<p>Maybe Miami U (the original one in Ohio) though it’s a little large at 13K students.</p>
<p>You basically described Northwestern, less the LAC requirement, but that can be emulated in the residential colleges and through the “south campus” crowd.</p>
<p>8k undergraduates. Middle of the Pack Big 10 Football. Not preppy. One of the best non conservatory schools of music in the country.</p>
<p>A- student could be a stretch though.</p>
<p>Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and Northwestern University</p>
<p>I second the St. Olaf College recommendation. The only criterion it doesn’t meet is the size. It’s about 3,000 students. But it has top-notch academics, one of the best music programs in the nation, decent football program, and in my opinion not too preppy. There is no greek system. Fairly wholesome bunch of students; not big on the party scene.</p>
<p>Boston College - 9,000 students, big time sports. </p>
<p>As others have mentioned, the Patriot League schools (from Lafayette at 2400 up to around 5,000).</p>
<p>Elon University, in NC - 5,000 students. While not technically a liberal arts college, it is in the liberal arts tradition. </p>
<p>All of the above are fairly preppy . Kinda hard to think of a mid-size college with football that is NOT preppy.</p>
<p>I really have to say I haven’t heard of St Olaf football.</p>
<p>^Seriously, they’re a D-III school that plays within Minnesota. I barely count FCS or Ivy League as “good”, with D-II being more or less the minimum to be watchable…</p>
<p>I second Miami University (“Miami of Ohio”), a MAC (D-1 FBS level) school which has one of the richest football histories of any college. The “cradle of coaches” has been a launching pad for the careers of such coaching legends as Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Weeb Ewbank, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, Carm Cozza, and Jim Tressel, among others.</p>
<p>DefInately check out William and Mary. Good football team although last years team was stronger. Former player with the Steelers coaching. Good music program. Kids very down to earth and less than 10000 kids. Strong undergrate focus</p>
<p>While perhaps too preppy, there is a lot to like about SMU in Dallas. Has 6,500 undergrads, strong liberal arts emphasis, and decent football that is up and coming under Coach June Jones. Believe they have a strong performing arts college as well.</p>
<p>S2 chose Tulane because of it’s combination of great academics, size (about 6000 undergrad), division 1 sports, and of course New Orleans (which he has come to love). I have never seen him so happy, and he had always been a happy kid.</p>
<p>Check out Ithaca College. Its about 6000 undergrads with a pretty okay D3 football team (and the infamous Cortaca game) and has an amazing music program.</p>
<p>Added a few to the list for S to check out–thank you all! There are definitely some I want to visit…but keeping quiet and hoping S will choose those!</p>
<p>Football and music? CCM at the University of Cincinnati.
<a href=“http://ccm.uc.edu/about.html[/url]”>http://ccm.uc.edu/about.html</a>
24,000 undergrads, though… Too big for the 10,000 to 15,000 criteria list. Since music is so great there and football is so great there (at least it was last year), I thought I would mention it.</p>
<p>If he can modify his preppy filter, the ultimate answer to your son’s question is Wake Forest. Top 25 university (US News), strong liberal arts focus, only 4,000 undergrads, big time sports programs, incredible school spirit, A- student level sounds about right. I went there as a non-preppy aspiring sportswriter and never regretted it (though I must admit that my closet now has more pastels than most 
).</p>
<p>Thanks, gadad–I’ve been trying to interest him in WF!</p>
<p>When my S1 was looking, our gc suggested the Univ. of Richmond…@8,000 undergrads…a unique college in that it is a true LAC with a top notch business school. It is also for the A- kid…football, etc. Looks like a great college!</p>
<p>Btw: My S did not look there because he felt it would be too far from home. He’ll be entering Tufts this coming Fall. Also, look into U of Rochester, not an LAC, but similar to Tufts…smaller than U of Richmond @5,000 undergrads or so.</p>
<p>^^ Oops, I meant to also say that U of Rochester has an amazing Music School, The Eastman School of Music.</p>
<p>U. Richmond is smaller than 8000 undergrads, and has a reputation for being preppy. Otherwise it meets the OP’s criteria. They won a national football title in their division a couple of years ago. A beautiful campus, very friendly students. When I visited with my S, we both liked it a lot, despite the preppiness. </p>
<p>Richmond is less selective than Wake Forest, Tufts.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, Sacchi! You are right, I stand corrected! I looked up info. very quickly and what I saw was that the application count was at 8,000…not the undergrad student population! Oops. Undergrad population @3,000, may be too small for OP’s child.</p>