I’ve heard really good things about this program at DU - maybe a fit if he can score a spot: https://www.du.edu/leadership/
Collegefortwins, glad the comment was helpful! You already have some DU feedback that is more well-informed than anything I can provide. She considered DU, and we visited Denver in pre-college search days and it is a great city and obviously has incredible surrounding outdoors opportunities. Her assessment on DU was on paper only, and she sensed a little more pre-professional bent there than the undecided LAC wanderer she enters college as (although I am sure there are plenty of those at DU, and plenty of “pre-professional” frosh at Occidental - like so many parents, I felt the impressions she formed about colleges seemed, well, pretty impressionistic most of the time 
). I think DU has a business school that it is rightly proud of and makes up a part of its institutional identity - a great strength, but not one that drew my D in. But the IR program is a strength too, so may well be a great fit for your S. At some point, she had to eliminate some schools, and DU was one that just as well could have been on the final app.
We looked at public honors too fwiw. My two cents: looks at University of Delaware for its really strong global/IR focus (including some very unique study abroad programming for freshman students) and its well-regarded honors program - also small student body by public flagship standards; University of Maryland Honors for DC/Baltimore urban proximity/internships plus good honors program with neat housing/learning community structure; and University of Pittsburgh Honors for its great urban setting, all around solid offerings, and rolling admissions (a nice psychological boost in the fall) - it also has a little smaller undergrad population than some state flagships. UPitt’s Honors program is less defined than the other two, but it does have honors housing. All offer some OOS merit (competitive to be sure, but your son’s stats should put him in the conversation), and even with low/no merit the lower initial COA’s of those three can make them competitive with some privates. D ultimately felt they were too big for what she wanted, but I was a fan of all three.
I like @JMS111 's rec to at least look into U. of Delaware. I’m an unabashed lover of LACs, but honors colleges are definitely causing people like me to fall silent. Sort of hard to make the you’ll-be-treated-as-a-number-and-solely-taught-by-TAs-in-ginormous-classrooms argument when one is receiving the same personal treatment that one finds at an LAC in a solid honors program.
Plus, U of Delaware has very strong PS/IR programs, and the school has graduated a veritable who’s who list of politicians and political thinkers (Joe Biden, Chris Christie, Steve Schmidt).
Thank you for that link, @aquapt ! Just convinced DS in to look at it, and he is enthusiastic!
I’d advise a closer look at Seattle University, including its full ride Sullivan Leadership Award that’s focused on social justice. It may be a Jesuit school, but there are students of all faiths (and of none), there are no chapel requirements, and it’s extremely liberal in a self-contained, urban environment with no sororities/fraternities. Small classes that are all taught by professors and the focus is on undergraduates.
I agree in regards to Seattle U. They are very very clear with students that all are welcome, atheist, agnostic, etc. My S19 had a “no religion” requirement as well and despite having a strong family history at the school was not convinced until touring. He now plans to apply and it is in his top 3. Wonderful faculty interaction at a scheduled meeting, loved and participated in the class he sat in, etc.
About Richmond, my D18 has better stats and some national recognition in extra-curriculars and got the Presidential Scholarship, which is 1/3 tuition. It was still over 30K for her to attend, and she ended up taking a full-ride at another LAC.
Just wanted to check back in and say we visited Eckerd last week and we were incredibly impressed. Any school here in-state has been a hard sell and DS was predisposed to not liking it. But he understood that he needs a safety school that he likes and is also definitely affordable! He came out of the tour and a meeting with an Admissions counselor saying that Eckerd was now a real contender beyond just as a “safety” though! He liked that downtown St Petersburg (a really nice little city) was just a few min away. Definitely got the feeling that students at Eckerd are engaged and curious and that there are real opportunities for him there.
Glad to hear that your son liked Eckerd. It keeps evolving into a real gem. My 2 children graduated from there. PM me if you have any questions.
Coming back to update on some initial results from DS’ EA applications.
- Eckerd rolled in with the first acceptance. He received the Founders Scholarship of $21K, plus the FL BF scholarship is added, as well as the FL resident discount.
-Wooster was next. It was not on the initial application list bc of its location, but bc his sister had such a good experience, he added it. He was rewarded with the Deans Scholarship of $31K/yr. Still waiting to see full financial package. He has begun the scholarship application for the College Scholar award, which could replace that and give him up to $34k/yr. Have not seen the full aid package from them yet. -Last week, he heard from Denver. They awarded him the Chancellor scholarship of $24K with a $3K residence hall grant. Also gave us $3K in grant money which was a nice surprise!
-Got an acceptance from Puget Sound in the mail yesterday! Don't have any financial award info yet. I should say, none has come in the mail. I need to have him log in to the portal and check there.
Expect to hear from Dickinson (anyone else experience Dickinson being a HUGE pain about financial aid paperwork as compared to any other school??) and hopefully UMiami in the next month or so. And then we wait until spring for American, Brandeis, and Occidental…
So good to have options! My DD is a freshman at Eckerd and is really enjoying it. We are instate too and Eckerd is shocklying affordable. (If college and affordable can coexist in the same sentence. Lol) I tell my DD that the “savings” allows for more travel abroad trips! Cheers to surviving the process (one more time!)
I was going to gun for Clark, too. Worcester is an interesting town, close to Boston and Clark is stellar on the academic front. Holy Cross might be worth a gander although it’s religious. What about St. Joe’s in Philly? It’s on the edge of the city and self-contained. It’s religious but he might not notice once he’s there.
Woops, looks like the die has been cast. I’ll leave my comments up for future searchers, though.
I like the Holy Cross suggestion. It is a fairly selective school. I would only say @CCtoAlaska that although Holy Cross is an unabashedly Catholic Uni, it’s not overtly “religious”. Classes are secular and the student body has no religious indoctrination, requirements or pressure. There is a service culture but that imho is a strong attribute.
@privatebanker yes, totally agree about Holy Cross. Most religious schools are like that. I think it’s a common misunderstanding maybe on the part of high schoolers. When I was looking at colleges, I thought all of the protestant-affiliated schools (Wooster, etc.) would require daily chapel because I had a complete misunderstanding of A) mainline Protestantism and B) the significance of college religious affiliations. It was such a big part of the Peterson’s listing that I figured it must be super significant. I tried to go to the most secular-sounding school I could find. But I would not advise anyone to do that!
Great advice. So many great choices out there. Too much needless worrying on CC, kids totally stressed out. I’m glad I’m not applying these days. I would end up at UNP.
University of the North Pole. Probably close to you!
@Collegefortwins Congrats on some real nice merit awards! Looks like he’ll have some very viable options at great schools, good work!
Wanted to do a final wrap-up for stressed out families who may be in a similar situation and searching. I listed the Eckerd, Wooster, Denver acceptances and merit awards above in #49. He added:
University of Puget Sound - Trustee Scholarship ($25000/yr - $100000 total)
Dickinson College - John Dickinson Scholarship ($20,000/yr - $80,000 total)
Occidental College - Honors Scholarship ($10,000/yr - $40,000 total)
As far as stats, his midyear grades were straight As, so that did give him a push above a 3.8UW (although all apps were in, and only three asked for midyear reports). He also did interview with Dickinson, Occidental, Wooster, and Eckerd.
He did not get into Brandeis. We assume that’s because we had not even visited (though it was scheduled for April!) yet, and really had done very little to express interest. Not a huge surprise.
He got into UMiami, but received no scholarship money at all from them, which surprised us…except we discovered they’d made a massive mistake in their financial aid office and it took multiple calls to get it fixed, which is likely the reason? Although, reading the accepted students thread, merit scholarships there seemed to be unpredictable this year.
He got waitlisted at American. That was shocking and really bothered him, although we had prepared him it was not likely going to be a possibility even if he got in, bc of $$. Obviously, still not sure what happened there.
And the winner is…Eckerd! We went to an Accepted Students event and it absolutely sealed the deal for him. Thrilled that he won’t be thousands of miles from home, after all of these other options!
American University is big on “level of applicant’s interest”. It is one of three criteria listed as “very important” in its CDS section C7: https://www.american.edu/provost/oira/upload/CDS_2017-2018-for-publication.pdf
@ucbalumnus, yes. Not sure what more he could have done though. ?♀️ We visited, we went and he spoke to regional admission rep at a college fair, and he came up with excuses to send a couple of emails. Also applied for the Honors program. I think it was just one of those things that wasn’t meant to be…
Another vote for the University of Denver
(for its IR strength, size, location, merit money, and admission chances).
AU seems like a good fit, too, but DU’s numbers for admission w/ merit money look a bit more promising.
DC location is AU’s big advantage over DU, though.