<p>With your D’s stats, I think the Belk at Davidson will be a huge reach. She can still throw her hat in the ring but, if I were you, I would be looking for more merit safeties. Centre’s Brown Fellowship is also competitive (but much more reasonable than the Belk). Investigate the Stamps scholarships more closely-- I believe most are very, very competitive (especially at schools like Oberlin, which are already difficult to get into).</p>
<p>Other schools that come to mind that you may want to look into: Goucher, Juniata, Earlham.</p>
<p>@BTMell, too funny - you defnitely never know. Thought my daughter would love everything about Bryn Mawr (Harry Potterish, small close knit community, etc…), but she couldn’t wait to get away from there. On the other hand, she said she wants rural small town, but loved Providence RI. Good reminder of why visiting is so important. </p>
<p>@warriordaughter, agree completely. The big merit aid awards at the higher ranked LAC’s are out of reach for all but a super select group of students. Focusing on more realistic merit matches and safeties is a much better use of D’s time during an already hectic senior year. Lots I really like about Juniata, but what’s with all the prisons nearby?! Goucher’s location in suburban Baltimore kind of knocked it off D’s list early on. Earlham is still on her radar though. So far, these are the schools that she is considering based on merit aid and best match with her personality/interests.</p>
<p>Reach: Hamilton, Kenyon, and St. Olaf
Borderline Match/Reach: Dickinson, Denison, Centre
Match: St. Lawrence, Mt. Allison (Canada)
Safety: Ohio Wesleyan, UNC Asheville, Earlham</p>
<p>She’s also still having a hard time letting go of some of her top picks: Bowdoin, Middlebury, Bates, Swarthmore, and Haverford - all need based only. </p>
<p>Now, are some like Hamilton, Lafayette, and U of Richmond reaches for all students, no matter their SAT’s/grades, because of their low acceptance rates and high rankings? (I’m interested in these schools, and while my stats are above the average, I wonder what merit I’m eligible for…)</p>
<p>You may want to take a look at the “average debt at graduation column” in GMTplus7’s link. The average debt at some of the need based only schools is actually lower than at the merit award schools. You may want to apply to some of these as well in case those big merit awards don’t come through. Often the difference is that schools like your daughter’s top picks give much of their FA in the form of grants instead of loans.</p>
<p>@atm28vacations, I am not an expert by any means (just a mom trying to do some of the legwork on the college search process to help out my D). But from what I’ve read and researched, merit aid at top tier LAC’s is extremely tough to come by. There are simply too many qualified applicants. That being said, though, I still intend to encourage my D to pick a couple of her favorites from that list and go fit it! She’s worked very hard (as I’m sure you have) and has a pretty good shot. Just want to make sure that our final college list isn’t stacked with only highly competitive schools. There are some other really great colleges out there that, though lower ranked, offer a top notch education and a greater likelihood of better FA offers. Good luck in your search!</p>
<p>@Sue22, that’s exactly what makes this process so confusing for me!</p>
<p>With the need only schools, it’s nice because you can just run the net price calculator and get a pretty good idea of what you’ll likely end up having to pay. For instance, according to the net price calculator, our estimated cost at Swarthmore would be about $14K/year (of course getting in is a whole other story!). But at Middlebury it would be closer to $24K/year. Guess endownments really do make a difference. </p>
<p>With those schools that provide competitive full ride or full tuition scholarships, it’s also pretty straight forward. If your kiddo has stats that match or are higher than the top 75% of their applicant pool, it seems like a good idea to try for it. Same goes for those colleges that have guaranteed full tuition for National Merit Finalists and such. </p>
<p>It’s the other ones that confuse me. The colleges that offer “generous” aid, but you have no way of knowing how to define that generosity, especially when you’re also applying for need based aid and the packages are lumped together. The net price calculators don’t look too encouraging so far with most of these schools - certainly no better than the need only schools anyway. </p>
<p>I can’t help but think that there must be some “generous” merit aid schools out there that would stack merit aid in order to sweeten the pot and steal some students away from their need-based only competitors. Again, I guess endownments really do make a difference. Suppose they can’t offer what they don’t have…</p>
<p>St. Lawrence has merit aid and from I"ve heard of it, sounds like a great fit for her. </p>
<p>I’m curious why Grinnell isn’t on your list any more, because they do have merit aid, and I remember from your other thread it sounds like a great fit. I know it’s a little out of the geographic area you are considering, but I hope that given the circumstances your daughter will be a little more flexible with that. There would be transportation costs involved, but planning ahead can save on that. </p>
<p>@SDonCC, I agree St Lawrence is a nice match - especially with the Adirondack and Sustainability semesters - both right up her alley.
You know, we keep going back and forth on Grinnell. Love the social justice aspect and the overall philosophy, and the academics seem top notch, but having a hard time getting a pulse for the campus vibe and student body.
D visited Wesleyan and knew right off the bat that it wasn’t the place for her - not into the alternative music scene or seemingly overtly PC atmosphere. She researched Reed (and loved the intellectual intensity and curiosity), but was uncomfortable with the seemingly prevalent drug culture. At Bennington (and to a lesser degree Skidmore and College of the Atlantic), she was just plain scared of the “expressiveness” of the students. It wasn’t until we visited Swarthmore and Haverford that she found her comfort zone - quirky/nerdy yet passionate about social issues. I think there are just certain places that connect with her introverted (and straight laced) nature. Guess I’m just not sure where Grinnell falls on that continuum…
I know some of the things in the previous paragraph are gross stereotypes (and quite likely inaccurate). Just trying to give a sense of D’s impressions of various campuses. </p>
<p>It sounds like she is more interested in East Coast colleges but check out Carleton, Colorado College, and Whitman as they all have excellent environmental science programs. Merit aid won’t be enough I am sure, but you never know about FA if you don’t apply! For Carleton specifically there is a merit scholarship up to 10K a year for mid income families that live in non metro populations (<200,000 people). I am sure it is hard to get but it seems like your D has as good a chance as any. And you can’t go wrong with any of those schools!</p>
<p>Not all schools use the same formula to determine need, as the calculator demonstrated. In your particular situation, Swat’s formula was better suited to your family’s situation. Another student could run the same calculators and find that Middlebury was the cheaper option. If you look at the stats for Swat and Midd, the average financial aid amounts are similar. The average fin aid package at Swat is $40,340, of which $38,701 is in the form of grants. At Middlebury, the average fin aid package is $40,419, of which $38,384 is grants. The biggest difference is in the percentage of students who receive aid.</p>
<p>Re Getting a pulse on Grinnell: We didn’t visit Grinnell, but we know several kids who have attended. I would say that Haverford and Grinnell are more like each other than either is like Swarthmore. My impression is that the students are mostly friendly upbeat kids: politically progressive and socially and environmentally conscious but in a respectful and inclusive way.</p>
<p>I’m generally fond of rural insular colleges (Williams, Hamilton, Kenyon), but would want to visit before deciding how isolated is too isolated as environments vary.</p>
<p>My experience as a parent of a Grinnellian is as momrath describes it. Does that mean there aren’t students doing drugs or heavily into the alternative music scene or strident about their views? Of course not. But, there are certain structural aspects that support the culture of the school, which will always make it a bit unique and particularly “Grinnellian.” Such as: the location in the midwest where niceness prevails (yes, really), the “self-governance” structure which basically says that students are responsible to and for each other as members of a community: the highly diverse student body (at least as far as LAC’s go) and Grinnell really puts its money where its mouth with in promoting diversity of all kinds, including economic diversity; the sense of mission that the school really follows (the current President has focuses resources very intently on following through with this mission of increasing access to higher education for the underrepresented and promoting social justice); the idea that many students who attend don’t really care that nobody back home has heard of the school and so on…</p>
<p>When we looked at schools, I did a very superficial thing and looked at how kids’ dressed. to me, it was a turnoff if students all dressed in a certain way – whether it was preppy or whether it was “way out there.” I distinctly remember visiting Grinnell and thinking that the kids just dressed to feel comfortable. And that’s what the school is: it is a “come as you are” place. Which means that if you are a student who wears very offbeat, quirky clothes, you will feel fine, and if you are a student who wears sweats and tees, you will fine. If you want to spend your Saturday nights playing Scrabble in a lounge and not drink, you will feel fine and if you want to spend Saturday nights in the Harris Center drinking and dancing in a crowd you will feel fine. If you have a passion for changing the world, you will be at home, and if you want to just study and spend your free time around talking about some arcane intellectual pursuit, you will find plenty of nerdy kids who revel in ideas (and i use the word nerdy with the utmost affection!!)</p>
<p>A parent on Admitted Students Weekend told me, a bit green in the face, that her son had turned down an Ivy to go to Grinnell because he felt that he had “found his kind of people.” Those were the exact words my own son used to describe why he made the decision (a hard one because of the travel issues getting there) to pick Grinnell.</p>
<p>Please PM me if you want any more specifics.</p>
<p>My suggestion, honestly, is to apply but not visit until after decisions are in. Just keep the option open, because if it does turn out that Grinnell comes through with money then it would be nice to see what it’s about. But, I would strongly encourage you to ask for an alumni interview no matter what so that you show interest. </p>
<p>@SDonCC, based on your description of Grinnellians, you are spot on in suggesting it may very well be a really nice fit for my kiddo. Down to earth, accepting, responsible, intellectual, and socially conscious are all traits that really resonate with her. That the school stands behind it’s expressed mission really resonates with me. I’m sure you can tell this is my first child to attend college - I’m learning as I go. Thank you for helping me along. Your advice on doing an alumni interview and applying, even if we are unable to visit this Fall (which would indeed be a challenge), is much appreciated. </p>
<p>@momrath, I’m quite fond of rural insular colleges myself, especially those that are “politically progressive and socially and environmentally conscious but in a respectful and inclusive way.” You just described D’s ideal college environment! </p>
<p>This may have been stated elsewhere but knowing what the aid is classified as is important. True scholarships remain in place,regardless of family income. Need “scholarships” fluctuate from year to year. If the family has a prosperous year financially, the aid can drop or disappear altogether.</p>
<p>If your D has a special talent, she might be eligible for some of the scholarships held aside for “niche” admissions (musicians, artists, special language programs, even the part of the country you live in can add to the scholarship-both of my kids were offered the most $$ in the midwest.One admissions counselor stated that they were really trying to increase the presence of students from the south). S played double bass and was offered some good deals as many schools seemed to be short on good bassists. He attended Furman on a music scholarship that made it comparable to our state flagship. Furman is a good school with smart kids but tends to have a more traditional (read preppy-similar schools-Davidson, Wake Forest, Rhodes) student population. S was, however able to find plenty of quirky people to be with).</p>
<p>Check the endowment size too as more niche scholarships tend to be as financially comfortable schools. </p>
<p>Like the Grinnell love btw. D graduated from Grinnell two years ago and was given what I thought was a good merit scholarship. When brother entered college, she got some need aid. Grinnell may be insular but the insular environment can have its own issues. As much as I love Grinnell, there was a lot of substance misuse that distressed D, particularly during her first two years.The parties tended to be more extreme than my son’s school (where the drinking was with dances, ball games and trips into town to hear music and go “clubbing” -less extreme with less reported alcohol poisoning). The “work hard, party hard” at Grinnell mentality may have shifted with the change in presidents, student populations and introducing more psychological support for students so my comments are dated. From my experience with D and her friend’s reports from other good LACs, many of these isolated schools with very bright students tend to have issues with the substances. Grinnell was not unique.</p>