<p>Could anyone suggest some good (A- student) liberal arts colleges anywhere in the country with about 5000-10,000 students, a decent football team (spectator, not player), and not too “preppy” an environment? Bonus points if this college has a fairly good music program.</p>
<p>Without the football factor, are there any colleges like this in Canada?</p>
<p>You are eliminating almost all liberal arts colleges with your requirement of 5,000 to 10,000 students. However, there are a good number of small research universities and “masters universities” with colleges of arts and sciences that meet your criteria. TCU, for example, is one of the notable examples with recent success on the football field. Others include Rice, Wake Forest and Tulsa. On the FCS (DI-AA) level you’ve got more choices, including Dartmouth, Princeton, Brown, Lehigh, Fordham, Georgetown and Elon, to name a few.</p>
<p>I think of TCU as mega-preppy. It was the only school we left after the tour that ds said, “No way.” (He’s anti-prep).</p>
<p>I was going to suggest Tulsa as well as a football up-and-comer, but don’t know anything about its music program.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams both have football teams and a storied football rivalry, though both are no slouch when it comes to admissions and both are pretty preppy.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams indeed have storied (Division III) football programs. But they have nowhere near 5,000 to 10,000 undergrads. This requirement eliminates most LACS.</p>
<p>If you mean a college with a strong undergraduate emphasis as opposed to more of a big U research orientation, then how about Tufts or Lehigh? Both definitely LA oriented, both have football, I don’t think either is uber-preppy (maybe Lehigh more so), and both fit your size requirement.</p>
<p>Most folks tend to think of Notre Dame as a “big school”. But they’re around 8500-9000 students. While they do have a business school and an engineering school, their College of Arts and Letters provides a liberal arts education in a variety of majors. </p>
<p>And I’m pretty sure they have a football team. :)</p>
<p>I completely understand the size issue–I am well aware of (and have two kids attend) the very fine smaller liberal arts schools. But this is S3, who is not–apparently–following in the bro’s footsteps! Tufts was my first choice for him, as it has been twice already! I was, honestly trying to find something Tufts-like. Elon looks great, and I might have him check out Lehigh as well. Regarding Notre Dame and Georgetown, isn’t the Catholic factor there pretty prevalent? Isn’t Wake Forest pretty preppy? Dartmouth, obviously, would be a reach. Thanks everyone so far for the suggestions. Keep them coming, if anyone thinks of more.</p>
<p>You have pretty much defined a null set. Dartmouth, Duke, and Vandy fail the preppy test and are tough to get into. </p>
<p>Rice maybe, but more of a tech/sci school than LAC.</p>
<p>Wash U might fit the bill.</p>
<p>How about the honors college at Pitt? I was thinking of places like Holy Cross and some other Catholic colleges, but they are mostly too small.</p>
<p>I thought about Rice, but Tulsa’s team is better. 10-3 overall record vs 4-8. And Tulsa is easier to get into to. There are some frats at Tulsa vs none at Rice.</p>
<p>What does TCU stand for? Texas, Tennesee? C is Christian, Catholic, Central?..my S3 would like the same criteria as the OP although my son tilts probably more toward jocky/preppy than antyhing else…and I’ve not heard of TCU.</p>
<p>TEXAS! 
It’s in Foat Wuth And Christian.</p>
<p>If your ds is a sports nut, he should have heard of it.</p>
<p>My first thought was also Holy Cross but they’ve got only about 3,000 students. Boston College? Enrollment = 9,100. </p>
<p>More of a regional school, but St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict (St. John’s/St. Ben’s) in Collegeville, MN is a perennial D-3 powerhouse. Head coach John Gagliardi is the winningest college football coach of all time and is the only coach ever to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame while still active in coaching. His teams have won 4 D-3 national championships, lost another D-3 national title game, and made it to the national semifinals on 7 other occasions. Great college football atmosphere, beautiful campus, strong academics. Why does it have 2 names? St. John’s was traditionally a stand-alone male-only school, St. Ben’s a women’s school. They still operate that way for residential purposes with women living on the St. Ben’s campus, but they’ve fully merged on the academic side, for ECs, etc. It’s a really good little college that doesn’t get any love on CC because US News lists it as a “regional” school, but I think it’s a gem. Enrollment just a little over 4,000, close to the OP’s 5,000 minimum.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is a little small (3,000) but pretty much meets the other factors. D3 football, awesome music program. Might be too preppy?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/[/url]”>http://www.stolaf.edu/</a></p>
<p>If you go to the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences web site at [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/), and use their “search options” tool, you may well find what you’re looking for. I asked to see schools with between 5K and 10K undergrads, that offer varsity football, with no preference for religious affiliation, and award bachelor’s degrees, and saw 129 schools that met that criteria.</p>
<p>In response to a question I had on another thread about smaller schools that still have the “rah-rah” factor, one poster suggested Lafayette. Way smaller than you’re looking for, but D-I. (Smallest D-I school, I believe?)</p>
<p>Youdontsay…I’m sure he has heard of TCU, I just hadn’t…I never heard of Boise State either until he mentioned it (I call it the smurf school because of the blue football field…clearly I don’t watch sports on TV much.)</p>
<p>Tulsa gives great merit-based aid if your student qualifies. It’s small than your parameters, however (3,000 students.) </p>
<p>Villanova is moving to D-1 football. They have been in the lower division playoffs for several years. Enrollment is 7,200 or so. </p>
<p>Boston College.</p>