<p>Narrowed what we're looking for:
1. Huge sports school - tons of school spirit (Given up trying to play)
2. Mid size<br>
3. Great Academics for around 3.9 Weighted and 1380 out of 1600 SAT
(waiting for ACT score and retaking SAT). Plenty of EC and leadership.
4. Social..... not snobby.</p>
<p>Thanks. Most sports schools are huge. Having trouble with the midsize.</p>
<p>Wake Forest? (~1000 students per graduating class)
[Wake</a> Forest Demon Deacon Athletics - Wake Forest University Official Athletic Site - Wake Forest Athletics](<a href=“http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/#00]Wake”>http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/#00)</p>
<p>Georgetown, Holy Cross, Davidson</p>
<p>I post often on the colleges that provide the best combinations of:</p>
<p>1) Great academics
2) Great social life
3) Great athletic life</p>
<p>I think that it is clear that only a handful of schools can offer this attractive combination. Top 40 schools that would qualify include:</p>
<p>Privates: Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgetown, USC, Wake Forest, Boston College</p>
<p>Publics: UC Berkeley, U Virginia, UCLA, U Michigan, U North Carolina, U Wisconsin, U Illinois</p>
<p>Size-wise, the publics are probably not what you are looking for. Selectivity-wise, most of the publics would probably fall into your reach category. I would second the suggestion of Wake and also include the following in your search: U Miami, Tulane, SMU, and U Richmond.</p>
<p>I go to Clemson. It’s a huge sports school if you haven’t noticed the 80,000 people we pack into the football stadium every weekend and the exciting basketball games. There’s also a lot of school spirit. We wear orange all the time and we have Solid Orange Fridays. Overall, the school only has 12,000 undergraduates and 4,000 graduates so it’s a very small school compared to larger publics. We have amazing nursing, education, business, science programs and our engineering program is top notch here. There are of course a fair share of snobby people which can be found in the greek life system but they only make up 12% of the student population, which is small compared to other public schools. People are very friendly and nice and it’s a great place to go to school!</p>
<p>If you can deal with the size, I second pierre’s suggestion of Clemson. It is a very happy and spirited place for students. And its alumni are as tight knit and proud as you’ll find at any university in the land (alumni giving rate is almost 30% which is remarkable for a public and matched by only a few others).</p>
<p>Thanks. My son struggled all summer whether to go to a small LAC (several top 15) to play sports, but has decided he really does want the big, fun sports atmosphere. And that’s okay…he plays football, basketball and baseball and loves all sports. Academics are important too.</p>
<p>He loves the idea of a big school. It’s more me, the mother, that would like to see if there are some mid size ones. I have another child at a large school, and there are some issues with getting classes, and advising help among other things. It’s his choice, I just wanted to add some options.</p>
<p>Clemson is good. He actually might be able to get in state tuition. But how does that differ from Virginia Tech which is his safety school?</p>
<p>What about Villanova? Why isn’t that on the list? </p>
<p>In some College Info books I’ve read, they say Rice is NOT a school spirited school and they only care about baseball. Is this true?</p>
<p>He’s been to Davidson and thinks it’s too small. After one weekend, he knows half the people already. I thought it was very pretty though.</p>
<p>Some of those publics are far away from Virginia. But if they offer an incredible experience then maybe he should look. Any one in particular? We will go look at Wake. GC said it was a match. Also said UVA 50/50 chance if apply to engineering school. UNC would be perfect but he has no chance there.</p>
<p>Clemson = Virginia Tech (basically), they’re both public, strong engineering/science/tech schools, and sports schools. Clemson is just a smaller version of Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech has 20-25,000 undergrads? while Clemson has 12-13,000 undergrads. So if you like a smaller school, but don’t want to give up a big school feel, Clemson would be a better fit than Virginia Tech in my opinion.</p>
<p>claudette, if you have any specific questions or any questions at all about Clemson, feel free to message me or ask! I go to school there right now so I can answer them or get in touch with someone who can.</p>
<p>What do you consider mid size?</p>
<p>My son has almost an identical list of priorities, Here’s his list:</p>
<p>Notre Dame (undergrad = approx. 8500)
Villanova (approx. 7200)
Penn State (approx. 38,000?)
UWisc (approx. 30,000)
UPitt (approx. 17,500)
Northeastern (approx. 15,500)
Syracuse (approx. 13,000)
Marquette (approx. 8000)
UConn (approx. 16,800)</p>
<p>Also suggesting that he consider/add Clemson to the list.</p>
<p>He has also had the challenge of identifying mid-size schools with a major athletic presence. Penn State is a little larger than ideal (but it is the #1 party school!). Marquette a little smaller and without a football team (but on the list because of a club sport he’s hoping to play).</p>
<p>Wish there were more choices, but as has been stated before…you can only go to one!</p>
<p>Holy Cross, Duke, Vandy, Northwestern.</p>
<p>UNC, Vandy, Wake Forest.</p>
<p>Thanks! What is Vandy like? I don’t know of anyone who has even looked at it from around here. But Nashville isn’t too far.</p>
<p>A lot of people from his school are obsessed with University of South Carolina. Any thoughts on it? </p>
<p>I consider mid size anywhere from 5000 to 15000 I guess. Other child is at almost 30,000 and while an excellent school, there are many, many drawbacks to the size in my opinion.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Never been, but I’ve heard great things about it. Other posters on here will certainly know more about the school than I do. </p>
<p>
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<p>South Carolina is a great school, very fun, but academically not on the same level as most of the other schools listed so far. Their international business program has been consistently rated as the best in the country, however.</p>
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<p>I go to a school with around 27,000 people (UNC) and absolutely love it. After freshmen year classes get much smaller and more specialized.</p>
<p>academically outside of international business, USC isn’t that great, im not sure why a lot of people are obsessed about the school</p>
<p>Yeah, I worry about him going to University of South Carolina. They let anyone in from his school. I think it’s considered to be similar to UVA in many social aspects. But he wants to go to grad school so he needs to think about it.</p>
<p>Any clues to getting in UNC? Such as applying to a specific school? For example, here in Virginia it is known that you have a better chance to apply to the engineering school than the School of Arts and Sciences. My son’s chances go from 10% to 50% if he does that. However, they can see if you really are a math/science person (he is), had to have physics and other science classes (he has), and done something that demonstrates interest in engineering (my son did a week long internship at an engineering firm). He’s doubtful he wants to do engineering though, but he’s at the stage he has no clue.</p>
<p>UNC will be a real reach. They limit the number of OOS acceptances (I think I read 82% come from IS and then you have to compete with internationals for the remainder).</p>
<p>Vandy is a great school and it offers SEC sports, but I think your son would be a little disappointed with the school spirit shown at football games. One of the traditions here is to dress up (dress shirt and tie, sundresses etc) for football games and most students don’t stay longer than halftime, even if we’re winning. we have a small section of people that paint their bodies and stay for the entire game. Academically Vandy is an amazing school and it’s mid-size.</p>
<p>Thanks. That’s exactly the info I need. My son and a group of his friend went to the Va Tech Miami game. Tech games have been sold out since 1998. It was pouring rain and cold the entire time, and they said nobody left. Full Stadium. Till the end always. I wonder if there are any smaller schools that have that type of spirit. Besides Clemson.</p>