Looking to round out my daughter’s list of schools she is applying to. She wants to go somewhere warmer (we are in NJ). I feel like she has enough large public universities already, but not a lot of smaller private colleges. nothing wrong with that, but I thought maybe rounding things out with a warm-weather safety school wouldn’t be a bad idea. She is already applying to Vanderbilt, Emory, Tulane, USC (So-cal), GW, as well as places like U of Texas, FSU, U of Florida, UGA. Maybe Duke but she has no illusions that she will get in there.
Wondering on your thoughts of adding either College of Charleston (technically not private, but it’s not that big) or Chapman University (in Orange, CA).
She is a good student with over 1500 SAT and a 4.0 average at a top public high school.
If money is an issue at all, it’s probably not worth applying to UT-Austin. They give very little aid to OOS students. My son had top stats and got only $1,000/year. This was awhile ago, but I don’t think the situation has changed.
College of Charleston is nice. If she is looking for smaller, Elon might be a good sure thing for her. Not sure of your cost limits, but Furman is another choice.
Our kid also had a warm weather criteria. Applied to Santa Clara University, University of San Diego, and University of South Carolina. Added Davidson as a reach, and applied to Salve Regina as an ultimate safety in case she changed her mind about going far away.
Another safety for your daughter could be Flagler in St. Augustine.
Chapman seems a bit unpredictable for high stats students expecting good merit offers. Sometimes they seem to waitlist those applicants (perhaps on the grounds of yield protection?), but you then don’t necessarily get the expected merit off the waitlist.
We liked the cute little town of Orange but it is quite overshadowed by Disneyland down the road. There are some strong programs (eg dance and film) but otherwise Chapman tends to get less recognition than say LMU.
What majors is your daughter considering? We visited Chapman on our 2004 CA college tour. The people we met there were beyond friendly. We loved the campus and small town too. But our kid wanted to be a STEM major, and at that time, that wasn’t their strength.
Our CA trip included U of San Diego, Chapman, Pepperdine, Santa Clara University, Claremont McKenna, and Pepperdine.
If your daughter wants pleasing weather 24/7 every single day, University of San Diego has it.
ETA…on our SE tour, we went to University of Richmond, University of South Carolina, College of Charleston, Elon, Wake Forest, UNC Greensboro, Davidson
With her #s, she’s already going to have an acceptance.
So besides warm weather, what are you seeking ?
Are you concerned with weather issues - ie the Hurricane that just slammed Florida but had many more areas (like Charleston) on guard - they got lucky.
Miami would be in the similar track but an easier admit than your top choices and will come with merit. It’s the natural cousin to a Vandy, Emory, Tulane on your list and like your other schools noted up top it’s in society vs say an Elon which is rural. Tampa is another to look at, a true safety whereas a Miami is a target or likely if ECs are strong. Rollins might be a nice LAC experience. Or FAU Wilkes College for a small school experience that appears to be a really neat program. If her top choices are the Duke, Vandy, Emory type schools, Miami would be my choice here if you wanted another. In fact, I’m surprised she didn’t have it in the sense it’s a similar school with easier (not easy) admission.
It’s only going to be warm part of the year but Denver is another that would work - safety (and you didn’t ask, but merit would come).
You mentioned GW…not much warmer than NJ but then why not AU ? If you applied USC then why not an LMU or for an LAC Occidental ?
Not sure what she wants to study but at Charleston she would likely be a shoe in for the Charleston Fellows interview weekend. You can look up the program. It’s a small cohort in Honors. They also have international scholars - another small cohort. My daughter loves the access to top diplomats. This week she is meeting with Dennis Ross. So if her areas are in this vein, those could be good for her and the money is great too although most came after she accepted so you wouldn’t know up front.
I’m sure you know that she could go to Alabama for under $20k total and UAH for a smaller school, highly respected mid size school experience. At Bama you could take advantage of the Randall’s Research program and join the most National Merit Scholars in the country. In other words, they have tons of smart kids.
It doesn’t sound to me like she’ll need another school - unless she wants a mid size that seem to be her favorite vs. an FSU, etc. which is large and not really her desire even though it’s on her list.
They have very few, like in the single digits for the entire engineering school, for all classifications of students. I had heard of that possibility, so I called the school and the woman who explained the situation basically laughed at me. Other public universities in Texas DO give kids with scholarships in-state tuition.
There are smart kids at Tampa also. This would be a sure thing safety school in my opinion. University of Miami would be a target…but a decent one.
I included Elon in my suggestions because the OP said they were looking for a smaller LAC type of college that might be a sure thing for their kid. Yes, it’s on the rural side…but many of the smaller LAC schools are not located IN cities.
Yea I will edit that. Didn’t mean to denigrate kids there. Thx for pointing it out. They have smart kids but not that level en masse.
Honestly I’m jaded by two things. My daughter, with less stats got in and it was her first ‘off the list’ - she joined the accepted student group and it was all about partying and getting high and she was turned off (and yes, it happens everywhere including her chosen school). And 2) her friend goes there and said it’s a joke. Her words. Not mine. According to stats, 2/3 of profs are adjunct. And I think that’s an issue there and other like schools. Anyway, given OPs list I just didn’t think it was a realistic possibility. Nor would I think Charleston (similarly ranked btw but a public) is unless OP gets in the small Honors cohorts which includes kids that got into schools at the top of the OPs list and at least for these kids, the school delivers. My daughter loves what they provide and loved her visit but honestly almost didn’t apply as she thought the OOS ACT range (23-28 at the time, which was higher than in state) wouldn’t deliver the student body she hoped for. The substantive Jewish life and city as well as the individualized attention on our visit won her over and she applied and chose it over higher ranked schools, including many on OPs list.
I was just trying to say it’s an Uber safety but given the breadth of schools they are applying to she likely wouldn’t be satisfied there . But the word choice was poor at best. Thx for pointing out.
No issue with Elon. It’s wonderful and has great outcomes. I just noticed all their schools had a certain geographical type and it didn’t fit. It’s not to say that OP wouldn’t be open to it.
Only skimmed many responses, so sorry if it’s redundant or not a fit, but when I saw warm weather and those high grades I thought Scripps and Pitzer might be low-target/close to safety. For a true safety you could look at Soka University of America. All southern cal, all nice campuses.
As soon as I saw your first post, I thought about Rhodes. It’s in Memphis, so it’s southern but unlikely to have to deal with hurricanes. It’s in a definite city, like many on her current list, and it’s academically strong with a very approachable admit rate. I would definitely consider it a likely for your daughter.
^
I second Rhodes. Absolutely gorgeous campus with rigorous academics, and it’s in a relatively nice and trendy part of Memphis. It’s closer in vibe to Duke and Davidson than to W&L or Sewanee.
I was thinking of the Claremonts as well, but none of them can be considered safeties. Scripps and Pitzer are looking for “fit” and whatever unpredictable attributes they see as enhancing the incoming class they are building; in the process, they deny plenty of high-stat applicants.
One last thing - many on the suggested list look at demonstrated interest (privates) so I suggest any that you want to study you get on info lists now and attend sessions.
Again I do think she’s gets into schools on your list assuming she’s solid beyond academics. UGA, UF and FSU - 1-2 and possibly all three But it seems like she wants mid size and if so you need a safety based on those you listed.
I’ll throw one more mid size. Mercer but like Wake, LMU has a religious affiliation but that doesn’t mean religious per se.
But she’ll be fine. Plus you have Oxford at Emory which is an easier than Emory admit…but not easy…as a freebie….although Oxford is small and rural.
Eckerd would be an idyllic warm-weather safety. (Right in the recent hurricane zone, but they seem to have come through it pretty well.)
If she likes Tulane, how about Loyola New Orleans in the same neighborhood?
How about Agnes Scott in Atlanta? (Cross-reg with Emory & GT, and great school in its own right.)
CoC is a great option, and UNC Wilmington could be another.
Not a safety, but did she consider URichmond? It has some vibe overlap with her current choices.
I know you’re not necessarily looking for more large publics, but the Cal State application is pretty easy and she might like Cal Poly SLO or San Diego State. (Far more affordable than UC’s.)