<p>astronautical–</p>
<p>Other schools that come to mind are Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Emory, WashU. All of those schools, plus Chicago, Rochester, Brandeis, and NYU, are in the same athletic conference.</p>
<p>Look into Hopkins and Macalester too. Oh, and Columbia U and Reed college.</p>
<p>I know that the city is important to you, but I think that Whitman College has a lot of what you’re looking for (a little bit fringey, a great books-y first year seminar).</p>
<p>Two other places that might be awesome for you that I think are worth checking out are Vassar and Wesleyan. Both are in their own towny-cities, but both are not too far from NYC, so that a day trip wouldn’t be out of the question.</p>