<p>Never wrote that she needs to apply to any Ivy. Frankly speaking, OP’s college choices seem to be a bit random. I agree with the above poster that it’s not clear whether or not OP’s daughter has actual scholarship awards.</p>
<p>I believe the OP is saying that for a full ride her D would go to a “lesser” college but that if she had to pay out of pocket she’d pick a better college with $$ out of pocket than a lesser college with $$ out of pocket…or at least that is how I interpreted her comment.</p>
<p>Sorry Axelrod, I misinterpreted your post. I guess I was thinking Brown ED as a legacy is about as tippy top as the OP’s D can go in this country that matches her interests closely. </p>
<p>I’m also not seeing the list as random and the only outlier to me was Oberlin. All the colleges on the list are full of smart, creative kids, not too jockey/greekish that aren’t too “on the fringe”…</p>
<p>I see this D in a good situation. She has two really good colleges in her sight with Brown and the Claremont colleges and then she’s got Whittier has a safety (with potential for great merit) and then some really good colleges in the middle. To hone the middle list or to add one more safety with potential for big merit isn’t too far off what everyone recommends. To refine the list if the D doesn’t get into Brown ED is not a “bad” idea…that might not even be needed.</p>
<p>If she’s willing to compromise on the cold front, and needs another safety, University of Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark College might fit your criteria. Both are PNW LACs outside of major cities (Puget Sound is in a Seattle suburb, and Lewis & Clark is just outside of Portland). At the information session, the head of admissions admitted that the students that get the best merit/financial aid packages are typically the strongest candidates at UPS. Thus your daughter would likely get quite a bit of money.</p>
<p>If she’s willing to go to Texas, another possibility is Trinity University in San Antonio. It’s considered a master’s university, but with only about 2,400 undergrads, it’s basically a LAC.</p>
<p>Here are some other schools that would probably classify as safeties, and while they aren’t in warm areas, are nonetheless, in or near cities, and meet all of your other criteria:
-Lake Forest College
-St. Olaf College
-Denison University
-Willamette
-Muhlenberg Collge
-Coe College</p>
<p>I actually feel like this kid is going to get into CMC EDII, and this discussion will be irrelevant. But in case it isn’t…</p>
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<p>My advice is to take it off the list. There are so darned many colleges, why apply to one that she KNOWS isn’t a fit? Once you visit once and know the fit isn’t there, don’t keep trying to shoehorn it in. Look elsewhere. For us the school that fit that description was Grinnell. We so wanted to love Grinnell. Gave it every chance (a long day spent there, two classes attended, meeting with professors, etc.). It just wasn’t the one for my kid, so we crossed it off and never looked back. You have probably spent too much time on Pomona already; don’t have her spend application time on it as well if you know it is not a good fit.</p>
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<p>My kids love iPhones, but that does not mean they get them… this is really not a good reason to spend more than you have/send her into debt. Yup, Brown is fantastic. But look at the cost of good law schools, and really think about what you are doing here. If you can’t afford her safeties (which might give some merit aid, I assume), you shouldn’t be willing to just shut your eyes and spend on Brown.</p>
<p>The fact that you haven’t considered Mac or Kenyon at this point is sort of a concern (indicates a scattershot search approach, I think). If you even had a reason for rejecting them in your initial pass, I’d think it was fine. But this tells me you have only done a superficial review of what is out there. I also worry a little about a quirky, liberal kid thinking CMC is the place to be… even with a summer program under her belt, I would never describe CMC as either of those things. Mac is… CMC isn’t. If I were you I would get a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges (if you don’t have one) today, and review with your criteria in mind. Add a couple that “look good on paper” to replace Pomona. Really look hard for schools that will treat her well financially (look for good merit aid and places where her stats are top 25%, and run the NPC to see how they look).</p>
<p>I had missed Whitter when I read the original post and it is not a school that I know much about. While Oberlin of course has a good creative writing program, it is not as well known for writing as is Kenyon or Bard. There are many fine schools with good creative writing programs and while not LAC, Johns Hopkins and University of Chicago are outstanding for writing also. I would not select Oberlin for warm weather…being 45 minutes south of Cleveland is not a warm weather destination. When we toured Oberlin for younger d, while the campus was nice enough and there was plenty to do on campus, for me personally the distance from anyplace else and the difficulty of getting to airport in Cleveland other than for official school breaks was bothersome.</p>
<p>I will agree that Kenyon is a great school however Grinnell would have to be included in the liberal /intellectual list.The caveat for both schools is they are at least an hour from any city.Beware assuming anything concerning safeties my d got into her reach-dream school but was waitlisted one match and one safety</p>
<p>Gotta show the love for your safety just to be sure… D2 was very careful to be specific with her “Why X” essay for her safety, and also just emailed with the admissions officer to ask for a contact in the club that is her favorite EC. She is actually getting enthusiastic about it in the process. 
Which is a good sign.</p>
<p>Thanks - there are some good ideas here.</p>
<p>Just to clarify - she has applied to BU and has a very sizeable scholarship there - not full, but close. It isn’t a very good fit, though.</p>
<p>(I grew up in MA, and we have a lot of family there, which is why schools in that area make the list. It makes travel issues a lot less concerning, although, again, that is just one factor.)</p>
<p>I am looking for a financial and academic safety that fits better. Whittier is <em>very likely</em> to give her a full ride. It is a lovely school, and my younger daughter has already decided it is her dream school. They have great merit aid. There are no guarantees, though.</p>
<p>Oxy, similarly, is <em>very likely</em> to give her excellent aid. They are a bit quirky in admissions, too, though.</p>
<p>She had Rice on the list for a long time, and we were pretty happy with that, because she was getting significant aid there.</p>
<p>We aren’t wealthy, and we have three kids, but we have planned for college and can contribute reasonably without significant stress. The difference between Brown and, say, Pomona, is only about $2000, although the flight is cheaper, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t think we’ve been scattershot in the approach, but w haven’t really considered the Midwest much. W do have some family in OH, so, again, there is some comfort there. The Pacific NW is a great option, but it is expensive to get to from here. Hopefully, the issue will be moot - she’s done all she can do to build a solid resume, and she’ll get in somewhere</p>
<p>Sak…please clarify how you know that your child already has an acceptance AND scholarship to BU…did they apply and get accepted Early Decision? If so, with a full scholarship, your child would need to accept that offer of admission.</p>
<p>They made her an offer, and she applied. She hasn’t technically been accepted, because she didn’t apply there ED. </p>
<p>It was the most reasonable (for her) of the offers she’s gotten so far, but, of course, she would have to rescind the app if admitted elsewhere ED. Most of the offer deadlines are early December, so you have to make early application, even though the notice is later.</p>
<p>How did they make her an offer if she hasnt been accepted? Is she a recruited athlete?</p>
<p>LOL at the parents who think Pomona is not sciency.</p>
<p>More than 40% of the school is majoring in something in science or math related.</p>
<p>Pomona has the most science majors of any LAC not named Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Please leave your old misconceptions behind and let current students answer these questions, not parents.</p>
<p>^^ Excuse me nostalgic, but if 40% are majoring in bio or chemistry or math…then 60% are majoring in humanities at an LAC. Last time I was in school, granted thirty years ago, 60% > 40%</p>
<p>USNWR 5 most popular majors from graduating class of 2011:
Economics, General 10%
Environmental Science 10%
Political Science and Government, General 9%
Neuroscience 7%
English Language and Literature, General 6%</p>
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<p>I just checked the most recent Common Data Set posted for Pomona, and 18% of the students were majoring in Bio, Physical Sciences, and Math combined. No way does Pomona have the “most science majors of any LAC not named Harvey Mudd”. Try Swarthmore (28%), Smith (20%), St. Olaf (28%), or Carleton (33%). Those are just a few I thought of off the top of my head that were likely to be higher, and checked them out. I am guessing there are more. I bet Reed and surely Rice are higher as well.</p>
<p>Agree that I don’t understand the BU situation. Does not make sense – until the actual scholarship agreement is in hand, you can’t count on it.</p>
<p>Re: BU and anywhere else…the student needs an acceptance
AND the scholarship award. No acceptance and it wouldn’t matter what kind of award was offered!</p>
<p>Did she apply regular decision to BU? Presumably so since she applied ED to Brown and you are ONLY supposed to apply to ONE ED school. If so, she won’t know for sure about that until the end of
April.</p>
<p>OP…you didn’t list BU on the original list of schools. Are there any others?</p>
<p>I hope you all know that people from colleges read what we say here. Of my son’s 10 colleges, I was identified by 2 (I am aware of) from my posts here. He was accepted by both of them, but I never said anything negative here about any of his choices. I was really surprised that people were following my posts.</p>
<p>D is not an athlete - LOL. Nonetheless, she has gotten scholarship offers made to her. I think that part of it is that AZ is a very low “exporter” of students to colleges, and she us at the very top score-wise of AZ students (which is below almost all of the other states - she’d be high average in CT or elsewhere). </p>
<p>No, nothing is a sure thing until the papers are signed, which is precisely why I’m concerned. I want a few strong safety options.</p>
<p>She could apply to some other schools (UMass, UT, etc.) that have made similar offers, but the likelihood that she would choose those over other options is low.</p>
<p>Her other safety is ASU (full ride plus computer plus stipend) but she really is not excited about that. 70,000+ students just seems overwhelming. The honors college art ASU is actually ranked pretty highly, but you can’t avoid the fact that the school is huge.</p>
<p>If Boston works, consider Northeastern. It has more of a campus than BU, and the co-op program is outstanding… NMF I believe still qualify for full tuition scholarship. Not sure how that compares to OP’s FA at other school, but it’s worth investigation for OP (or other families following this thread).</p>
<p>I added Natural Resources and Conservation to Pomona’s SM (so STM?) and get 26% of majors. Reed is 28% SM, Rice is 35% STEM.</p>
<p>The reason my D felt it was science-y probably had more to do with a. Every student we took a tour with was a science major, b. All the questions in the info session were about med school admissions. We are lunch with students twice, and even if they were majoring in say, Japanese studies they had a double major and the second was biology. :-)</p>
<p>It didn’t help that her Pomona interviewer (a lawyer) said he took his best classes at CMC.</p>
<p>Pomona is her “reachiest” school - super-high scores, and kids from AZ do apply, so she doesn’t even have a geographic advantage. It is a really long shot, and I also think that that is why it isn’t higher on her list. She likely has a better shot at Brown than she does at Pomona.</p>