I love the suggestion of Chapman here! Gorgeous campus, lovely college town, perfect size, and less than an hour from LA. Tons of internship opportunities. There is also a club that skis and goes to the beach in the same day, so there must be some skiing not too far away!
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Sadly, she hates LA. Would be nice to keep her on west coast but she wants seasons. Santa Clara is the only CA she old even tour and thatās because she is a 49ers fan and liked that they were there. 
OK, got it! My husband loved Chapman so much he was ready to go full āBack to School.ā 
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What did you and your family think about Richmond?
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My daughter was the same with the streets through campus. And yet is at a city college so a campus but less traditional. And many streets as her school is downtown. Go figure.
But in general, streets through the campus were a bother to her.
Hopefully given the size she wants, sheāll find a school thatās a campus with surrounding streets instead of through streets.
I do think politics at most schools are overrated. Most kids go to school and arenāt political, even at southern schools rated conservative. Itās there if you want it though.
You find anti semitism and racism at blue state schools - even ones like Tufts, UCLA, Michigan, Lehigh which have all been in the news recently . And others like Yale in the past few years.
Iām not sure that in most cases, politics needs to be a consideration unless your student plans to be political. I do understand though that some want to avoid certain states due to state laws. But often red states ( like a South Carolina) have blue bubbles (like Charleston).
Good luck.
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Iām not best to answer - but the town is about 20 minutes from Portsmouth - which is a super cool beach town, quintessential New England and even has an airport (I think Allegiant).
Also, thereās a train from the school (or near the school) to Boston.
Others can tell you more about Durham itself. Sounds like @thumper1 has been.
But I was in Portsmouth 20 mins away this summer - and I liked it more than any town we went to, even the Maine towns.
Thanks
Iām not overly familiar with the vibe of most of these schools, so someone else will need to chime in on Providence, Marist, and Fairfield. My sense is that the alumni network is pretty strong at Fairfield, though again, Iāll leave that to others to discuss. Have you look at Niche with the various student surveys and comments? It might help to give a bit more of a feel for the schools.
Clarkson should be one to check out although smaller.
What is her major, OP?
If she is stem, then looking at schools that lean towards males will give her a huge advantage.
Poli sci or international relations most likely. Possibly Strat comms which is offered at some schools. Her ECs are all in those types of fields (DA office, campaigns, gun control club, social Justice stuff).
Not going to get you near the ski slopes but University of San Diego and then Iād consider Tulane (red state but campus is more liberal).
IMO you are not wrong about Skidmore. I would take a look at SUNY New PaltzāMid-size 8k students. The town is excellent for food, art, and musicāalso, winter sports, especially cross-country skiing, and near some decent downhill skiing. I think the overall vibe could be a good fit for your daughter.
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My daughter (current high school senior) had very very similar criteria. Her non-negotiables were beautiful walkable campus in or near a city. She also wanted a school that was strong in the humanities and social sciences that was medium-sized or large (no small LACs). Proximity to skiing was also a nice bonus! Here was her final list:
Fordham
Boston College
Northeastern
American University
Denver
USC
Loyola Marymount
McGill
She also looked at, but decided not to apply to: Tufts (too much of an LAC feel), Boston University (too urban, no campus), Elon (too remote), Santa Clara (bad tour, didnāt seem āfunā), Wake Forest (hated Winston-Salem), NYU (too urban no campus).
She ultimately applied ED1 to BC and got in, so it worked out! She had a 3.87 uw/ 4.4 weighted, and a 33 ACT. I do think BC was a reach and she was fortunate to get in, but her stats are pretty similar to your daughters, so apply. I think ED really helped my daughter, so if it is a first choice, and it works financially, that would probably be a boost.
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Wake Forest - 5,000ish
TCU - 10,000
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Love this list very similar lol! Youāve given me some hope re BC. Once we get her AP scores/final grades we can decide this summer if we can ED1.
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Marquette could be a possibility. Cascade Mountain is about an hour and a half, two hours away.
Not sure about green space ā on Maps it looks like there are a few parks within about a half-mile. There is also the Lake Michigan shore about a mile to the east.
Edit:
Looks like there is a grassy quad, at least ā
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Marquette is a far better fit than Providence, I think, for someone who doesnāt mind a Catholic school but also wants a liberal-leaning environment (so is Holy Cross). Milwaukee is a vibrant city, and thereās plenty to do outdoors, including skiing (well, as long as you can accept that Midwest skiing is not like West Coast skiing). Easier if you have a car, but there are plenty of natural spaces in southern Wisconsin for hiking, canoeing, camping, etc.
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As a midwestern family that loves to ski, I cannot endorse Cascade Mountain as a great option for skiing. Or really any of the places that are within a few hours of Chicago. All of them are pretty terrible. It sounds like proximity to skiiing is just a ānice to haveā for the OPs daughter, so I donāt think that puts Marquette out of contention. But, I wouldnāt count proximity to Cascade Mountain as much of a plus-factor either!
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They could go up to the UP ā better skiing up there, but itās more of a hike.
Rib Mountain in Wausau is about 2.5 hours.
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Yesā¦I have been to the UNH campus many times over many years. We have both friends and relatives who attend or attended the schoolā¦and really liked it.
Portsmouth to Durham NH is indeed not all that far a distance. But I have to say, Iām not sure how often students actually head to Portsmouth for things to do.
The school is smaller than many flagship universities. But it has quite a few majors.
I think itās worth checking outā¦just because itās so nice.
In some ways, it reminds me of University of Delaware which I think is also worth a look see.
Pay close attention to the RECENT reviews of Marist. We know a few kids that have transferred out after one year.
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