Waded through all this to see if Carroll in Helena, Montana was mentioned. Post 329 I think.
Just to add to it, Carroll College is a solid, 1400 student LAC with good ratings regionally in USNews ("best..."). It is a small, Catholic diocesan school with a strong reputation regionally. Excellent pre-professional programs, especially in pre-med and law with a stong nursing program. Pre-med has super mentors and advisors and a high success rate for those wanting to go to medical school. A unique program is the "animal bonding" that many pre-vet folks take -- sort of a "horse-whisperer" program. The engineering dual-degree program partners with other top schools with 3 years at Carroll (and a BA in Math) and 2 additional at Columbia, USC, Notre Dame and others for the engineering degree.
Students are about 60/40 Catholic/other. Student activities are all the classic, "Montana outdoors" things with world-class fishing, hiking, skiing (and boarding) only minutes away. "Cold winters" Historymom says! Sure, that's what gets the great powder to ski in! But the summers are heaven, and spring and fall wonderful... and Yellowstone and Glacier are only a couple hours away (south and north, respectively). And, the NAIA sports teams are competitive -- the football team won the national championship last year (for about the 5th time!) and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Students are from all over, but predominantly Oregon, Washington, California and, of course, Montana. The campus is modern, with well-equipped and new science/lab facilities. The classes are all taught by professors and they get to know the students. Graduates stress the lifetime friendships and the very positive, "life altering/changing" experience. Check out the scenery on the website and take a virtual tour at
Carroll College - carroll college virtual tour
Carroll is a school that definitely fits the theme of this great thread.