@Momminit If grad school is a serious consideration, then it is probably worth considering
the statistics for grad school placement and the opportunities for resume-building as part of the value of the school also. What are internship opportunities, what are the research policies for that school, and… how much funding is available. If you want a good grad school and you don’t want to pay for it, planning (and pricing) those details might be an important part of your search and an important factor in the consideration of school value.
I saw Earlham eas mentioned, so I am offering my experience there.
My kids all expected to go to grad school, and we planned based on that. I had one who settled on Bowdoin, one at Middlebury, and one who chose Earlham. Of those three schools, I feel like Earlham has worked the hardest to really make sure they understood grad school requirements and expectations and was most supportive of developing a resume to meet it.
And… every student at Earlham, regardless of aid status, is guaranteed financing for at least one research opportunity, or a paid internship. And… a semester of off campus study is included in the cost of tuition. Also, students could complete extra courses without paying the additional hours.
I tell you… Earlham has decent merit money, they stack aid and merit (which helped me) and also, the extra opportunities that students get without paying for them has a value which I had not fully appreciated in advance.
My Earlham son is in a group being mentored by a professor to publish their research on invasive species in Indiana. He will be spending the summer in the Bahamas with another one of professors this summer working on research on Iguanas (his main interest) (the school is paying)
He gets paid to work in the on-campus Natural History Museum where he has learned quite a bit about curating collections and he volunteers with their outreach program and takes exhibits to local elementary schools. And last summer, he used the Earlham EPIC program, for funding to help cover expenses so that he could work an unpaid internship in the primates section of our local zoo. (He is interested in Animal Bahavior) Next year, he wants to do spring semester abroad which has a biology focus.
He has the best grad.school resume of all of my kids… and … I didn’t get a bill for any of it.
Earlham has a climbing wall.
Earlham has a PHENOMENAL performance arts facilities. Earlham has an incredible neuro-science department.
Earlham has great grad school placement, and one of the top “students who go on to complete PhD” rates in the country.
And, last I saw (couple years ago when my kids were doing applications) Earlham was ranked in the top 12 nationwide for their positive environment and success for “Women in Stem.”
Earlham is considerably smaller than her “ideal size” though. Still, might be worth checking out.
(I always tell kids who are really prioritizing size over other important factors: “How many kids are you really going to hang out with anyway?” Lol)