There are some smaller schools that excel in basketball and go crazy around NCAA tournament time.

Tulane!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited Bucknell the day of a football game and parked right outside the stadium. You would never have known a game was going on at the time. According to our guide (daughter of family friend), no one attends the games.

I am a Bucknell graduate from the early 1990's and we didn't go to the games. We didn't even go on parents weekend. So, nothing has changed.

Based on what the PP said, Holy Cross would be a much better environment than Bucknell. Furman has an average attendance of a little of 10,000. Both are probably still not what you want.

I think you may want to consider attending a large state school with a strong college of arts and sciences. Essentially, a liberal arts college within a larger university.

Multiple B1G schools pull more than 10K fans for women's basketball, for crying out loud. That's nothing for football. It's not what this kid wants.

Anonymous wrote:We visited Bucknell the day of a football game and parked right outside the stadium. You would never have known a game was going on at the time. According to our guide (daughter of family friend), no one attends the games.

I am a Bucknell graduate from the early 1990's and we didn't go to the games. We didn't even go on parents weekend. So, nothing has changed.

Based on what the PP said, Holy Cross would be a much better environment than Bucknell. Furman has an average attendance of a little of 10,000. Both are probably still not what you want.

I think you may want to consider attending a large state school with a strong college of arts and sciences. Essentially, a liberal arts college within a larger university.

Anonymous wrote:I think that W&M loves their football team.

Rice isn't liberal arts, but it's small and they have D1 football (no merit, though).

I wouldn't call W&M a LAC but yeah gameday is definitely a bigger thing there

Just go to a university. People like this who go to a liberal arts college annoy everyone else, who couldn’t give two craps about football- no offense.

Vanderbilt, northwestern, Notre Dame

We visited Bucknell the day of a football game and parked right outside the stadium. You would never have known a game was going on at the time. According to our guide (daughter of family friend), no one attends the games.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look for small FBS schools…Wake and Rice come to mind, but research the list.

That's not what he wants. He'll think the football culture at these schools is a freaking joke.

I assume the Wake football culture is probably pretty strong since it’s ACC.

You assume incorrectly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cross

This was true in my youth, can't vouch for it now. I was also going to suggest Boston College and other mid-size schools with D1 sports.

But I think the venn diagram of LACs, schools with high football attendance, and the possibility of merit is probably tiny, if at all.

I was curious because I'm a not-so-recent HC grad and remember the stands being really lively. These days Holy Cross averages more than 12,000 people at home games, which I think is impressive given the size of the school. It is a nice sweet spot for kids wanting a balance of rigor and fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cross

This was true in my youth, can't vouch for it now. I was also going to suggest Boston College and other mid-size schools with D1 sports.

But I think the venn diagram of LACs, schools with high football attendance, and the possibility of merit is probably tiny, if at all.

+1 for Boston College, but don't expect merit there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach your kid that only losers do things like that.

D3 football at LAC is like going to bad high school football and most kids at LACs hate the football players who are only there because alumni from the 1950s (when the LAC was in the Iron Bowl or whatever) would revolt if the team was killed.

Girls rugby is likely to be a rowdier scene.

Oh, yes, great suggestion! Girls rugby is a perfect substitute. OP, just tell your son that only losers like football. Girls rugby crowds will offer the exact same atmosphere. And they give lectures on toxic masculinity at halftime, so he can enjoy (re)education with his football-like experience!

I went to a LAC and literally nobody but parents and elderly boosters went to the football games. If you were starved for football, you could walk five blocks to the nearest city high school and watch kids play at a much higher level and some of those kids ended up going to the NFL. Noone from my LAC ever did. The players were reviled as dummies and rapists.

The girls rugby team had nothing to do with talking about toxic masculinity. The games were exciting, attracted big crowds, had tailgating and ended with the team (win or lose) leading a parade back to the team house for keg parties. Those girls were awesome. The football player suck.

If you don't like that kind of mentality, which is fine, LAC is not for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke, Tulane and Vandy. Midsized privates in competitive conferences.

Here’s the complete list for my kid:

Stanford
Northwestern
Duke
Notre Dame
Michigan
Vanderbilt
USC
Wake
Tulane
SMU

From this list, which schools give more that a handful of merit awards? Maybe USC (though they are reducing merit aid)? SMU? Don't know about Wake or Tulane.

For merit awards, you need to look for schools outside the T30.

SMU definitely. USC is automatic if you are NMF.

After that, Tulane is more generous with merit, but maybe for 20% of the top kids…and then it drops off a cliff.

SMU gives a bunch of merit and has the highest acceptance rate.

Michigan of course is a huge school…if that’s on the list then why not every decent school?

USC recently slashed the amount they give to NMFs to a flat $20k/year.

$20K per year is not bad at a T25 for a family not eligible for need-based aid. USC is by far the easiest merit aid to get a highly competitive school.

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cross

This was true in my youth, can't vouch for it now. I was also going to suggest Boston College and other mid-size schools with D1 sports.

But I think the venn diagram of LACs, schools with high football attendance, and the possibility of merit is probably tiny, if at all.

Agreeing with the nod given to Patriot League schools: Lehigh, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Lafayette