<p>In that case, I must say this “affirmative action” thing is quite hyped up.</p>
<p>isn’t there a lot of room left for someone like me at a smaller, isolated but wealthy LAC?</p>
<p>There probably are…but you may not like the schools. Some may be lopsided with lots of females, and not many clubs/interests for males.</p>
<p>Doesn’t hurt to apply at a small, isolated LAC. You might get lucky. Try schools like Trinity Univ in San Antonio or Whitman in WA. The more isolated, the better. You will have your best luck in states with small populations (think midwest and the plains states).</p>
<p>Look for schools that have diversity weekends where they fly kids in. I think there is a place to sign up on Whitman’s web site. There is also a thread started by African American parents a year or two ago and they are really on the ball. I would imagine there might be references there on how to scope out those schools.</p>
<p>Your best bet would probably a liberal arts college maybe in a place that doesn’t get a lot of Washingtonians. Financial/merit aid (I’ve heard) can be all over the map; sometimes the best offers can be from a student’s <em>reach</em> school! Unfortunately, most LACs are in out of the way places not near major airports, so transportation to & from home is more of a hassle and is more expensive. I know a couple of students who have received really good financial/merit aid from Willamette. . . .With scores much higher than grades, admission and $$ is much harder to predict. Thus, you should consider applying to a LOT of schools – after at least narrowing the group down. For example, my daughter does not want to attend schools where LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) is a significant part of the school culture and/or a very rural school without shopper-tunities – not that she will have any $ to $pend! At a large school, I think one can find one’s peeps, but I have to agree that at a smaller school one probably should look for a reasonably compatible culture. (She also did not like the music they listened to at the LARPing school.) </p>
<p>The collegedata dot com web site can give you some idea of various schools’ stat distribution, what they look for, financial aid, racial distribution, etc. Lotta schools out there. Good luck!</p>
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<p>Shimer College is one. Unknown though, non-selective and average GPA is 3.29 so as you can see it’s okay. I only really like it because of the core curriculum and discussion/small classes. If you’re into that kind of thing, go for it. You’ll probably get in.</p>
<p>Your grades (and the lack of an upward trend) will preclude scholarships at many schools even though your demographic and test scores are attractive. But take a look at Hendrix in Little Rock, Rhodes in Memphis, and Tulane in New Orleans.</p>
<p>Definitely look at Liberal Arts Colleges (Middlebury [REALLY look at Midd, they meet 100 percent on demonstrated need so whatever you can’t pay they will. Free ride!], Colby, Occidental,) Also look into the Posse Foundation - you sound like a PERFECT candidate. As a long income diverse youth with a record of high academics i can almost GUARANTEE you’re in a shoe in. Depends on what region you’re in for which Partner schools you’re eligible for, but they offer 4 year full-tuition scholarships. Also, someone mentioned Questbridge - DEFINITELY look into them as well, even if you don’t get matched they’ll send your info to the other colleges - some who might match your aid.
If you’re looking at HBCU’s anyone will enthusiastically take you - all you have to do is see who will offer you the best fin. aid package.</p>
<p>Also, just to keep hyping up Midd - they offer paid trips for minority youth to visit the campus as well - check out their site. Best of luck! In-State may be tempting, but I have no doubt you can go to college for free at a really good out-of-state university! Just look around and do your research! Small LAC’s seem like the perfect fit for you.
[This may be a bit of a wild card, but I’d also suggest Princeton or Brown, they have a record for accepting minority students and if you have spectacular EC’s, a bomb Essay and recommendations (also, I’d try to nag an interview) i think you might have a shot! Princeton pays 100% demonstrated need as well.)</p>
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<p>You really want to check out [Shimer</a> College in Chicago](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimer_College]Shimer”>Shimer Great Books School - Wikipedia), mentioned above. (It’s also one of the Colleges that Change Lives, mentioned above.) Really, really, really. Really. </p>
<p>It’s such an amazing place, and so precisely what you’re looking for, that I can’t even be articulate about it. :-P</p>
<p>Also check out Shimer’s [Montaigne</a> scholarship competition](<a href=“http://www.shimer.edu/montaigne/]Montaigne”>http://www.shimer.edu/montaigne/).</p>
<p>Well, being black helps you, your GPA isn’t horrible, but it could be better (duh). I imagine if you write good essays, you have a shot at plenty of top schools.</p>
<p>[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Need-blind admission - Wikipedia”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>This is a list of schools that are need-blind and full-need, meaning that they will give you as much need-based aid as they think you need (which may be less than what you actually need, but could still be a huge amount of money). It all depends, but since your income isn’t too high, I’d imagine you’d get a significant amount of money.</p>
<p>Try looking at mainly LACs on this list. One school I think you might like is Beloit College, which is in Wisconsin. Whitman is in Walla Walla, WA, and since you’re from Washington, maybe they’ll accept you? Not sure. But start with that list, also the Colleges that Change Lives. See which schools are on CTCL and are need-blind/full-need.</p>
<p>Shimer is not a CTCL, and it’s Great Books. Is that really what you think Romulus would want?</p>
<p>D’oh! You’re quite right that it was not included in CTCL; not sure how I got that idea. (Although it really should have been; it’s ridiculous to include a conformist school like St. John’s and leave out Shimer.) I plead very-early-onset senility.</p>
<p>But yes, I do think that there is a very high probability that Shimer is closer to what Romulus is looking for than any other school in America today. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to explain why I think so, without saying things about the rest of American higher education that are probably better left unsaid on this forum. And at any rate I may be completely mistaken. </p>
<p>Further reading on Shimer, FWIW: [reflections</a> by graduates](<a href=“http://shimerspeaksout.com%5Dreflections”>http://shimerspeaksout.com); [student</a> blogging](<a href=“http://blog.shimer.edu%5Dstudent”>http://blog.shimer.edu); [student</a> video blogging](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShimerCollege]student”>http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShimerCollege).</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know that much about it, but what makes a school like St. John’s, which I would have otherwise thought of us as quite similar, a “conformist school?” </p>
<p>Shimer seems to me like a place where you read and you read and you read and through all that reading and analyzing, you will learn to become a critical thinker and all that stuff that Romulus is asking for, but is it necessarily better than a normal sized LAC (Shimer has like 100 students)?</p>
<p>And Shimer is chronically one step from financial oblivion. It’s on at least its third campus in the last 30 years or so (Mt. Carroll, Waukegan, Chicago).</p>
<p>annasdad brings up a very good point. I almost chose Shimer over UNC. My ambitions were–and, still are–very similar to that of the poster. However, once I discovered that the school didn’t even have its own campus, came at multiple times close to closure, and had very little of an endowment–to help low-income students like myself–I couldn’t risk it. </p>
<p>As an alternative to Shimer the poster may want to consider St. Johns College-Md/NM (if you can get scholarships). Too me, it provides one of–if not the best–humanities educations in the country. It is also great-books-centric like Shimer.</p>
<p>OP, take a look at Deep Springs. It’s a reach for anyone, and not appealing to many, but it just might be of interest to you.</p>