<p>OK, I am going to throw out a random mix to see if anything sticks. I don’t know that any of these match with all of your criteria (strength in particular academic area, size - some are larger than SMU and some smaller, but none other than my UGA idea is larger than 18,000 or so, setting, public and private, etc…). Hopefullly some folks with more knowledge and experience can add additional comments, especially if I am totally off-base in a suggestion. Still, given that it is early in your seach, you may want to “try on” some different things. Last year at this time my son was really not sure at all… so, we checked out some larger and smaller schools, urban and more rural, LAC and public. He did not end up where he started, but a few visits to various places really helped us see towards what sort of place he gravitated. We’ve only visited 2 or 3 of those I listed. </p>
<p>What about…</p>
<p>Furman, Dickinson, James Madison University, U of Mary Washington, American University, Miami U of Ohio, Clemson, U of Vermont, Tulane, Lehigh, UNC-Wilmington…</p>