Looking for colleges that are similar to Northwestern and USC in terms of size, close (less than 30 mins away) proximity to major metropolitan city, interdisciplinary opportunities (as both universities have many different schools and opportunities to major in some many different fields) BUT that have acceptance rates that are not crazy low (less than 15%) but closer to like 50%+ range. Honestly not interested in rural places. Hopefully people might know if some schools that can fit this bill. Thanks so much!
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Several state flagships fit the bill.
Rutgers, Pitt, UNM, UWash, etc.
Do you have budget constraints?
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Would you consider Catholic schools? Fordham, DePaul, Loyola Chicago, SLU, LMU, Santa Clara.
Most are Jesuit. Liberal Catholics.
Pitt is a public but undergrad enrollment under 20k and urban. Cincinnati maybe?
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American, George Washington
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Agree with all the above schools. My totally non-religious kid feels very comfortable at his liberal Jesuit college. Floor mates of all sorts of religions (Jewish, Buddhist, etc.) and of no religion at all.
Also maybe Loyola New Orleans. Actually adjacent to Tulane campus and you can cross register.
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American’s acceptance rate is closer to 30% than 50%. https://www.american.edu/alumni/volunteer/class-of-2022-profile.cfm
GW is 40%
OP - if you are interested in schools that are slightly more competitive than NU but not 50% acceptance rate - Case Western would tick a lot of boxes .
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Not as large of a school, but look at University of Denver. It’s about 6000 students, and has a higher acceptance rate than even some of the others mentioned in this thread.
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My son who just got into Northwestern ED had a hard time as well finding schools with similar vibe but significantly higher acceptance rates. In that category he applied to UWash Seattle (by no means a safety OOS but in non-impacted majors an easier admit than NW or USC) and CU Boulder.
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I first thought I’d Denver, already mentioned by @Illinoisparent12 .
Drexel, College of Charleston, U Tampa, UNH is a bit farther but a train to Boston that’s reasonable, Bryant (a bit smaller), Hofstra might be others to look at in addition to those mentioned. SMU and TCU might be two more to look at. Tulsa.
Brandeis under 50% but much easier. Syracuse another - some on here say it’s in the middle of nowhere. As an alum, I don’t get that at all.
Good luck.
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Some good suggestions. I would add Univ of Portland, Drexel, Temple, Univ of Miami.
Wish my daughter would apply to Saint Louis but she says it is too far.
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SMU totally fits the bill.
It’s in Dallas but not urban. It has Division I sports like SC and NW. Very interdisciplinary with push for students to double major. Beautiful campus and private U so great access to professors with small classes.
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Some of these have already been mentioned by others, in which case I’m seconding them. But these seem to have some of the size, proximity to big cities, and interdisciplinary options that you mentioned in your initial post.
- Chapman (CA)
- College of Charleston (SC)
- DePaul (IL)
- Drexel (PA )
- Fordham (NY)
- Loyola Marymount (CA)
- Loyola Chicago (IL)
- Marquette (WI)
- Southern Methodist (TX)
- U. of San Diego (CA)
- West Chester (PA )
- Xavier (OH)
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I definitely get a Northwestern vibe from University of Minnesota. This ended up being DS23s top choice. Incredible contained campus (actually spread out over 3 campuses) right in the middle of Minnesota. Great public transportation. Lots so opportunities both within the university and in the surrounding area for coops and internships. . It’s way bigger than Northwestern but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. As DS said, once you pick your college within the university, you can make a big college seem a lot smaller.
University of Vermont - Burlington is a great college town although it’s not a major metropolitan city.
University of Denver - This is the hot school for kids from DS New England prep school this year.
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Utah would fit these criteria. Lots of interdisciplinary options, especially in the honors college. And they have a better football team than USC!
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madison
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Have put in an app for UWash so fingers crossed. Ive been hearing a lot about Pitt but dont know much so I’ll look into that too. Thanks!!
Lol. I did watch that game! Not sure about location but will look into it 
Thank you!
Yes, I ruled out Vermont bc of that. I never really considered Minn to be honest so will need to look into that. Why bro you think U of Denver has become a hot school this year?
I had never been to Pittsburgh (despite living in PA for 20+ years) - we visited last August and I was quite impressed. Gorgeous city, the campus is lovely, it’s next to a big park (and also CMU). Pittsburgh is a sleeper city!
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That’s a great list! Will start doing the research now…
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