<p>Wheaton College (MA) </p>
<p>Merit Aid, Balfour Scholarship $17,500/year is a possibility with his numbers. </p>
<p>No frats, about 1550 undergrads, small classes, 38% Male, 62% Female.
I have a child at Wheaton, just loves it!</p>
<p>No one has mentioned Boston College yet. If he liked Tufts, he may like BC also. </p>
<p>I hesitate to mention Cornell, since it is in a slightly rural area, although I’ve been there and it doesn’t feel rural once you’re in the town. I don’t know where you’re located, but either Cornell or its neighbor Ithaca College might suit his needs. </p>
<p>But all of these places sound cold to me!</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins sounds like a solid option. But so is Villanova, which is medium sized, and in the suburbs of Philly. Like most colleges which are originally Catholic (although all the Catholic schools teach like secular ones now), there are no frats.</p>
<p>I was just going to mention BC. I am not too familiar with these schools, but what about Connecticut College, Trinity College, or Brandeis?</p>
<p>Yes, LACs are located in out of the way places!
I mentioned Wheaton as it usually overlaps with Connecticut College, meaning many apply to both Wheaton & Conn.</p>
<p>I think that Tufts, Brandeis and Vassar have a different vibe than BC and Trinity.</p>
<p>My sense is that BC and Trinity are preppier.</p>
<p>My daughter has a friend who absolutely hated BC (left after her first semester) but is now quite happy at BU.</p>
<p>Holy Cross, Fordham, Fairfield</p>
<p>Not to be crazy…but how do you stay within 4 hours of NY and not be in a cold climate? Rice sure seems like a pretty good suggestion, although far away and competitive. Although your son is not wanting a large state school, has he considered small programs inside of larger schools? My D wanted a Liberal Arts education, but was not drawn to schools smaller than her high school (3500) and after a crazy season ended up at the University of Texas, Plan II (Liberal Arts Progam) While this might not be the right school or program for your son, it just shows that some of the larger schools can offer a boutique, persoanlized type of education inside the larger box.</p>
<p>Mutti, is your son okay with these college which are technically Catholic? So many of his preferences are best met by the Catholic schools - suburban rather than urban/rurual, no frats, strong on liberal arts rather than being artsy or engineering-heavy. You haven’t responded, but I notice that none of the schools you mention are Catholic (at least, that I recognized).</p>
<p>However, the more I look at his stats and his interests, he sounds like a good fit for Tufts.</p>
<p>fendrock, you could be right about which schools are preppier. I do know quite a few Tufts grads that are preppy.</p>
<p>I only know of one of my son’s friends who is at BC and he is not preppy, but that is only one student so hardly a way to measure.</p>
<p>My son has 2 friends currently at Brandeis and they are very down to earth, but occasionally dress in what I would call preppy (without the money to go with the look). They are very happy at Brandeis. They both chose Brandeis because they got very good FA packages there.</p>
<p>I hate when real life imposes on my CC time ;-)</p>
<p>Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to think about this with me. Lots of great ideas being thrown around.</p>
<p>hayden, S is a nice Jewish boy 
so Jesuit schools might work or might not, depending on requirements, culture (beyond the obvious) etc. From what I understand, Georgetown, BC, Fordham work for kids of all faiths and backgrounds; other Jesuit schools might not work for a Jewish kid (and vice versa :-)), but this is definitely worth more research.</p>
<p>collegeshopping, you are completely right re: the weather! I think his two choices are the cold and snow he’s familiar with and would likely experience in the band between Boston and Washington and the colder, snowier climate of upstate NY, VT, NH, and ME. It’s the latter that he wants to avoid, but that knocks out a lot of otherwise terrific matches for him.</p>
<p>I think Tufts and Brandeis are good fits for him, at least on paper. Not too big or small, not too urban and def not rural, universities with LAC tendencies…the former is probably a reach, but I think the latter could be considered a match to the extent that anything can.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence (NY) 1/2 train ride into NYC. </p>
<p>“Alternative” type curriculum, no SATs required.</p>
<p>Honestly I think he really should reconsider DC, one of my son’s favorite school’s was American. He’s at Tufts now. For safer schools we considered Bard (hated, in the woods), Syracuse (too big and sporty, eliminated after he got into U of Chicago), BU (bigger than he wanted), U of Vermont (not really strong in the things that interested him), Trinity was on the original list but nixed as probably too preppy (he never looked at it, as there were enough schools on his list already,) GW looked like a good match, but he wanted more of a campus, Georgetown stayed on the list, but it was a huge reach and shaky as a fit, he didn’t get in and was relieved he didn’t have to decide whether it was a place he could be comfortable.</p>
<p>I think Sara Lawrence would be too arty from the description. The OP’s son doesn’t need a test optional school as his scores are great, the GPA will be a weakness. My son’s experience is that a middling GPA can be overcome, by great teacher recommendations, a good class rank, and essays that are really targeted to the college. (Vassar essay included sending in a very arty supplement related to his main essay about origami.)</p>
<p>He sounds absolutely perfect for University of Chicago, except that it is cold and not within 4 1/2 hour drive of NY. It might be worth compromising for this fantastic school, though, which matches him otherwise.
Otherwise, I totally agree with Havorford, although it is very small.
How about Lafayette?</p>
<p>Vassar, Haverford, Connecticut, Tufts, Brandeis, Penn, Columbia and Brown.</p>
<p>I think he has a good list except for the safeties. Let’s work on that. </p>
<p>For safeties, I think picking a public school is a good idea for at least one because it’s less likely to be a holistic evaluation, and he has good numbers. </p>
<p>College of New Jersey just outside of Trenton</p>
<p>St. Marys College of Maryland - Public liberal arts college in St Marys MD along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Might be 4.5-5 hours. </p>
<p>University of Mary Washington Fredricksburg, VA (about 5 hours)</p>
<p>An intriguing private option might be</p>
<p>St John’s College, Annapolis - Great Books curriculum, very intellectual, safety, something that THIS kid might just enjoy.</p>
<p>Ursinus is probably a safety too. I wouldn’t consider small LACs with low admissions rates as safeties because many like Union will reject better applicants just because they are unlikely to attend.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence, (NY) I meant they do not take test scores at all, SLC does not want them. It is artsy though. </p>
<p>Union College (NY) fratty.</p>
<p>Slumom, Sarah Lawrence is one of the schools that presented with the “Eight of the Best Colleges” (mentioned above that we just went to their session) and it seemed like every other slide was of either a fine or performing artist. They definitely wanted to get a message across and told S just what he needed to know: that it’s not a good fit for him.</p>
<p>mathmom, we are working on getting him to take a look at DC schools; I honestly don’t know what the issue is (and he’s pretty communicative about most things). And this kid could definitely be an analyst of some kind in the future-DC, right? I agree, American would make a terrific safety. Maybe the semi-suburban setting will work for him a little better. I’m going to find a way to add this to the JHU trip.</p>
<p>levirm, S has heard tell of the awesome UChicago essay prompts (“Find X”; “What do you think of Wednesdays?”, etc.) and he’s mighty intrigued by it. If the “driving distance” only thing falls away at some point in the next few months, this is the school he would look at, for sure. Good call on your part!</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad, I will be checking out all your suggestions; never heard of some of them and would love to learn more. St. Johns is some school–the son of an acquaintance is in the Santa Fe campus–but S is looking for a larger population and a bit of a broader spectrum of subjects. You’re right though–it is the true Core all the way.</p>
<p>Our public system is SUNY, excellent in many ways, not the greatest locations as a whole, and mired in the same budget cutting that’s afflicting so many state systems. I’m loathe to go to the state next door to pay OOS tuition, though the reviews of TCNJ are getting better all the time. I’m thinking S will put in an app to Binghamton.</p>
<p>I like the earlier suggestions of Wheaton (MA) and Clark as safeties, but I do wonder, as commented above, if the application of a kid with S’s stats screams SAFETY and results in a rejection.</p>
<p>My Tufts kid is very grounded in the real world and active citizenship. (Brandeis appealed to him for the same reason.) He thinks his cousin doing the Great Books at St. Johns is crazy, but I realize it might appeal to some kids who also like Tufts. I think U of Md, or U of Delaware might be worth looking at. St. Mary’s is six hours from us just a bit north of NYC.</p>
<p>I agree OP’s son has plenty of matches and reaches, he needs to find a safety he likes. BTW American may well give him merit money with those scores. (My son thought the essays were the best part of Chicago.)</p>
<p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland is VERY rural. 15 minutes in a car to the nearest store (not kidding). Quite scenic, right on the water, but remote. D2, who does not like traffic, said after visiting, “I will never have to worry about getting run over by a car if I go to St. Mary’s. But I might get run over by a sailboat.”</p>
<p>So that one probably isn’t a good fit.</p>
<p>My Jewish daughter is headed to Fordham. We have gotten the impression over several visits that it really won’t be an issue. So don’t count out the Jesuit schools. </p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Albright in Pa, I think it’s near Reading.</p>
<p>Among the SUNYs, how about Geneseo? Yes, I know, it is cold. But it seems to fit the other criteria.</p>