<p>Holy Cross, Wake Forest, Davidson</p>
<p>My son had similar concerns/requirements and chose Brown. He also liked Yale (accepted) and Stanford (waitlisted). Like you, he had no interest in attending other Ivies (although he did take courses at Columbia while in HS). Your description of Brown students seems accurate. My son has grown in many ways, academics being just one small part. Students there that we know have chosen Brown because they believe in driving their education, making the most of their journey. They get involved in all kinds of activities, both on campus and in the community, each doing their own thing. Diversity rules it seems - not a follow the leader type school. Brownās open curriculum is conducive to cooperative rather than competition so serves well the student who wants to learn for learning sake. You donāt see the tool from HS who fought with the teacher over every grade.</p>
<p>I would avoid SMU for snobbishness. Itās nicknamed Southern Millionaire University for the rich southerners who canāt get in to UT-Austin.</p>
<p>WUSTL. You mention political science and economics. WUSTL has a Political Economy dept that combines the two.</p>
<p>Rice, Carlton, Emory, Vassar, Middlebury, Colgate.</p>
<p>liu02bhs,</p>
<p>False. UT and SMU are two very different universities. Class size, campus size, student body, location, campus aesthetics and cost are just a few of the factors many students consider when looking at universities. With these factors in mind, UT and SMU are not even comparable. Most students at SMU prefer being at a private school, and for that reason probably didnāt consider UT a top pick. So to say that students go to SMU because they didnāt get into UT is inaccurate. The majority of students looking at SMU are probably looking at other private schools like Vanderbilt, USC, Tulane, Fordham, or other ones with similar qualities as SMU. Iāll be honest, Iāve talked to several students who came to SMU because they didnāt get into USC. BUT not UT. I didnāt even apply to UT and I go to SMU.</p>
<p>I think thats a pretty dumb thing to say.</p>
<p>Whitman sounds like a great fit for what you want! :)</p>