<p>Academic Safety: You know for certain that you will be admitted based on your grades and test scores. You know this because it is posted right on the college/university website and/or your high school has years of records of admission at that place and no one with your profile has ever been rejected.</p>
<p>Financial Safety: You know for certain that you can afford it without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed state aid and/or guaranteed merit-based aid from that college/university.</p>
<p>Please note that some Financial Safeties will not be academically safe, and some Academic Safeties will not be financially safe.</p>
<p>Rock-Solid Safety: Meets the criteria for both Academic and Financial Safety.</p>
<p>True Safety: A Rock-Solid that not only offers your major(s) but you are willing to attend.</p>
<p>You have an excellent profile, but quite frankly you haven’t dipped low enough to hit sure-shot Academic Safeties. These are more like dead-on matches. Even if you would get in, will you be able to afford them? If you won’t be a full-pay student, run the financial aid calculators at each website so that you get a general notion of what your aid package could be like.</p>
<p>For a clear academic and financial safety, take a long hard look at the public universities in your home state. I understand that there is tuition reciprocity with Minnesota which could make the public institutions there decent potential safeties. One that you should investigate is [University</a> of Minnesota Morris](<a href=“http://www.morris.umn.edu/]University”>http://www.morris.umn.edu/) which bills itself as a public liberal arts college. For more public liberal arts colleges see [COPLAC</a> | Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges](<a href=“http://www.coplac.org/members.html]COPLAC”>http://www.coplac.org/members.html)</p>
<p>You also seem to like Quaker institutions. For more see [Quaker-originated</a> Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.quaker.org/colleges.html]Quaker-originated”>Quaker-originated Colleges and Universities) There are a number that are lower ranked than BMC and Earlham. I know a science major at Guilford who has been very happy with her big (at least partially merit-based) scholarship [Guilford</a> College](<a href=“http://www.guilford.edu/]Guilford”>http://www.guilford.edu/)</p>
<p>There are scads of decent liberal arts colleges throughout the midwest, some of which could throw a bit of money your way. Take another look at some of them as well.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>