Colleges that fit these criteria?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am beginning looking for colleges that match my interests, but the only ones that keep coming at me are Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Vassar, Brown, Amherst, and Hamilton.</p>

<p>I have to diversify my college list and be more realistic, those schools are reaches for my stats.</p>

<p>So can anyone name some liberal arts colleges with
1. Good financial aid (100% needs met) -- very important
2. Open curriculum
3. Preferably in the North East
4. A balanced male-to-female ratio and under 3000-4000 students?</p>

2

<p>Regarding criterion #1, what kind of net price limit are you looking at? Depending on what your limit is, some schools with low list prices may be affordable, even without financial aid.</p>

<p>Completely open curriculum colleges are very few in number, and you may not find any that meet all of your other criteria and are realistic admissions and cost wise:
[Open</a> Curriculum Colleges & Universities: Examples in Action | Open Jar Foundation](<a href=“http://openjar.org/curricular-freedom-examples-in-action]Open”>http://openjar.org/curricular-freedom-examples-in-action)</p>

<p>There are also larger lists, although some of them seem to include colleges with the opposite of an open curriculum (e.g. St. John’s College, which has a core “great books” curriculum that is the entire curriculum).</p>

3

<p>Holy Cross is need-blind for admissions and has great campus 1 hour from Boston.</p>

4

<p>HC is need blind for admission but does NOT meet need. Those are two very different things.</p>

<p>[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission]Need-blind”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>

5

<p>Can’t edit any longer but I wanted to point out that HC DOES meet need. It’s right in the durn link I pasted. Too quick on the post this time.</p>

<p>Sorry Par.</p>

6

<p>I would look at Wesleyan, Amherst, Hampshire, and perhaps Swarthmore (not open, but very few requirements).</p>

7

<p>Colleges that meet need -
[Universities</a> That Claim to Meet Full Financial Need - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/02/11/universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need]Universities”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/02/11/universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need)
So compare this list with the Need-blind list and then reduce based on your other criteria. You may find that you need to modify your criteria in order to satisfy the most important ones. I think the “open curriculum” will be the most problematic.</p>

8

<p>“Open curriculum” I agree that is an issue. Hampshire College (MA) and Bennington College (VT) may have that, but they will not meet your need. You will be “gapped”.</p>

9

<p>Just because a school is “full need” doesn’t mean it will meet full need, or will use only grants in an aid package. Many private schools meet, and exceed need for their best applicants, and gap the average student. I’m not sure if Bennington or Hampshire fall into this category, but I can list more than a few Northeast/Mid-Atlantic schools (none of which fit the OP’s criteria) that give better aid to their top applicants than some of the need blind, “full need” schools.</p>

<p>For instance, my friend was admitted to Occidental and Chapman. Occidental claims to meet full need, but the aid package didn’t match her EFC. Chapman on the other hand actually ended up being cheaper than the local Cal State because she was a top applicant and they were willing to throw money at her to get her to enroll. </p>

<p>If the OP stands a decent chance of getting into one of the top LACs, s/he can probably be a top applicant at some middle of the road (as in not technically full need) schools, and may get an extremely generous aid package owing to his/her stats.</p>

10

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<p>Aardvark, may I suggest that what you need is a college that meets 100% of your need, and not necessarily 100% of all applicants’ need?</p>

<p>Another way to accomplish that is through merit scholarships. So, in addition to these very good colleges (which you seem to think are a little reach-y for you), look for colleges or small universities that meet your other criteria, but where your GPA and standardized test scores would put you near the top of the applicant pool.</p>

<p>Many colleges use merit money to buy the love, so to speak, of students who might otherwise go somewhere…well, pick your inexact, shallow-sounding adjective…“better” or “more prestigious” or “higher ranked.” They’ll also often invite these students to participate honors programs, or offer them other non-monetary inducements to attend.</p>

<p>Even if these colleges don’t meed everybody’s full need, as long as they meet yours, you’re in good shape.</p>

11

<p>One that isnt in the northeast but meets the rest of your criteria is Grinnell College (in Iowa). It has great financial aid (full need, and good merit aid), and an open curriculum.</p>

12

<p>Grinnell does not have a fully open curriculum. Of the 124 credits needed for graduation, at most 48 can be in one department, and at most 92 can be in one division (humanities, social studies, science). This effectively means that it has breadth requirements.
[Requirements</a> for Graduation - Student Handbook | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/studentaffairs/shb-11-12/academicpolicies/requirementsforgraduation]Requirements”>http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/studentaffairs/shb-11-12/academicpolicies/requirementsforgraduation)</p>

13

<p>If Hamilton is a reach for your stats,I strongly doubt that you are going to get in to any school on your list. If you have excellent grades, course rigor, and ECs, but unimpressive test scores, you would be in MUCH better shape: Bowdoin, for example, gives excellent FA and is test optional.</p>

14

<p>how about college of wooster, butler university or university of evansville</p>

<p>or one of the true hidden gems HENDRIX COLLEGE</p>

15

<p>I’m always curious to find why students limit themselves (or strongly prefer) colleges with an open curriculum. I can understand looking for places with fewer restrictions or more freedom in selecting courses, but only a completely open curriculum? The whole idea behind a liberal arts education is breadth, knowledge in a variety of fields.*</p>

<p>Even with that said, though, most distribution requirements are pretty broad. There’s a lot of freedom within a broad distribution.</p>

<p>Anyway, here are a list of small colleges, mostly LACs, which claim to meet full need that may be a good fit for you in the Northeast. I’m not sure about the open curriculum thing at any of them, though:</p>

<p>College of the Holy Cross (reachish)
Gettysburg College ¶
Trinity College (CT, may be reachish)</p>

<p>And here are some other small colleges in the Northeast that are good, ranked places that you may be interested in, but </p>

<p>Lafayette College ¶
Connecticut College
Union College (NY)
Skidmore College (NY)
Franklin & Marshall College ¶
St. Lawrence University (NY)
Hobart & William Smith Colleges (NY)
Wheaton College (MA)
Muhlenberg College ¶
Ursinus College ¶
Allegheny College ¶
College of the Atlantic (ME)
St. Michael’s College (VT)
Washington & Jefferson College ¶
Washington College (MD)
Bennington College (VT)
Drew University (NJ)
Juniata College ¶
Stonehill College (MA)
Hampden-Sydney College (VA)
Goucher College (MD)
Hampshire College (MA)
Randolph College (VA)
Siena College (NY)
Berry College (GA)
Susquehanna University ¶
Westminster College ¶
Gordon College (MA)
St. Anselm College (NH)
Wells College (NY)
Houghton College (NY)
Moravian College ¶
St. Vincent College ¶
Lycoming College ¶
Hartwick College (NY)
Albright College ¶</p>

<p>Regional:
Elmira College (NY)
Merrimack College (MA)
Seton Hill University ¶
Champlain College (VT)
Cazenovia College (NY)
Geneva College ¶
Lasell College (MA)
St. Francis College (NY)
Thiel College ¶
Concordia College (NY)</p>

<p><em>I fundamentally disagree with the Open Jar’s statements about gen ed requirements, particularly that they create “artificial islands”. The whole *point</em> of general education requirements is to teach students about how the liberal arts are interconnected, and require one another, and how all are needed in a nuanced understanding of our world and to participate as a democratic citizen. Moreover, they claim that the subjects liberal arts require “lose relevance” with every passing year and that’s patently untrue. First of all, colleges are always reevaluating their curricula and updating them, and secondly - when is biology, or philosophy, or drama or political science ever going to lose relevance as long as there are humans on this planet?</p>

16

<p>@ucbalumnus:
Thank you for the link!
My household income is around 12k a year, so I’m very limited. However, I do have a part time job that I’ve saved up a couple of thousand dollars from.</p>

<p>@lavenderman:
Thank you, I haven’t looked into Grinnell much because it’s not really in the NE region, but seeing that it fits my needs and criteria, I’ll look into it.</p>

<p>@Consolation:
My GPA is 4.0. I don’t know my SAT scores yet (probably not full score anyway), but seeing how people with impressive 2400 SATs and national awards are getting rejected from Hamilton… I’m not so confident anymore, which sucks because it’s very close to home for me and one of my tops.</p>

<p>@juliet:
Wow, thank you for the list.
I like an open curriculum, but after seeing everyone’s replies, I can see that I have severely limited myself, especially with my current financial situation.
I’ll look into other LACs and perhaps other state Universities.</p>

17

<p>The <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html&lt;/a&gt; may provide you some safeties within financial reach, although you may have to relax the constraints of “small LAC in the northeast with an open curriculum” to make them fit.</p>

<p>Try the net price calculator at each school you consider.</p>

18

<p>Two lower cost (even for out of state) public LACs are Truman State and University of Minnesota - Morris. Both are known to give merit scholarships (Truman State even has an automatic merit scholarship estimator on its web site), so you may want to consider them (however, their list prices without scholarships and financial aid are higher than $12,000 and would require Stafford loans and significant summer job savings).</p>

19

<p>Brava Juillet. I agree with your comments about gen ed requirements whole-heartedly.</p>

<p>OP, did you really mean to write your family INCOME is $12K/year?</p>

20

<p>Awkward, My son looked at all of the colleges on your list except Vassar. Some others that fit with this group are Williams, Conn College, Skidmore. If you are female, Smith.</p>

<p>If your family income is $12,000 you will be eligible for substantial need based aid at many of these schools, including the most selective. </p>

<p>I agree with other posters that you shouldn’t eliminate based on distribution requirements, which are halfway between core and open curriculum. In most cases the distribution requirements are easily fulfilled, and actually a positive as you get exposure to academic areas that you might not have otherwise experimented with.</p>