<p>Anither vote for Rhodes, and Trinity Univ in San Antonio</p>
<p>Goucher just outside of Baltimore. Loyola College...also just outside of Baltimore. Occidental and Whittier in LA. The Claremont Colleges just outside of LA. Trinity University in San Antonio. Macalester in St. Paul. Hamline in Minneapolis. Wagner on Staten Island, across from Manhattan. Manhattan College in the Bronx (NYC). Manhattanville, just north of NYC. Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Wheaton (Mass), not far from Boston. Holy Cross, not far from Boston. Mills, St. Mary's College and Dominican, just outside of San Francisco. Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr and Haverford just outside of Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Try Oglethorpe in Atlanta. They are sending D some exceptional looking pamphlets. I'm also a Rhodes and Trinity U. fan and Southwestern U. (one of my favorites) is in Georgetown, Texas, a mere 30 minutes from all that is burnt orange in Austin.</p>
<p>Brandeis - not LAC but small - quite close to Boston, as Tufts is.</p>
<p>Train from the Claremont Colleges runs straight into Terminal Annex in downtown L.A. There is also an express bus that takes the freeway into Los Angeles.</p>
<p>U Chicago is not in the same town. NU is in Evanston. Problem solved?</p>
<p>If U Chicago is a good fit....second Tufts, Barnard. Add Columbia, NYU, Brown, Carnegie Mellon....</p>
<p>Oglethorpe is in an odd area in Atlanta for a college, sort of "on the four lane" as we would say. But, the MARTA runs right across the street, which is in unusual for a Southern school, and handy.
Loyola in New Orleans, but maybe that's too much city.</p>
<p>Holy Cross -very good LAC - in Worcester, also 1 hour from Boston. Also Davidson not far from Charlotte.</p>
<p>I think you have to look at more than just distance to a city, but rather the reality of access. For example, you might be able to get to downtown LA without a car, but could you get to Santa Monica or other "happening" places?</p>
<p>Davidson is only 20 minutes from Charlotte and Emory is practically in downtown Atlanta, but to get to nightlife would require a car. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Swarthmore has a commuter rail station on campus with a 20 minute train ride to the UPenn area and another 10 minutes to downtown Phila. Both areas are "happening" in terms of restaurants, nightlife, etc.</p>
<p>Of the East Coast LACs I've visited, I would say that Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Wellesley offer the easiest and quickest public transportation to major cities. The Phila schools have an advantage. Not only is Phila a wonderful city, but New York, Baltimore, and Washington easily accessible by rail -- about 90 minutes or so from downtown Phila. You can also get directly to the airport terminal on the commuter rail, making it possible to "fend for yourself" if college van schedules are screwed up. </p>
<p>I would rank Swarthmore as the most convenient of the four (because it is so close-in and it has a train station smack dab in the middle of campus). In addition to downtown Phila, Swat also has a "miracle mile" with a mall, a Target, a Best Buy, and restaurants (Northern Italian, decent upscale Thai, Tex Mex, Starbucks, TGIFridays, Bertucci Pizza, etc.) half a mile away, with easy transportation (college vans or regular city bus). On the other hand, Wellesley and Bryn Mawr/Haverford probably have more "trendy" little shops and restaurants than the actual village of Swarthmore which has pretty much nothing (dry town = no restaurants). My daughter and her friends always go into downtown Phila when they go "out to eat".</p>
<p>Wellesley would be the least convenient of the four because the train station is a hike from campus (a mile?) and Boston's commuter rail/subway system isn't as convenient. Haverford and Bryn Mawr would be just slightly less convenient than Swat because the train stations are little further from the dorms.</p>
<p>I don't know about Wellesley but I know that Wheaton offers a shuttle to Boston ....otherwise the kids just catch rides with each other.</p>
<p>Some others outside the NE:
(Univ. but the size and feel of many LAC)
Rice great location in Houston (Univ. but the size and feel of many LAC)
Wash U.St.Louis</p>
<p>It occurs to me that it isn't clear what the purpose of being in the city would be for your child, so the asnwers to your question may not be targeted just right. Is it to have weekend access to nightlife and cultural events, or just a sense that it's better to have sidewalks and lots of people around beyond the college community? If it's just concern about being bored, then lots of schools will meet the need because they are likely to have pretty full ranges of activity, from performances to athletics to community service to parties. If it is more specifically a concern about nightlife and museums, then a shuttle or other regular means of public transportation to a nearby city would be necessary. I see a substantial difference even between Middlebury, which is in a lovely little town hours from any large city, and Carleton, which I haven't visited but realize is within easy visiting distance of the Twin Cities. Neither quite fits my definition of country life, but I can see that Middlebury might be a little limiting for someone with a strong urban preference. Consider, though, that a student of Carleton/Middlebury/Chicago caliber probably should not give up too much in the way of selectivity for the sake of being near or in an urban area; in the absence of the often-cited like-minded peers, proximity to a larger community may not help much with the overall college experience.</p>
<p>I agree with the Philadelphia area LACs such as Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Villanova. While the following may not be actual LACs, they still have the feel of that sort of college, and are not that big, yet are right by the city with easy access to Boston: Boston College, Tufts, Brandeis. While a little further away but accessible would be Wheaton, Clark, Holy Cross. </p>
<p>As others mentioned, it would be helpful to hear just what about being in or near the city was desired. I say that because I am not sure it is the actual city the kid is looking for or just to be near things to do. My oldest child wanted her college to have things she could walk to off campus but the size of that area was not as crucial and need not be a very large city. I would say that every school on her list met this criteria except Conn College (could not walk to anything and there was not a big town nearby). While she is not at a LAC but is at Brown, it really fit this criteria she was looking for because she can walk steps from her dorm and have lots of restaurants and services down the street, plus can walk into downtown of a city but is not downtown. Some other schools were in smaller areas but still had this ready access and that was all that mattered to her (ie., Smith, Princeton, Yale). I must say that at Tufts, another school she loved, you can walk to lots of places and you can also hop on the T and be in Boston quickly. </p>
<p>So, I am not sure in your case if the size of the city matters or how easy the kid can get to places off campus. For instance, Vassar is not that far from a major city but that is not the same as being able to walk to lots of things to do. I think my child would have opted for the latter....not need a major city but be able to access stuff off campus easily. </p>
<p>I think Skidmore is a good option as Saratoga Springs has a real lot to do and then if the kid wanted bigger city type stuff (major concert or the like), Albany is 35 min. away. </p>
<p>Goucher was a good suggestion too. </p>
<p>Emerson is a small college right in downtown Boston but appeals to kids with particular interests. Trinity College is right in Hartford. </p>
<p>With Amherst, Smith and Mt. Holyoke, while not near a big city, there is a lot to do in that college area and fun towns, particularly Northampton.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence is very close to NYC. Union College is close to Albany.</p>
<p>Providence College is in uh, Providence.</p>
<p>As far as Middlebury College, you can walk to services in that town, with quite a bit to do (not as much as a city of course) but also Burlington is about 45-60 min. away and there is LOTS to do there and I think students definitely go out there too. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>As an addendum to Susan's post: I was going to mention Burlington, since Middlebury is within easy reach of it, and I know Burlington is a really lively small city. The OP had specified major metro area, which to my mind ruled out almost everythign except Boston, NYC, and DC. But using broader criteria, one might also think about places like Bowdoin and Bates, since both are within easy distance of Portland, which while not really a major metro area is vibrant and interesting. I guess to me a rural school is one that is in a really small town and not on an interstate (hence Kenyon is rural, Dartmouth in some way, at least to me, is not). Without public transportation things get a little more complicated, but so many schools have shuttles to their closest cities that even then there's some leeway in the definition.</p>
<p>Hopingtohelp, my D definitely had a bias for urban environments...she looked at schools in NYC, D.C., and Boston. She wound up attending Smith and one of the two big questions on her mind was "Is Northampton big enough?" After the first visit, she decided it was and a second visit confirmed it: arts, music, theater, restaurants, and a general sense of stuff happening. Smith passed the test for her, Mount Holyoke didn't.</p>
<p>Liz, for people like my D, "25 minutes to the suburbs" is "country living."
I have a friend who did a sabbatical at Middlebury and said my D would hate it.</p>
<p>TheDad, My daughter seems to be undergoing the reverese of your daughter. She started off saying she wanted a school "in the country" (She has grown up in a rural area. After visiting Goucher last summer, she realized how neat it would be to have the movie theaters, malls, and restaurants of a city nearby but she is turned off to being "IN" the city itself. Goucher is probably perfect for her in this regard - beautiful, green campus that seems "set in the country" but you step off campus and you're in Towson with malls, restaurants, etc. right outside the gate and a shuttle into Baltimore for even more.</p>
<p>Now, she is focused on schools that have that combination of "city and country" Luckily, after growing up in a small town of 5,000 40 minutes from San Diego, she thinks any city or town with more than 40,000 people is "city" LOL!</p>
<p>"It occurs to me that it isn't clear what the purpose of being in the city would be for your child, so the asnwers to your question may not be targeted just right. Is it to have weekend access to nightlife and cultural events, or just a sense that it's better to have sidewalks and lots of people around beyond the college community?"</p>
<p>I think more the latter. An hour shuttle for special events is probably ok but I think she also would like to be somewhere that allows her easy and casual access to going to dinner, shopping, escaping campus, etc. She will not have a car.</p>
<p>"Consider, though, that a student of Carleton/Middlebury/Chicago caliber probably should not give up too much in the way of selectivity for the sake of being near or in an urban area; in the absence of the often-cited like-minded peers, proximity to a larger community may not help much with the overall college experience."</p>
<p>You've identified the issue very well--at least what I think is the issue. Which is why the east coast locale, major metro and perhaps even the LAC criteria are negotiable. Right now though she seems pretty firm about not wanting to be out in the country or in a small town--or Chicago.</p>
<p>"U Chicago is not in the same town. NU is in Evanston. Problem solved?"</p>
<p>I wish it were so simple.....I thought I might try to arrange a visit for her to Chicago to visit older sib at NU and to friends near U Chicago and perhaps she will come to that realization herself! </p>
<p>"If U Chicago is a good fit....second Tufts, Barnard. Add Columbia, NYU, Brown, Carnegie Mellon...."</p>
<p>Those are all food for thought....thank you.</p>
<p>Drew U. in NJ is an easy commute by train to New York City (40 min on commuter train).Similarly for Sarah Lawrence. Brandeis is an easy commute to Cambridge or Boston. ,</p>
<p>"Some others outside the NE:
(Univ. but the size and feel of many LAC)
Rice great location in Houston (Univ. but the size and feel of many LAC)
Wash U.St.Louis"</p>
<p>Somewhere "we" picked up the thought that Rice is primarily for math/science/engineering types, which this child is not.</p>
<p>Wash U would be a non-LAC fit but too close to home for this child.</p>