Thank you for all these details! I will certainly look into W&M. Our daughters seem similar in many ways.
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If she’s willing to compromise on size I think there are many schools that could work. That medium size is hard to find and if you do find it, it’s often sporty-and-greek or brainy-and-not-sporty.
You might look at an Honors College within a larger university to help it feel smaller. I think you could find lots of larger schools (not huge maybe 10,000 - 20,000, but not a Wisconsin or Michigan where you are talking 40K+) that would check off her other wants.
She might like the Wataugua Residential College at Appalachian State University. App State has an undergrad enrollment of 18,061, but Watauga Residential College is a few hundred kids I think. Not sure of the exact number.
App State would definitely tick the sporty box and the social, and especially environmental, justice boxes. There is Greek life, but it’s not a school where everyone joins. And it’s in a small town right in the mountains. Tons of outdoor activities, great hiking, decent skiing and snowboarding, tubing, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, caving, mountain biking, etc. They have a great football team with huge support. I don’t know much about their soccer teams but I’m sure they have them.
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I think your daughter may find University of San Francisco will fit a number of things on her check list. While it is a Jesuit school, it is very left leaning and renowned for social justice, gender equality and diversity-the incoming class is from 48 states and 41 countries. Lots of social justice programs including the Arrupe Initiative- leadership, human rights and community involvement in the city. They have 11 D1 teams, great school spirit.
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Thank you. Yes my daughter is a unique mix of sport/social justice loving, making this search interesting! She is flexible though, so I trust she will make things work. Just have to figure out a reasonable list!
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OP, I didn’t read all the suggestions after I saw your comment that cost was definitely a consideration.
With that mentioned, I think you need to have have a very good idea of your budget - savings, cash flow, tolerance for loans, if any - and your EFC (use the FAFSA4Caster at the govt. site, https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/ … and start you list with those numbers in mind. Many of the colleges I saw while skimming are expensive and/or offer little or no aid.
Good luck!
And it can vary even at the same school. My daughter played women’s club hockey. Everyone makes the team and they beg for others to join. For the men’s team, very competitive try outs and only about 1/2 make the team.
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@aligroovi Could you clarify your financial restriction? Is your family eligible for need-based financial aid or do you need (or want) merit aid? Many schools in the northeast are generous with need-based aid, but don’t offer merit, so you need to check affordability by using their net price calculators.
I would agree that your daughter should try to prioritize her wish list. Most academically rigorous schools lean left and manage to enroll a reasonable percentage of students of color. Quite a few have sporty, outdoorsy, active student bodies. The catch is that some have robust Greek systems and some have enrollments under 2500.
So if she’s open to compromise, then I would suggest Williams, Hamilton, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin for sporty and outdoorsy cultures and no (or limited) Greek presence.
Williams is nestled in a mountain valley which is great for hikers, skiiers, snowboarders. They like the scholar-athlete concept and host robust varsity, JV, intramural and club programs.
Colgate and Dartmouth tick a lot of your daughter’s boxes, but have substantial Greek presences. I would also add Davidson and Kenyon to the sporty list, though their locations and size may be drawbacks.
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I’ll echo that. My son is as agnostic as they come and he has absolutely no issue attending a Catholic university (U Dayton.) While he’s made adjustments to college life, he hasn’t felt the need to make any adjustment because he’s at a Catholic university. It hasn’t been an issue for him at all.
Certainly every student will be different and might have different levels of tolerance/irritation. Going into the college search process, I (and son) initially felt a little reluctance about applying to any religious affiliated college. By the end of the process and after researching many universities, we’d learned enough to know it wouldn’t be an issue for us to consider except at a very few (non Catholic) colleges.
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Clemson and Miami of Ohio are about 18K and both have very good honors colleges and give a decent amount of merit money (Miami more than Clemson). They also are large enough to have club sports. Both also have significant Greek life about 30% I believe but by the nature of the size all kids find their tribe. My D18 is a very liberal social justice warrior and although clemson is conservative by the fact that there are lots of kids from SC there she found her people. Was active in the Democrats Club. Got a job from a grant the supported woman and minority faculty getting tenure and equal advancements among the faculty.
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App State has 11% of men in frats and 12% of women in sororities per Niche. I don’t know exactly how accurate that is, but it seems about right to me. My mother in law has a mountain house in Boone and we have been going there for 25+ years. App State has a lot of kids that are very eco-focused. Great sustainability programs. Lots of social justice interest too. Boone is a blue dot in a sea of red if that matters, but I believe Boone is a bit bluer than Clemson.
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My daughter is a college athlete in the NE. We travel to Vassar for her sport. Every single time we have been there the kids are warm, friendly, and smiley. I don’t think you’re going to find big football games to attend (but that comes with a culture too) but for a sport like soccer she may find a fit.
Swarthmore is top tier for academics, has a solid athletic program and is about as liberal as you’ll find.
I have another athlete daughter at St Lawrence. It is not a prestigious school per say - based on admit rates but the kids who apply and attend self select for location, and that’s a huge effect. The education is great. It is in the middle of nowhere unless you love the outdoors! It has the second oldest collegiate outing club and the kids make good use of the surroundings. About 40% are athletes.
I also have a UCONN grad (also an athlete). The UCONN honors program is impressive, and athletics are good - unless you’re a football player 
.
Other schools to look at: Conn College, UVM, Haverford, Villanova, Skidmore. Some will be fits and safeties.
Good luck, and may your daughter’s college dreams come true!
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Thank you… great ideas and input! Vassar is on the radar too, more mine I think! It’s just pretty close to us and on the small side. I should clarify too that she loves sports events but not necessarily football (at all). Most anything will do… soccer, hockey, lacrosse, baseball… just enjoys the fun of it. And she would love to play soccer in some capacity.
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Not sure if anyone had mentioned Davidson yet. It may be too small at about 2K students, but it has D1 sports and lots of spirit, especially around their hoops team. The smaller size will make club sports more accessible. Adorable town on Lake Norman and close to Charlotte. Not sure about left leaning as a whole, but pretty much any college campus will have left leaning kids. Greek life exists, but is not dominating. U Richmond has a stronger greek presence, but it is slightly larger at around 3K students and also has D1 sports. The campus is really beautiful.
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I guess I sometimes forget that there are families out there without financial restrictions!? Just because these schools are atrociously expensive. I think we wil be in a tricky middle ground there. We’d get some need-based but probably not a ton, so yes merit would help. Many of these are very appealing although maybe too small. Have walked around a few already, but no real tour. Basically strong academics, liberal vibe, with an opportunity to play soccer in come capacity would be ideal. And the cherry on top would be things to do outside of campus, whether it be a small cultural area, places to eat etc… or places to hike and ski and explore would be great.
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As mentioned by @cleoforshort - Swarthmore and Haverford both seem to fit the sportsy, lefty, diverse and competitive marks. They also happen to be in the middle of the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic geography request.
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OP- nail down the finances. There is a huge difference between “merit would help” (lots of great schools are happy to throw 5K your way) and “We need a 30K merit award in order to make it work”. To me, this is the biggest to-do on your list.
The rest will follow.
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