Please help with college list

Hi everyone–We need help coming up with a college list for our junior son. His ideal school would be medium sized (5-15,000 undergrad), private, in or near a city or great college town, in a warm climate and have lots of school spirit. Finances are not an issue.

His stats:
GPA: 3.91 UW, 4.06 W, 4.25 UC
ACT: 32 (will take once more)
EC’s: Eagle Scout, Cross Country, Track & Field
Major: Undecided, possibly Econ
California resident

Schools he is interested in are:

Reach:

USC
Emory
U of Michigan
UCLA

Match:
Tulane
U of Miami
George Washington

Safety:
U of Richmond
American

Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be much appreciated!

How about USD, Santa Clara and the Claremont schools? Perhaps UCSC and UCSB though they are a little larger than he has in mind. UCD is in a great college town but, much larger.

I know money doesn’t matter, but yoir son would get a nice merit award from University of Alabama. Lots of school spirit, great college town, warm climate. Another thought would be University of Georgia.

Vanderbilt in the reach category. Clemson is public and on the college town/rural side, but it’s about the right size (and feels smaller), in a warm climate and has great school spirit. May want to check out the Calhoun Honors College.

Thanks for the great suggestions! We will check all of them out. My son thinks Santa Clara is too close to home and UCD is too science-oriented, but I think both are worth visiting since they are nearby. My husband and I both liked Davis when we visited with our older son. I don’t know much about U of Alabama, U of Georgia or Clemson, so I look forward to researching them. Merit money is always nice!

Rice? Washington University in St Louis? Georgetown?

I’m not sure if I would consider URichmond a safety. It has become increasingly popular the past few years.

Rice? Washington University in St Louis? Georgetown?

I’m not sure if I would consider URichmond a safety. It has become increasingly popular the past few years.

George Washington, if he doesn’t mind the lack of a campus.
JHU as another reach, maybe
University of Baltimore?

Sorry, missed that GW was on your original list somehow.
University of South Carolina or University of Southern California? Pomona, if he has such disinterest in science?

William & Mary and UVa are some others to consider.

Furman University, Wake Forest University

Thanks for the additional suggestions! The USC on his list is University of Southern California.

Math heavy / pre PhD economics or otherwise?

I doubt it would be the math heavy, pre-PhD econ.

Lewis and Clark or University of Portland. I think both would give merit money and Portland is a great college town.
Davidson for a reach. There is a great thread called Southern LACs that you should look at.

To the OP…the most important schools on this list you are building are the safety schools. These are schools the student would be happy to attend, are affordable, and are slam dunks in terms of acceptance.

Build your list from the bottom up…choose two safeties first. I say two because if all else fails, it is nice to have choices.

It’s easy to pick the reach and even match schools, in my opinion.

Agree that URichmond is not a safety!

Thanks for all the helpful comments! I am checking out every school suggested. I agree with thumper1 that safety schools are very important and the most difficult to choose. I’m using the term “likely” schools with my son because I don’t want to denigrate the safeties at all–they need to be real, solid choices. U of Richmond looked like a safety for my son based on Naviance, but I know those numbers can be misleading and can go out of date quickly. I will move this to a match school. I personally really like many of the LACs in the safety, match and reach categories, but my son thinks many of them are too small. I’ve been trying to change his mind about this.

If your son wants to go to a larger school…then look for larger schools. He is the one going to college…and there are plenty of colleges with a larger number of students that could meet his needs.

I can’t tell you how many threads I have read about students being shut out of safety schools. Lots of rejected and WL threads this year! When you choose safeties… be sure they are true safeties. I like the suggestions given. What about TCU. That would be a safety and not all the way across the country. And, if he’s a good test taker and interviews well, he may be up for a Chancellor’s Scholarship. Good luck!