If FL isn’t too far (or if she likes the idea of skipping winter while in college and/or you need an excuse for a southern holiday with a visit), take a look at Eckerd. What you say she’s looking for in campus vibe seems to fit well. My lad graduated from there a couple years ago and loved his time there - plus got a good education. Their motto is, “Think Outside” and they tend to be “Green” focused. Not totally sure if that part fits or not, but it could be a place to consider. For my lad it was easy to fly into Tampa and get a ride from a friend or fellow student to campus (about 45 minutes). Some places also have flights directly to St Pete.
Circling back to add, if SLU is truly a school she loves and would be happy to attend (balanced with a couple of other safeties for choice), then it’s about identifying match/reach schools which are similar in vibe, culture etc. It sounds like Colby, Hamilton, Skidmore, Conn Coll, Denison, Dickinson, plus perhaps Holy Cross to keep something a little larger, more urban-y just in case her preferences evolve over the year. Does geography allow you to hit the road for some fall visits to see if a possible ED school rises to the top? If St Lawrence is truly a lock for admissions and she’d be happy to go, you are really looking to see if there is a reach/match school which she’d prefer and would therefore apply ED to.
UVM would be my suggestion to add to the list. It would likely be a safety, checks all the boxes and has EA and it’s not quite as remote as SLU and is a bit bigger which might appeal. Many of the above suggestions are high matches or reaches for these stats unless there is something else in the application that sets the applicant apart. I agree with others that your student should take another look at Union. If, in the end, SLU is everything your student wants in a college, I say go for it. An excellent education can be had at any of these schools. Other than a few of the reach schools, there is little difference between most in terms of prestige or selectivity and those are over-rated reasons for choosing a college anyway.
I visited New College in Sarasota—loved the locale and the college was quite different from what I expected. Might also be worth a look-see. Sarasota a joy to visit. Stetson and Rollins also schools that kids Ivd known have liked, but I’ve not personally visited
Lol, doing a terrible job shortening your list here
Have a look at Trinity College. Athletic, preppy but close knit community. Opportunities for research assistantships and close relationships with professors.
^^ If I didn’t like Conn so much, I’d have recommended swapping Trinity for Conn based on what seems to be the preferred vibe.
The setting of Conn is vastly nicer than Trinity. Trinity is not in a nice area of Hartford. And Hartford’s really not a great city for college students.
Both female and male students attend the University of Richmond. Though the school appears to maintain a few traditions associated with coordinate single-sex divisions, you will find no physical separation between “colleges,” and classes and dorms are integrated from the beginning of a student’s first year.
Though it’s of increasingly lesser importance as these schools evolve, they share a history of having been women’s colleges. Nonetheless, they do currently enroll classes that are over 60% female, and their range of programs may reflect this. For example, none of these schools maintains a varsity football team.
I am curious what @lawrence827’s daughter ultimately decided, if applying ED or EA. We have a number of the same schools on DS21’s list and am curious what the upshot is.
In answer to OP’s search for schools like St. Lawrence University:
Colgate University
University of Vermont
University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Dartmouth College
Cornell University
Colorado College
Williams College
Bowdoin College
Middlebury College
Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon
In my opinion, Dartmouth College is the most similiar to St. Lawrence University.
Middlebury College used to be a near clone of SLU, but times have changed and so has Middlebury College in the respect that Midd is more liberal.
The University of Virginia & Bucknell University might also be attractive to those who like St. Lawrence University.
Add Hobart & William Smith, perennial rival to SLU in athletics.
I went to HWS as a D3 athlete and had a FANTASTIC experience, my nephew is there now. Very similar student body to SLU, not as remote, very generous with FA, AMAZING study abroad programs, athletic culture, party scene, slightly more diverse (IMO)
Hobart is quite similiar with respect to diversity as St. Lawrence, but then neither really is diverse.
SLU is 78% white, 5% Hispanic, 3% black, 1% Asian, 9% international & 2% multi-racial. 35% are from in-state.
Hobart & Wm. Smith Colleges are 74% white, 6% international, 6% black, 4% Asian, 1% American Indian, & 5% Hispanic with 40% from in-state.
Some of the New York Six (Colgate, Hamilton, HWS, Skidmore, SLU, Union) can be pretty similar to each other, and their photos, as you’d expect, are beautiful:
@merc81: Great post. But the photo of Colgate University does not do the school justice. Colgate is very beautiful.
Skidmore arguably has the most interesting town (Saratoga Springs).
For those attracted to the outdoorsey, hiking, fly fishing, outing club aspect of St. Lawrence University, then you might also consider Montana State University as well as the University of Montana.
For those interested in this topic in 2021 - Just adding that one way to find similar schools is to look at the rest of the league - Everyone has heard of Ivy and NESCAC - but Liberty League is also a wonderful grouping of schools - often overlooked by students searching in New England. SLU, Clarkson, Bard, Hobart & William Smith, RPI, U Rochester, RIT, Skidmore, Union, Vassar, Ithaca. Skidmore, Union, SLU and HWS are all similar types. SLU is rural, athletic, outdoorsy & “old school”; Union used to be part of NESCAC and can be “Engineery”; Skidmore has an artsy / equestrian vibe; HWS has a vibe that encourages women (William Smith) in womens’ sports, title 9 and women studies. Ithaca recently joined the league and like Rochester schools, is larger than these mentioned here. Vassar and Bard are formerly womens’ colleges, Bard being particularly liberal. Good luck!
Note that at its inception, and for much of its history, Bard was a college for men.
My mistake! Thank you.
Gettysburg is a similar school to SLU.