I was going to recommend Rice too until I saw they were looking for targets and not reaches.
I agree it’s a good choice for a reach list though. They offer great need based aid (the Rice Investment) and admit a good number of Questbridge students.
The one item on the wish list it does not meet is guaranteed 4 years of campus housing. Though many students do live on campus for 4 years technically only 1 is “guarenteed”. I’m not aware of any case where students couldn’t live on campus for 3 years if they wanted, but the 4th can be more challenging. The residential colleges all have their own rules about housing and each has a year (either sophomore or junior) where students are lowest priority in the housing process. Two new residenital colleges are planned (I predict building of those will start very soon) which will allow more students to opportunity to stay on campus for 4 years if wanted. But I don’t think it will every be guaranteed. There are walkable off campus options though and Rice is talking about expanding their shuttle services to off campus students this semester.
Yes, you’re right, I guess I got overly-focused on the “cool cities” part of the inquiry. (Still think Rice is maybe a good fit.) Looking for LACs in/very near cool cities is a tough task - that is where our search begin several years ago, and I think @CollegeMamb0 has captured most of them. It may depend upon how “very near” is defined. If 30 minutes is OK, I would second Denison, where my son went - Denison is a Questbridge school located 30 minutes outside Columbus, Ohio, which is a definitely, although perhaps surprisingly, cool city.
DePaul is the first one that comes to mind. Not sure about housing. Take a look at Butler as well. I’m not sure how either would do with aid. Case Western is more of a reach but could be a good fit. They’re unpredictable for admissions but give generous aid. They love ED applicants and they are a QB school.
By “near a cool city,” do you mean walk-from-campus near, or public-transportation near? My first thoughts were Macalester, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan (small city, but not sleepy), Brandeis, American, Sarah Lawrence, Case Western (not really a LAC), and Skidmore (small but thriving city). I haven’t checked driving times from Nashville for any of these. I know Occidental is far, but if you were willing to be flexible on distance, you should consider it. Seems to fit the bill in so many ways.
I second suggestions to consider honors colleges, which can make big universities feel small. Look into Pitt, Indiana, Wisconsin-Madison (Chadbourne residential college), KU, and others.
I’m not sure I understand what you need in terms of financial aid, and also what counts as in or near a cool/real city.
Based on her described interests, I immediately thought of Kalamazoo and St Olaf, which are not overly selective and both have robust merit. Kalamazoo is in a city of the same name, about 7.5 hours from Nashville, which is often rated one of the best places to live in the state, one of the coolest college towns, and so on (I note it shares Kalamazoo with Western Michigan). St Olaf is in Northfield, just in range, a smaller but very nice town it shares with Carleton, about 45 minutes from Minneapolis/St Paul.
But I am not sure if they will meet your needs financially or locationaly. Maybe, but it would be good to get some clarity.
Edit: Oh, Lake Forest, in the Chicago suburbs, might be a very good suggestion to check out.
You may be looking for the purple unicorn. I think your daughter is going to need to determine which of these criteria are the most important and which ones are more flexible. There truly aren’t that many liberal arts colleges that are in or near a “real” city (not 100% sure what that means), so that already drastically limits the list. For your criteria, the absolute best fit that I can think of is Macalester, which ticks most of the boxes, except it’s about a 13 hour drive from Nashville, and would probably be more of a reach school. Plus, while they offer merit aid, I don’t know if they offer full tuition merit scholarships. But, it’s in a great walkable neighborhood in St. Paul, is progressive (and not religious), had a nice traditional (if somewhat small) campus, and has no Greek life. Plus, it’s got fantastic academics.
Other small LACS in/near a city - Occidental, but that’s waaay outside your geographic zone. Also Reed and Lewis & Clark, but again much farther away than is desired. There’s obviously Barnard, but that’s a definitely reach school. Rhodes and University of Richmond - not nearly the campus culture your daughter is seeking - both more conservative with significant Greek Life, plus Richmond would also be a reach school (also there’s not much that’s walkable from campus). Plus are Memphis and Richmond “real cities.”? Would St. Johns College be of interest? It has a campus is Annapolis and another one in Santa Fe - it’s Great Books approach to learning is unique and could appeal to a certain type of student.
I’m not sure which, if any of these schools offer guaranteed housing all four years.
It would be helpful if you could clarify which of the wants are non-negotiable and which ones have a bit more flexibility and perhaps the group could do a better job with some recommendations!
Mac is a Questbridge school and meets need - so likely has to be in OPs consideration set.
When I hear QB, I have to think in the end the only thing non negotiable is budget, no matter what one dreams for. Mac, however, meets the requests. And I’m 25 mins south of Nashville and my Apple Maps shows 12 hrs 39 mins. A rounding error to 12 from Nashville :).
From OP: She also plans to apply to the Questbridge College Prep Scholars program when the application opens on February 1 (that’s the Questbridge program for HS juniors that prepares you to apply to the actual Questbridge selective college matching program that’s for HS seniors)
To try to be constructive, this seems like a potentially helpful list:
To support a point others have made: particularly within your circle, it is not a very long list. And a lot of those colleges are reachy, or alternatively do not have the academic focus/vibe you described.
But I don’t have great familiarity with all those colleges, so maybe some will work. It could be a short list even so.
The question is will you qualify for need based aid? Run some NPCs at a couple of meet full need schools like Swat and Macalester to see if they would be affordable. If need based aid won’t get you to your budget, only the LACs that provide merit will be on the table.
Yes, but running the NPCs still makes sense for better list building. And to be clear, lots of students who have higher income than QB’s ‘guidelines’ do apply.
This is a great list. Even better: read the comments for schools that didn’t end up on the list somehow. Would Emerson or Wheaton (MA) - both in the Boston area – be candidates? Not sure whether those have been suggested, and they might be a bit beyond the driving radius. Could check a lot of other boxes, though.