Then I think you should skip Elon. There is a road that goes from the highway to Elon (I seem to remember about 10 miles? but I could be way off) and nothing on it. At the end of that is Elon. Very tiny little main street but mostly the college. It is manicured and properly laid out. Very nice athletic facilities.
It’s not far from a lot of other big universities but Elon itself is isolated. There are sorority houses on campus but I don’t think many students move off campus.
I was thinking about St. Olaf - in case it might be a factor in your decision whether it is the right safety or not, I wanted to mention that, at least as of last year, they had a bunch of supplemental essay questions your D would need to deal with. Our S applied and was accepted but we ended up not visiting given his other choices. I do have friends who are St. Olaf graduates, and they are passionate about the school.
Southern schools are southern schools. They have their own personalities, dress codes, social lives. The fit is either right or not right.
Sororities in the south, like in the north, reflect the student body of the school. My daughter was at a smaller school (~3500 on campus) with only a few small sororities (NPC). They were very diverse because the student body was, and because there were no local sororities or historically black sororities for the women to join. If you look at pictures from the chapters of her sorority at Yale, MIT, CMU, they are very diverse because those schools are diverse. At some of the bigger southern schools (UF, Alabama, UGA), they are less diverse because the minority women have more choices and self select their mother’s house, a house where their friends or sisters are members, a house that has more of interest to them. Some will choose co-ed groups, and the NPC sororities do not allow men.
We have been to Elon several times and we thought it was a very nice campus but agree that there is not much within walking distance. Not far from Burlington, Durham, Greensboro, etc but you would need transportation to get to any of those places.
The campus did seem more lively than Davidson though. If you visit WFU, I would recommend going to Elon as it is close.
@homerdog regarding your post #279 asserting your concern that psychology & history majors are too common at large universities and that having a Davidson pedigree for life is different.
The point being missed here is that your daughter would have the stamp / pedigree of the University of South Carolina Honors College or another large public university designation of “honors college” on her transcripts and, possibly, on her degree as well.
Also, many–probably most–public honors colleges offer special advising to honors students, & special recruiting & interviewing events for honors students, & internship & research opportunities for which honors college students are given priority.
@wisteria100 re: your post #284 above about Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
The reason I wrote that Bates College in Maine doesn’t make sense in light of OP’s daughter’s preferences is that the daughter wants a warm weather school with strong school spirit & wants to be a dancer at school events. To my understanding, Bates College does not satify any of these wants.
I am not at all sure that attending a LAC will improve job prospects, as I know unemployed recent Davidson grads. Alumni might be more willing to help, but there are fewer alumni to begin with. The top 5 LACs do well in Wall St placement, if that is of interest.
I have to agree with Publisher.
If your daughter prefers LACs over large universities, I certainly understand. I don’t agree, however, that psych or history majors have better job/career placement at LACs over large universities, and that having Davidson written on her diploma would somehow open more doors than the U of SC honors college. There are WAY, WAY too many variables here to make such a statement.
My friend’s child graduated from a top LAC as a history major and it took him awhile to get a job. He finally found one doing general office work while he figures out what he wants to do next. One doesn’t need a degree from a top LAC for this generic office job.
My cousin’s D graduated from Hamilton as some kind of art major and is unemployed. I don’t blame the school…this appears to be a function of the student.
I know kids from other top LACs…one has a job but graduated with an engineering degree from Swarthmore. The others are in the grad school process and some have gap year positions.
My D goes to a young nurse practitioner (early 30’s). She graduated from a strong LAC as a sociology major and then spent a few years doing work through Americorp and the Peace Corp before heading back to school. This is not uncommon. Lots of new grads do this.
My D graduated from a large, very strong state university. She had several friends who majored in subjects such as psychology, sociology, etc. They all have jobs. Granted, some are more like “gap year” positions while they get their graduate apps together, but they certainly make enough to pay their rent. Others, however, have “real” jobs in DC and instate working in policy, for the governor etc.
One should be careful with their expectations and realities. Graduating from the U of South Carolina Honors College (for example) OR from an LAC would certainly set graduates up for success…but as with most things, students need to do their part.
I don’t want this to turn into a comparison of LACs versus larger schools. Both have their pros and cons, and your D prefers LACs. Nothing wrong with that at all…LACs are terrific schools with a lot to offer. Just be careful not to pit one against the other in terms of job placement…I have witnessed too many variables over the past 8 years.
In a post in this thread, I wrote that Carleton College is great at preparing students for grad school, not as great for job placement.
Probably half of Carleton College’s grads either enter grad school or take a position with a non-profit such as the Peace Corps. Within a couple to a few years of graduation, about 75% of Carleton College graduates end up in graduate school.
Carleton College graduates less than 500 students per year. With so many heading off to grad school & non-profits prior to attending grad school, it is unlikely that employers are rushing off to remote Northfield, Minnesota to interview the remaining students.
If any poster knows differently, then please prove me wrong.
Carleton College grads do get employed–the question I raise is how many do due to on-campus recruiting ?
Also…I am not convinced that large schools are a “no” for you…you were willing to possibly look at Northeastern with 18,000 or so undergrads.
Your D really sounds like the perfect candidate for an honors college. Yes, some intro classes may be large…but remember that not all large classes are created equal. What I mean is…while there may be some professors who stand up and lecture to a class of 150, there are other professors who are highly skilled and able to turn larger classes into smaller and more intimate learning experiences. If I didn’t hear this for myself, I would never believe it. I will say, however, that there are students who prefer, and do very well, sitting in a straight lecture hall with 150 kids (your D is not in this group).
If your D decides to put an honors college on her list, it may be worth it to explore how the larger intro classes are taught. Believe it or not…there are differences among schools.
@homerdog: With respect to public university honors colleges, inclusion of one or two or three on your list of schools to consider does not mean that any LACs need to be excluded.
A major concern that I have is that your daughter is just a first semester junior in high school who may be limiting her options without understanding & investigating all of her options. Plus, as she grows & matures, her interests & priorities may change. Now is not the time to be closing doors of opportunity.
Why not add two public honors colleges to her list of match or safety schools ? Once accepted with a substantial scholarship, she can visit & explore the opportunities available to her.
In my opinion, a 16 year old should not be shutting doors of opportunity based on preconceived notions.
P.S. Many public honors colleges offer honors sections of intro. courses which limit the number of students who may enroll to numbers in the 20s.
News flash: Non-profit jobs are JOBS. Not everybody wants to work for some big corporation. And “gap year” (not my word choice) are jobs, too. People start at all kinds of levels and fields, not all are looking for some corporate recruitment position. The world isn’t comprised totally of hamsters on a wheel. 
Instead of speculation
https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/outcomes/employment/
https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/assets/ClassOf2016_PositionTitles.pdf
https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/assets/ClassOf2016_Employers.pdf
I would seriously not be concerned about the career outcomes of the intelligent students attending Carleton (and similar type LACs).
Yes, I understand that working for a non-profit is a job, but many are entered into as a temporary stint prior to entering graduate school. (Peace Corps is a prime example as is Teach For America.)
Carleton College is well known as a producer of future PhDs and touts its heavy placement (75%) of it graduates into grad schools within a few years of college graduation.
P.S. The tables cited above reveal that about 41% of the class of 2016 reported having full-time employment.
Honestly, for a certain caliber of student/career, some type of grad school (Master’s) is the norm these days. All jobs are “temporary” before jumping ship for the next rung of the ladder, going to law school, med school, MBA, etc. This isn’t surprising for Carleton or other schools. Carleton attracts academically motivated and highly capable students. Not sure why this is being spun as a negative by some because it isn’t. And yet, those who don’t pursue post grad studies do find jobs.
This thread isn’t about Carleton, though. OP doesn’t even have Carleton on her daughter’s early list.
It isn’t a negative. The point was raised by OP citing her husband’s concerns about job placement & OP’s beliefs about LACs’ superior job placement.
Carleton College is clearly an outstanding school for highly intelligent, hard working students who want to enter grad school, and it has an unusually high placement into PhD programs.
Thanks @doschicos we are flushing out some actual numbers & placements.
It would be wonderful if others could share job placement stats for particular schools–especially regarding any honors college or honors programs experiences / outcomes / benefits.
Temporary jobs, “gap year” positions…eventually going back to school…are certainly not negatives. This is the path my D is following. She is working for a large organization for 2 years…got in through a “gap year” program…and is then heading back to school. She lives independently, has made lots of interesting friends from all over, earns enough to support herself, and travels.
This path is certainly not a negative. She has a job.
I think you should keep Tulane on the long list, at least. New dining commons, compact campus for its student body size, warm weather, sports & school spirit, and appears to offer a lot of dance courses. And you don’t have to apply to a particular school - all undergrads start out in the same place. I am not sure about the dorms yet…have heard mixed reviews but I think some are newer than others. Again, not sure about merit if that’s a requirement. I think they are starting to reject more EA applicants because they just started offering ED in the last few years. And I don’t know if any ED applicants get merit. There are additional scholarships you can apply for though. The reason for the rejections at your school could be showing interest (or not) as they are very very big on that. My S got in ED with a 30 ACT. He did visit, interview locally with AO and had a great essay and strong hs coursework. But 30 is below their middle 50% so we were very pleased that he was accepted. I am not sure if he would have been if he did EA, but maybe. We will find out this week how the EA round goes at Tulane as he has some friends applying.
Regarding on campus recruitment- the idea of recruiters setting up an office in the career center for a day and interviewing students is a little antiquated. Sure that happens, but nowadays many companies post jobs with college career services offices and then conduct the first/2nd rounds by phone or Skype. Those that make it through are invited on-site for additional meetings. Therefore being in Northfield MN (which some say is remote, but is actually commutable to Minneapolis) or any other LAC, is not a detriment to recruitment.
Maybe we can move past the job part. I’ll do some research into the career centers etc. Hard to really get into a deep discussion about it since she’s undecided in major.
My head is kind of spinning about the list. I feel like, for every positive thing someone has to say about a school, there are two reasons why the school might not fit. I guess, like most kids, she will need to prioritize her wants/needs and see campuses to fess out fit. I don’t know how people do this without visiting schools. It must be so hard.
I think the question is where do we take her? We’ve got one week for spring break. She’s got two long weekends this winter too.
She’s missing one/two days of school to visit her brother in April. We were originally going to fly her out by herself but now I’m thinking I should send my H with her and they should see BC and Bates.
I think we should use a long weekend to visit Denison. Maybe the other long weekend to see St. Olaf and visit the cousins.
Spring break will be Wake, Richmond, Davidson, Elon. I’m wavering on W&L now the more I read about the vibe there. And I need to ask her about William and Mary since she’s already been there. See if she wants to see it again.
I’m still honestly struggling with the PA schools as much as I think they could fit. I can’t really explain it. It’s hard to sell a school to a 16-year old when she’s never heard of it and it would require a flight and hotel stays to visit. But maybe we are leaving good options on the table. Doesn’t look like Lafayette has any dance program at all (as she’s talking about dance now, not dance team like the dancers at games). Dickinson definitely does and S got in without visiting. Lehigh also no dance.
When it comes to bigger schools with honors programs, I don’t think visits would really be required for showing interest but it might be good for her to see some so that she can start thinking about if she likes that option at all. USCarolina’s campus is half the size of Wisconsin. Is it worth going there on this spring break trip? I don’t know which other big schools make sense to visit. I would think maybe Boulder but we run into the problem that lots of “average” kids from our school go there and they are not her crowd. It’s kind of crazy though. What if she visits a bigger school that’s not Wisconsin and likes it. That opens up a lot of options.
We took S to a lot of schools. He was accepted to three schools we did not visit. All three of those could have been awesome for him but, in the end with too many to choose from, he narrowed his final choices down to three that he’d already visited. I’m having a hard time picturing D choosing a school that she will only visit after acceptance so I’d like to choose the right schools to visit.
Honestly I wouldn’t bother with any visit until you have actual test results in hand. Practice tests are not always predictive, and the actual results will help greatly in narrowing this list.