I have started doing my own research to help my kid but bc this is a weird list of interests and this is a knowledgeable group… junior with good grades and nothing special ECs (solid varsity and club athlete with no interest in playing seriously in college, some foreign language things), looks like national merit commended, 35 ACT, some national Latin exam commendations, good grades in an IB diploma program but hard to know exactly how good bc grade inflation.
Interested in significant international study but probably US university bc she wants a mid-size traditional college campus and rah-rah vibe. Will have 4+ years of Latin and Spanish and interest in continuing both, maybe interested in studying linguistics but probably in a place where she cd take some business/marketing kind of classes too. (She’s pragmatic and wants to make sure she can get a decent paying job…)
Ideally maybe 5000-10000 students, but some flexibility. Just not huge or tiny.
We cd pay but would love to pay less, mostly bc college seems silly expensive. But for now, mostly interested in ideas…
95 unweighted, I think. 97 or so weighted? I’m not sure on the 4.0 scale. It’ll get higher bc all her classes started being weighted this year with IB program. We’re in NY. She really wants a rah-rah campus vibe and I feel like the only university here with that as Buffalo, which I don’t think she wants (and we like Bing and Stony—it’s just not her vibe). But I’ll look at UMass Amherst.
Boston College checks every box. Just under 10,000 undergraduate students. Has an international studies program (it’s mildly competitive to get into - you have to apply), linguistics, and a great business college. Your daughter could apply to be in the business college and major in business, or be in the college of arts and sciences and then do a minor in the business college. Good for rah-rah sports - the football team isn’t great, but huge enthusiasm for the team every Saturday, and the men’s hockey team has been rated first in the country most of this year - huge excitement for the hockey team. However, no merit aid except for about 15 students who received a highly competitive full tuition scholarship. So, unless eligible for need-based aid, you’d very likely be full-pay.
I don’t know as much about the academics there, but maybe Wake Forest?
If, by “significant international study,” you mean a longer study-abroad duration than the typical semester/year abroad, she could look at St. Louis University, which has its own campus in Madrid and offers both 4-year degrees there and a larger selection of 2+2 degrees between Madrid and STL. Since your D also wants the experience of a traditional mid-sized domestic campus, the 2+2 option might be the better fit. Marketing and other business specialties are among the major options, along with Spanish. Madrid and St. Louis Majors : SLU They don’t have a linguistics major, but there is a Greek & Latin Language and Literature major on the STL campus.
Congratulations to your D on her strong academic profile!
Colleges listed below have classics, Spanish, and business majors. If they also offer a separate linguistics major listed in College Navigator (fed’s website), I will indicate that. The letter grade listed is their Niche grade for athletics.
With respect to linguistics, a linguistics professor wrote this the other day, which can provide some additional context as your D investigates schools (source):
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Creighton (NE): About 4300 undergrads, A
Gonzaga: About 5100 undergrads, A
Marquette: About 7500 undergrads, A
Seton Hall: About 6k undergrads, A
University of South Carolina: About 27k undergrads, A+, one of the most respected honors colleges in the country and a very strong program in international business. No undergrad major in linguistics, but there’s a master’s and PhD, so undergraduate coursework is highly likely to be available.
Xavier: About 4900 undergrads, A
Likely (60-79%)
Providence: About 4k undergrads, A
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Villanova: About 7k undergrads, A+
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Tulane: About 8800 undergrads,A-, linguistics major, would need to show lots of demonstrated interest. I also suspect the athletic grade is/will be moving up.
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Dartmouth: About 4500 undergrads, A-, linguistics major
Duke: About 6600 undergrads, A+, linguistics major
Georgetown: About 7900 undergrads, A, linguistics major
Northwestern: About 9k undergrads, A, linguistics major
Stanford: About 8k undergrads, A+, linguistics major, no specific undergrad business major
U. of Notre Dame: About 9k undergrads, A+
Vanderbilt: About 7200 undergrads, A
Other colleges considered but didn’t put above as they didn’t have at least some type of an “A” for sports on Niche.
Bucknell (PA ): About 3800 undergrads, B+, linguistics major, toss-up
Lehigh: About 5600 undergrads, B+
Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads, B+
For reference, these are the Niche sports grades from some other schools mentioned in the thread: