<p>Is there such a thing as a larger LAC? Son would like 4-8,000ish students, northeast or mid-atlantic location. He would like to major in French and International (something) and possibly learn Arabic. He has a 3.6 GPA and hasnt taken the SAT yet but his last official practice test wasnt great...660 cr and 530 math.</p>
<p>There are schools with 4K-8K students and strong undergraduate focus.
Examples (more to less selective):
Dartmouth
Tufts (a little over 9K)
Brandeis
William & Mary
U Rochester
Wake Forest
Elon
Loyola University MD
Ithaca College</p>
<p>Hunt through the US News “Regional Universities” lists for more examples.</p>
<p>Tufts undergrad is ~5200, many of the grad programs are at different campuses (Veterinary, Medical, Dental etc.).</p>
<p>You may want to use a good search engine to get a comprehensive list. CC Supermatch lets you put it your gpa, majors and test scores etc. to narrow it down. College Navigator is also good and allows you to download the results to a spreadsheet.
[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)</p>
<p>US News “regional universities” will not include nationally ranked schools like Tufts, U. Rochester etc. I believe.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>US News ranks the so-called “regional universities” in separate lists (not with “national universities”). The separate USNWR lists (National v. Regional, University v. LAC) reflect differences in the Carnegie classifications of the listed institutions ([Carnegie</a> Classifications | Basic Classification](<a href=“Carnegie Foundation Classifications”>Carnegie Foundation Classifications))</p>
<p>The reason I suggest looking in the US News “regional universities” lists is because they seem to include relatively many schools with
(1) 4K-8K students,
(2) undergraduate focus (by definition they offer few doctoral programs), and<br>
(3) average stats that are appropriate for the OP</p>
<p>The first 6 of the schools I listed above (Dartmouth etc.), which are USNWR ranked “national universities”, are reaches or out-of-reach for SpritleSon’s stats (assuming his SAT practice tests are good predictors). The last 3 (Elon, Loyola, and Ithaca), which are “regional universities”, are more in line. Consider the top-ranked “Regional Universities (North)”:</p>
<ol>
<li>Villanova (7K students; GPA median 3.7 - 4; CR median 590-680; M median 620-710)</li>
<li>Fairfield (3800 students; GPA median 3 - 3.7; CR median 530-620; M median 540-630)</li>
<li>(tied) Loyola MD (3900 students; GPA median 3.2 - 3.7; CR median 540-640; M median 560-650)</li>
<li>Bentley (4200 students; GPA median UNK; CR median 540-635; M median 600-680)</li>
<li>(tied) Providence (4200 students; GPA median 3.1 - 3.7; CR median 520-620; M median 530-640)</li>
</ol>
<p>That’s just the first 5 in the “North” list, and they all seem to be close to the OP’s sweet spot for size, location, and selectivity. I think the biggest concern isn’t necessarily whether these schools are “nationally” ranked or not, but whether they offer the French, International, and Arabic programs he wants. Loyola, for example, has majors in French and “Global Studies”; apparently they recently began offering Arabic courses but not an Arabic major. Villanova offers an Arabic Studies minor, as well as majors/minors in “French and Francophone Studies” and a major in “Global Interdisciplinary Studies”.</p>
<p>Tufts (a “national” university) has an excellent reputation for its International Relations programs, but is very selective (probably out of reach for the OP’s stats). Most “National Liberal Arts Colleges” are much smaller than 4K-8K. Most of the top 100 or so “National Universities”, are larger, too selective, or both. After #40 or so (when his stats would start to be competitive) the national universities list is fairly dominated by large public universities.</p>
<p>An interesting exception (which I should have mentioned above):
**American University<a href=“7200%20students,%20average%20GPA%20=%203.8,%20median%20CR%20=%20600-700,%20median%20M%20=%20570-670.%20%20#77%20USNWR%20%22National%20University%22.”>/b</a>
<a href=“http://www.american.edu/sis/about/[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/sis/about/</a></p>
<p>If Ohio isn’t too far, consider Dennison, with around 2,725 students - another a popular choice for students attending our mid-atlantic region high schools. </p>
<p>[Denison</a> University | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/denison-university-3042]Denison”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/denison-university-3042)</p>
<p>Truman State is probably one of the larger LACs with about 5,600 undergraduate students (it does have about 250 graduate students).</p>
<p>tk21769 - Good points about the Regional U. listings. I guess the bottom line is that a student like this should look at the National U. list for a few reaches or even high matches (American U.) and then expect to find more matches in the regional list.</p>
<p>Boston College fits this description to a T.</p>
<p>BC sounds too selective for those SAT scores, unless they improve. </p>
<p>I agree that the regional U list is a great place to look. I wish that there were more schools that size, with reasonable selectivity levels. I’ve found that a lot of the higher ranking regional U’s are Catholic, so you need to consider if that is a factor for you.</p>
<p>Elon is a good suggestion. Also American, Marist, Quinnipiac, Ithaca. Syracuse is a bit bigger, but has a very strong IR program.</p>
<p>Elon (we are attending open house next month) an American were already on our watchlist and thanks to your suggestions, we have added Loyola Maryland and Ithaca. We also came across Salisbury U in Maryland. There doesnt seem to be much info on these schools here, so if anyone has any insight! I would be most appreciative!</p>