Have you looked at Saint Louis University? Might be a good fit based on what you describe. D22 is there and had a wonderful first year (she had similar stats to your daughter). She’s in their 6 yr direct admit PT program.
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We were very impressed with Saint Louis University, even tho D23 ultimately decided against applying there (also DPT bound).
What about Bradley University? I think that is a little underrated gem.
I am assuming you are planning on checking out DePaul, Loyola Chicago, maybe UChicago and Northwestern (reaches)?
What about Macalester? Marquette?
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Yes we toured there over spring break they were not giving official tours that day due to an event they were hosting so we didn’t get to go into any buildings so it was hard to connect enough to get excited but I do think she’ll apply there and maybe want to go back for an admitted students event. Great to hear about the direct admit program too!
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Thank you! So funny you mention Bradley, it was a place I myself almost went to many moons ago but ironically have not looked at since - going to check it out now!
Yes, Loyola is one I’m hoping she falls in love with - I haven’t seen it but we know a lot of kids there and they all seem to love it. Marquette is getting a little far but also on the list. I think a Northwestern app would be a wasted app but plan to see UChicago and also talk to the coach for her sport as a possibility. Also haven’t visited Case Western but thinking it will end up on the application list as well.
Has your family considered any of these?
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Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads
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Hope (MI): About 3100 undergrads
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Marquette (WI): Already mentioned, about 7700 undergrads
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Saint Louis (MO): Already mentioned, about 8700 undergrads
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Truman State (MO): About 3900 undergrads
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U. of Dayton (OH): About 8600 undergrads
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U. of Notre Dame (IN): About 9k undergrads
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U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 6100 undergrads
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U. of Wisconsin - Eau Claire: About 9900 undergrads
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Washington (MO): About 8k undergrads
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Xavier (OH): About 5100 undergrads
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Thank you - yes most of these are on her list and she’s seen 5 of them , Butler is one we’ve toyed with going to see but haven’t yet, we know someone there who is not loving it so I think that’s kept it at arms length thus far, but will look into a few more of these!
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Out of curiosity, which ones has she seen? Knowing which ones are not vibing with her might help others in producing suggestions.
Hope has sororities and a very cute walkable downtown just a block or 2 off campus. It’s also right by the lake and if you go a mile or 2 down the road has all of the stores/restaurants one might want. I’m not sure what she considers small vs. medium but Hope is right next to another college (I believe it’s a seminary) so that’s even more young adults right there to roll into the head count.
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Miami of Ohio checks those boxes. Good merit money to OOS students. My D21 is thriving there
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She’s seen a ton of schools over the years, with her older sister, when we travel for vacation, and traveling for sports etc but of that group she’s seen SLU, WashU, ND, UD, Xavier, and the later mentioned Miami OH. She hasn’t really flat out hated anything but hasn’t loved anything either.
Although as I’m typing this out it did just occur to me that she has no chance of overlap with her best friends at any of these schools based on where they are all hoping to go and that might be the cause of the lack of excitement to the college search (D24 has a small very close group of best friends and they call her ‘mom’ so this part of graduating and going to college is going to be hard on her).
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I think Case Western might fit her criteria. We visited during spring break. mid-sized, Cleveland Clinic is right there.
That’s how it had been with my daughter:
We crisscrossed the East and she “could see herself” in many places, but she was always waiting for that big “THIS is my school” revelation - that apparently all her friends had at some point! So it was very unsettling to her, because with no clear winners, she was afraid of making a “bad compromise”.
Of course, the first step is to decide where to apply - and (other than ED) there is no need to stress yet, which school is “best”. A few months later, acceptances will be in, so that will already narrow the field.
By that time, there will have been many conversations with peers, having heard from them, their visits/choices, and maybe trusted teachers about their impressions/selection criteria about different colleges in general - so the accepted student visits will be done much more informed/mature. Also, one won’t be overwhelmed by as many choices.
During that time, we tried to reassure her explicitly that objectively she only had great options and there was no reason to worry about making any bad/wrong decision!
Still my daughter kept herself (and us) on the edge until the last week of enrollment deadline between her two final choices - is was a battle between intellect and heart.
At the end, she ended up at the best possible college for her and never had regrets.
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S24 has been very hesitant to start with college research. I have had a couple of 10 minutes talk over the last weekend. And yesterday for the first time I offered to do the research with him. Goal was to do one college per day in next 2 weeks. He finally agreed to it and we looked at two colleges over a period of 40 minutes. He is not looking at each college in as much depth as I want at this point. But he said he will do more in depth research once the college makes through the first cut. So I said fine and went with what he wanted to check. Baby steps.
Another talk we had to have was the financial talk. While researching college he was looking for the COA for college he was looking it at the AVG cost of attendance after aid and I had to tell him we won’t qualify for any aid so he needed to looks at full price and he was surprised. I still need have a more detailed finance talk. we have always said that we would consider paying for a private if the fit was perfect but we need to have more detailed talk as to what we consider fit and if major requires post BS education or not.
He has also started thinking about what he would write for the common app essay and also think about the 4 PIQ that he wants to address for the UC essays.
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Definitely figure out what you can afford as a family and define what you mean by fit. If there is finally some engagement and momentum, but then you change the rules, they will get frustrated and back off.
If you are running the net price calculators and there is not a financial fit and you do not believe merit will be triggered, then be honest with them about looking at other more affordable options.
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Here are some tips and tricks for this summer. Happy touring! 
So true!! We got a lot of side glances from our son when we made our presence known in anyway on tours!!
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I’ll admit that mine prefer that both of us be invisible but now appreciate the questions I have learned to ask.
As you tour more colleges you figure out what is important for you to know and ask about, what to pay attention to. When we did this before we got a more out of the later tours than we did from the earlier ones.
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And we learned that he prefers to ask about certain topics and seems to be OK with us asking about certain things. I learned quickly that he wanted to be the one to ask about club soccer. He did come up with 2 questions that we thought were really good. He started asking the tour guides what is their favorite thing about the school and what was one thing that they didn’t like so much. The later was good because it kind of gets the tour guide off their script and can be very instructive.
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We always ask this on tours: what’s your least favorite thing about the school?
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First time posting here! My DD 2024 did not do well freshman year grade wise (online learning did not suit her at all) so her GPA is a bit low compared to what Naviance is showing for some of her target schools. She has definitely been on an upward trend with a 4.0 in her junior year, however. I am hoping colleges will be understanding that some kids just had a hard time adjusting to starting high school online!
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