University of Iowa (86%). I’ve seen a lot of love for Iowa State (well-earned), but Iowa is another university that looks less selective due to its automatic admissions system (same one as Iowa State). It’s one of the smaller Big 10 campuses, maintains low tuition, has great school spirit, and is situated in a really nice college town. Home of the Iowa Writers Workshop and the Tippe College of Business, it’s also the alma mater of Caitlin Clark.
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This is such a fun thread to read through! Here are some of my picks:
Lewis & Clark College (Portland, OR)
- Private LAC
- ~75%
- Beautiful campus in nature, quiet neighborhood. They have a student tradition to celebrate the moss around campus with activities in what is called Moss Appreciation Week
- Emphasis on music programs, they seem vibrant and plentiful for hobbyists/minors
- A collaborative and relaxing environment overall. I recently did an admissions interview and it was easily the most relaxed and fun of them all. Excited to tour in the spring.
Southern Utah University (Cedar City, UT)
- Public University
- ~85%
- Surrounding by national and state parks. It touts being the only school to be “designated” as the University of the Parks
- Emphasis on professional, career-focused education
- Great housing, Founders Hall was built up in 2018, all apartment-styled, no community bathrooms
- Met with a rep at my school college fair, they spoke of the school having many West Coast connections
SUNY Purchase (Harrison, NY)
- Public LAC
- ~75%
- School of the Arts is a flagship of their’s. Its graphic design program is ranked in the Top 20 (10%) on the East Coast by AnimationCareerReview. I have seen it discussed with the likes of Parsons and Pratt as a great New York arts school
- Well-renown music conservatory as well, though much more competitive than overall school admission
- Liberal arts curriculum with smaller student faculty ratios and collaborative student culture, a big draw for artists
Indiana University Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN)
- Public University
- ~85%
- Emphasis on urban studies and health. Has the state’s only dental school and the nation’s largest medicine school. Also houses an excellent school of law and of art.
- Urban location naturally lends itself to internships and jobs for students related to their studies
University of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
- Private Jesuit University
- ~75%
- Consistently ranks as the #1 in student diversity
- Social justice mission statement is a core part of classes. For example, the Design major I applied into focuses on internships with non-profits and using art to promote social change
- Drop-dead gorgeous views on campus from the Hilltop. Right by Golden Gate Park and Bridge
- Very convenient transit around San Francisco
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Lawrence Univ ~72% acceptance rate
Went to an accepted student event years back where parents were able to sit in a mock class as “students”. Also, profs were available for meetings, but we were able to chat with them 1-1. They won my family over to the LAC concept and quality of the profs there was fantastic. Instrumental music was great of course, but physics was another one of their prized majors. Views of the Fox river were beautiful. Appleton is decently busy (~75k residents) and hosts broadway shows and a range of restaurants. Always looking for students to whom we could recommend it.
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University of Arizona
- admission rate 86%
- in Tucson, AZ. Campus located 25-30 min drive from airport.
- blue city in a red state. Good amount of diversity (incl. geographic diversity). LGBTQ+ friendly, has an Islamic center walking distance from campus (so if you need a place close by to attend worship services, there’s one available!), also an active Hillel organization (Tucson has a pretty big Jewish Community Center, but it’s east of campus).
- honors college has an awesome newer dorm with its own dining hall on 1st floor. Next door is 1 of the student gyms/rec centers on campus.
- wide range of majors. Sort of school where there’s something available for just about everybody. But one should note that some classes DO have hybrid or only online instruction, so be aware of that.
- has a pretty great astronomy & astrophysics program. The university does research at the solar observatory at the top of Mt Lemmon (1 hr drive from campus).
- Tucson has a really really big All Souls Procession festival for Dia de los Muertos. It’s pretty awesome.
- every February, Tucson has a huge rodeo called El Fiesta de los Vaqueros with a large rodeo parade.
- has auto merit scholarships which do not require you to have financial need.
- has a Cyber Operations major, which is 1 of only 24 programs in the US designated by the NSA as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations.
- their Intelligence & Information Operations major has been designated by the Defense Intelligence Agency & Office of the Director of National Intelligence as being the #1 Intelligence Community Academic Center of Excellence in the US.
- Tucson is the US home of the Sonoran hot dog. Go hit up El Guero Canelo to try one.
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I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned Indiana University – Bloomington yet. It’s a Big 10 school in a great college town. The town of Bloomington is surprisingly cosmopolitan for a town of less than 80k. There are tons of ethnic restaurants including Tibetan, Uyghur, and Afghani, along with other more commonly found international cuisines. The IU Auditorium hosts a full season of national touring productions from Broadway, so there’s no need to go to Indianapolis for a show. There are nearby lakes and opportunities to explore the outdoors with caving, hiking, etc. IU is in southern Indiana, so its weather is milder than many might think of for a state touching a Great Lake. Downtown starts along the western edge of campus and is walkable for students.
The campus itself is beautiful, often making it to lists of the most beautiful college campuses in the U.S. There is an active Greek scene for those who want it, but it’s easily avoidable for those who don’t. IU has historically been known as a basketball school, but this past year it had its best football season ever with fans packing the stadium. Soccer along with swimming and diving are also historical areas of strength for the school. Its world-famous music school means that there are tons of musical events here, with over 1000 recitals and concerts a year.
Academically, IU gets the most mentions on CC for its Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music. But it is strong across the arts and sciences, particularly with foreign languages, including rare ones. Its education school is also well reputed. There’s an honors college with an array of classes that fulfill distribution requirements but also has lots of discussions and dinners for students to engage with visiting guests. IU has a ton to offer students who want to take advantage of the opportunities available.
IU has around 37k undergrads and an overall acceptance rate of 80%. That rate does not apply to Jacobs (that requires an audition) or Kelley, if one does not meet the auto-admit standards.
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The Kelley auto admit standards have changed for Fall 2026 so it’ll be interesting to report here once we know for sure. 
Obviously if you meet the criteria it’d be 100%.
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Gustavus Adolphus is a liberal arts college of about 2,000 undergraduates, with a an acceptance rate between 62-74% over the last several years (source). It’s a highly residential college with about 89% of students living on campus. It’s in a smaller town, but just over an hour away from the airport hub of Minneapolis-St Paul (as well as of all the opportunities available from The Twin Cities).
This school first came to my attention because it’s a pretty heavy hitter in terms of the percentage of students who go on to earn a doctorate. The number of alumni who earned a doctorate between 2000-2023 (source) is just above those of schools like Skidmore, Denison, and Connecticut College and is just below those of Franklin & Marshall, College of the Holy Cross, and Bates, to give one a sense of how its alumni’s postgraduate accomplishments compare to other liberal arts colleges that are better-known on CC. It’s a particularly heavy hitter in alumni going on to earn PhDs in physics and chemistry.
Its Signature Experience (aka, SigX) program is focused on incorporating real-life experience with studies, whether that’s internships, research, community projects, or study away, including up to $3k to support those endeavors. Around a quarter of students are involved in music, theatre, dance, or visual arts, so there’s opportunities to perform or just to enjoy the arts as a spectator. It’s competitive on the D3 sports circuit, including being home to the 2023 women’s hockey champs.
It offers the “Gustie Guarantee” which guarantees at least $30k/year in scholarships to admitted students who submit a FAFSA, regardless of their family income. So for donut hole families (i.e. those that earn too much to qualify for need-based aid but are unable to pay sticker prices for many private schools), this is a nice source of reassurance.
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I can also endorse Gustavus. A number of my medical school classmates were graduates and they were very well prepared.
Gustavus is in a beautiful part of Minnesota, located in a lovely little town, with the Mainstreet full of cute shops and cafes, just a few blocks from campus. The campus itself is very pretty, with a number of architecturally important buildings.
Of note: Gustavus does offer a full-tuition scholarship for National Merit, so attracts some very strong students. It is also one of the few private LACs belonging to National Student Exchange. NSE is a consortium of ~200 schools across The United States and Canada. Students can exchange for up to a year with any of the participating schools while paying the same tuition that they are already paying at their home institution. Credits transfer seamlessly. National Student Exchange - Campuses / Location
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Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. My child had an amazing financial aid package and then received additional scholarships in later years that made it even better. Very small school (was less than 1500 when he attended but it has grown a little I think) but he had a job at a Big 4 waiting for him when he graduated.
A lot of people thought he was attending a community college because hardly anyone we knew had heard of it but not worrying about prestige paid off for him.
Combination of small school where he could be a big fish but in a big city where there was plenty of opportunity was a great choice.
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Earlham in Indiana. I’ve been so impressed with the alums I’ve met, and the faculty is really committed to teaching, not just delivering content.
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