My S24 is an A-B student who prefers smaller school environments that aren’t socially competitive (i.e. not a fraternity/sorority driven college social scene). However, he does like sports and would be interested in club or intramural soccer options at school. He is interested in languages, international relations and culture, and would prefer staying east of the Mississippi River. He also prefers an academic environment that is supportive, not cutthroat. Ideally, he would like to have a balanced life in college.
At this point, we are simply looking for options/ideas to consider for the future, not so much admission chances.
Literally hundreds unless you’ve got financial constraints (in which case, post those so we don’t waste your time).
Goucher, Muhlenberg, Holy Cross, Wittenberg, Denison, Juniata, U Hartford, Clark, Bard, Earlham, Keene? Give us more direction and we can target the options a bit better!
under 3,000 students
focus on undergraduate students
we are in NC, not really considering out of state state-supported schools, private is ok, assuming aid/scholarships can keep out of pocket cost under 40K
Dickinson offers a wide range of languages and offers Study Abroad programs that avoid major cities so students have more opportunties to learn foreign languages.
I second Dickinson though you will have to check the numbers to see if you can get the cost down to 40K. They offer 13 languages and a major focus of the school is global study. There are about 2,300 students, they require all students to live on campus (upperclassmen live in campus owned houses or apartments), 2/3 of students study abroad, and they have a very supportive community. They do not use test scores (not test optional - they say not to send them no matter what your score). It was high on my S23 list before he decided he wanted a larger school. We visited and stayed in a hotel that was walking distance to campus. The students and admission people we met with were great.
I think Ursinus in PA might fit your criteria. They should come down to below 40K and have interesting competitive scholarships in addition. D22’s impression was collaborative and the admissions staff was the best, nicest and most helpful of all we encountered (if they are representative of the college as a whole, it is a great place).
I would look into Guilford, Connecticut College, Wheaton (MA), and Vassar (more of a reach, but less competitive for male-identifying applicants). Macalester could be a great option, but it might be slightly west of the Mississippi.
The good news is that the river is a few blocks west of campus and not the other way around. The bad news is getting under $40K might require their highest merit offering, and that may not even get the number quite in range. They have a lot of aid for high grades, though…
Consider the College of Wooster in OH. My son is a Freshman there and is having a wonderful experience. Staff are thoughtful and helpful, and encourage students to think and learn. They want students to succeed ( and have the endowment to help with that). Merit aid is good as well. Not fratty at all.
He is interested in Spanish – will take AP Spanish next year. Mainly interested in Spain, as he has travelled to the country a number of times, and his father studied abroad there during college. The soccer culture there seemed to have a great impact on his interest in international studies.
We are also in NC. I would definitely have him apply to UNC-A since it is small and very affordable.
Also in NC you might look at some of the small mountain private schools like Warren Wilson (very LGBTQ friendly, hippie vibe, no frats), Brevard (good for music, mountain biking), Lees-MacRae (rock climbing, mountain biking), etc.
Also Elon is getting really popular with out of state students, but also draws about 25% instate. Solid school. Guilford is worth a look too.
Out of state, Goucher is big on study abroad. Roanoke College is worth checking out, too.
Usually there’s a B-student thread by year. You might ask there too. It will be something like “Parents of 3.0-3.5 students 2024”
In reading your description, Dickinson was the first college that sprang to mind. I would run the Net Price Calculator to see if it would hit your budget.
I think that many of the Colleges That Change Lives would be of interest to you. It’s an association of schools that were commended by a NY Times author in a book by that name. The association’s website provides more detailed profiles on each school than are commonly available elsewhere: College Profiles – Colleges That Change Lives.
These schools had some of the highest number/proportion of Spanish majors (of schools east of the Mississippi with 3k or fewer students, the feds’ website College Navigator as the source).
Berry (GA) - 5 majors out of 445; 2172 undergrads (has some popular multi/interdisciplinary majors, but they aren’t specified in IPEDS)
Centre (KY) - 9 majors out of 339; 1,320 undergrads (23 majors in international/globalization studies)
DePauw (IN): 8 majors out of 497; 1,724 undergrads
Earlham (IN): 8 majors out of 230; 658 undergrads
Kalamazoo (MI): 7 majors out of 384; 1,241 undergrads
Susquehanna (PA ): 6 majors out of 529; 2,197 undergrads
Washington & Jefferson (PA ): 6 majors out of 246; 1,156 undergrads
These schools had a lesser proportion/number of Spanish majors, but might still be of interest:
Knox (IL): 3 majors; 1156 undergrads
Lycoming (PA ): 3 majors; 1089 undergrads
Nazareth (NY): 3 majors; 2,057 undergrads
North Central (IL): 4 majors; 2,404 undergrads
Oglethorpe (GA): 3 majors; 1446 undergrads. Also has a flagship match program and it participates in the Atlanta schools consortium so can take classes at Emory, Morehouse, etc.
Ohio Wesleyan: 4 majors; 1339 undergrads
Randolph-Macon (VA): 4 majors; 1501 undergrads
Rhodes (TN): 4 majors; 2050 undergrads
Roanoke (VA): 4 majors; 1863 undergrads
College of Wooster (OH): 4 majors; 1968 undergrads
I stopped listing the # of international relations/studies type majors, as I knew I would run out of time. I’m sure other colleges besides Centre have a number of majors in those fields.
One more to throw out - and yes it’s an OOS public.
FAU has their Honors College in Jupiter Florida. Under 1K students. Has scholarships. While I don’t know anyone who has gone, seems awesome on line and has both a Spanish and Intl Studies concentration.