Looking to make a good list of possible schools based on above criteria… including being relatively to highly prestigious and selective. Daughter is a very good student, athletic, plays soccer, loves to watch sports too, leans politically left and interested in racial and gender issues, different cultures, and prefers not to necessarily be at a tiny school in the “middle of nowhere” unless maybe mountains nearby. I realize this may be a unicorn she is searching for but would love ideas. Thank you!
What do you consider midsize?
UNC Chapel Hill?
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about 5000, but in the 2500-10000 range! I know that is small to large(ish). pretty open to sizes still, just not tiny or huge.
Would the area around Middlebury be mountainous enough?
What about Mount Holyoke (small, but surrounded by 40,000 college students in the 5 college consortium)?
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Most colleges tend to lean to the liberal side due to the young population.
Have you read through some of the good college guide books – ex. Fiske, Insiders Guide, Princeton Review? That is often a great place to start.
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Lafayette, Lehigh, Villanova, William and Mary, Ivies, Colgate, American, Richmond and Holy Cross all fit the bill terms of size, location and school spirit. Not sure about the liberal nature of each of the schools. If size expanded to 20000 I would include BC, Delaware and UNH.
Of course expected major will come into play. What does she want to study?
Also cost is an important consideration. Most of the first bunch of schools I mentioned are not giving merit money but will generally meet a reasonable amount of need. Schools like Udel and UNH will give merit money to strong students.
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Yes thank you, I have at least one of those books! I think the tricky part is the size/selectivity/sporty-school spirit-y but with a moderate social justice/non-greek combo vibe 
Also not really interested in Catholic schools although many fit the bill in terms of other criteria.
Great list… she is not decided yet on what she wants to study! LAC a plus for that reason but has great math and people skills (?) She in a junior this year and trying to plan out where to visit if possible. Cost definitely a consideration.
Great list… she is not decided yet on what she wants to study! LAC a plus for that reason but has great math and people skills (?) She in a junior this year and trying to plan out where to visit if possible. Cost definitely a consideration.
sorry wrong reply… but yes love that 5 college area. She is not interested in all women’s colleges though. And yes area around Middlebury I think is mountainous enough:) thanks!
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Sounds like a unicorn! 
haha yeah, yes she will have to be flexible!
Elon?
Bucknell?
UVM?
Emory (not in the NE, but worth a look)
Maybe JMU (might be too big)
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None fit all criteria but maybe also look into Tufts, Dartmouth?
Consider if she could qualify for an honors program of a larger school that has big time sports (ex UConn, UMD)?
Not sports schools but SUNY schools have good prices even for out of state students SUNY Geneseo is a smaller but fine school and SUNY Binghamton is also worth a look
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I think ideally and hypothetically (since she hasn’t toured or done a ton of research yet) she would like a school like Tufts…
She’d also like to play soccer in some capacity if possible…
I need to also do some research into honors program and what those qualifications are.
As a source for ideas, this Newsweek article includes quite a few schools known for their participatory athletics programs:
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Emory doesn’t have tons of school spirit and isn’t sporty, IMHO. Ditto University of Rochester, but you might consider it.
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Not exactly where she wants to be geographically, but what about University of Michigan?
ETA: I was focused on school spirit, sportiness, left-leaning, and prestige and forgot about size. Michigan is really big, obviously.
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