Here are a few more I found via search. There may be overlap with other lists here. All the best!
University of Virginia (UVA)
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Drive from NC: About 4-6 hours, depending on the starting point in NC.
Vibe: UVA has a balanced political environment with a slight liberal tilt. (Not sure how accurate this is?) It is known for its strong academics, historic campus, and a vibrant social scene.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a strong neuroscience major with opportunities for undergraduate research.
Davidson College
Location: Davidson, NC
Drive from NC: Within the state, making it easily accessible.
Vibe: Davidson has a more liberal arts focus with a progressive student body and is known for its close-knit community and academic rigor.
Neuroscience Program: Strong neuroscience program with interdisciplinary opportunities in psychology, biology, and chemistry.
University of Richmond
Location: Richmond, VA
Drive from NC: Around 3-4 hours.
Vibe: Has a centrist to slightly liberal student body, with a focus on liberal arts education and a collaborative learning environment.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a well-regarded neuroscience major with opportunities for hands-on research and internships.
Agnes Scott College (All-women’s college)
Location: Decatur, GA (Atlanta suburb)
Drive from NC: Approximately 4-6 hours.
Vibe: Agnes Scott is known for its progressive and inclusive environment, with a strong emphasis on leadership and social justice.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a neuroscience major with a strong liberal arts foundation, perfect for students interested in a multidisciplinary approach.
Emory University
Location: Atlanta, GA
Drive from NC: About 4-6 hours.
Vibe: Emory has a liberal student body with a focus on academic excellence and research. It’s known for being a bit quirky and very inclusive.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a robust neuroscience program with strong research opportunities and connections to nearby medical institutions.
Wake Forest University
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Drive from NC: Within the state
Vibe: While it has a diverse student body, the political climate leans more towards centrist with a mix of liberal and conservative perspectives.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a strong neuroscience program with plenty of opportunities for research and hands-on experience.
Bryn Mawr College (All-women’s college)
Location: Bryn Mawr, PA (Philadelphia suburb)
Drive from NC: About 6-8 hours.
Vibe: Known for its strong liberal arts education, feminist history, and liberal campus environment. It has a quirky, intellectual student body.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a comprehensive neuroscience major with opportunities for interdisciplinary study and research.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)
Location- Chapel Hill, NC
Drive from NC: Within the state.
Vibe - liberal-leaning student body
Neuroscience Program: Offers a well-established neuroscience program with numerous research opportunities.
Wellesley College (All-women’s college)
Location: Wellesley, MA
Drive from NC: About 10-12 hours; a bit farther but worth considering for its reputation.
Vibe: A liberal arts college with a strong focus on women’s leadership and social justice, known for its academic rigor and progressive environment.
Neuroscience Program: Offers a robust neuroscience program with a focus on research.
Regarding the assessment of each of the student bodies and vibe, this is just a guess and based on searches, not via my personal experience. Thanks.
The above is a commonly held misconception which suggests that your daughter has not researched schools and her academic area of interest with an open mind.
Your daughter’s list of likes and dislikes could be seen as an unwillingness to grow and an inability or unwillingness to adapt. I encourage her to prioritize her preferences so that the only answer isn’t WashUStL.
D24 had some of the same criteria. She wanted to be in a city but have a good campus feel.(She definitely did not like the BU urban campus set up)
Schools that fit the criteria that she applied to and was accepted to:
Fordham–ultimately she declined because she didn’t love the Bronx area where Rose Hill campus is located.
American was a strong contender because the campus is beautiful and it is so close to the metro area.
GWU was her choice–she loved the location of the campus! There are plenty of smaller green spaces on foggy Bottom (kids hang out on the National Mall too). The Mt. Vernon campus is more green/quad campus like but she is happy to have gotten a dorm in FB because it’s more in the thick of things. It’s compact and pretty much every building is owned by the school so it doesn’t have that super urban feel like BU. It’s not tons of skyscrapers. Also of note–it is a very walkable area.
Might be worth a visit.
As another poster noted, my S24 loved WashU and also ended up there (yay!), so we did end up looking at a lot of colleges plausibly on the same branch of the college family tree.
And unfortunately, I think you are kinda right about something–the real closest analogs are mostly as–if not more–reachy.
But people have mentioned the two I would have started mentioning myself, William & Mary and Rochester. My S24 applied to both, I think would have done great at both, and I think they really do stand out. Rochester does get snow, though.
OK, so where else? Well, at this point I think you have to start deciding what you might want to compromise on. It sounds to me like not feeling “remote” is very important, and that does lead me to echo the suggestion of maybe checking out Macalester. Smaller and a longer drive, but it is RIGHT in the middle of the Twin Cities while still having a distinct campus, and very good for the stated academic interests.
Another idea much closer to NC is Rhodes in Memphis. But you’d have to see if that vibe was right.
Ursinus does not get a lot of discussion around here, but it is right outside of Philly. Drexel is also right in Philly.
Again, all these would be compromises, but I think to really fill out a list, some sort of compromises are going to be required.
I’m giving myself a bit of leeway on meeting all of the criteria in the hopes that it will help your D to build a balanced college list. There are a number of Jesuit schools, which tend to be more focused on social justice.
Butler (IN): About 4400 undergrads
Eckerd (FL): About 2k undergrads
Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads. It’s in a consortium with other Baltimore schools like Johns Hopkins, so students can take classes at the other schools.
Loyola New Orleans (LA): About 3300 undergrads. A diverse school that might have the right vibe. Students can also cross-register at other New Orleans colleges, including at Tulane which is adjacent to Loyola’s campus.
Marist (NY): About 5500 undergrads in Poughkepsie, the same town as Vassar.
Saint Joseph’s (PA ): About 5100 undergrads in Philadelphia
Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads just outside of NYC
Villanova (PA ): About 7k undergrads in a suburb of Philly
I guess she is being picky bc UNC is a target school (in state high stats kids are easier admit rate than avg acceptance rate suggests). It’s a great value with strong academics that we are lucky to have in state. Not a Goldilocks school for her, but still would be a great option and she thinks she’d be happy there.
When looking at private/OOS schools, we often look at what X school might offer that UNC can’t. Knowing this, I think it’s okay for her to be picky.
I’ve got high stats twins. Other child wants to stay closer, has very different criteria, and UNC is already his top choice.
All these suggestions are great for us to research. Thank you all!
UNC is my senior’s top choice too… but we live in Virginia, so a very different admittance story. I wish I could trade you NC residents who want W&M, UVA, or Va Tech and we could sub out our kids.
OP has been clear that WashU isn’t the only answer - her daughter has researched the NC publics and is “willing to adapt” and attend UNC or NC State if WashU ED doesn’t work out. The issue is that these top-notch, affordable, in-state options set a high bar, so many of the schools that share some but not all attributes with WashU just don’t make the “better than UNC” cut.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. It is, in fact far more reasonable than a preemptive judgment of a 17y/o’s motives and character on a platform whose purpose is “friendly and welcoming” support.
This is quite unfair. It’s not at all hard to connect with faculty and get involved with research at small to midsize schools, and is often easier at the schools that don’t have graduate programs (often LACs) so then undergrads can more easily access and work with faculty. I did it in the biopsychology/ neuroscience field at Vassar, my s’s did at Tulane and Rice and it was available at Tufts, though older s decided not to apply. Your daughter has done her HW just fine, @NCmummers.
My daughter is a sophomore at Rice which has a lot (if not all) of what your daughter is drawn to! Other less reachy school that was on my daughter’s list are mostly smaller LACs, which are smaller but culturally similar.
She particularly liked both Bryn Mawr/Haverford, if that’s not too far from NC. They are so close to each other that it feels bigger together.
I very much agree. A Lyft or Uber to the New Haven train station puts the entire Eastern Seaboard in play,but neither New York nor Boston are what I would call, a daily presence on campus. To some degree, all of the places mentioned (Wesleyan, Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr and Haverford) operate as bubbles; it’s part of their dna, and some people like that aspect of LACs.
I know Wellesley students who have had internships in Boston and Cambridge where they had to show up a few times a week. The MIT shuttle from Wellesley runs frequently enough so students can work in Kendall Square (home to many tech and life sciences companies) or take public transportation to downtown Boston.
Agree that some of the other colleges are a little removed from the urban core- but W makes it very, very easy to be a Bostonian when you want to be but sleep in a leafy suburb at night.
My point is that these benefits are not limited to just private schools; “accessible faculty, potential for research, and small classes beyond the survey classes” can also be found at public universities.
OP’s daughter might benefit by researching various public flagship honors colleges which satisfy her most important criteria.
I did not see any mentioning of Northwestern University located in Evanston, IL, a suburb of Chicago. The area is safe, and school is highly regarded in most academic programs. Like WUStL, Northwestern might be a reach school but worth looking into.
Good luck to you! I just went through the high-stats twins application process with the 23/24 cycle. Whew! And one is at WashU and loving it so far. Now I have D26 to look forward to, but I’m in denial because that’s real empty nest territory. She too was a “never” on the all women’s college thing, until she did a summer program at one and that changed her mind. Now they are possibilities. I don’t know if a visit would make a different, but I agree the Haverford/Bryn Mawr group is worth a look. And Smith!
I’ll assume we’re done with the “you missed my point” posts. I’ll further assume that nobody will send me a PM asking why I deleted their post post didn’t delete Susie’s post and that they won’t flag posts as tit-for-tat.
Best of luck to your sr!
I just went through the high-stats twins application process with the 23/24 cycle. Whew! And one is at WashU and loving it so far. Now I have D26 to look forward to, but I’m in denial because that’s real empty nest territory. She too was a “never” on the all women’s college thing, until she did a summer program at one and that changed her mind. Now they are possibilities. I don’t know if a visit would make a different, but I agree the Haverford/Bryn Mawr group is worth a look. And Smith!