanford and Michigan.</p>
<p>"Cal "-YAY!!! Roll on you bears!</p>
<p>Has he considered U-Washington in Seattle? Their last fb game drew 67,000 people, and they look to be improving drastically, esp. with their frosh phenom qb. It has a great rep as well (not quite as good as UM, but definitely in the top tier of public schools). the campus is gorgeous, and they have some top-notch profs and students. I'm pretty sure he would get in, by the sound of it. Oh yes, they are in the Pac-10, and their basketball team has made it to March Madness for the past several seasons.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm not sure how Oregon is academically, but we all know they pasted Michigan on the gridiron this year..I also hear Eugene is a great college town.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest:
-Cal (you have on your list)
-Duke, Stanford (worth applying to as a reach if SATs are within range)</p>