<p>Looking for Midwestern school in a town with some charm, pretty campus, not too small mostly LAC, middle of the road socially etc. with excellent academics. Ideas, anybody?</p>
<p>Good reputation and claims to have produced many Fortune 500 Presidents and gives merit money.</p>
<p>Kenyon sounds like you describe. Carleton too. Denison is also a good school.</p>
<p>add St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Lawrence University, College of Wooster, Franklin & Marshall (PA - mideast). . .</p>
<p>Grinnell...</p>
<p>Also add Knox, Ripon, Hanover, Wittenberg, possibly Earlham but couldn't call the politics there middle of the road.</p>
<p>Denison is in a fabulous little town and is very pretty. Academics are strong and the kids are nice. It's bigger than Kenyon (but still small).</p>
<p>I second St. Olaf.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo in western Michigan; Beloit in Wisconsin; Ohio Wesleyan; Illinois Wesleyan; and Albion College in Michigan.</p>
<p>I'd second Kenyon and of course, Oberlin is a great school, but doesn't exactly meet the 'middle of the road' criterion.</p>
<p>Miami University- Oxford, Ohio</p>
<p>*in a town with some charm: I cannot stress how much Oxford fits this description... the town is built around the school and its beautiful.
<a href="http://www.miami.muohio.edu/living_at_miami/ox_community/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.miami.muohio.edu/living_at_miami/ox_community/index.cfm</a></p>
<ul>
<li>and cincinnati is half an hour away</li>
</ul>
<p>*pretty campus: consistently rated top 15 in the nation, Robert Frost described Miami as the "prettiest campus there ever was"</p>
<p>*not too small, mostly LAC: True, Miami is a public school, and its enrollment figures 14,000 it has a private feel. The school prides itself on an undergraduate focus, and you won't have too many large lecture style classes.</p>
<p>*middle of the road socially: I am not sure whether you mean social scene or politics so I will cover both.
Miami is pretty moderate, perhaps leaning conservative, but has a number of extreme liberals to balance things out.
Miami is also Work Hard, Party Hard- people know when to study and there is always something fun to do.</p>
<p>*Excellent Academics:
Considered a Public Ivy
Tons of Opportunities because of its size.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.muohio.edu%5B/url%5D">www.muohio.edu</a></p>
<p>check out <a href="http://www.forloveandhonor.org/projects/%5B/url%5D">www.forloveandhonor.org/projects/</a></p>
<p>Hope College in Holland MI sounds like it fits your bill. St Olaf also. My D and I visited both of these (and a couple of others) about a month ago. They are very impressive.</p>
<p>A few additional suggestions: Augustana College in Illinois, Allegheny in extreme Western PA, Coe College in Iowa, and Lake Forest College near Chicago.</p>
<p>Miami university in oxford is not 30 minutes away from cincinnati, unless you drive very fast.</p>
<p>Any of these colleges close to a <em>major</em> airport with daily flights to NYC or Boston?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The Colorado College, or is that not "midwest"? </p>
<p>Well it meets a lot of your desires, but is more Rocky Mountain area, and quite a good school.</p>
<p>it was an estimate
30-45 min</p>
<p>30 to the suburbs/outerbelt</p>
<p>The western suburbs of Chicago have some small LAC's with excellent reputations for small classes and great teachers. All have nice campuses, short walks to Chicago commuter trains, good DIII athletics/school spirit and located in great small towns.</p>
<p>Elmhurst - Elmhurst, IL
Wheaton - Wheaton, IL (conservative Christian but changing)
North Central College - Naperville, IL</p>
<p>Definitely research Illinois Wesleyan. It's a great private school, kind of a small feel, and it's got great academics and attracts some top students because of its merit aid.</p>
<p>so what are the midwest ivies? are they just the good LACs? any bigger schools in midwest ivies?</p>