<p>We live in Florida, so if D ends up deciding on a big state U, we will likely stick with a Florida school, but I suspect she might be happier with a small to mid-size school. I love some of the NE schools, but don't want to miss out on opportunities that might be closer to home...and we will probably do little bit of traveling in the SE region this summer and can probably include a couple college visits.
So for purposes of this thread, SE schools it is...
Our criteria:
-good financial aid available (need and or merit)...meets full need a plus, of course
-attracts the academic/geek type: typically high gpas, scores, AP/IB kids
-liberal leaning(The area we live in is very conservative...This is a chance to experience a different POV.)
-not a commuter college
-likely to lead to grad school acceptance/ well respected
-not primarily full of 'rich kids' with designer tastes
-not HUGE on football, partying and Greek life.</p>
<p>Here is the list I have: Which ones should stay on our list? Which should we cross off, and why?</p>
<p>In NC:
Davidson
Elon
Duke
Guilford</p>
<p>In VA
Washington Lee
College of William and Mary</p>
<p>In SC
Furman Univ.</p>
<p>In GA
Agnes Scott Coll.
Emory Univ.</p>
<p>In Florida
Rollins
Reed
Eckerd
Stetson
U Miami</p>
<p>Well, in SC Furman would be a good fit. Fairly active greek, but big enough percentage of non-greeks to appeal to those who don’t want it. I don’t think their merit aid is particularly great…they don’t stack scholarships and big scholarship is $25 which isn’t great if you can’t get need money also, but I love the school and town and pushed for one of mine to go there. Have one at Washington and Lee in Va. They give out 40 full rides a year, which is pretty good. Daughter loves it, BUT is pretty hard partying and almost completely greek. Davidson was another favorite, but merit aid skimpy. Still promise no loan aid to those who qualify, but be sure you do a FAFSA estimator to see if you possibly would before you fall in love. (Favorite of younger, but only got 10,000 toward total cost…valedictorian, high GPA/scores) Doesn’t have sororities, but don’t let that fool you…I think still a pretty Greek feel with eating houses and parties. At lot of these small selective LACs will have at least some “rich” kids just because they all cost above $50,000/yr.</p>
<p>(One ended up in USC honors college, full ride…made great friends among scholarship winners and finalists that met during spring, best of both worlds…lots of smart, non-partying kids…several from Florida!)</p>
<p>@scmom12,
Thank you, this is good info! Furman just recently hit our radar…I hadn’t heard of it before (I haven’t heard of LOTS of schools out there! lol), but I suspect some of those could be ‘best kept secrets’.
I appreciate the input…I am hopeful that others will post too. I know there are people out there who have compared these schools.
we may have to check out USC honors too!</p>
<p>Another plus for furman is housing for all 4 years…with apartments for jr and sr. Kids don’t care as much but it’s really nice not having to deal with off campus housing when not from that area. Beautifull campus. Pretty convenient airport if needed. Definitely worth checking out.</p>
<p>I was actually excited about New College for a while, but D doesn’t think she likes their ‘no grades’ system. We went and walked around that campus this past year, over a break, so things were shut down, but it didn’t give a positive impression to any of us, but who knows, another visit at another time and it might be right back on the list! ;-)</p>
As scmom12 mentioned, W&L has possibly the largest Greek scene in the country, with 80-90% of students joining a frat/sorority.</p>
<p>Why is Reed listed under Florida in the original post? Also, if you’re willing to go further afield, you might want to check out Rhodes or Trinity (TX). U Richmond would be worth a look in Virginia. Goucher in Maryland is pretty artsy and offers cross-registration with Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Of the colleges on your list, I am most familiar with Duke and Davidson and would keep both. I know of Guilford only by reputation, but it seems like it could be a good fit; Agnes Scott likely would be as well.</p>
<p>^ A little closer than Trinity University in San Antonio is Rice University in Houston. From the OP’s list of requirements, Rice seems like a great fit.</p>
<p>LOL I don’t know how I got Reed, mixed in there! Thank you for the other suggestions. I don’t really envision D heading to Texas, but who knows? There are a lot of great schools as we head northeast in our search, but close to home would be nice. and…sorting by region seemed a good way to start narrowing the search.</p>
<p>In North Carolina, Duke and Davidson are great. I have heard great things about Elon but its still not on the level of Duke or Davidson. Check out Meredith, its a great female-only college but the academics are not on the level of Duke either. I don’t know anything about Guilford. Check out Wake Forest although it is fairly conservative and Greek. UNC is huge but otherwise it seems to meet your other criteria. </p>
<p>In Virginia, William and Mary sounds like a good match. W&L is amazing but it is very Greek, very conservative, and most of the students are rich and preppy. Keep in mind that it is a school named after a Confederate general. It takes a certain kind of person. You might want to consider University of Richmond. Also, consider UVA unless it is too big. </p>
<p>In South Carolina, Furman is amazing. I do believe it is slightly conservative and Greek. You might want to consider Anderson, College of Charleston, Winthrop and Wofford although their academics are not top-notch. Winthrop is in a beautiful area and just a stone’s throw from Charlotte. </p>
<p>In Georgia, both of those sound good. I have heard that Emory can be difficult to like if you are not a hipster.</p>
<p>In Tennessee, Vanderbilt is fine. Look at Rhodes too. I have heard it’s a lot like Duke.</p>
<p>Wild1
In SC I would put Wofford ahead of winthrop and CofC. It is very strong for pre-med, but is highly greek. Furman, percentage wise, is not as greek. I would feel comfortable as non-greek at Furman, not so much at Wofford.</p>
<p>W&M does sound like a good match EXCEPT for the fact that it doesn’t guarantee to meet the financial need of OOS students. Among public universities, only UVA and UNC-CH do, I believe. There is very little merit aid at W & M: 4 awards (Murray Scholars) in the amount of full IN-STATE tuition per year, leaving a considerable shortfall for OOS students who receive the award; a few smaller awards; a fairly large program (Monroe Scholars) that funds summer study. The school’s policy is to meet the financial need of VA residents first. W&M’s continuing financial precariousness is about the only criticism I’d make of it. Our d1 and d3 attended. The check we wrote last semester was almost twice as much as the first one we wrote in 2001.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is also on your list, and both need-based and merit aid are superb. But Greek life, partying, designer labels, and conservative political attitudes are factors there (though not to the extent many imagine). Our not-rich, liberal d2 was happy there; she is pretty thick-skinned, though.</p>
