If he could go 4-5 hours Look at Elon. Good journalism program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should visit Salisbury. They have really improved the campus over the years and it doesn't have a liberal arts vibe.

I'll also put the plug in for St. Joe's as an I'm alum.

+1 to both. I'm also a St. Joe's alum and my son loved Salisbury.

Must be St. Joe's night on DCUM! My son attends SJU. The community is lovely, and the classes are small enough that you can build relationships with your professors.

Looks like a good department and they offer a minor in journalism. Being in Philly, they have access to lots of internship opps.

https://www.sju.edu/departments/communicationstudies -

Anonymous wrote:You should visit Salisbury. They have really improved the campus over the years and it doesn't have a liberal arts vibe.

I'll also put the plug in for St. Joe's as an I'm alum.

+1 to both. I'm also a St. Joe's alum and my son loved Salisbury.

Anonymous wrote:Duquesne
Richmond
Villanova
American
McDaniel
Bucknell

I'd remove Bucknell, Richmond, and Villanova as they are not low stress, laid back schools. That leaves McDaniel and AU.

Mary Washington for sure.

This is the OP - thank you for all the great suggestions. We have added TCNJ, Longwood, Rowan, UMBC and Duquesne to look at. I appreciate everyone's responses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:William & Mary fits the size and as a boy should be a good chance there. Does he think it would not fit the "low-stress" requirement?

W&M is widely known as one of the most high stress and no fun universities in the nation

I hear this cliche a lot, but never from students who attend. I guess kids sort themselves into appropriate buckets. Yes, if you’re looking for a “Roll Tide” experience, W&M isn’t your school.

I hear it from my daughter’s two best friends who are rising juniors at WM. They weren’t looking for a party school, but they complain that all there is to do is see the old town and eat and everyone is in bed by 11.

Well, they are in the sucky position that it's been under Covid since spring of their freshman year. My DC is in the same boat. Had a lot of fun pre covid (including regularly staying out all night with the GPA to match--sigh.) but since Covid the campus was super strict. Off-campus a bit livelier though still limited due to Covid and off-campus is less dominant at W&M. Hopefully will be back to it's normal level of activity this coming fall. This was true for my kid at UVA also (one year younger) but she had no pre-covid college life to compare it to!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:William & Mary fits the size and as a boy should be a good chance there. Does he think it would not fit the "low-stress" requirement?

W&M is widely known as one of the most high stress and no fun universities in the nation

I've never understood this reputation--I've had two smart but fairly laid back kids go there. They had a lot of fun, worked hard and weren't that stressed. I think there's a contingent of kids who can't let themselves get an A- that are stressed and work all the time but it's not really the norm. There were plenty of parties, greek life etc. and tons of outdoor activities/trips. I think it would fit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "not feeling the liberal arts vibe" mean?

Maybe Rowan in NJ?

Same question, we are new to college search

Not sure what she meant by this- the sweet campus traditions and ivy covered buildings, the tiny freshman Honors seminars, the faculty who are really available. All the things that appealed to her parents, honestly, but swayed her not at all. Good luck. That elusive fit becomes obvious quickly- my sister’s kid went to Bryan Mawr years ago, walked into the admissions office and told her mom, we can leave now. These are not my people. 😃. Kids know what they like!

Editing to add- another possible LAC feature that didn’t appeal was the schools’ touting a student’s ability to take all sorts of different classes and to wait to declare a major. And “design your own major” kind of thing. To me? How awesome and innovative. Love it. But DD was unmoved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "not feeling the liberal arts vibe" mean?

Maybe Rowan in NJ?

Same question, we are new to college search

Not sure what she meant by this- the sweet campus traditions and ivy covered buildings, the tiny freshman Honors seminars, the faculty who are really available. All the things that appealed to her parents, honestly, but swayed her not at all. Good luck. That elusive fit becomes obvious quickly- my sister’s kid went to Bryan Mawr years ago, walked into the admissions office and told her mom, we can leave now. These are not my people. 😃. Kids know what they like!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD wanted something very similar. Didn’t like the sweet LAC vibe that my husband and I kept showing her, didn’t want a tiny school or a giant one (no to UMD, eg). Didn’t need to be in the middle of a city but didn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere either. Needed friendly vibes, a range of kids (reacted negatively to any kind of striver/tool type of student body). Wanted a diverse school. Chose UMBC. Good luck!

This sounds exactly like my son. Thank you for this - where else did your DD apply?

We looked at Christopher Newport, St Joe’s, Drexel. And- like a poster said already- many of the tippy top tier schools fit this bill- Princeton!- but these were our more realistic options. 😀

A lot of the midsized schools with that range of undergraduates tend to be the most selective in the country (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, etc.) The publics tend to usually be larger, and the SLACs are smaller.

Mary Washington is a great match for your criteria, but it does have a liberal arts vibe.
Christopher Newport would also fit, and feels a little more like a mini-UVA.
Either of these would be good choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:William & Mary fits the size and as a boy should be a good chance there. Does he think it would not fit the "low-stress" requirement?

W&M is widely known as one of the most high stress and no fun universities in the nation

I hear this cliche a lot, but never from students who attend. I guess kids sort themselves into appropriate buckets. Yes, if you’re looking for a “Roll Tide” experience, W&M isn’t your school.

But somehow, of all national public universities, William and Mary is at or next to the top for alumni giving rate and four year graduation rate, and in Princeton Review, it is ranked #4 for Happiest Students, #14 for Their Students Love These Colleges, and #15 for Quality of Life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:William & Mary fits the size and as a boy should be a good chance there. Does he think it would not fit the "low-stress" requirement?

W&M is widely known as one of the most high stress and no fun universities in the nation

I hear this cliche a lot, but never from students who attend. I guess kids sort themselves into appropriate buckets. Yes, if you’re looking for a “Roll Tide” experience, W&M isn’t your school.

I hear it from my daughter’s two best friends who are rising juniors at WM. They weren’t looking for a party school, but they complain that all there is to do is see the old town and eat and everyone is in bed by 11.

Poor babies. My DD and her friends had a great time at WM, and WM's rate of alumni giving reflects that.

What you need to understand is that *is* fun for a lot of students. Plenty of young adults are thrilled to hang out in the dorm, watch movies with their friends, explore historic Williamsburg, dine out at cute little restaurants...it’s only the kids that are looking to party or tailgate that think that a school like that would be boring.

Amen. This is exactly what my DD is looking for. Are there other schools where wanting to go out to eat and then hangout in a group is not seen as weird?