Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 17:12     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
University of South Carolina Honors College hands down.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 17:09     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:William and Mary, Univ Miami, Tulane, Pepperdine, UCSD, UCSB, UNC-Wilmington


These schools are nothing like Charleston.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 14:16     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is everything that is wrong with DCUM - your daughter can get an excellent education at CofC. It should certainly be on her list and you should make sure she knows that ending up there (or choosing to go there) when all is said and done would be an excellent outcome to this whole process. Fit is fit not fit within a small subset of schools.


Agreed. And with those stats she would almost definitely get honors college plus likely some money. The school is already relatively cheap and would cost you practically nothing. More money to spend on all the great restaurants in Charleston!


OP here. This thought has crossed my mind (CoC honors college plus $$). But, as a couple of PPs have noted, I do think you want to be around like-minded/equally if not smarter peers. On the other, other hand - with all the doom and gloom AI overlords taking over soon talk, maybe the smartest move of all is to go somewhere lovely/where you enjoy your time (since AI will take all the jobs in 5-10 years; we will all be on UBI anyway . . . ! Just kidding . . . Sort of )
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 14:12     Subject: Re:School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:
4.0 GPA, 1550 SAT needs Ivy League, Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, MIT, U Chicago, Rice,WashUStl type of intellectual horsepower environment in order to maximize her potential in my opinion.


Kids like this (especially girls) are constantly told they have no chance at these schools unless they’ve cured cancer or something.

So where do they actually wind up?

My 4.0/1560/NMS daughter was waitlisted from Rice and WashU RD, but she had ranked W&M as slightly higher on her list than those two, and is heading there in the fall as a Monroe, from OOS.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 14:09     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
I don’t disagree with the point that fit is more important than ranking, but part of fit is being around a peer group that motivates you and is likeminded in focus.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:55     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is everything that is wrong with DCUM - your daughter can get an excellent education at CofC. It should certainly be on her list and you should make sure she knows that ending up there (or choosing to go there) when all is said and done would be an excellent outcome to this whole process. Fit is fit not fit within a small subset of schools.


Agreed. And with those stats she would almost definitely get honors college plus likely some money. The school is already relatively cheap and would cost you practically nothing. More money to spend on all the great restaurants in Charleston!
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:54     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is everything that is wrong with DCUM - your daughter can get an excellent education at CofC. It should certainly be on her list and you should make sure she knows that ending up there (or choosing to go there) when all is said and done would be an excellent outcome to this whole process. Fit is fit not fit within a small subset of schools.


Oh, please. 🙄

OP’s post is perfectly reasonable and a measured request for suggestions of other schools to consider based on her daughter’s profile and preferences. CoC can certainly stay on the list but it’s also fine for the student to aim higher and look for other options to may be a better fit.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:49     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
This whole thread is everything that is wrong with DCUM - your daughter can get an excellent education at CofC. It should certainly be on her list and you should make sure she knows that ending up there (or choosing to go there) when all is said and done would be an excellent outcome to this whole process. Fit is fit not fit within a small subset of schools.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:47     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Wake Forest?
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:41     Subject: Re:School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:Pepperdine. I think University of Wisconsin is amazing but it's not warm.


Pepperdine has the beach but isn’t walkable to much.

I would opt for UCLA which has many walkable places in Westwood and the beach is only 3 miles away.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:33     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I second the PP’s suggestions about William and Mary. My kid (and I!) liked it a lot.


Not even close. Where's the ocean near William and Mary? Not even a lake.


There are some river “beaches” along the James and Yortown, not to mention Lake Matoka on campus (weird that you’d claim no lakes whatsoever). Plus, VA Beach is about 1.5 hours away. Went quite a bit when I was at W&M. It’s not a waterfront campus but water is certainly accessible.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:32     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I second the PP’s suggestions about William and Mary. My kid (and I!) liked it a lot.


Not even close. Where's the ocean near William and Mary? Not even a lake.


Are you joking? There is a lake and the James River
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:22     Subject: Re:School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions! Yeah, once we saw College of Charleston (just on a whim b/c we happened to be in Charleston) I thought "uh oh - this was a mistake checking the campus out - the charm/vibe is going to be VERY hard to match"! Hoping to keep school size relatively small (under 10-15K) that that rules out some of the state flagships (even if they happened to be walkable/charming). Definitely going to check William & Mary out; hadn't thought of Vanderbilt before. Also going to visit Pomona. Stanford is on the list though of course an absolute crap shoot (I told her high stats etc get you the lottery ticket but that is about it; she does have a non-STEM unusual talent that could distinguish her a bit from all the other high stats kids but even so).


Pomona is a good idea. Check out Scripps while there, as the five colleges are something of a big canpus.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 13:11     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
Loyola Los Angeles and Santa Clara might also be of interest. Or, UC Santa Barbara or UCLA.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 12:19     Subject: School with a similar look/feel to College of Charleston?
I think the culture of the honors college is much more serious and rigorous. Not nerdy or anything like that, but different from the rest of the school. It still does not match up to Ivies, etc. but it is different from the general reputation of the university someone gave above.

A female friend of a friend of a friend studied STEM there (graduated in the last few years) and had a great experience.