Elon may be a good match/safety (depending on demonstrated instrest). It’s similar to wake, but slightly less selective. About 15 minutes from Greensboro, which isn’t a big city like NYC or Boston, but it has everything you could need.
@doschicos thank you so much for your insight. It is incredibly helpful and in depth. I will take more of all of your suggestions. Really-thanks a bunch.
@ntk131998 thanks! I have heard a little about that college. I will give it a second look.
Start your list with a safety that you like.
I agree with the above comment - a safety school that you don’t want to attend is not a safety, it’s just a waste of your time.
Check out the Carey Fellows program at Sewanee. It provides the base liberal arts education you seek with an excellent business component.
UT-Austin is not a good option for the OP. It has become fiercely selective for out-of-state residents. If he wants some matches and safeties among urban and suburban colleges, he should be looking at Clark, Drew, Lake Forest, et al.
IMO, Dickinson and Macalester are NOT safeties!
Beside UVM Honors, what about St Mike’s for a safety?
The OP is at the ACT 75th percentile for Dickinson, where the admit rate is 48%. ECs are considered “very important” here, so you’d have to question the OP’s EC quality, for starters. Not a safety.
He is below the ACT 75th for Macalester, where the admit rate is 36%. He would need a 34 ACT to begin talking about this school a safety, and even then, you’d have to take a hard look at GPA, course rigour, ECs, potential for recs. The OP’s ability to pay is a big bonus, but it doesn’t trump these other factors.
A safety can’t be arrived at casually. It’s supposed to offer ~98% certainty, after all. It’s the whole foundation of a college app plan, not unlike the foundation of a skyscraper. Get that wrong and wow, in a worst-case scenario, you’ve got some splainin’ to do.
@dunboyne - I disagree about the definition of 98% certainty as a definition for a safety. I’d call it more like a 75% shot, which is the definition used by my kids’ school, and one of the reasons why I would seldom suggest an applicant have just one safety, especially at LACs where admissions tends to be holistic.
The OP’s scores are great, with the exception of ACT writing is the least important component of the ACT test. Both Dickinson and Macalaster don’t require the writing component for the ACT. Dickinson is also test optional.
@hsalem32 is in the top 5% at his school and has leadership positions.
If he makes efforts to demonstrate interest (this is important), has a well crafted list, and good essays and teacher recs (something we do not know but lets assume), he will have multiple acceptances.
Based on my own kids’ stats relative to the OP and where these schools placed on the safety/match/reach scale by their knowledgable college counselors, I still feel pretty certain that Dickinson would be a safety and Macalaster a low match/safety, probably a low match. But, its helpful to the OP to get other opinions and he should definitely listen to the advice of his college counselor instead of strangers on a message board. 
Correction: Its the OPs ACT reading that is low. Still, it is only one section, and the other sections are quite good.
Dickinson is a match, Macalester is a low reach/high match, but good picks. Elon and St Olaf are good safeties IF and ONLY IF you demonstrate interest right now. Way better academics than St Mike’s, but not as safe as St Mike’s (which is a true safety and, being located in UVM’s city, has the convenience of LACs but the enjoyments of a large university with a college town.)
To all of you that have mentioned showing interest to schools now: how should I go about doing this?
Also, on the college app when I have to write a supplement that requires me to express interest how should I go about doing so?
The easiest thing to do to “express interest” is to type the name of the college + “request information” in your search engine. Then fill out the form. (use a special email created for college correspondence, perhaps firstname.lastname@, or firstnamelastname.goestocollege@…
or something that is serious, easy to identify, and indicates you’re writing to colleges!)
Then, for each email they send 1° open it and 2° click on something (they do track whether you open and click!)
Another way is to visit. For UVM and St Mike’s, it shouldn’t be a problem. For the other colleges, it depends on how much time you have.
You can also request an interview (it may be with a local alumnus/a, or skype).
If you can’t visit, after reading all the emails admissions have sent you, come up with a question that 1° is subjective and 2° is NOT on the website already (ie., NOT “how many students does your college have” etc.)
Ask to be put in touch with a current student who shares your academic interests. (Why did you choose … College? what’s your best memory at … College? What was your favorite class and why?)
Join the FB page (make sure your FB account is clean, or create one for that purpose).
@MYOS1634 I hate to ask because i don’t want to make it feel like you’re doing all of my work for me, but what is a general question or piece of information students request that is NOT on the website? I feel like scavanging through each website maybe isn’t a good use of my time.
If you like Wake and Davidson you should check out Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. It would definitely be a match for you and it’s one of the few LACs in a city.
^ How do you define few? Reed and Lewis and Clark are in Portland OR. I can come up with a bunch more.
You need just one if it is 100% certain for admission and affordability.
If, however, they are “almost safeties” (i.e. very high chance of admission and affordability, but not 100% certain), you need more than one to minimize the chance of a shut out.
Additionally, you need to avoid being overconfident on chances, particularly with schools that give heavy weight to subjective criteria or “level of applicant’s interest”, or which have varying levels of selectivity by division or major. Student who wonder in April why they were rejected or waitlisted from their supposed “safeties” were overconfident of their chances of admission to those “safeties”.
Email opening may be tracked by hidden images (e.g. 1x1 pixel images), so open the email in a web browser and load all images if you think the college is doing that.