I actually don’t mind religious (even though I am not). I kind of get a kick out of religious traditions. I’ll look into the MS schools although I’ve never been there and it’s difficult to get out from CA to visit these schools. I liked the idea of UTK but so remote and hard to get to. We didn’t even get to visit it on our tour through the region because it was such a long drive.
UTK is much easier to get to than Auburn…just a one stop…likely through Dallas or Atlanta or Charlotte. I’d argue easier than UGA too but the flight to UGA is easier as you’d go non stop. But then you have the drive/shuttle and it’s not quick.
The difference between a UTK and Auburn is UTK is in a city - as is U of South Carolina, U of Kentucky, U of Arkansas - and all have airports. Arkansas is likely the biggest (XNA) but Knoxville, Lexington and Columbia all have airports. Secondarily, U of SC is also an hour and 20 from Charlotte too so like a UGA from Atlanta if you wanted the bigger airport. Miss State is 20 minutes from the Columbus MS Airport, btw and Delta flies there via Atlanta.
For Auburn, you’re likely heading to Atlanta and catching a ride. Ole Miss- would be Memphis and a ride (an hour plus). UGA - Atlanta and a ride - an hour plus etc.
The main thing is - if “access” matters to you and for the couple times a year, I’m not saying it should - but if it does, the city schools give you easier access than an Auburn or even UGA although you’ll find ample transport to all for a price.
If access matters to you, then in addition to the UTK, U of SC, UK, and Arkansas - and you can add UF and FSU - but if it matters, than maybe an ASU or U of Arizona or Utah or New Mexico or those type schools near an airport would be better for you. FSU will be a tough get admit but not impossible and it’s well within budget even full pay.
Anyway - the main thing I wanted to point out to you was:
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Don’t apply to schools you can’t afford and that includes Pepperdine and SMU. There are mid size - like Denver and Butler and Quinnipiac and perhaps some jesuit that would make cost.
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Ensure you apply to schools that will 100% be easy admits and 100% be financial successes. This is MOST important.
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Bonus - ensure you have others that are likely financial successes - but you still need those in # 1 - this is a Miami Ohio, U of SC, UTK types, etc.
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Go for what you want - this is your dream list - in your case - Auburn and Georgia. You hope you get in - and then they make cost.
Get #1 out of the way and then dream on #4 and get that working too - Auburn, the earlier the better.
I think you have it - good luck to you.
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You only need 2 safeties. Wilmington and NE schools wouldn’t be good commutes from CA. The Arizona schools or Utah seem like logical choices. If Alabama is affordable send an app. Who cares if it’s not Auburn. It’s SEC.
If the NPC isn’t affordable cross it off the list. An acceptance to an unaffordable school is a waste.
Maybe consider South Carolina, NC State or Ohio State. Airports nearby. Carolina and Ohio State offer OOS scholarships. Keep FSU on the list. You would be competitive for the OOS tuition waiver.
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Regarding access to Auburn - there are 16-19 round trip shuttles per day from Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson airport to campus and on to Montgomery. It’s about 1 hour and 15-30 minutes down I-85 - you can sleep, read, study - its an easy ride.
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Pepperdine is also a religious school. Is its religious environment compatible with your religious beliefs and level of observancy?
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However, if they were applying for CS or engineering, their results may not be reflective of what you may face in admission selectivity.
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That was me. OP originally had “Non STEM” in their title and I changed it to “Liberal Arts or Business” based on their first post.
It’s more about access to go visit. I guess I can apply to schools and then once I get in try to figure out how to get there. I do prefer small towns to cities though. I live in a big city now and would love a change.
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this is really good advice. Also, almost all of these schools require their own essay and with 5 AP classes there’s only so much time this Fall. I need to make some choices about what to eliminate. I’ve already crossed SMU and Wake off the list!
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I’m fine with it. I’m not religious but I respect those who are and I find it interesting. I even looked at Hillsdale because I like the classics curriculum and study abroad options but I think it’s too small and I probably wouldn’t get in.
any thoughts on James Madison? I toured it briefly and though it was OK but didn’t really get a feel for it. But I did like that it was near some good fly fishing spots 
I haven’t looked at the cost
You can study abroad from any school or other schools even.
You definitely won’t get into Hillsdale if you don’t apply. So if you are interested apply. Meets budget. New College of Florida is apparently in disaster mode but are modeling themselves after.
JMU is very nice. Comes right at $50k before future inflation. Merit not likely. It’s again - fly Dulles, need a shuttle. Possible but like Auburn or UGA, not near an airport. But accessible. Same with Bama btw which is dirt cheap and you should consider. Your family will get over it.
There’s fishing all over.
You should ask your parents - if you have $22k or $30k options, etc are they still willing to spend $50k? Not all would.
Also you can find cost on your own. Google school name plus cost of attendance. This way you don’t have to ask what it costs when you find a school of interest.
If you do a schools net price calculator, some will give you merit scholarships in the price.
If you want small cities, maybe ASU and Utah should come off. U of A is better but still big city. A smaller big city. But NAU might be better for you. And maybe Col State instead of Utah. Both WUE. Perhaps W Washington or Wash State too.
Check if WUE is automatic or competitive. Each school is different I believe.
by the way, i just looked over their MCA and I think it really hurts me. My classes are very skewed to language and english/social studies/humanities rather than math. They give a LOT of weight to taking extra math (but not statistics for some reason, which is what i’m taking this year).
Actually, Statistics has been confirmed to be advanced Math by admissions.
If they are using the same MCA information posted, then yes the emphasis on Math/Science vs. Humanities could impact your chances however, the MCA criteria is no longer known or confirmed. GPA used to be capped at 4.2 however if you look at the Middle 50% GPA ranges, they go beyond that cap. Also going test blind had impacted the MCA algorithm.
Definitely apply if you are interested in attending. Without transparent admission criteria or thresholds, it is difficult to determine where you stand but your GPA is well within the range and History vs. Business Admin appears to be a more likely acceptance.
Best of luck.
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I didn’t see it mentioned above so will just add that Auburn and UTK (maybe others on the list but I’m not familiar with all of them) give auto merit for specific SAT/GPA’s. Looks like what most people listed is their list price. Auburn EA decisions are a pretty quick turnaround since they are only focused on GPA/SAT.
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If you’re in a big metro area like Los Angeles (pop. 3,849,000), even a place with 200,000 people might feel small to you. How small of a town are you looking for? These are the populations of the schools you’re looking at, though don’t forget that some of these have metro areas which would increase the population. (These are just the quick Google results for population.)
- Salt Lake City: about 200k
- Tallahassee: about 197k
- Knoxville: about 193k
- Tempe: about 184k
- Eugene_ about 175k
- Athens: about 127k
- Wilmington: about 118k
- Auburn: about 79k
- San Luis Obispo: about 48k
- Blacksburg: about 45k
- Clemson: about 18k
- Durham, NH: about 17k
- Williamsburg: about 16k
- Malibu: about 10k
If you’re a big fan of fly-fishing and prefer smaller towns to big cities, I have a couple of school suggestions for you (based on my quick internet search about the best places for fly fishing in the U.S.) that also offer a major in Classics. I think that you’d have a reasonable shot of sufficient merit aid at these privates to get the price within budget, too:
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U. of Montana (mentioned upthread): About 7200 undegrads, and Missoula has a population of about 75k.
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Baylor (TX): About 15k undergrads, and Waco has a population of about 140k.
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Gonzaga (WA): No football here, but basketball is big. If Hillsdale’s core curriculum appealed to you, you might like the Jesuit approach which often has distribution requirements for a breadth of study. Spokane has about 230k people, so not as small as the others.
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Syracuse (NY): About 15k undergrads, and the city of Syracuse has a population of about 146k.
Also, I’d take a real good look at U. of Tennessee especially but also U. of Arkansas.
If you’re willing to forego a classics major, then Montana State in Bozeman or Appalachian State in Boone, NC might also be of interest.
OMG this is incredible. Thank you so much for sending all of this! I don’t want to give the wrong impression about fly fishing. I do love it, but I probably won’t choose a school around that interest. However, having great outdoor opportunities is kind of a must so this is all really helpful. And thanks for the snapshot on town size; really interesting and in some cases surprising. You’re right that coming from L.A. a lot of “cities” will seem like small towns to me!
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