<p>Since you missed the PSAT because of illness, you should have your guidance counselor contact the PSAT/NMSQT organization and find out if it is possible for you to be considered for NM status. I understand that there is a way to waive the PSAT exam in certain circumstances.</p>
<p>If you want to travel across the country, I would highly recommend Reed. </p>
<p>Another school you might want to seriously consider is Evergreen State College in Washington.[The</a> Evergreen State College - a public, liberal arts & sciences college in the Pacific Northwest](<a href=“http://www.evergreen.edu/]The”>http://www.evergreen.edu/). It seems like it would be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>Add Davidson College to your list. No gothic architecture, but otherwise may be exactly what you have in mind, and the financial aid packages have no loans. If you don’t mind the upper Midwest, Carleton would be another possibility.</p>
<p>Seconding what Erin’s Dad said, UVA is not known for being quirky but it’s a large, heterogeneous school with a significant quirky subset, including my own son, who is extremely happy there. Check out Brown College, one of the residential colleges, which seems to have special appeal to this group. The AccessUVA program provides better financial aid than many public schools do. There are also Jefferson Scholarships, which are full rides for really high achievers: I believe you need to be nominated by your school, so you might ask your guidance counselor about them.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that it’s often more expensive to go far from home for school. Not only does your travel cost money but more stuff has to be bought new when you get there because it’s too unwieldy to bring from home, and then you have to store it over the summer somehow.</p>
<p>Swarthmore & Bryn Mawr are in a consortium together. If you are able to visit, I urge you to visit both. Swat does sound exactly like what you are seeking.</p>
<p>Search for post by Keilexandra. She is currently a student at Swat, but she did extensive research while in high school. She too needed FA. She was very interested in a Ling. major.
I believe her posts from 2 years ago would greatly help you.</p>
<p>Helpful, OP, to have the additional detail. For linguistics, look into Middlebury. Tops in that field. Dartmouth with their D-plan enables study abroad/campus exchange opps. Good luck!</p>
<p>No. It’s tops in foreign language instruction. That’s not the same as linguistics.
I think linguistics is a difficult field for a small school to cover well, but as I recall Swarthmore, Reed, and Pomona seem to do it relatively well. Chicago is very strong in linguistics and meets some of your other criteria well. It’s urban, but removed from the money-sucking downtown amenities … if you want to consider that a feature not a bug.</p>
<p>For you, especially in considering reach schools, good need-based aid probably will be a more important consideration than merit aid. The most selective schools generally don’t give merit aid (Chicago is one exception). If a school does grant it, it may partially offset any merit aid you get. But do explore a variety of options.</p>
<p>OP, as several have already said, sounds like you are describing Swarthmore “to a T.” And crester, Swarthmore is extraordinarly competitive in admissions, whereas the students are collaborative and in no way “cutthroat.” (I have an '07 grad and a current sophomore there.) It is a suburban setting with a gorgeous campus which is a nationally recognized arboretum. All of the subjects you mentioned can be studied at Swarthmore. They have great financial aid for those with need.</p>