Looking to add some LACs to S24s application list at the last minute [4.0 GPA (4.67 weighted for Florida), 1400 SAT]

College Search & Lists
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Up until he started submitting applications, my S24 was interested n LACs with mostly small classes. Junior year, we toured several, and he liked University of Richmond and Wake Forest best. (He thought Davidson and W&L were TOO small.) I thought he had a reasonable plan. Then, beginning of senior year, he decided he wanted a big college/football school. He has applied to 8 big state flagships, all of which are great schools, plus Wake and Richmond. But he has never toured a single big school and I am worried he may not have any small options and may decide he does, in fact, want a smaller school after touring the big ones.

So, I am looking for 2-3 smaller schools that he could add to his list where he has a reasonable shot at admission and that preferably doesn’t have burdensome supplements. I think he will be fine if he ultimately chooses a big flagship, I just want him to have a variety of different options in the fairly likely event he is not admitted at Wake or Richmond. He does already have affordable acceptances he is happy with, I just wonder if he ought to have a small option open to him in April.

He prefers the Southeast. He is a fairly preppy, sporty kid. He is okay with Colorado because my sister’s family, who we are very close to, lives in Denver. He tentatively thinks he wants to major in finance but his AP Gov class has ignited a strong interest in political science/IR, so that’s another possibility. Politically, he has very moderate/centrist views and enjoys a robust debate

My initial thoughts are to encourage him to apply to University of Denver, Furman, and Elon. We have not toured any of these so I would be happy to hear perspectives on them. I am very open to other suggestions. If you think I’m being silly and he shouldn’t worry about adding more applications then you can tell me that too.

Stats: 4.0UW, 4.67 UF weighted, 1400; top 5% of small private school; 10APs, rest honors; 5s on APUSH, World Hist, Eng Lang, and Bio

Student Council President; XC Captain and team MVP; part time job for three years working at a club; Yearbook; started his own photography business

Thank you!

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I think those are three good options for smaller but not really small schools and I think he’ll easily be admitted to all three.
My D23 applied to Furman and Elon, I think Furman was an easy application without any extra essays and Elon’s were short and fun so not a big ask to add just in case.

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Is he willing to convert his Wake or Richmond app to ED2? That would likely help with admissions at either. Presumably he has heard or will shortly hear from most of the SEC schools.

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One thing I just remembered. Furman did reject some high stats applicants last year who didn’t show any interest. So I’d just make sure he’s signed up for the their email lists and maybe do a virtual tour or something.

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Wofford , Furman, William & Mary, Elon

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I think Denver is a really underrated (at least in coastal circles) small-but-not-too-small university, they are good in business and REALLY good in IR (different schools, though, I am not sure how that works), and they have robust merit programs too. I have never visited but from what I have read it would seem like a very good choice for someone who also liked Wake and Richmond.

Most of the LACs I would normally recommend are otherwise in the wrong part of the country and too small–I actually kinda get why Richmond would be a place someone would draw the line.

But have you looked at UNC-Asheville? I’ll admit I do not know a lot about it personally, but I have heard it mentioned a couple times for people who like Richmond (or generally Business but with an LAC setting). And it is in Asheville! Which to me sounds like a great place to go to college.

My last suggestion is what about American? Again, extremely good for political/IR stuff, also very solid for Business stuff, great location which is at least Southeast-adjacent.

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No. The initial plan was ED1 at Wake and ED2 at Richmond but now he is strongly opposed to ED. I get it.

He is in at Ole Miss and Auburn and will hear from Clemson, FSU, TCU, UGA, and probably S Carolina this week. UF decisions aren’t going to be released until February

He has done nothing to demonstrate any interest in these schools, so maybe they would reject him. And again, I do think he will be fine at his other options, I just have a hard time imagining the transition from a tiny school where the biggest class he’s ever had was 17 people to a huge flagship so I’m having a last minute panic

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Good suggestions here. Other ideas Washington & Lee and College of Charleston. For C of C I don’t think there is a supplemental essay unless you apply to the honors college - which he totally should with his stats! Deadline for that is 12/15 so hurry if wants to do that one.

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Thank you. I have not thought about UNC Asheville but will! He loves the western Carolina mountains and his grandmother lives only about an hour away.

And I agree on Denver! It looks absolutely wonderful on paper. I love the mountain campus concept but it’s great that the main campus is in a really fantastic city. Best of both worlds! I think it could be a really great fit. I also think it could be a big positive to get slightly outside his comfort zone and experience living in a different part of the country.

I hear American really loves ED? A bit more of a reach and DC is a bit far, but it definitely is a great school. I’ll give it another look

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In the last CDS, American admitted 746/868 ED, so that’s a very high percentage.

But it also admitted somewhere around 7202/18642 RD, which is not too daunting. American is one of many colleges which basically can’t fill its classes ED, it needs RD too. And its yield rate in RD–probably just a little over 14%–is so low it needs to admit a lot of people RD.

I also note a 1400 is almost at the 75th for American (1420), whereas it is at the 25th (exact) for Wake, below for Richmond (1425).

That said, this is by no means meant to insist on it. It just seemed to me like a possible fit given the stated interests/preferences, and a significantly more likely admit than Wake or Richmond.

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If he likes Richmond, Bucknell will be a bit easier.

Charleston a safety but he must do Honors and hope to get involved for Fellows weekend to get the crowd he’s likely seeking academically. It’s much larger. But maybe a nice cross do the very large that you are unsure of for him.

Lafayette and Trinity San Antonio are others that may work - less selective than Wake and Richmond but still selective. They are on the larger side for LACs

Good luck.

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Mine applied to Wake, Elon, and William and Mary. Similar sizes and nice campuses. He liked them all and ended up choosing William and Mary.

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I think you’ve gotten some good suggestions so far. Another school that hasn’t been mentioned yet in the southeast is Loyola New Orleans. It has about 3300 undergrads, so similar in size to U. of Richmond. It’s in a city and it is literally right next door to Tulane (where students can also eat at and maybe cross-register too, I believe).

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We just looked a lot of these same schools, my S24 did not like American (and even more so GW) as being in a too urban setting.

I like the idea of Bucknell having some similarities to Wake, but it is definitely north!

I feel like semi-selective privates in the south are a bit hard to find. You have (examples only) Vandy, Duke, Emory in the super stretch; Wake, Richmond, Davidson, W&L in the next group , then you have Furman, Wofford, Elon, Sewanee…And of course some of those are smaller than you like.

We were looking for some southern safeties (or close to it) and applied Furman and Sewanee. Richmond and W&M were on the top of our list for a while but I felt those would need an ED app.

My S24 goes to an all-boys school and it sends droves of kids to Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss plus of course our state flagship.

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Elon seems to mix some of the pluses of a small college - small class size and supportive environment with the pluses of a slightly larger student body and DI athletics. My son who loved Richmond also loved Elon. If he was willing to come farther north - PA has many colleges that might fit the bill - Lafayette, Bucknell, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Gettysburg.

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SMU? Lehigh? Lafayette?

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Thank you. He applied TO to both Wake and Richmond. The Wake rep did an info sessions for parents at our school and clearly said do NOT submit scores under 1470. He also was pretty transparent that S24 would be a likely admit ED, but an unlikely admit RD. I really like Wake, and think it would be a great fit, but I’m also happy to pay $65K less per year for our flagship (if he gets in)

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A great suggestion except that when we visited Tulane he didn’t like New Orleans! I was stunned by that

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Our town sends half a dozen kids to Wake every year. They all apply super early and all are full pay. It is a heck of a lot of money for sure! Although I’m still processing the kids who just announced their U of Miami acceptances with its 93K price tag. Ouch.

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This is a year old and only Top 50 each of LACs and National Universities (as of those rankings), but I think it is still an interesting map to contemplate:

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/where-to-find-the-us-news-best-colleges

The red dots for LACs are rather concentrated in the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Southern California (with a few notable exceptions). So for a variety of complex historic reasons, I think it is quite right these particular sorts of colleges/universities are just a lot less prevalent in the Southeast.