<p>Actually, U of Chicago is not a bad suggestion, but a rather good one. The undergraduate college is around 5,000 students which really is not that big. The residential college system allows much more personal contact as well. My D sounds a lot like your daughter. She was shy in high school and has blossomed in an extraordinary way at Chicago. The undergraduate college is really more like a LAC and the opportunities to grow and socialize with people that your daughter would enjoy are enormous. Definitely take a look.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that my child is a choral singer and sings in three great choirs at Chicago and has had the opportunity to do national tours as well as being invited to sing internationally. There are many opportunities for choir singing at Chicago and the arts are getting a big push at the school with a huge new arts center getting built. The orchestra opportunities are also there, but perhaps not on the level of a school like Yale, but may be quite adequate for your child.</p>
<p>What about one of the women’s colleges? Smith sounds like it might be a good fit in terms of location (not urban, but not in the middle of nowhere). Plus, I hear they have good sciences there.</p>
<p>I think the top LACs are ideal for the super-shy who thrive on academic challenge and want to avoid the greek scene and the party crowd. It is very difficult to get lost in the crowd when you are on a first name basis with all your professors, classes are small and see your classmates all over campus every day. </p>
<p>A lot of LACs are in rural locations. Those that are suburban include Pomona, Swarthmore, Haverford and Vassar. Rice is a good choice too if Houston is your cup of tea-safe suburban neighborhood and the ‘house’ system ensures you get to know people well. </p>
<p>I would encourage her not to write off the more rural LACs, though. Many have vibrant campuses and small towns. Students are invariably more engaged in campus life than at those schools where the student body can easily disperse into the city or town. S is at Grinnell, which is very rural, in part because of the very strong science programs and great merit aid-he says he doesn’t have enough time to do all the great things that the school has to offer. Probably true of the other rural LACs as well.</p>
<p>my first thought was smith- strong sciences, great community, fun small town in walking distance</p>
<p>thanks again I am so appreciative for the help. Forgot to mention D is anti-women’s colleges. Not sure why but she definitly wants co-ed colleges. I will take a closer look at the rural LACs, as they do have most if not all students living on campus which can only help with friend-making.</p>
<p>I would encourage her to take another look at the track record of the women’s colleges for getting students into Ph.D. programs in science. Yes, I know the environment is distinct from that of a co-ed institution, but if you can coax her into visiting just one, she may find it interesting.</p>
<p>Chicago!
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.
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Oberlin</p>
<p>Berkeley, Harvard. 
(Even though they don’t offer merit aid)</p>
<p>It’s a big, scary world out there. The top PhD programs are large research institutions…now’s a good time to break out of her shell and overcome shyness.</p>
<p>I really also have to suggest Carleton…it sounds like it might be a really great fit.</p>
<p>Others I agree with - Smith, Swarthmore, UChicago, also Wellesley (I would really suggest looking at some of the women’s colleges)</p>
<p>U of Rochester (affiliated with the Eastman conservatory, good across the board academically, offers merit scholarships including at least one for musicians worth $10K annually–my S was offered it)
Rice (residential colleges ideal for shy people, also great music and great everything else)
I agree with Smith and Wellesley, also Mt Holyoke, Chicago, Swat.</p>
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<p>Read more carefully, y’all.
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<p>Last time I checked, Rice and Chicago were indeed located in cities that are too big for the OP’s D.</p>
<p>^^^ I suggest you might re-read again. The OP said she doesn’t want to be in a city where she feels unsafe or the surrounding area is unsafe – not that she doesn’t want to be in a big city.</p>
<p>Rice’s campus is not an urban campus. It has a large discrete campus next to Rice Village, a 16-block shopping/dining destination. <a href=“http://www.ricevillageonline.com%5B/url%5D”>www.ricevillageonline.com</a></p>
<p>But the ultimate decision is with the OP’s daughter. To help her consider her choices, she might want to look at the virtual tour of Rice: <a href=“http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/[/url]”>http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/</a></p>
<p>I don’t understand why so many suggestions in this thread completely ignore the OP’s merit aid, size and location requirements. </p>
<p>She sounds like a great candidate for a midwestern or northeastern LAC in a small city or large town where there is a supportive community of smart kids. The ones I know best that would be very good choices for such a kid, and which might very well offer her merit aid, are Lawrence, Beloit and Kalamazoo. Lawrence is probably tops on the music side, even for a non music major. The student body gets along great, the science facilities are excellent for a LAC, and Appleton is a very pretty, very safe town that’s not “the middle of nowhere.”</p>
<p>Thanks again for the great information. From what I can tell from websites discussing merit potential scholarships:
U Chicago offers 10k max competive merit scholarship that would still mean 40k+/year and Swarthmore would offer nothing (their recent CDS shows only 1 merit scholarship)
Rochester would offer 22k still leaving 27k/yr
Oberlin might offer 17k still leaving 33k/yr
Denison might offer 35k/yr</p>
<p>Any full ride potential in any of the previous suggestions or would she have to go to a state school or lower tier LAC?</p>
<p>I’m confused now: if she needs a full ride to afford it then why aren’t you looking at need schools? (BTW, the merit awards you list are high for merit $$, which is often used as a yield maximization tool. It’s cheaper to give $7K to three full-pays than to admit one full ride kid.)</p>
<p>My niece fits OP’s description to a T. Despite her shyness, she shocked her family by picking… UCLA! Where she’s thriving: no longer as shy or reticent, and getting straight As. </p>
<p>In other words - shy kids often do great in big schools.</p>
<p>This thread has some excellent info on merit aid for NMFs:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a></p>
<p>Chicago does give a small number of full-tuition College Honor Scholarships, in addition to about 100 $10K merit grants. (<a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml</a>). </p>
<p>Consolation’s remarks are consistent with our experience. $5K-$10K seems to be typical of merit offers from some of the more selective midwestern LACs. Maybe Grinnell gives more to shy women of science. These merit offers are not necessarily exclusive of need-based offers. The midwestern LACs also tend to run a few thousand cheaper to start with than the northeastern LACs. The top northeastern LACs generally don’t give merit scholarships at all (except Swarthmore, which gives a few to kids from the local area.) </p>
<p>I’d agree that although many LACs are in very rural areas, they are self-contained communities that offer plenty to do right on campus. If you need more, the Philadelphia-area Quaker colleges are in suburban settings with easy rail access to downtown. Then there’s the Amherst area (with its 5 college consortium) or the Claremont Colleges (including Harvey Mudd). Colorado College has an attractive campus in a small city that seems to be quite safe, with Rocky Mountain recreation at hand (in case she likes to hike, bike, ski, or drill for geological core samples in her spare time).</p>
<p>I strongly suggest Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering if she is interested in engineering. It is a small and relatively new school, but it has risen quickly and admissions is very competitive. Olin is very dedicated to financial aid, currently each admitted student receives a half tuition scholarship (it was full tuition until the economy started affecting financial aid), and the student body is close-knit, perfect for a shy and smart person like your D. Olin is not too urban or rural, it is on the outskirts of Boston. It is an engineering school though, and perhaps your D may not want to go into the field, I don’t know since you have only described her interest as “science”. </p>
<p>I also second Rice. Rice is cheap compared to private schools in its league, and it also gives out merit scholarships.</p>