<p>might look at James Madison University in VA?</p>
<p>op, I know you have said not a religious school, but Canisius College does have a womenās equestrian team, and is definitely a school your D could qualify for. With a few more SAT/ACT points could probably get merit money. Donāt rule out the Jesuit Catholic schools just because you are not said. They are much more liberal than you might think, and the catholic ethic there is one that people of many faiths (or non-faiths) could embrace. At least give it a look.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the suggestions - Iām looking into them. Unfortunately, a lot of them have sub-50% 4-yr graduation rates. I really think it is important for D to graduate in 4 years, and to be surrounded by peers who intend to graduate in 4 years. HS Naviance shows sheās got quite good odds to get into Rutgers, so Iām hesitant to consider schools that are much below it academically. </p>
<p>These schools look worthy of further investigation: Pitt, Allegheny, Denison, St. Maryās of MD, Roanoke. Does Pitt have a real campus feel? Does Allegheny feel small? How is the weather? </p>
<p>Dickinson and F&M were already on my radar, and will think about them again if her ACT scores are bit higher than her SAT scores.</p>
<p>This might sound crazy, but what about Coastal Carolina? Might not be āeliteā enough, but D had a 3.8 gpa and a 28 ACT and got a nice scholarship and liked the campus (had about 10,000 students). Ended up going elsewhere, but was happy as a second choice.</p>
<p>I have a D who wanted a school with equestrian opportunities. That added a whole 'nother dimension to the college search. She ended up at UDelaware, which has some equestrian, but once there my D declined to participate ā¦ at all. Just sayān. She did like UDel a lot, and had a great experience there (mais sans equestre).</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that schools can have very different standards. D loved the open and relaxed equestrian environment at Goucher ā¦ horses and trails right on campus, and students encouraged to work the barns and animals. We toured a very snooty school that had FABULOUS facilities ā¦ but students werenāt permitted to work in the stables ā¦ even with their own horse. The facilities at JMU and Elon were somewhere in the middle.</p>
<p>In simple terms, if equestrian is important, you really should visit the school. Equestrian is not a Yes/No proposition.</p>
<p>Pitt is at the edge of downtown Chicago in a neighborhood that is within walking distance of Carnegie Mellon and has lots of pizza joints etc that give it a college feel (imagine downtown Pittsburgh ā Pitt/CMU campuses and college stores/restaurants etc ā suburban Oakland). Pitt is not, however, a pastoral setting by any means. At least one of its buildings is world famous ā the Cathedral of Learning ā a towering gothic structure, which is used for CAS classes. Pitt has some excellent grad programs and a top 10 medical school. It is bigger than your email suggests your D wants (18000 undergrads), but in terms of quality faculty and diverse curriculum probably exceeds most of the schools listed in this thread. Your Dās GPA and rank seem fine for Pitt, but to have a strong chance at admittance she probably should bump up her SAT scores 50 pts each in M and CR. Passed on her academic record, that seems very plausible with a little tutoring. </p>
<p>Other ideas: Ursinus, McDaniel, URichmond (if bumps up SATs a bit), and Randolph Macon.</p>
<p>Close to home for the OP, Drew University has an equestrian team and a very pretty campus. Itās small, though (a little under 3000). We know families of kids who have been very happy there.</p>
<p>I know a kid (very bright) whoās very happy at Randolph Macon College. He turned down Elon for R-MC. He came from a small private school though. R-MC might be too small for the OPās D.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest Drew, but figured it was too small for the OP. When I checked, their enrollment is listed at 1725. They do have a pretty good equestrian team, though. Drew had been on our list, too.</p>
<p>Sorry, I mistyped. Drew is a little under 2000.</p>
<p>Regarding Richmond. It seems their admissions criteria is closer to Bucknellās and may be a reach.</p>
<p>^ yes, Richmond is definitely a reach. I guess a few reaches are OK as long as the safeties and matches are covered. </p>
<p>Richmond is the only school on the list that Iāve visited before, 3 years ago with S. It was a safety/low match for him. It was the first school we visited on his spring break trip, and we were both taken with it. I was really struck by how beautiful the campus was, with the student center overlooking the lake, and how friendly everyone was. Of course, it was a beautiful, sunny spring day, and we had a great tour guideā¦</p>
<p>I considered swapping Richmond for another, less selective school for the spring break visits when the 2nd SAT scores came back disappointing on Thursday, but decided to leave it in. Mostly because the last minute logistics would be tough to handle - we leave early Monday morning, and hotels and tours are already booked for the entire week, and partly because I had liked the school so much when I had seen it before. </p>
<p>Iām not sure if visiting reach schools is good or bad. It can be motivating, to encourage the student to work harder. Or perhaps just depressing. Hard to say which will be the case for D. At horseback riding competitions, a bit of a challenge always inspires her to dig deeper and focus more.</p>
<p>Circling back to Clemson - its a bit further away and larger than your target group, but very outdoorsy. Big Ag school. Lots of school spirit and happy students. I would assume they have equestrian. They are a state school but student body is 33% OOS. Rumor had it a couple years ago they would accept anyone OOS who was a full-pay with a combined SAT of 1800+. I think itās easier to get into Clemson OOS than in-state - pretty much every kid in SC wants to go there. (Except for the died-in-the-wool Gamecocks fans).</p>
<p>Please don"t base your list primarily on the SAT.Your child has many other qualities that will be considered.There are 800 test optional schools.</p>
<p>I would not rule out Lafayette. The scores (M,V) are just below the 25%. Writing is above 75%, and LC now considers it. They also place more emphasis on HS grades than test scores.</p>
<p>LC82 (hello, fellow alum!) I donāt think Lafayette is a good fit for the OPās daughter. She wants to participate in equestrian, to my knowledge Laf doesnāt have that. Also being a psych major looking to go into OT or PT - thatās not really a strength for Laf either (yes, they have a good psych dept, but I donātā think it would prepare well for PT). On top of that, their admit rate this year dropped to 34%, so Iāve gotta think that bottom 25% is athletes, legacies, and āoutreachā (either URM, Posse, or geographical outreach). And being from NJ wonāt help at Laf. </p>
<p>Icarus, appreciate your viewpoint but Sacci isnāt new to this admissions game, and I think sheās doing a good job of being realistic. There are far too many threads right now of kids with great scores and GPAs that didnāt aim at matches and safeties and now have no admissions at all. Or who aimed at all top schools and threw in a state school as a safety (but clearly considered it to be beneath them) and are suddenly realizing that perhaps they should have found a couple of schools somewhere in between. A couple of reaches are good, but the goal is to find matches and a couple good safeties.</p>
<p>edit: OOPS - I stand corrected - Lafayette does have a club equestrian team, I just found it on their website.</p>
<p>[riding</a> - Saints Athletics - St. Lawrence University](<a href=āhttp://www.stlawu.edu/athletics/saints/riding]ridingā>http://www.stlawu.edu/athletics/saints/riding) St. Lawrence University (NY) </p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University Saxons - Equestrian](<a href=āhttp://saxons.alfred.edu/equestrian/]Alfredā>http://saxons.alfred.edu/equestrian/) Alfred University (NY) </p>
<p>SLU is about 52k plus, AU is about 40k, both schools offer merit aid. </p>
<p>Both may be too small, or too isolated for your Dās consideration.
Both are always in āPrinceton Reviewās Best 376ā (or whatever number is in title now)</p>
<p>Lafalum84 ~ LOL I was just going to correct you about the equestrian team and then I saw your oops. They do have a good team and they have an excellent coach (who is a Lafayette grad). Matter of fact, their coach was able to qualify the team for Nationals in 2010. If the school fits for OPās D, the team would be a great choice.</p>
<p>
Hello Lafalum84. I wasnāt suggesting that Lafayette be considered, just that it not be ruled out based on SAT scores alone. The OP mentioned LC as on her original list. Iām not sure that I would consider the bottom 25% made up of athletes, etc. The Patriot League has a policy that athletesā academic qualifications (taken as a whole) should be representative of that for the entire the student body. The League has strict rules on this (a.k.a. Academic Index), especially for football and basketball.</p>
<p>I did read the OPās wants, but I wonder if a womanās college might be reconsidered. Both Smith and Mt. Holyoke have equestrian teams. I think Mt. Holyoke is test optional. Both offer the challenging education that that this young woman seems capable of. Perhaps a visit and the consortium might move her mind on this point.</p>
<p>My daughter was also the kind of girl who had more male friends than female. She attended Barnard which helped her make women friends, something sheād really never had before. These are lifelong friends for her, I think.</p>
<p>Feel free to discard my post. Just a thought.</p>