Schools similar to Lehigh, Elon, Denver

D24 is looking for a mid size (5,000-10,000) school in mid Atlantic, Midwest or NE. Her stats are pretty good, 3.85uw/4.2w with 8 AP and 4 honors, 1 DE. Test optional. Good ECs (DA office internships, campaigns, state champ ski team, camp counselor, tons of volunteering). So far she likes Lehigh, Santa Clara, American, Denver and Elon. Didn’t like Villanova (felt too cold and competitive), GW (too urban), UVM (bad tour, sadly) or Bucknell (remote, too small). May also like Syracuse (doing summer program there and will decide after). BC would be dream but I think it’s out of reach.

She’s friendly, outgoing, kind of mainstream kid. Not too artsy. Will likely study poli sci or similar, looking at possible law school later. Full pay, can swing $75k if we have to. We are from Oregon.

Looking for the unicorn - beautiful walkable campus, college town feel with lots of green space, ideally within an hour of large city for some culture/internships Study abroad huge draw. Skiing within a few hours a plus but not required. She leans liberal and isn’t interested in red states. Willing to look at Jesuits but she’s not religious. (I know some are more religious than others.)

Any gems out there I’m missing?THANKS

Skiing is the tough part.

Miami Ohio, DePaul, or Macalester.

I would think there’s a bunch in NE that meets the criteria. Are women’s schools like a Mt. Holyoke on the table?

1 Like

Probably not open to women’s schools

Take a look at Rochester, great college town, open curriculum. Close to skiing.
McGill University in Montreal might be a good fit too

2 Likes

University of New Hampshire. It’s really a lovely campus.

Connecticut College? Skidmore? Ithaca? Would any of the SUNY schools interest her?

2 Likes

Would she be in their range? Thought they were tough admit

Whats vibe at skidmore? I thought they were kinda edgy artsy kids but may be wrong

If she liked Lehigh…what about Lafayette?

2 Likes

I think if you’re going to look at Skidmore, you should definitely look at Union.

1 Like

Thinks it’s too small, wants at least 5000 kids

I think she’ would have a good shot considering you’re full pay if you apply ED. Although it’s a little on the smaller side Holy Cross is another option that would check the boxes. Although their admit rates has dropped to around 20% they are pushing to attract more students from outside of the Northeast. Beautiful campus, in the City of Worchester and Boston is <50 miles away.

1 Like

Quinnipiac?

If 5000 is her range…Skidmore and Conn College are also too small.

Butler. Charleston- lots from NE attending

Salisbury. U Maine. Saint Louis. American. Bradley. Providence. Duquesne. Marist

Most schools will have study abroad. Butler is known for it - other schools send their kids to theirs.

Others mentioned other solid ideas like Ithaca, Rochester. There are some schools in PA that could work such as Millersville or E Stroudsburg (near the Poconos) or UMBC. Or SUNYs such as Oswego and Oneonta but these will draw more locally/ regionally. Or even the College of New Jersey. Binghamton likely too big.

I think skiing going to be tough in the areas you’re looking short of the UVM, UNH, U Maine areas. But for a state champ skier, it’s also going to likely fall short.

I would also revisit UVM. A bad tour should not be the basis of removing a school. It happens and it’s unfortunate similar to the way others accept just because of them.

Good luck.

3 Likes

These are some schools that your family may want to check out:

  • Bradley (IL): About 4300 undergrads

  • Chapman (CA): about 7700 undergrads

  • Duquesne (PA ): About 5100 undergrads…in Pittsburgh

  • Fairfield (CT): About 4600 undergrads

  • Gonzaga (WA): About 5k undergrads

  • Loyola Maryland: About 3800 undergrads

  • Marist (NY): About 5500 undergrads

  • Monmouth (NJ): About 4100 undergrads

  • Providence (RI): About 4200 undergrads…a couple of miles from the RI state capitol

  • Seattle (WA): About 4200 undergrads

  • Seton Hall (NJ): About 6100 undergrads

  • St. Joseph’s (PA ): About 4200 undergrads

  • SUNY Geneseo: About 4500 undergrads

  • SUNY New Paltz: About 6300 undergrads

  • The College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads, just a few miles from the NJ state capitol

2 Likes

Skidmore checks a lot of boxes, including skiing, but only 2800 kids. Tufts, Boston College, Brandeis, Colgate with skiing relatively close; Dayton, Notre Dame without skiing; would be in that size range.

1 Like

Some great ones here. (Should have said we will be looking at Gonzaga since it’s close).
I’m intrigued by Providence and Marist. Can you elaborate on the vibe? How religious is Providence? She likes Santa Clara a d is fine with taking mandatory religious classes, just does pant want to be only agnostic on campus. Also politics as she is pretty liberal.

Similarly Marist looks gorgeous but it’s tough to get a feel online. Unigo is dated and nothing in Fiske.

Tufts and BC would be top of list but I’m afraid she can’t get in. May throw an ED out to one of them as a moonshot. Colgate may be a little too small

Agree on UVM. She will still apply because we wanted to love it. She also has a thing about walkability and quads etc. To her, it felt disjointed and lots of cars passing through. And the whole presentation seemed to cater to health and stem types.

I’ve seen a little about Fairfield and like it. Beautiful town, good location, lots of kids go abroad. How is the rep and alumni network? I had never heard of it but we are west coast.

UNH is also intriguing. Saw they just opened an honors college which she may qualify for. Do you know anything about the town around it?