<p>My son is a junior and so the search begins. My older son went in undecided but with some definite ideas about majors, but my younger son has absolutely no ideas. He is toying with something related to sports journalism, but is definitely uncertain, and so will go in undecided. He does know he does not want to be in a city, wants a school with a definite campus feel, size in the small to medium/large range, and thinks he would prefer places with school spirit. We would like him to be no farther than 3-5 hours and we are in NY (one hour north of NYC). He is a strong student (top 10th of his class) but doesn't like stress and has limited ECs. I have been helping him with the search and have been looking at schools with a broad base of majors. So far, he is going to look at UDel, UConn, Quinnipiac, Syracuse, Binghamton, Oneonta, and Ithaca. Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks</p>
<p>First of all, add Fordham University to your list. Its a fabulous school, STRONG DivIA sports programs, club sports galore, GORGEOUS campus, really tight student body, and lots and lots of choices for majors. They have a strong core requirement that could take more than a year to complete, but that is PERFECT for undecided kids...so they can dabble in this or that and see what turns them on before they commit. Fordham LOVES top 10percent kids, trust me on that ! Plus you get that very, very special Jesuit education that you carry as a badge of honor your entire life!</p>
<p>Really good kids at Fordham: bright, energetic, competitive but not cutthroat, very busy and "involved" in clubs and special interests, great school spirit, and just a great place to go to college. Its smaller than Syracuse (about 5,000 undergrads at RoseHill (Bronx main campus) which makes it more warm and fuzzy, it seems to me. Of course, Syracuse is more prominent in the sports world and we can't match that! But we do pretty well just the same! (My D is a sophomore at Fordham and LOVES it. We are southerners)
Its a classic campus on 90 acres, gothic buildings and all, but also a "city school" with the Metro North stopping literally at its gates and about 15 minutes to Grand Central Station (4.00). </p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>