<p>From my experience I would say that Carleton, Grinnell, Kenyon, Macalester and Oberlin are great institutions. All five schools have excellent science programs, although Carleton has a much stronger math department, and Grinnell and Oberlin have stronger and better funded biology and chemistry programs. I would also recommend Knox, but not Illinois Wesleyan; you might also want to consider Kalamazoo and Lawrence.</p>
<p>From a northeastern perspective at least, the five best LACs in the Midwest are Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Macalaster, and (after a bit of a gap) Kenyon. Our daughter never considered Kenyon (too preppy and too often a "fall back" school for Northeast kids wanting New England colleges) and after visiting Carleton, Grinnell, and Macalaster (and considering but not visiting Oberlin), our daughter applied only to Carleton and Grinnell. Her thinking (which we shared) was that she had to draw the line somewhere, that the academics and social scene at each of the four were very similar to each other, that other than Grinnell none of the "big four" gives significant merit aid, and that of the four only Carleton's higher prestige is even arguably worth paying substantially more than a discounted Grinnell.</p>
<p>In the end, our daughter (with slightly higher numbers than the OP) was accepted at both Carleton and Grinnell, with Grinnell offering $48,000 in merit aid over four years. While she didn't exactly make the decision over night, it did not take her too long to decide that any extra prestige associated with Carleton wasn't nearly enough to justify paying twice the price of Grinnell. It didn't hurt that, money aside, she felt more comfortable at Grinnell than Carleton from the start anyway (Grinnell is more alternative and less career-focused than Carleton). So that's where she ended up going, and she's very happy there.</p>
<p>My teensiest addition to the list is Hanover College in Indiana (with some great merit dollars). Though there is a tone of boosterism in the book, be sure to review the extensive write-ups in Loren Pope's just published 2006 edition of Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) for the following schools previously recommended by posters: Beloit, College of Wooster, Cornell College, Denison University, Hiram College, Knox, St. Olaf, and Hope College. Also check out CTCL.com which has more material to review on each college. Finally, also check out Collegesofdistinction.com for comparative material on other excellent colleges (such as Kalamazoo) that were also mentioned by posters.</p>
<p>To get more specific feedback on each college you are interested in (such as Lake Forest), go to the Search function in the College Confidential control bar and input the college's name along with "trip report" to get impressions from visitors to each campus.</p>
<p>carleton and oberlin are good schools. also might want to check out haverford.</p>