Small, southern LAC's discussion revisited

There was a great thread on here a few years ago that I found in a search discussing small LAC’s south of the Mason-Dixon line for a student that was in Michigan I think that wanted to go to college in a warmer clime. The discussion was fascinating and very insightful and full of great info. However, the thread petered out some 3-4 years ago and a lot of information may have changed since then. I’d like to revive that discussion to perhaps update some of the great suggestions that were in there.

Personal situation: my daughter is a very good student and wishes to study biology at a LAC with the intention of matriculating to medical school. She’s a rising junior and has a 4.5 GPA in advanced courses (AP Scholar), a 1340 SAT and a 31 ACT both taken at the beginning of her sophomore year. The right school fit is more important than anything, but the closer to home she could be, probably the better for all involved. Home is the FL panhandle. I am proud of my southern heritage, but humbled and almost ashamed at the scarcity of great colleges, both large and small, in the deep south. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a top 100 small LAC in New England, and it’s almost the same in the midwest. In the south…(heavy sigh). Here’s the kicker: my daughter is a competitive swimmer, and a decent one, but not great. Her academics are better than her freestyle but she LOVES her sport and wishes to continue at the next level. She’s definitely looking at D3 which is fine, they overwhelmingly the good, small LAC’s she desires and will probably thrive at. But the top notch academic programs almost always have top notch swim programs too, and even at the D3 level, my girl is looking at a middle of the pack swim team to be a contributing member. She doesn’t want to walk on at a larger or better school and swim, she wants to be a competitor, not a benchwarmer.

We’ve done a lot of research and visited a couple of places, but we’d like to hear input from the rest of y’all. Right now, the best choices seem to be schools in the Southern Athletic Association which includes Rhodes, Berry, Sewanee, Birmingham-Southern, Hendrix, Centre, and Millsaps who will be adding swimming in 2019-20. The swimming fits pretty well, especially at the middle of the league. We’ve visited Sewanee. She liked it a lot but is turned off by how remote it is. We’ve heard a lot of good things about Rhodes, but a lot of bad things about Memphis, and Rhodes seems to be trying to recruit swimmers a little above her level and aren’t that interested. We’re still checking out the rest. We know only what we’ve read about Centre and Hendrix, Millsaps is a mystery because they didn’t have a swim team in the works until 3 weeks ago, so that’s a new one to check out.

We’ve also looked into the SCAC in the southwest and some schools show some promise: I thought we’d found a great fit in Trinity but again, the swim team is just a little beyond her ability and the coach is recruiting above where they are now. Austin College, Southwestern U., and Colorado College all look like they might fit but the rankings vary so wildly from source to source, I’m a little confused and concerned about who and what to believe, especially where the academics are concerned. Some miscellaneous schools that have caught our attention: Grinnell, Swarthmore, Franklin and Marshall, Hamilton, and Carleton, but those are a LONG way from home.

I hope this thread sparks as much interest as the thread mentioned above, so feel free to contribute any pearls of knowledge and/or wisdom you might have.

WashU isn’t an LAC, but it’s D3 and not as far as some of the others you mentioned… but I guess if you were going for that category you’d be looking at Emory, huh?

You might look at some d2 schools too, like Rollins, Tampa, Barry, or other Sunshine state Conference schools. Rollins is my personal favorite (it is so cute). I really don’t know how the swimming compares to the schools your daughter has targeted. If she stays in Florida, she’d get to use her Bright Futures and a Florida resident grant.

Also in D2 are the NC/SC schools like Queens, Limestone, and Belmont Abbey.

Emory’s Oxford College would give her a LAC experience for two years before she would move to Emory for her final two years. Her degree would be from Emory University. I’m not sure if Oxford has its own swim team – might be worth checking out. Oxford might be a low reach or high match for her and Emory might be a reach or low reach (many applicants apply to both…).

I think Rhodes is worth further research. I don’t think it is in Memphis, but the city would be there for the great music and food it offers. If she felt like watching a D1 college football game, that would be an option, and they have an NBA franchise for further top-level sports entertainment. I believe Rhodes is a match for her in terms of admissions.

If you are willing to look at schools in North Carolina and Virginia there are:

Davidson (suburb of Charlotte) - Reach
Washington & Lee (small town) - Reach
U of Richmond - Low reach

(It’s ok to have some reaches)

The southern schools you mentioned are good options, with a range of selectivity.

Colorado College is quite selective (reach or low reach) and an up-and-comer, cracking the T25 at USNews. Swat, Carleton, Hamilton, Grinnell are very highly regarded and would be pretty reachy. F&M would be more of a high match or match. Those are six very good schools but all are far from home.

WashU is a great school, but great swim team as well. Ditto for Emory. She was considering Emory strongly but the 9 consecutive women’s D3 national championships convinced her she isn’t in their category as a swimmer.

I’m a huge fan of both Rhodes and Memphis. I lived in Memphis for a few years and have several friends who are recent Rhodes alums.

Rhodes is in Midtown, the best part of Memphis. It’s right across the street from the zoo (you can hear the animals from campus sometimes), art museum, and Overton Park. The immediate area of the college is a bit sleepy and residential, so to get to the best shopping and eating places in Midtown like Cooper-Young, it’s really helpful to have a car or a friend with one (or take an Uber/Lyft). Public transit in Memphis is improving but still hit-or-miss, unfortunately. Rhodes students are rarely near any of the dangerous parts of Memphis.

Rhodes’ campus is beautiful, with some of the loveliest examples of collegiate gothic architecture I’ve seen on any American college campus. The college is fully fenced with carefully monitored gates; it’s a miniature fortress. The security precautions may go a bit overboard, but you certainly feel extremely safe both on campus and in the surrounding area.

Some schools that could fit the bill: Davidson, William & Mary, University of Richmond, Sewanee — University of the South, and Furman.

Well, now that you’ve got me curiously looking up the rankings… Bryn Mawr’s team ranks a lot lower than Swarthmore’s, FWIW… and it’s also a top-notch place for premed. (Also a bit easier to get into than Swat.)

Not knowing her swim times makes my response a bit difficult. But based on your mentioning of Trinity I will use that as a guide somewhat.
Ursinus, Widener and TCNJ would seem to fit what you are looking for. All three are suburbs of philly, all have pretty good acceptance rates into Med School and your daughter would most likely be able to fit in with their swim team. I am in the process of looking at schools where my daughter can swim as well. If interested send me a PM
Good luck

Did you look at Wofford?

You are correct, there is not a lot of D3 swimming in the South. Check out schools in the Centennial league, which includes Bryn Mawr. These are Pennsylvania schools which are all academically strong. Also, in case you haven’t discovered this already, the college swimming . com website can be very helpful. You can filter on leagues to see where where your D fits as far as swim times.

Ditto to looking at Rollins College. You can message me if you have any questions. I’m an alum. I went on to Grad school at UNC afterwards. I had several friends who did biology and went on to med school.

Responding to Aquapt, I found several great matches like Bryn Mawr but daughter said “an all girls school?? NO WAY!!” So that eliminates them and Mt. Holyoke and a couple of other schools that are otherwise good fits. She wants co-ed schools only and I can understand that.

Someone asked about her times. Without going into great detail, she essentially swims USA Swimming “A” level times in all events except backstroke which she absolutely sucks at and butterfly, which is her strongest stroke, where she sometimes reaches “AA” levels.

We did a tour and swim camp at Davidson this summer. She loved the school, but alas, Davidson is D1 and athletically out of her reach. Same for Richmond and W&M. All good choices but the swimming caveat eliminates them. I need to speak to the Russian Olympic team about getting her doped to make her swim faster. :))

Wofford has no swim team, matter of fact, South Carolina and Clemson have the only swim teams in the state if I remember correctly.

Collegeswimming.com is invaluable and I have crunched numbers on there until I feel like I am a college swimming encyclopedia.

Would your daughter consider Club swimming? My D is a very good XC/distance track running who has been recruited at D3 level, but is interested in larger schools where her times aren’t competitive. Some of the clubs sound organized and still compete with other schools. And since you are considering D3 there’s no money anyway.

Check out Furman - excellent academics, beautiful campus, not too small and Greenville is terrific.

Did you mean to put her name in your OP?

Rollins is definitely on the radar and we plan to visit but I’ve heard mixed things about the school’s academic reputation. Otherwise it sounds like a definite contender.

As for club swimming, I don’t know this 100% but I think she would say no. She club swims now. Has for years. It’s not appealing. If she puts in that much work (and already has) she wants to be able to say she swam in college for _______. I think she would coach before she did club swimming in college. She has a definite knack with the young kids at our local swim team’s summer splashes program.

Fleishmo6, I’d love to PM you but apparently I don’t have enough posts yet. PM me and I’d love to respond and chat. That goes for anyone that said to message them. I’d love to but can’t yet.

Another thought if she is a strong enough swimmer, which would be a big reach and is not a LAC but is small, is Rice.

If she can make the cut academically, W&L seems to have a great swim culture. My D had great swim friends, all super nice, when she attended. It gives you a taste of colder winters but good track record for premed. Wofford and Furman were mentioned - both have good reputations in SC for med school placement. Furman is beautiful campus. Greenville is neat town and now has a med school there. Both Wofford and Furman have very active and tight alumni groups. But I don’t know about swimming programs at either.