I am looking for some safety school LAC that have a more sporty vibe(think Denison) but a higher acceptance rate. Being in or near a city is a plus!
This is a tough one. The culture at Denison is somewhat unique. The other LACs that immediately come to mind are Colgate and Lafayette, which are also very competitive admits.
Have you considered Depauw? It’s only a 1 hour drive from Indianapolis.
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Hobart William Smith, St. Lawrence, and Trinity (in CT) are worth exploring.
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Ursinus
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By sporty vibe do you mean school spirit/meaningful attendance at games/events? Or lots of club sports for non-varsity athletes?
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So what is a “safety” or Likely school for YOU depends on your actual qualifications, not just their observed admissions rate. Like, even some colleges with a pretty high admissions rate could be a Likely for well-qualified applicants, and an impossible reach for not sufficiently qualified applicants.
But anyway, one thing you can do to find “sporty” LACs is just look at conferences. Obviously the NESCAC is legendary for this, but the Upper Midwest has its own spirited conferences.
So Denison, for example, is in the North Coast Athletic Conference:
That conference also has Oberlin and Kenyon, but that is not necessarily helping too much on admissions. However, you could also look at, say, the College of Wooster, or Ohio Wesleyan. Again, these may or may not be proper Likelies for you, but maybe.
I note, incidentally, those five colleges (Denison, Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster, and Ohio Wesleyan) make up the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium:
This is for sure not as tight of a relationship as, say, the 5Cs of Claremont. But my point is this is a sort of natural group to poke around if you like Denison (although they all have their own personality), and again they are all in the same athletic conference too.
Another spirited Upper Midwest conference with a variety of good LACs is the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference:
Again a Carleton or Macalester is not necessarily doing you a lot of good on admissions relative to Denison. But, say, forum favorite St Olaf, or Gustavus Aldophus, could be good colleges to consider (again subject to qualifications).
Of course this is a bit outside your stated region, but if you are looking in MI/IN/OH anyway, seems a shame not to at least consider MN.
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If you’re male, Wabash is very sporty.
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In the same conference as Denison, take a look at Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg. Also, maybe look at Lawrence University in Wisconsin.
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I’d also recommend checking out Lake Forest College if you are willing to expand the area to Illinois. Very sporty vibe, great athletic facilities. 45 min train ride to Chicago.
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Gettysburg
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Ursinus
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Macalester is on the list, but still felt we needed more safeties. Wasn’t sure how sporty of a vibe Mac is - as we haven’t visited yet.
Yes but also not too quirky/progressive. My student likes the preppy/sporty vibe at Denison. I know pockets of these exist at every campus but hoping for more sporty than artsy/quirky if that makes sense.
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Yes have considered DePauw and it’s on the list but doesn’t love the town.
I think that is helpful, and that probably does point away from some of the colleges we have named. On the other hand, it reinforces others that people have named.
One total aside–have you looked at Miami (Ohio)? Obviously way bigger than an LAC, but it seems rather on point otherwise.
OK, but reorienting otherwise . . . Patriot League?
I’m not sure I would be comfortable calling these “safety” schools, but Bucknell and Lafayette I believe have at least a somewhat higher acceptance rate than Denison. Colgate is on point too, but wrong direction in terms of acceptance rate I believe.
Another good one would be the Centennial Conference:
Again, I would not call these all “safeties”, but F&M, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, Ursinus, and Washington College might all be on track.
Finally, you might also check out the Presidents’ Athletic Conference:
Allegheny, Washington & Jefferson, and Westminster might fit the bill.
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Muhlenberg is more artsy/music than sporty IMHO.
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University of Mount Union, a perennial D3 football power. About 2k kids.
Any interest in a mid-size school like Dayton, Xavier, Duquesne, Marquette? At catholic schools the emphasis on sports most often starts with basketball but they do sponsor the required number of D1 sports (14).
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Agree that Marquette might fit what you’re looking for. Know one current student and two applicants who fit a smart, athletic, active, social, moderate vibe and Milwaukee is a unique city! It’s also a great inbetween size–larger than most LAC but smaller class sizes and nice facilities.
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Gettysburg College. Known for sporty, nice kids that like to work hard/play hard. Close to Baltimore (1 hour) and DC (90 mins). Similar vibe to Denison