<p>I would agree that you should expand your geography to include NC and TN, at least as far as Nashville. In fact, I would submit that if the idea is to stay within a certain driving time of home, figure out what that is in miles, get a map of the USA out and make a circle around your home the equivalent of that distance. Then anything within that circle (or very close to it) can be on your list.</p>
<p>While I agree that schools like Wofford and some others mentioned are fine schools, someone with your credentials probably is looking to be challenged by other students of the same caliber. That is going to be more uniformly the case at schools like Duke, Vandy, Emory and the like than at some of the others. But only you can decide what is the best fit, and you should absolutely visit schools in each category (those three are pretty much the same category, then there is big state schools like UNC-Chapel Hill, and small schools like Wofford and Elon) once you narrow the list. Good luck!</p>