Have her consider both Furman and College of Charleston in SC. Wofford is also a good choice but Greek life is heavy there. All 3 are liberal arts and have great religious and education departments.She ought to be able to fly into Greenville (Furman and Wofford) and Charleston fairly easily. Merit money is probably available at Wofford and Furman but I am not sure about College of Charleston since it is a state school.
I would look closely at the Jesuit schools mentioned, Santa Clara and LMU in particular, also Gonzaga, Creighton, and on down the list. Some of their NPCs include merit estimates.
(For a moment I was thinking that BC would be an interesting reach, but unfortunately, it won’t work financially as it won’t have the merit you seek. The school of education might be easier for admission and of course theology would be available. Like everywhere else, it’s become more competitive with an average SAT for admitted students of 1448, though last year’s enrolled average was around 1370, such that the 1390 may be in the ballpark.)
I have heard BCs admitted sats are up this year and potentially 30 pts enrolled. Based on early returns. But agree with Evergreen5. Good school ideas
@SDCounty3Mom My D is at St Olaf and having have great experience there. I wrote up a CampusVibe report over winter break by ‘interviewing’ D about the school. She is a math major so some of it is STEM focused, but gives a sense of the school.
https://www.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/st-olaf-college/4129201.html
Also if your D ends up visiting, she might look into the Great Conversations program. It a 2-year program that you apply to, so everyone in it wants to be there and loves to talk about books and especially religious and philosophical texts. My D did this and really enjoyed it—well, it’s tough with 200-400 pages of reading a week and lots of papers so ‘enjoyed’ but it was also tough. It does get you through a bunch of humanities GEs.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/great-conversation/courses/
Since your D is from California, she’d bring regional diversity so that would give her a better shot at merit money. They also have music scholarships and you don’t have to be a music major for those. Also they do have a teacher education program, but you do a regular major and the teacher education licensing is additional.
There are many other LACs that you could easily visit from MSP. Macalester and Carleton, obviously, but there are many more in the area.
Hi, your post caught my eye. My son has lower stats than your D (29 ACT 3.6 GPA) but I too am finding trouble with matches…schools with 31-33 or 32-34 and higher GPAs seem to be more common from what I am looking at.
That said, I have a DD at LMU and I second the idea to look at it and Jesuit schools in general. She loves it, we love everything about it. I also have come to know and love the Jesuit philosophy and culture and it sounds like an excellent fit for your DD. My DD had a 30 ACT and got decent merit aid (although she is a Theater major and possibly some aid could have come from her audition/resume; I don’t know). Other schools that my son is looking at that are more matchy to a 30 ACT, small to medium sized: Rhodes in Memphis, University of Richmond (VA), University of Pittsburgh, Villanova, Fordham (NYC), University of MD (DC), Colorado College. This is a diverse list but maybe will give you some ideas.
You asked for USA or Canada, and unless I missed it others have covered the USA but have not covered Canada. Thus I figured I would give you a few suggestions to the north.
My impression from your post is that you are west coast. As such you might want to look at west coast options. I think that your daughter has a good chance at UBC with her stats. Assuming that you are not Canadian, U.Victoria and Simon Fraser would be significantly less expensive and her chances to get in would be excellent. U.Calgary is another good option.
I have heard good things about all of these schools. Be aware that off campus housing is in short supply for most or all of them, and thus you should make sure that you meet the deadlines for application for housing. I am not sure whether the oil downturn has improved the situation with respect to housing in Calgary. U.Victoria would have the best weather from the perspective of a California resident unless skiing was high on the priority list. You might also want to note that Macleans magazine currently has Simon Fraser and U.Victoria ranked 1 and 2 on their list of mid-sized universities, although of course rankings should be taken with a grain of salt.
St Louis University? That could be a good option.
And possibly St. Mary’s College in Moraga if OPs daughter wants to stay in California.
University of Portland might be a good candidate as well since it’s a Catholic school.
@TS0104 Colorado College would be a reach - 15% female admit rate, ACT 30 is about 33rd percentile.
“wake forest which I would consider low reaches without more data”
Wake is also very, very Greek and not what I’d consider to be super accessible from SD (can probably fly direct to Charlotte, but it’s a 2 hour drive from there or fly a commuter flight into Greensboro and drive the 45-60 minutes to Winston Salem).
@TS0104 I appreciate hearing that info about LMU. It’s on our radar by virtue of being in southern California. We’re touring there this weekend and I’ll be curious to see how D reacts. It’s definitely clear that Jesuit schools are ones we need to be taking hard looks at, as she seems to fit really well with their philosophy.
@Hamurtle Coincidentally St Louis University just visited her high school last Friday and I told her to talk to them. I viewed the virtual tour on their website and it looks like they have a lot of positives. Definitely going on the long list.
@liska21 You are a great resource!! I didn’t know about the Campus Vibe section here. I read your summary – thanks! My D and I recently met a young female minister who is a St Olaf grad and she spoke of it with such fondness it was memorable. Glad your daughter is thriving there!
@evergreen5 My mom grew up in Omaha so that was my childhood vacation destination! Whoo! So Creighton has been on my radar and we went to an info session they offered here in town. Gonzaga is an intriguing one too.
Again, I really appreciate all the great ideas. This was definitely the boost that we needed. Many thanks!
@SDCounty3Mom glad that SLU is on the list. Although it’s not as well known of the Jesuit schools compared to Boston College or Georgetown, it has a national reputation. Also it’s close to the St. Louis cathedral.
St. Louis has a bad reputation, but I like the city and there is quite a lot to do and the food is underrated. It’s definitely worth visiting (not during the humid summer months though). Had no hesitation about my son going to WashU.
And if St. Louis University is too urban, then St. Mary’s is a good alternative. A little more than 2700 undergrads and Moraga is a pretty town with hills. And you are roughly an hour away from San Francisco.
University of the Pacific in Stockton could also be on the list, although they have a lot of preprofessional/professional programs (BS/DDS and pharmacy).