Hi all,
My D is a nerdy girl who loves D&D, Theater and Science. She was not enamored of Lafayette when we visited because it was a bit too focused on sports and Greek life. She didn’t really feel that she saw herself there. I’d love suggestions for colleges that have a more nerdy vibe if that makes any sense. We want to try to stay in the northeast. Thanks!!
What are her GPA and test scores? Do you have financial limits? Does she have a major in mind or is she undecided? Any school with strong science, math, and CS programs is likely to have a D&D community. If she’s not planning to be a theater major, then you’ll want to look for colleges where non-majors can play a significant role in the theater program.
Once we have an idea of her stats and your money we can let loose with suggestions. (Also, what year is she now?)
Need more info.
If she is willing to go south, she should look at Rice. Rice does not have Greek life but residential colleges instead. Everyone can participate in the theater program.
How about this? Warning: the student blogs can be addictive
https://www.oberlin.edu/blogs/sci-fi-hall
Theater and science are also great at Oberlin.
RPI ?
Vassar? Strong theater program. No Greek life.
Brandeis definitely. Smith or Mount Holyoke if she’d consider a women’s college. They are also part of the Five College Consortium with Amherst, Hampshire, and U Mass Amherst. Students can take classes and take part in other opportunities at the other schools.
Wellesley in the Boston suburbs would also be a possibility.
Maybe also some of the NESCAC schools. I’m thinking of Bates, Bowdoin and Connecticut College in particular.
http://www.nescac.com/about/members
Good luck!
And Wesleyan.
Smith College maybe.
D is a Junior. GPA 3.8 unweighted. I don’t know what it is weighted. Many APs, ACT 33 on her first try. (will retake in a few weeks). Merit aid would be great. We won’t get much if any FA. She is interested in pre-med. Saving more for med school would be ideal. Prestige and rank are not important and she has no specific size requirements. We are heading off to see Muhlenberg in a few days, which seems perfect on paper. She is not interested in majoring in theater so a school where non majors can participate would also be terrific.
If she’s okay with women’s schools, Bryn Mawr and Mt. Holyoke offer merit. Wellesley won’t.
If the midwest is a possibility, I’d suggest Grinnell and Kenyon in addition to Oberlin as merit possibilities.
Wesleyan or Vassar would be great but no merit.
Yeah, I just ran the EFC for Vassar and its painful. I think we should stick to school with aid possibilities. We are in NY. What do you think of the SUNY’s or other OOS publics that might be less than private.
Allegheny is pretty nerdy and has very strong offerings in the natural sciences. It’s less selective than many of the above schools and offers fairly generous merit aid.
The New College of Florida guarantees merit scholarships of $15K to admitted out-of-state students, which knocks the cost down to about $24K per year for tuition + room/board – not a bad deal if she’s willing to look outside the northeast.
Hendrix is another good option in the South, offering merit scholarships up to full tuition (~$45K per year).
Grinnell, Kenyon, Oberlin, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Bryn Mawr all offer merit scholarships, if your EFC is on the higher side. They max out in the 20-30K range, although Grinnell might still offer some full tuition scholarships. Last year Oberlin’s top STEM merit award was around 30K, I think. @Chembiodad 's daughter got one of these.
Case Western and U of Rochester might also be worth a look. Also offer merit in this range. Case has Greek life, but it’s more nerdy/service-oriented frats/sororities than crazy partying, or at least that’s what I’ve heard.
OOS publics can come in higher than private with merit discount for high stats students. For example, last year my daughter got offers at College of Wooster and St. Olaf that brought the annual cost down to about 30K. Knox, Earlham, Beloit, and Lawrence are other LAC options that offer generous merit. Muhlenberg (not far from Philly) is excellent for theater and science and has generous tuition awards up to full tuition.
For SUNY option, try SUNY Geneseo, which is smaller and has a good Honors program.
These are great suggestions. Thanks everyone! We will definitely consider many of these. Does anyone have any thoughts about New Paltz? Fordham? Bard?
@gallentjill My D had similar interests (D&D, theater, STEM). She’s now a math/physics major at St Olaf. She was interested in small liberal arts colleges and I scoured various sources for metrics on STEM strength at small liberal arts colleges. The tables might give you some ideas for schools to investigate. Note that if you are interested in LACs, then your daughter might want to think about what kind of STEM field she is most interested in. Some LACs might be excellent in life sciences while others much stronger in, say, geology or physics.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19572642/#Comment_19572642
Note the thread has many different tables looking at different metrics of STEM strength in LACs. The table link above is just one, but one that has many different STEM fields.
Fordham offers good merit for NMF but below that threshold, some families I know who sought aid were disappointed All Bard scholarships are need-based, including the competitive merit-based ones like DSS.
Both great schools, albeit different in student vibe and surrounding area.
@liska21 Thank you so much for linking to that thread! I was surprised to see how well Drew seemed to do on that list. Its a college that at least on paper seems perfect for D. They even have an on campus larping group. No one in our area seems to even know about it and it doesn’t seem to be discussed much here on CC. Any thoughts?
WPI