<p>Hi, I'm a junior from California and my family can't afford to go visit a ton of colleges, especially the ones I am considering. My college counselor is having me write my statements this summer so that I am not overwhelmed this fall, but I haven't even finalized my list yet. It seems to change every day.</p>
<p>Here are my stats (which may change because my school year isn't over yet and I have one more SAT test date):
4.05 W/3.8 UW GPA
1930 SAT - 610M 630CR 690WR
Intended Major: Biology (Ecology focus) or Botany</p>
<p>Schools on my list so far:
Scripps College (1st choice)
Pitzer College
UCSB
Oregon State Clark Honors College
Lewis & Clark
Wellesley College
Pomona College
UC Davis
UCLA
Cornell (my counselor suggested this, but I do not expect that I will be accepted)</p>
<p>Any I'm definitely missing? Any I should definitely drop? I'm very interested in small liberal arts schools, obviously not adverse to women's colleges, and I like colleges with a "hippie" feel to them, but strong academics. Thank you for the help!</p>
<p>Smith has an excellent biology program and is a great place for STEM in general (even has engineering), while at the same time being strong in humanities and social sciences. A lot of biology students do research there, including first-year students. I’m not completely sure what you mean by “hippie” feel, but it has an arty/friendly feel and is not preppy. Bryn Mawr and Barnard are worth looking at also. I don’t think anyone would describe Wellesley as having a hippie feel, but it’s still a good school.</p>
<p>I don’t see any true safeties unless you can afford OSU out of pocket. Also, OSU’s honors college is known as University Honors College. University of Oregon has the Clark Honors College, which I’m not sure you’d qualify for.</p>
<p>If you need a less competitive safety with a somewhat hippie vibe, the obvious choice is Humboldt State. It has an excellent ecology program, and is well known as a hippie school (among other things…)</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz also seems to fit your description, and is less competitive than either UCSB or UCD. </p>
<p>Other Western liberal arts colleges with a hippie vibe and strong environmental science programs you may wish to consider are University of Puget Sound and Colorado College. I believe St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY may also fit your criteria as do Allegheny and Eckerd.</p>
<p>Oregon State offers very good scholarships for Californians because of WUE, which is why its a safety on my list. I used to have MoHo on there too, but I’m reconsidering it at the moment. I guess by hippie, I mean liberal, free-spirited, sort of artsy? mostly liberal. Thank you all for the suggestions, I will consider them closely!</p>
<p>[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all)
Oregon State doesn’t offer WUE. It does grant merit scholarships, but these are usually small.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Colorado State offers WUE to all Western state residents, but the scholarship is competitive. <a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=183[/url]”>http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=183</a></p>
<p>You would qualify for Oregon State’s provost scholarship, but given that OSU’s cost of attendance in 2013 is around $38,000 the scholarship likely wouldn’t make much of an impact.</p>
<p>[OSU</a> Scholarships | Financial Aid and Scholarships | Oregon State University](<a href=“http://oregonstate.edu/financialaid/osu-scholarships]OSU”>http://oregonstate.edu/financialaid/osu-scholarships)</p>
<p>Evergreen State, New College (Florida), Hampshire (MA), University of Vermont (but OOS cost is outrageous), Bennington, Grinnell, Warren Wilson, Colorado College, U Colorado Boulder, Fort Lewis College.
First pick for you would probably be UC-SC though.</p>
<p>Beloit. I wonder if the poster might mean Lawrence in Wisconsin rather than St. Lawrence in NY. Just a random guess: I heard from someone who went there that St Lawrence was very preppy.</p>
<p>No, I meant St. Lawrence. It’s a very outdoors oriented school with strong sciences and from what I’ve read about/ spoken with an admissions representative, a more liberal student body. Of course East Coast definitions of non-preppy may not coincide with how the West Coast views non preppy.</p>