I know you’re not interested in Michigan, but I’m sure other big universities, like Wisconsin, have similar setups like Michigan’s LSA Opportunity Hub, for UG’s:
If I recall correctly I think you said you might visit Elon soon? Do the official tour if you do make it to Elon. I know several that speak very highly of Elon and were very impressed after their visit.
I grew up in NC and honestly, Elon did not have that great of a reputation when I graduated high school but it seems things have changed. We know Davidson pretty well and if your daughter likes the feel of Davidson, she might really like Elon too. I also understand that Elon does a great job with helping their graduates find jobs.
I thought I read upthread that someone was concerned about Davidson being too conservative. From what I have seen/heard that should not be a concern. Best of luck!!
“Rather than visiting cold weather, midwestern LACs, consider a visit to some schools out of your & her preconceived comfort zones.”
Not particularly warm or close by, but as an out of the box suggestion that’s a lot less expensive than a full pay LAC, it might be worth throwing in an application to St Andrews if she has good AP scores in her junior year. They also have a 2+2 program with W&M which could be the best of both worlds (though it’s more expensive).
Regarding Colgate, this Forbes article (“America’s Friendliest Towns”) should contribute to a positive early impression of Hamilton, NY:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/12/19/americas-friendliest-towns/
I disagree that Bates does not make sense on that list. I think it has some common ground with Davidson, Colgate, W&L, W&M. Sure it doesn’t have big time sports or Greek life, but kids do manage to have fun there. In fact a colleague of DH who has S’s at both Colgate and Bates, says the Bates S has more parties. The outdoor club is very big and a source of great activities. The town and overall location is probably better than the town Wake is in. And even D3 football games have kids attending. Now the basketball scene at Wake much better, but it’s also a hard tix to get for a lot of the games.
Elon has indeed come far, ranking 2nd in the country in undergrad teaching last year according to US News, FWIW. It is also a relative bargain for full pay families with a COA of around $50k. Mostly NY-NJ-CT kids.
As a parent of a kid at Richmond, the demographics there (and therefore the politics and the southern behaviors (girls in pearls)) are quite different than at W &L and Wake. After Va, at 19.5 %, the NE and mid Atlantic states are most represented (over 50%).
Just texted my S, he did that laughing with tears emoji re, girls in pearls and dressing for games.
What is your basis for this statement? I really don’t find it true at all. Elite LACs like Carleton have good grad school placement because they attract highly academic students, not because they are bad at career placement.
Excellent school but definitely not a rah rah collegiate atmosphere, although it is very laden with traditions of its own.
@homerdog, I may have missed it, but I don’t recall seeing your thoughts on Kenyon. Aside from cold weather, Kenyon seems to fulfill a lot on your daughter’s wishlist: mid-range selectivity, strong academics social sciences & humanities, spirited competitive sports culture, vibrant dance program, beautiful campus, middle-road politics. To me, Kenyon and Davidson, though different in physical environments, have similar personalities.
@homerdog - another anecdotal story but a friend’s D’s top three colleges after acceptances were Colgate, Lafayette and WF and she did multiple visits to each, including accepted students days. She decided on Wake and has been very happy - a serious student who does not seem to be a partier but has found much to enjoy. I do agree with some of the concerns you raised about Wake - there is some truth to those descriptions but I’m sure there are also many groups of students who are not part of the southern Greek culture - however your D may like it (you not so much 
). The same friend loved Colgate and maybe wanted that one for her D but also said the wealth there was obvious and significant, much more so she felt than at Wake.
If your Naviance shows Emory as a possibility, maybe with higher scores your D would want to ED there. I’d recommend a visit.
Finally, I think you know I love LACs and I understand your point about job placement and career services compared with larger schools. However, as a psychology major she may want to go to grad school and one could argue the benefits of being in a larger psychology department working in a lab as an honors student. Yes, many LACS can place students well in grad schools. However, Wisconsin and UIUC have two of the best psych. departments in the country with top notch researchers. Getting into one of their labs and having recommendations from those well known in their field can be very important for getting into certain grad programs. While I don’t think this should be a big consideration for choosing an undergraduate college, I just wanted to point out that it is not necessarily better to be at an LAC as a psych. major.
@momrath S19 was accepted to Kenyon with $20k/year merit. We visited twice. He stayed overnight the second time. I love Kenyon. But, even as a big LAC fan, he found it too remote. No town. Uber doesn’t even come to campus. If S couldn’t eek out love for Kenyon then D would not like it there either. Sorry to say. She thought Colby was too remote and Colby seems hopping compared to Kenyon.
@doschicos Carleton places kids in jobs too. It’s not just a grad school factory. We asked a lot of questions about that when S was accepted there. He went to an alumni holiday party and met a lot of alums who said they went to work after undergrad. And I stalked their career center on Twitter and Instagram for over a year and saw a ton of companies coming to campus to recruit both for internships and jobs.
Thanks @elena13 we also know one student at Wake who I couldn’t ever imagine dressing up and going to a football game. We will seek her out if/when we visit.
As for Wisconsin and Illinois and psych, that’s good to know. I’ll check it out. D has mentioned it as a major but she has no clue. Won’t take AP Psych until next year. It will be good for me to have the info available on that.
@havenoidea I had a feeling that Richmond isn’t quite as fancy Southern as some other schools. Thanks!
I talked briefly to D today about all of this and she said she really just needs to see schools. Right now, she said the few things she thinks she wants include:
*Nice dorms
*Good, healthy food
*Not a giant campus
*A minimum number of big classes if any
*Likes the idea of a sorority and would want to rush if the school has Greek life
*Would like to find a school where she can dance (not poms) w/out being a major
*Doesn’t want to have to declare a major until soph year
*Will consider moving off campus after 2 years but would prefer to stay on meal plan
*Doesn’t want to go to a college that has a slew of “average” students from her school
*and this one seemed kind of big - wants the academics to match her and not be overwhelming. I think she’s hearing from S about how slammed he always is. Not that she doesn’t expect to work but I think she’s looking for a work/fun balance.
Except for the dance comment, this doesn’t help narrow things down much. But she had a good attitude and said she’s keeping an open mind.
Oh, I certainly know that. Not sure I’m the one you should have tagged/needs convincing. 
I think it is a misconception that LACs aren’t as versed in career placement.
Much political discourse these days (not just in college environments) is of the unhealthy kind. Unfortunately, the unhealthy kind tends to dominate the discourse, inciting fear, anger, and hatred (often the intent).
If the student is interested in joining a sorority, she and you may want to consider how integrated/segregated the sorority houses at various colleges are. At some colleges, many of the houses appear to be highly segregated based on the photo albums that the post publicly. At some others, not as much. Sorority/fraternity umbrella organizations also tend to reflect historical segregation:
- NPC/PHA = mostly historically white sororities
- IFC = mostly historically white fraternities
- NPHC = historically black sororities and fraternities
- MCGC = sororities and fraternities that may be explicitly multicultural, but often are predominantly Latino or Asian or explicitly Latino or Asian cultural interest groups
I like the Bowdoin and Bates options too. Both are test optional and with her great grades and ecs. That ACT pressure is reduced.
Also regarding Wake. I like their ED process. It’s more of a rolling format and students find out fairly soon from what I read. That’s a nice feature as well.