U of Utah? It’s really not cold there (not like Chicago)
University of Iowa and University of South Carolina were two other publics with a variety of options for non-majors and honors colleges. Indiana, Butler, and Utah were ones where we’ve heard it’s tough if you’re not in the major.
@darcy123 Looks like Oklahoma encourages a second major. And I’ve heard you can double major at Utah but it would maybe take five years. The other schools that I think can make a double major work include Tulane, Richmond, and Emory but I have to look into those. And, yes, I believe she could audition and dance at UIUC with no need to major or minor in dance.
Yes
Utah isn’t warm, but definitely not a big public - they have a pretty compact campus and the honors dorms are new and very nice. My D20 considered it strongly, but they only have a BFA and the required hours are extensive. I know from the dance threads several poster’s daughter’s are double majoring, but it would have been really tough for my D20 as she is looking at a lot of lab based sciences for her major. If they had a BA or minor it probably would have made my daughter’s final list. Tulane and Richmond were on her list as was University of Southern California (it’s extremely tough to get into the dance major, but they have extensive classes and options for non-majors), Wash U and University of Rochester.
Yes, back to the main topic. How many schools do you think you want to get to during spring break? Remember that some at the end of the trip may not be liked as much as the beginning. Those trips can be exhausting as you know.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: PLEASE stop the debating. You guys know better. I will delete posts.
@homerdog my D had no interest in joining a sorority…so it came as a surprise to me when she said she loved what Wake Forest does with their Greek housing. Kids in sororities and fraternities live in the regular dorms along with everybody else (I assume that is still true?).
She said the reason why she loved that concept was because it helped reduce feelings of exclusion.
Remember…no school will ever be perfect 100% of the time. Maybe ask your D to make a list of “must haves.” Those are the schools to focus on, and you could narrow things down from there.
@Homerdog, Circling back to your comments on Kenyon (#291), I agree Kenyon is insular. For some (like my son) that would be a plus, but if access to a city or town is a “must have” for your daughter then I can understand why, despite other positives, Kenyon wouldn’t make the list. As much as I admire Hamilton, I’d put it in the same insular category.
I was going to mention Conn College but I see other posters have already suggested it. Conn College skews a bit toward female but being next door to the Coast Guard Academy compensates.
Another that I’d like to suggest (though I might have missed an earlier mention in this discussion) is Skidmore. Beautiful campus, terrific dorms, lively town, social cheerful students, good but not crazy intense academics, middle-road politics. And, from what I understand, a vibrant performing arts program, including a dance department.
With Pitt acceptance in hand, check out SUNY at Buffalo. I consider it an under appreciated gem. Merit possible. Same with SUNY Binghamton for something smaller. Buffalo has a string dance program. One of my kids compared Syracuse with Buffalo and value for money went to UB. But for that matter, if you are out that way check it out yourselves, along with LACs like Hamilton, Colgate , Union, Hobart William Smith, St Lawrence , etc Rochester also a strong contender. For something different, I’d seriously look at Rensselaer if you check out Skidmore . I see good merit possibilities there. You don’t have to be a STEM major there, the school is skewed more male, so being female is a plus with 60-70% of the UGs being male. The two women i know who went there loved their experiences.
@elena13 We were thinking Davidson, Wake, Richmond, and Elon for spring break but then I thought maybe we should squeeze in W&L and maybe go back to William and Mary…but I’m taking W&L off the list. Not a fit. (Don’t argue everyone!)
I have a tour set up for Davidson on Monday and Richmond on Thursday. Wake and Elon don’t have dates available yet but they would be Tues and Wed. Fly into Charlotte and fly out of DC. We can just visit friends in DC after we spend time at Richmond. I really want to see if I can get her into a dance class at Richmond so we might be there for two days. Aren’t flying out until Sunday so we could see W&M if she wants but I have a feeling we won’t go. We will see.
@momrath I think she’d be fine with a school like Bowdoin or Denison or Dickinson where kids walk to a town that’s pretty much attached to campus. I think St. Olaf and the town of Northfield are like that too. Kenyon has NO town. There’s a strip of two restaurants and the bookstore smack dab in the middle of campus but the nearest town is a 10-15 min drive. That was a deal breaker for S and D won’t like that either. I thought Hamilton’s town was walkable to the town of Clinton. Maybe I’m wrong. S19 applied and got in but we never ended up visiting. Skidmore was brought up way earlier in this thread but, at full price, I don’t think we’d go that direction.
Hamilton’s town is a bit over a hilly mile from campus. So technically walkable but not adjacent. The area just surrounding St Olaf, is not like the cute area directly adjacent to Carleton.
You said not to argue about taking W&L off the list so I will bite my tongue (very hard!)
Interesting places in the village fall within (and slightly beyond) a one mile walk from the edge of campus. Alternatively, Hamilton’s Jitney runs every hour and takes four minutes to get to the village center. Beyond that, it connects to areas in New Hartford with typical suburban amenities near Utica:
https://www.hamilton.edu/campuslife/transportation/the-jitney
This NBC Sports video should give you a sense for Clinton:
https://www.nbcsports.com/video/clinton-arena-2018-kraft-hockeyville-has-long-ice-hockey-history
The movie The Sterile Cuckoo, beyond its own merits, offers a nice sense of enduring visual aspects of the area as well.
If Colgate might become a serious contender, then it would be a good idea to get to know all of these towns — they are common places to stay during heavily booked events weekends.
@wisteria100 really? I get that W&L checks some boxes but I think it’s probably the most southern of the schools on this tentative list. Care to sell me on it? Why W&L over, say, Davidson? I had another thread at one point and many posters flat out said that W&L’s students are overwhelmingly socially conservative.
I would review Niche’s description of W&L’s student body and that will give you a flavor for the type of student this college attracts. I personally don’t see it as a fit for your D.
Bikes, folks! Bikes are a great compromise between walking and having a car. 
@doschicos sure. But not when it’s snowing…
Regarding Washington & Lee, there used to be (and may still be) a satirical quiz in The Insider’s Guide to Colleges that landed on W&L as an example of one of four (stereotypical) types of colleges. If you can find the right edition, your daughter may want to see whether the quiz offers her any real-world insight.
Well, in some snow, yes one can. If it’s snowing bad, one probably won’t want to walk or drive in it either. 
Just to clarify, the kids at Denison walk up and down the hill to Granville all the time - no shuttle. We did find Conn College to be a bit isolated from the town - I don’t think it’s walkable. Our S was accepted there with large merit, but for location and other reasons, it just didn’t click when we visited. It felt a little sleepy when we were there, but that could have been a coincidence. If you are looking at Conn, it is located between the Providence and Hartford airports. I recall it is closer to Providence, but we flew in and out of Hartford and it was less than an hour.