Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 14:03     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
I agree, Vanderbuild.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 13:45     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Vanderbuilt
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 11:20     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is nearly impossible to find the same as Davidson but in a bigger size. You need to prioritize which factors make Davidson most appealing and look for as many of those factors in another university.



OP okay but this is what I’m literally asking.

Something like Davidson’s academic offerings (esp policy and Econ), kids vibe that is left leaning without being quirky, sports culture without having 35% of the kids playing a sport (so more - “let’s go to the big game this weeekend”), serious academics without a grinder culture, happy kids.

Things that he was neutral about: location, southern-ish, architecture, town.

Deal breaker: size. Too small.





ED Vanderbilt and cross your fingers


And SMU as a safety-you’d likely get some merit and the have the “let’s go to the game vibe”. More business focused than policy, but worth a look.


SMU is not similar whatsoever to Davidson. What a strange suggestion!
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 10:53     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:looking for a school with 4k students min. 10-15k would be fine.

liked the vibe and academic offerings at Davidson the most, but now it's Junior year and I feel like we're getting short on time to see things.

high stats student. reaches will be t10 schools. merit would be great .


Rice, William and Mary, Tufts, Rochester, Wake
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 09:23     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wake, Washington & Lee, Richmond? I mean nothing is going to compare to Davidson because part of the charm is how small it is.


Agree with this, but Wake and Richmond don’t give out much merit, they don’t need to. W&L has a good number of merit scholarships.


Richmond gives out a sperm load of merit if you have top stats.


I don’t really need the happy ending. If it’s OK with you, I’ll take my merit aid in American dollars.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 09:14     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt.

We considered Davidson, Washington and Lee, And William and Mary Then took them all off the list either because the school itself is minuscule (Davidson and Washington and Lee) And the town is also a snooze fest (All three schools)

If not Vanderbilt then Wake.


Wait, you took the others off the list because the town is a snooze, but you're recommending Wake?? Have you been to Winston-Salem?



I have, have you been recently?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 09:14     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is nearly impossible to find the same as Davidson but in a bigger size. You need to prioritize which factors make Davidson most appealing and look for as many of those factors in another university.



OP okay but this is what I’m literally asking.

Something like Davidson’s academic offerings (esp policy and Econ), kids vibe that is left leaning without being quirky, sports culture without having 35% of the kids playing a sport (so more - “let’s go to the big game this weeekend”), serious academics without a grinder culture, happy kids.

Things that he was neutral about: location, southern-ish, architecture, town.

Deal breaker: size. Too small.



Tufts. I don’t know why it has a reputation for “quirky”. The kids are like any other nescac school. There’s a real mix of kids, all focused on academics.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 09:14     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Miami of Ohio has the look, & offers merit aid.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 09:05     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
William and Mary would be a good choice. But only the top 8 or so students get merit unless you qualify for the William and Mary Scholars program https://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/types/scholarships/merit/
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:57     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
There wasn’t a lot of need to leave campus at Wake when I was there. Big box store for any essentials we couldn’t get on campus. Hit the mall if you had actual time to wander for shopping. A couple chain restaurants and/or a movie theater for the rare night out.

Most college students don’t need much more than that.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:42     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt.

We considered Davidson, Washington and Lee, And William and Mary Then took them all off the list either because the school itself is minuscule (Davidson and Washington and Lee) And the town is also a snooze fest (All three schools)

If not Vanderbilt then Wake.


Wait, you took the others off the list because the town is a snooze, but you're recommending Wake?? Have you been to Winston-Salem?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:39     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:I think William and Mary comes closest to Davidson in terms of vibe/culture.


Agree. W&M is my D25's top choice, but Davidson was a very close second. In addition to overall size and student vibe, level of engagement with professors (and other students) in smaller classes was her main criteria. We also looked at Wake, Tufts, Haverford, and Brandeis to compare, but they didn't quite give her the same vibe as W&M and Davidson.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:32     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
This site suggests schools for the study of public policy, such as Duke, UNC and U.Va.:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-public-policy/
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:30     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Elon, maybe Tulane?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 08:25     Subject: what's a bigger Davidson
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is nearly impossible to find the same as Davidson but in a bigger size. You need to prioritize which factors make Davidson most appealing and look for as many of those factors in another university.
Something like Davidson’s academic offerings (esp policy and Econ)


As a point of comparison, Davidson placed 39th among its peers when considered by faculty publishing in economics:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

If the size limits were loosened, I'd recommend Colgate.