Virginia, outside the northern parts closest to DC, can be pretty darned “southern,” too. In fact, the unpredictability of UVa, imo, is tied the fact they are trying to serve all corners of the state.
W&M is 64% instate, 8% international. UVa doesn’t seem to tell, but College data claims 5.3% intl. But, see, these colleges would be on her list.
@monydad, I’m not interested in a pissing contest with you. Here are the Sep 14 stats:
http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2014/09/alabamians-now-a-minority-at-ua
UA’s demographics is much different than the other southern state flagships like UGA, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and even Auburn, with its higher OOS contingent.
My kid had no problems making friends with students from Alabama, Illinois New York, and rushing a fraternity without doing any of the spring or summer previews.
With the drastic cuts in the state budget support for UVA , it is highly dependent on full pay OOS students. It reports a 2013 VA resident undergrad population of 68%.
@TopTier, I’m not annoyed at all. I’m finding this thread incredibly helpful and honestly amusing. Sometimes, one has to be told the cold hard truth. Better for that person to be me now than my kid next spring.
@frazzled1, you are 100% correct. Sorry!!!
I’m actually familiar with the joint program with W&M. We toured the school last summer. The son of a very close of friend of mine just got accepted into the program and will be starting in the fall. Apparently, you can do the exchange every other year or two consecutive years at each school. One recent W&M grad told us that he knew a few students who were part of this program and that a couple of them had a hard time integrating back into W&M after spending a year abroad, presumably having chosen the former approach.
Something tells me that CC is not fond of US News and World Report rankings but, in the absence of any other ranked list that I know of, I went there to see Wisconsin’s ranking in Political Science and Economics. I was delighted to find that, in both categories, Wisconsin ranked higher than Cornell by a few spots. I always knew the engineering program was top notch, but this was very pleasant news to me, as Wisconsin is not on the common app and the acceptance rate of 50% renders it a strong likely. I wasn’t able to find a statistic on OOS acceptance rates, though.
At the risk of this sounding like a willy nilly reason not to consider Alabama, I have to admit that when I hear the name of the school, I am sadly reminded of the beautiful blonde girl that was supposed to go there but disappeared during her high school senior trip. No need to tell me that it’s absurd; I already know 
I have read through much of this thread now, and I can offer a few things:
NewWaveMom, yes, you have been gracious accepting and attempting to absorb all of the comments here. If I may speak frankly, I think part of your process now is coming from a certain age and geographic area, of which I am roughly of similar descent. And the schools I chose to apply to (and subsequently gained admission), and those targeted choices of my friends, were largely determined by the prevailing academic and cultural atmosphere.
While many of the top schools retain their appeal, the admissions “game,” demographics, and rise / fall of certain groupings of schools has changed significantly over the years. It took me a while to grasp on to this as well, and it’s a process of gradual transformation. And it has become strikingly more difficult to dismiss schools based on their financial aid, or lack thereof, for all but the most financially well-off.
Wisconsin has had formidable political science, history, and economics for quite a long time. Economics has gained slightly in recent years due to some top hires, and also more advising and a bit of re-structuring, mainly of the undergraduate resources. As a disclosure, I ended up choosing Wisconsin honors over some prestigious private offers due partially to finances. I think your strategy now is generally wise – to examine the intended majors and their strengths at respective schools. You may find some interesting discrepancies re: what schools are popular with high school students, and where the academics are consistently robust.
As far as Wisconsin, I would be wary looking at its ~50% admit rate, as many of these students who choose to apply are self-selecting, particularly in-state; in-staters know who has a shot, and who doesn’t, and the ones who don’t often look elsewhere now. I do think your daughter should apply, and I do feel she could gain a slight (not substantial) edge from the legacy. Though competitive, she would have a chance. I also don’t like making predictions in general, yet I do feel a few of her original reaches should also remain. It is difficult, if not impossible, to judge how adcoms would estimate her transgression in light of her accomplishments.
I agree that NewWaveMom has been very accepting of the (as usual) great advice given. @NewWaveMom, I’m sure your d will have great choices when next year rolls around.
If you need help on how to word things to explain the drug incident, there are a couple of posters on this forum who could help with that, I believe? One had some kind of issue with one of their children, and the other works with college applicants, some of whom have had issues they have had to explain in the application.
Agree about NewWaveMom’s graciousness in her responses.
Has hiring a private college counselor been advised? If accessible, this may be where a private counselor is worth the money. The counselor can suggest schools but also suggest or recommend strategies how to handle the discipline issue.
@NewWaveMom, I “third” the compliments to you for your gracious willingness to listen to what is being offered, and I agree that your D will have excellent choices because you are doing your research and strategizing now.
On the private college counselor suggestion, I just wanted to point out that if you choose to hire one, you should feel free to look nationwide for someone you feel is the best fit - with the various means of communication these days, you are not limited to engaging someone in your geographic area.
@SlackerMomMD and @GnocchiB, thank you. That’s exactly the conclusion I came to last night as well. I did some research and found a small (non-chain) group of consultants in the area that seem to be all former admissions officers. I will give them a call today and see if they have any experience with a situation such as ours. I agree that searching nationwide would be worth it and just as easy.
@CTTC, do you know how I can get in touch with the posters you mentioned?
Look for Hannah. 
@monydad I think what @novadad means is that because of the large OOS contingent, Alabama does not feel like the more stereotyped “Deep South” school. I wouldn’t really count the Florida kids as being “southern” kids, and I wouldn’t really count the Texas kids either. Both of those states send thousands of kids to Bama.
Heck, I wouldn’t even call many of the instate attendees “southern” because I know where many of those kids’ roots are from…and they’re not southern. UAlabama draws heavily from its big cities, and those populations often have roots elsewhere. The big Alabama cities (Huntsville/Madison, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile) are heavily peppered with transplants. From my own personal experience, I know that many/most of the UA attendees from Huntsville do not have southern roots. They (or their parents) are largely from California, the Midwest, or the NE. Their parents’ Fortune 500 companies moved from the West, Midwest or NE to Cummings Research Park (the second largest research park in the nation)
There is a reason that you will rarely hear a Bama student with a southern accent. Many of the so-called southern students are not (or their parents are not) from the south.
When my children were in elementary/middle school, only one of my kids had a fellow student with a southern accent. At their high school, there were NO students with southern accents. However, since all of the students were Alabama residents, someone like YOU would say, "gee, the school is 100% instate, so it’s a “southern school” (which is supposed to suggest that it has the more stereotypical southern aspects that a northerner would not like…and that conclusion would be very wrong. )
BTW…Calif is #5 in sending kids to Bama. This year, there are about 900 students from California.
But really, the truth is that with a good number of kids from all 50 states, a school’s culture is changed. There is clearly a difference felt when visiting say Miss State and Alabama.
@NewWaveMom, “Sometimes, one has to be told the cold hard truth. Better for that person to be me now than my kid next spring.” Exactly right, and that is how I know your kid is going to be just fine! I am watching a friend struggle with her D’s admission results right now and I wish I could have been as blunt with her a year ago as we are being with you now. I hope to read all about your D’s great options next spring.
I actually think your daughter has excellent chances - because you were proactive and looked at the situation from all angles, and because indeed you’ve been so gracious in reading and taking in all the information that’s been provided, some of it probably a bit hard to take and a lot of it probably hard to digest.
Yours is a case where a “shotgunning” strategy of sorts may be worthwhile - well, in the sense that you shouldn’t count on top schools being out, but you no longer can count matches as such, so that your daughter’s list is going to include “reaches for everyone schools”, “unpredictable schools”, matches that used to be safeties, colleges you hadn’t thought of, and safeties because they garantee merit aid or admission to Honors College for stats. That’s going to be a lot of schools but your family’s facing a very unpredictable situation, so cover all angles.
I do think that with such a strategy will yield excellent results for your daughter.
She’ll just have to start planning very early, because she’ll have a lot of essays to write.
As I indicated, the Schreyer essay topics are posted in the summer, and Wisconsin’s Honors College is by invitation/application (only those invited can apply, but not all invited will attend - the “writing essays” part counts as a check on motivation and intellectual curiosity, two key criteria for many honors colleges.)
Colleges that you may want to consider:
In the South, Agnes Scott in Atlanta (extremely diverse), NCF in Florida (very intellectual and intense but “Ivy feeder” for those who survive), Hendrix in Arkansas (“The Odyssey” is great, and means your child can receive financial support for volunteering in an urban area or abroad, for study abroad, for unpaid internships… and is guaranteed research experience if s/he is interested); American U is a match and she may want to look into their special programs; UNC-W/UNC-A/App State are three strong universities from the Carolina public system (one by the beach, one in a mountain “artist” town, one in the mountains) which, along with NCSU (in Raleigh), would basically be safeties and there ought to be one she likes. USC Columbia Honors College is one of the best in the nation although/because the application isn’t for the faint of heart (about 12 essays!) and College of Charleston/Honors College could be of interest too. Both would be “Southern” though, and I’m not sure how you’d compare them to UA and UAlabama’s Honors College.
In the Midwest, Macalester in the Twin Cities would be a match (if you go and visit, swing by Northfield and visit both Carleton -reach for everyone- and St Olaf - match with possible merit and she may be interested in “The American Conversation” program); then Marquette, Lawrence and Beloit in Wisconsin; Butler, Grinnell and Earlham in Indiana; Allegheny, Case Western Reserve, (Kenyon), Denison, UDayton. All of these are very different, so you may want to read up on them (use Fiske Guide, Insider’s Guide to the College, Princeton Review’s Best Colleges) after you make the requisite local visits to get her to think about what environment she likes. Since you live in VA, you have lots of possible options for her to consider and test: you can go spend a day each at CNU, JMU, GMU, UMW, VCU, ODU, and have her “rate” them from 1 to 6 with reasons, for instance; add a couple private colleges (a Catholic comprehensive, a small rural LAC, etc) plus UVA and UWM and you’d have a pretty good idea of what environment she wants for her safeties and matches.
I don’t know whether Bard has turned up in your discussions, but they have an intriguing essay option whereby a student can entirely bypass submitting transcripts and test scores (both of which are strong in your daughter’s case, apart from any remarks the school might make regarding her suspension). The applicants simply have to write four essays on selected topics.
I was actually just going to suggest Bard. It has a reputation for taking students with a rocky past in high school and providing them with a high-octane intellectual environment.
@woogzmama and @NavalTradition – I had not heard of Bard. Based on how you’re describing it, it sounds like Hampshire College near Amherst. Is that a good comparison?
It’s a little like Hampshire - a lot of Bard matriculants also apply to Hampshire - both very liberal/artsy and experimental, although Bard is less crunchy/granola than Hampshire. More hipster than hippie. The curriculum is very reading and writing intensive. Bard has a required first year seminar on the Great Books, which tells you something about the difference in educational philosophy. And Matt Taibbi went there, if you’re familiar with his writing.
Thank you, @NavalTradition. I will take a look.
@TopTier, this the reason I have the impression that one must apply to a bunch of reach schools (despite the fact that they all have similar acceptance rates – especially when there’s a subjective situation like my daughters that some admissions committees might want to stay clear of and others might be less afraid:
@NewWaveMom (re post #138): I appreciate your rationale. My post (#116) was intended ONLY to provide you with the accurate and applicable statistical concept. I did this, in reality, to help you and your daughter. Very sadly, I have repeated observed examples (on CC and personally) where a student (and/or parents) becomes so “emotionally wedded” to admission to one (or more) “elite” institutions, that their disappointment on 1 April – when they have been denied/wait-listed by all/many of these schools – is profound.
I have NO quarrel whatsoever with your daughter’s application to MANY reaches (nor, obviously, would it be my place to do so). I only want her – and you – to be pleased next April, understanding that a real possibility that all her reaches will prove unattainable exists.