Have you looked at Furman? It leans conservative but is also an accepting student body.
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I did but I crossed it off the list because at one point I thought I saw that they donât have a business or music program, which is not true. Iâll have to add them back to the list!
Looks like Furman has a minor in analytics. You could do the business degree with international track and add the minor.
Iâm not sure if it requires a foreign language proficiency. Usually the major would.
Youâd get great merit - and itâs a nice area of the state.
With your inclusion of Wheaton on your list, that was my assumption.
- Calvin would definitely be considered to be on the conservative end.
- Xavier (OH) has no fraternities or sororities, and studentsâ responses on Niche seem to indicate that this would probably be a campus youâd feel comfortable on. Politically, it seems pretty balanced (moderates with a plurality with about even numbers of students responding going left/right).
- Saint Josephâs students seem to identify as moderate to conservative, and the social life seems as though you would be able to fit in.
- You might want to Drake off the list of schools I mentioned earlier, as it might not be as good of a fit.
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My two cents is it is going to be a little tough finding a school which is attractive to what we might call âbusiness conservativesâ that doesnât also have quite a bit of the âwork hard/party hardâ vibe, including possibly quite a bit of Greek life. I think you will find in almost all such colleges it is easy to opt out of such a social scene, but it will at least be present and visible and likely a significant part of college life for many (but not all) of the business students.
As long as that sounds OK, I think most generally well-regarded colleges with a significant business school/major should work for you. If you want something different from that, you might need to really narrow your list and not particularly focus on the usual âtopâ schools.
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By the way, if that does sound OK to youâwe just got back from touring William & Mary, Richmond, and UVa, and off hand it seems to me like Richmond could be a particularly good fit for you. Very big focus on business, both academically and in terms of supporting internships and job placements. Definitely a preppy/work-hard/play-hard vibe, but again apparently lots of students happily out opt of that sort of social scene.
In the Niche poll, a lot more people described it as Conservative (24%) or Very Conservative (7%) than Liberal (2%), although Moderate was the dominant answer (61%). Compare that to, say, William & Mary, which was Progressive/Very Liberal 7%, Liberal 55%, Moderate 25%, Conservative 3%, Very Conservative 1%, Libertarian 1%, or even UVa, which was Progressive/Very Liberal 2%, Liberal 29%, Moderate 44%, Conservative 9%, Very Conservative 1%, Libertarian 2%. Again, obviously different people mean different things with these categories, but for a LAC without a specific religious affiliation, I think there is much more of a moderate-to-conservative feel, and less of a moderate-to-liberal feel, at Richmond than is typical.
I canât comment on Music at the college, but the last thing I can note is that while the full sticker price at Richmond is obviously high, apparently they do layer on at least relatively common merit awards that make it competitive for some students on a stricter budget. They specifically have 1/3rd tuition scholarships that seem largely numbers driven, which they give to 10% of incoming students (implying there is like 85 of these), and which seem quite intentionally designed to make the actual cost of attendance competitive even short of being able to get a full-ride scholarship. By the way, there are 25 of those full-ride scholarships, so that implies around 13% of Richmond first-years get one of those merit scholarships, which is better odds than many broadly comparable schools that I have seen.
Of course I would not necessarily count on that working out, but I wonder if you could get an idea of the sorts of qualifications that typically get such an award poking around the Internet.
Anyway, I just thought based on what you were describing, Richmond might be worth a long look.
Yes!! I actually just visited Richmond yesterday and I was thoroughly impressed by the facilities and the programs. The Leadership Studies major also looked interesting. They also apparently donât have any current tuba students, which either means Iâll be more likely to get accepted for that, or it could also mean they might not want to put in the work to accommodate one person. I think itâs sort of a toss up.
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Great! If you havenât already, before going to Richmond (hypothetically), you might want to ask them really pointed questions about that tuba situation. I actually donât think it would hurt to ask before applying, but even if you wanted to wait to ask until after (hopefully) getting accepted, that would seem like a perfectly fair question to me.
I have a daughter at Miami of Ohio who is Data Science and Statistics major and an accounting minor. She is enjoying the program. She gets to take courses at the Farmer School of Business and is going to Australia next J Term with a program through FSB.
I donât know anything about the music programs there.
Miami will no doubt come in cost wise a great deal under many of the other schools on your list if not the cheapest with you being In State and the good merit money they will give an outstanding student like yourself.
What specifically should I ask about the tuba situation?
Thank you! Economically, Miami would be the best option, so I guess I just have to see if I like it.
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Just going off your prior post, something like:
âI see you apparently do not currently have any tuba students. I play the tuba, so I am wondering if you could accommodate me?â
I assume you could do better. But really I am imagining a conversation, not just a single question. Generally, I would put this into the broader category of diplomatic self-advocacy, which is a really important life skill generally, and it is never too early to start practicing it in a school context. I find most people most of the time want to be helpful in situations like this. So if you approach them nicely but with a focused concern or question, they will do their best to help you get the information that you need, whether they know it themselves or can connect you to someone else who does.
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Sounds good! I will do that. Thank you!
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A visit to Miami â while school is in session â would be well worth your time. It is definitely a beautiful campus.
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That reminds me of another point. With the average student applying to 5-10 colleges or more, how do they find time to visit? Do they visit the ones that are most important to them first, and then once acceptances come in, visit the final options before making a decision?
We visited 12+ w D21(last 4 right before covid shut down everything at the end of her spring break ak junior year), and did 23 visits with D23(had very specific needs and switched towards Engineering after we had started). You just make it work: weekends without ECs(very rare for her), breaks, summers. And juniors&seniors are allowed to miss school. We are mid-atlantic and drove to all but the midwest 3 , which we did together in a few days as part of a trip to see relatives. It really helped(for essays, interviews) , even the ones visited in covidtimes, with no information session and only outside official tours.
Admitted student day visits for the top 2 contenders sealed the decision .
OP: agree Uof Richmond seems like it would be a great fit! Kids from our area often apply to that and William&Mary, so there is overlap of the student bodies. William &Mary is somewhat more academically focused vibe, UofR slightly more business/preppy. But there is a lot of overlap. W&L probably overlaps more with kids who love UofR .
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Thatâs a very good question. I presume that you are a rising senior, so you will have fewer opportunities during the academic year to visit before applying; and I think that it is always better to visit a school while it is in session, so that you can see the student body yourself, and visualize whether you would be (or want to be) part of it. If you have a Fall Break for your high school, or have some long weekends available to you, then you might use some of those days for travel to schools of interest (although you will need to search each school for its academic calendar to find out when the university takes its breaks, i.e., when all the university students are gone). As you are in Ohio, perhaps there is a day that you can travel to Oxford and visit Miami, or go to Dayton; or if you have a Fall Break, perhaps travel to Virginia to visit some of the schools there that you are interested in. One point that I learned early on â do not try to visit more than one school in a day, because it can be both mentally and physically taxing.
If you canât get to a school for a visit before applying, then be sure to visit during admitted student days, when you can see your potential classmates in person.
Sounds good. Thank you! Ive taken tours at the four Iâm most interested, and Iâve been on the campuses of a few others, but I wasnât sure how it would work for some of the colleges that are 15-20 hours away. Iâm thinking Iâll do all the research I can, choose whether or not to apply, and then visit if I get accepted and its in the running.
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How do they find time to visit? They make time or wait until acceptance, or do virtual visits, and/or also many times have parents with the time and resources to support numerous trips to campuses. Many kids still do not make tons of applications unless free or have parents that will pay. Lots of kids still go to community college or their state schools, or look for merit aid. And many wait to visit until they know whether or not theyâve been accepted. Lots of different scenarios. Good luck to you!
We visited more than 20 but started earlier and it was during covid so we had to self tour at many - you can get into more.
Iâd say this - look at which schools are clustered so you can do more than one.
Also take your list and note who requires demonstrated interest and who doesnât. You can see in the common data set section c7. The last item.
Your lesser tier schools, especially the privates, likely require. So Iâd choose them if possible over a reach or public that likely doesnât.
But if you go to a school that requires it, even if you self tour, let the AOs know you were there.
Ultimately itâs a time management and budget exercise.
W&M is your favorite. You were just at Richmond so I assume you went back. But if not, you likely donât need to - youâve been, took a class.
Itâs best to go when kids are there. Stop them. Talk to them. Eat in the dining hall. Walk the surrounds. But if all you can do is summer or online thatâs ok too.
If you canât get, do an online info session and online tour. Make sure, especially the privates, that they ask your name. And any school of interest, applying or not, get on their mailing list. And open their emails and play the videos, even if you walk away.
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