And the difference between a “National College” and a “Regional College” is the percentage of pre-professional (vs liberal arts) degrees granted. Again, it has nothing to do with geography. This is important for the OP to know if she/he is considering these colleges.
@txmom11, bummer that your Spring Break is the same - and I think that means it will be the same as UT Austin. It is definitely better to visit while school is in session where possible. And, yes, Trinity usually offers Trinity in Focus four times per year - 2 in fall, 2 in spring. Spring Break at Hendrix looks like March 19 - 28th. So maybe that works.
They do a nice job during the Trinity in Focus (TIF) programs. One of the best things we found, is that the majority of the professors from the various departments were available for one-on-one discussions, if not full-blown classes. This sold our S on Trinity, as he really clicked with his CS professor, and that ended up the deciding factor in the end.
(He is in his second class with Dr. Lewis, and still thinks he is amazing. whew says the parent. )
@txmom11, my D applied to (way too) many schools all over the country, but more in the South. The very best merit offer she received was at Southwestern University. They are fantastic with merit aid. We are thrilled with SU, and D could not be happier.
Trinity is great too. In our case, the merit there was not close to SU, but D liked Trinity, it is a great school.
Great news @ ColdinMinny! Glad your S is thriving!
I think wofford is very preppy and high percentage of students in Greek life. Even though large state schools seem to be more Greek oriented the numbers on a percentage basis are lower. I would look at large schools with smaller honors programs. That worked well for my D. Especially good if not sure what major - more options. Plus on a large campus you have more potential for finding a close group of friends who really get your D.
A small school MIGHT be a better fit but don’t discount larger ones without looking closely.
I posted to the Southern LAC thread, but wanted to update here as well. We just returned from a visit to Hendrix. The campus is beautiful. There are many things we loved. The Odyssey program is a source of many amazing opportunities. The students we spoke with are passionate about the campus and professors and the students who spoke to the parent group were very impressive. Admission counselors made themselves readily available. We would be very happy if either of our daughters attended Hendrix. Our D loved the small class sizes, opportunities to get to know professors and laid-back feel. She loved that 4 courses is the standard course-load (or 3 plus internship in upper years). Even my H, who attended a large research U, admits that this more nurturing environment is ideal for our oldest. With all the fabulous aspects, our D, however, feels the student body is too small. She would also prefer to attend college in a more vibrant town. So we are now on the lookout for a similar environment with a larger student body and larger town. We are heading to Trinity U in San Antonio in a few weeks. Was a fabulous visit as we all learned what types of qualities are important to our D. Thanks to all who have provided suggestions!
Why not UNC Wilmington? Medium-sized, not hugely preppy or Greek, right by the beach, wonderful sense of community. Plus, the school is lacking in number of Texans!!
Oh, and it was 85° here today. 
How about Occidental College, in Los Angeles? A good friend of mine is a freshman there, and she loves it.
Your D and my oldest D (college senior) sound very similar - shy, quirky, artsy. D also wanted a small LAC that would fit her. For financial reasons, she is at our state flagship. She had a tough freshman year and didn’t really make any friends. She also hated the large lecture classes and in her case was not really prepared since she went to a small non-traditional high school with mostly project-based grades, small classes and no AP/honors/class ranking. So maybe your D’s preppy high school will come in handy in that area! As a dance major D is mostly taking dance classes now and not much in the way of bigger lecture classes.
Anyway, I’m getting to my rambling point that it took her awhile but things worked out very well and due to a huge cosmic coincidence she is now very very happy to be where she is and not at her original first choice (there was a dance professor she desperately wanted to take classes with at the first choice college and in D’s sophomore year that prof started teaching at her U and is now her senior thesis adviser!)
So, if your D ends up at UT, she should be able to find her niche. Advice I’ve heard from my D and others for shy folks is to go out on a limb early talking to students in your dorms and classes, otherwise the we’re-all-new-here-trying-to-make-friends boat will have sailed. Joining clubs is also a great way to find like-minded people (but again, do this early!)
I can’t help with any southern LAC’s, though one of my younger D’s friends (another artsy quirky type) is very happy going into the end of her freshman year at the New College of Florida, which several others have mentioned.
In case you venture further afield here are some of my D’s picks that she loved and had that quirky/artsy totally non-preppy vibe:
Hampshire in MA
Sarah Lawrence in NY (found out too late they only give need-based scholarships or wouldn’t have applied – don’t know if that’s changed as per other posters)
Oberlin in OH
Pitzer in CA
@txmom11 Westminster College in Salt Lake City is worth a consideration. It’s a decent sized LAC with good academics, a strong arts culture, and is located in a vibrant small city. It might be a little too “north” for your D but the weather is pretty mild compared to other Rocky Mountain locations. Generous merit money to boot. https://www.westminstercollege.edu/about/
-Agnes Scott College
-Earlham College
-Occidental College
If you’d go a bit further:
-Carleton College
-Reed College
Don’t be so sure she won’t like a large school. I’m very shy (at first), and my mom thought I would prefer small LACs. But, my top schools have 20,000 students!
In reading your post I saw my daughter. She has struggled with anxiety (diagnosed with OCD at age 10 - takes medication and sees a psychiatrist for it), not into the prep or mainstream scene, but is also in the top 5% of her class, acts in plays, is very artistic, is on the Forensics (Speech & Debate) team, and has won academic competitions in our area for years. When looking at colleges for her it was important to stay within a certain range from home (her desire). Since we live on the West coast we chose two safety state schools (her friends are going there…) and three others.
The schools she chose: Reed College (her dream school), Occidental College and Stanford (it’s like buying a lottery ticket… you can’t win if you don’t try).
We visited Reed twice and she interviewed there. Watching her interact with students was like seeing that she’d found her tribe. Intellectual, quirky, engaging… it fits her personality and her desires to study Anthropology or History in depth. Also no sports teams or Greek at Reed. Two students from her small, rural high school were accepted to Reed (one is a sophomore this year, the other a junior) and both love it. Neither had super high SATs (1800-2100 range), and both are very creative and have a love of learning for learning sake. (That’s a big deal at Reed.)
From a parent’s stand point, Reed kind of freaked me out a bit. It’s very liberal and some might say ‘permissive’ in terms of drug use. I think that’s like many college campus’ though, but for some it would be a deal breaker. There’s also the ‘no grades’ thing. Students can ask what their grade is, but will only be told about their grades if they are not passing. Everyone also has to write a thesis in their senior year to graduate.
Occidental is similar in size to Reed (1200 or so), but more traditional. It has a close knit community with essentially the same policy on financial aid (covers 100% of need) which was attractive to us. The programs at Occidental are somewhat limited, but most have an option for Honors after the first year and they seem to have attractive (4 year) merit aid. (We also liked that at both Reed and Occidental) encourage living on campus for at least the first 3 years - if not all 4 - and have room for it.
Stanford is sort of like the Holy Grail, but we had to try! She applied and was contacted for an alumni interview. It went very well, but still it’s a huge long shot in terms of admission.
She could have potentially gotten into many schools with her stats, but these were the ones that she chose because she could see herself living there. **Lewis & Clark was also a contender, but after visiting the campus she changed her mind. (“Too much emphasis on Greek and sports” she said.)
I had picked several other colleges for her to apply to initially, but she pushed back and limited her choices to 5 colleges. I wished she’d spread her net a bit further - mainly because I worry about the costs and what we may or may not get in FA - but have come to terms that in a week or two we’ll have the decisions and will make the choices needed to get her on her way to the next stage in her life.
My advice: sit down with your daughter and ask her what’s really important to her and where she’d like to go. Let her know what’s important to you, and compare notes. You may be far apart in your desires or you may find you are both headed in exactly the right direction. Either way remind her (and yourself…) that even if she gets into a school and doesn’t like it, she can change and go to another. Nothing is written in stone and the ‘right’ school is the one that’s right for your daughter’s continued education and development as a person.
Taking one moment at a time and listening to each other is the only way we’ve gotten through the last few months.
Be gentle with yourselves on this journey. It’s crazy-making, but it can be fun and exciting too. Visit colleges if you can, as it really helps to let you know what feels good. Look at lists of colleges that offer full rides (found them in the CC forum…). If your daughter is willing to go out of state, a merit aid package consisting of tuition, room, board and books isn’t out of her reach.
Good luck to you both.
Ahem, loved Carleton, but “warm” it most certainly is not.
I was going to write the same thing but warm weather is a plus, not a limiter.
If you are looking at Reed or Lewis and Clark (i.e., Oregon isn’t out of the running), throw Willamette in there as well. It’s in Salem so less convenient than Portland but the school runs shuttles to the Portland airport for breaks. My daughter is on the shy side and really loves it there. The weather is typical Oregon… drizzly/ rainy often, but not as cold as midwest/ East Coast. There is a Greek life contingent but it doesn’t dominate. Students seem pretty academic… less intense than Reed, more than L & C from what I’ve been able to tell, although I’m sure there’s a variety at each school.
My kid is similar to yours. She decided against applying to colleges in CA, but Whittier and the Claremont Consortium come up frequently. What are her stats? I love the sound of Eckerd in FL. My friend’s D has been accepted there, seems like a great school. Also think about Reed and Lewsi and Clark, in fun and funky Portland, OR.