<p>my senior to be S would like a southern LAC, division 3 for sports, to study- and hopefully play golf. Size under 5,000. There are many well regarded (yes, this image/ranking hang-up is part of reason for this post) LAC's in Va, Penn, Ohio, Ill, IN, the whole northeast, etc. Not so many, it seems, in the warmer climates . . . Has a GPA of 3.4 (he's a bit of a slacker) and ACT of 27. He doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up, loves sports. Probably eliminates Emory & Davidson. Wake Forrest is a Division 1 school. We parents are most interested in him selecting from a pool of "best college he can get into" vs. a pool of colleges that fit his golf possibilities (his golf tourney averages are around 79) ANY SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS? Especially since we do not have much time left to visit them. Furman? Olgethorpe? THANKS!!</p>
<p>Emory & Henry College
Belmont Abbey College
Elon University
Furman University
Wofford College (D-1 sports, incl. football)
Washington and Lee University
Lynchburg College
Stetson University
Rhodes College
U of Tulsa (D1 sports)</p>
<p>Hendrix College</p>
<p>Rollins College?</p>
<p>Flagler College?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flagler.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.flagler.edu/</a></p>
<p>Oh! I forgot about Flagler! St. Augustine is a really interesting town. It reminds of the "Midnight in the Garden of..." kind of quirkiness that I LOVE in a small town! And it's on the east coast of Florida which means BEACH, SURFING, YEAH! BABY!</p>
<p>Here's the link to Rollins:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rollins.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.rollins.edu/</a></p>
<p>Winter Park is beautiful. Veerrrry toney. Gives good scholarship/financial aid.</p>
<p>I'd like to get in on this thread too. I have a son also interested in going to an LAC in a warm climate, possibly to play soccer. To complicate matters further, are there any with a sizeable Jewish populaton? He keeps kosher. Any suggestions would be very welcome!</p>
<p>I don't know about soccer, but when we were visiting Goucher, near Baltimore, our tour guide volunteered that 40% of the student body was Jewish. That still seems unbelievable to me, so maybe we all heard it wrong. It's a school with much to recommend it and I think boys would get an admissions advantage. It's the only school I know of that requires some time abroad--and they give a stipend to help with expenses.</p>
<p>boys,
Don't know if this helps much but:</p>
<p>I'm from Florida. The schools down here with sizeable Jewish populations (over 10%) are U of Miami, UF, UCF, and FIU. Not really LACs.</p>
<p>Emory?</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! from the list of what I would generally consider "off-brands" since I'm unfortunately not familiar with them:
Emory & Henry College
Belmont Abbey College
Elon University
Furman University
Lynchburg College
Stetson University
Rhodes College
Hendrix,
Flager
does anyone know the strengths, or value, of these? How is the post life placement, etc?</p>
<p>SDavis, I would add in B'ham Southern, Samford (Baptist and a little more overt religious orientation) and Millsaps. Not sure about golf teams, but it is fairly ubiquitous down here.
BoysX, there won't be many Southern LACs with "sizeable" Jewish populations, because the schools are small, and the Jewish population in the South is not that large, because many are/were religious affliated (today some are very secular, others retain closer ties to their roots), and because for many years (really until recently) it was traditional for Southern Jewish parents to send their kids to a couple of Southern schools (Tulane and Emory, especially, even though Emory is a Methodist school) or to Northern schools, because of the size of the Jewish population.
I'm not Jewish, but I remember that Davidson had a small, active Hillel. Most of my Jewish acquaintances/friends who have sent kids off in the 90s/00s went to Tulane, Vandy, Alabama, WUSTL, Michigan, etc. larger state schools.</p>
<p>I second Hendrix. Some others not yet mentioned: Millsaps, Sewanee/the University of the South (not sure why this school doesn't get more attention!), Mercer, Berry, Randolph-Macon. You might also check out Randolph College, which just went co-ed this year (it was formerly the Randolph-Macon Women's College) and is thus eager to recruit men. Also: McDaniel, Goucher, Centre, and Lenoir-Rhyne are all nice schools for someone in your son's stat-range as well. But not sure about the golf.</p>
<p>Another possiblity is Oxford College of Emory. Don't know how sports would dovetail into the school? It is a program of Emory where students attend their first 2 years in a LAC like setting outside of Atlanta then finish at Emory with an Emory degree. I think it is aimed to reach out to kids who might not otherwise get into Emory because of their background prep or grades, but who show promise.</p>
<p>Also, Spring Hill in Alabama. I think they own their own golf course if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>Goucher near Baltimore.</p>
<p>Yep, Spring Hill College does own its own 18 hole golf course: <a href="http://www.shc.edu/alumni-and-friends/alumni-admissions-program/quick-facts-about-shc/?searchterm=golf%5B/url%5D">http://www.shc.edu/alumni-and-friends/alumni-admissions-program/quick-facts-about-shc/?searchterm=golf</a> Nice school in a nice part of Alabama (Mobile), with a skewed male-female ratio that might make a male with your son's stats very attractive.</p>
<p>Also, check out the University of Tampa. Not sure what division they are, but I know they do have a golf team. </p>
<p>And, has anyone mentioned Eckerd yet?</p>
<p><<elon university="" furman="" lynchburg="" college="" stetson="" rhodes="" hendrix,="" flager="" does="" anyone="" know="" the="" strengths,="" or="" value,="" of="" these?="" how="" is="" post="" life="" placement,="" etc?="">>></elon></p>
<p>Flagler is an interesting school. They offer very limited majors, mainly focused on more professional areas (journalism, business, etc.) In doing so, they have kept the cost of attending very, very low. But, options for majors are limited, and it is VERY competitive in terms of admissions (I think their admit rate is somewhere in the 35% range, but don't hold me to it). To get in there, kids really need to be committed to the fields that Flagler offers.</p>
<p>Furman is also very competitive, and getting more so each year. Beautiful campus (with a lake!), students a little on the conservative side. Academics are very good, but pretty demanding. I would say Furman may not be the best bet for someone who hasn't yet discovered inner motivation for academics.</p>
<p>Elon is a terrific school. Has been "discovered" and is attracting more and more applications, especially from kids in the Northeast. That's making it more selective, but males have a bit of an edge in the admissions process, so don't rule it out. Lderochi, who posts here often, has a son headed to Elon next year so you might PM him.</p>
<p>Stetson isn't really a "liberal arts college" in the traditional sense as they are classified as a Master's university. But it's small enough (2200 or so undergrads) to feel like an LAC. Strong business program = good chunk of students are business majors.</p>
<p>Rhodes is top notch. Stunning campus but close proximity to downtown Memphis. Not a place for "slackers." Like Elon, and to a lesser extent, Furman, it's been "discovered" and is harder to get into than it used to be. They pay particular attention to high school grades and curriculum there. Large (some say too large) Greek presence.</p>
<p>Hendrix - Great school but too small for some kids (just over 1,000 students, and lots are away on study abroad each semester so it sometimes seems smaller). Pretty campus, very caring and involved faculty. One of the nicest admissions teams you'll ever encounter bar none. (And, their admissions director has a great name too: Jack Frost). Students tend towards the quirky side, but that's been changing a bit. Still, the student body leans towards liberal which surprises people about a college in Arkansas. They will take sometimes chances on kids with somewhat lower stats who show potential or an upwards trend in grades.</p>
<p>Lynchburg - PM Barrons about Lynchburg. He has a home nearby and can give you the skinny. They also have a write up in the Colleges that Change Lives book, but their profile is way out of date. Consider it more of a safe bet for your son.</p>
<p>I want to go back to my recommendation of Sewanee/the University of the South. It deserves a close look for your son (and others!). They do have a golf team (both male and female). The campus is located on 10,000 acres in Tenn. Academically, however, Sewanee is excellent and nationally recognized by graduate schools. They do have some quirky traditions, and students are on the more conservative side and heavily from the South, but if I was looking for a 'best school he can get into academically' place in the south for a kid with your son's stats, I'd take a close look. His GPA might be a little low (their median is 3.4 but that's based only on core academic classes), but his test scores are in range. <a href="http://www.sewanee.edu%5B/url%5D">http://www.sewanee.edu</a></p>
<p>I'm ready willing and able to wave the flag for Elon LOL. </p>
<p>You have received some wonderful suggestions. In the course of the journey, my son (well, I did the initial work) looked at several of these (Furman, Centre, Hendrix, Randolph-Macon, Rhodes, Sewanee, Wofford) and applied at several more (Lynchburg, Emory & Henry [trivia -- it's officially an asterisk, not "Emory and Henry"], Lenoir-Rhyne). So any info or help I can provide, just ask. My son also looked at/applied to several that haven't been mentioned so far: Bridgewater (terrific Division III sports and my son was much more impressed than he expected thanks to a wonderful feeling on campus), Hampden-Sydney, UNC-Asheville, and Winthrop in South Carolina. </p>
<p>Search under my name and use "review" for a keyword and you should find my reviews of several of these. </p>
<p>Finally, my son was 3.4/3.5 unweighted with an ACT of 28 so I think we're on the same wavelength here!</p>
<p>Furman, Davidson and Elon are all D1 schools. With a 79 he probably won't get to play much. Furman has a great golf course on campus. The Furman women's program is nationally known. They have about 6 alums in the LPGA right now (Betsy King, Sherri Turner, and many others). You're s should contact the coaches and ask them for an opinion or recommendation.</p>