<p>Bowdoin
Colby
Grinnell
Middlebury
Washington and Lee University
Williams</p>
<p>Forbes recently released an article on "Best cities to begin a career" (factoring in cost of living, big companies, and small companies, maybe more?), which I am basing my list off of. If the colleges are more than two hours away from them, then I discarded them from my current list. I am talking about internships/jobs in the academic year, I'm interested in going to business school so the more work experience I have the better, so even if it is a prestigious internship in the summer, if it's for a limited time I'm not getting as much work-time as I would like, or that businesses would see.</p>
<p>My current list that meets all of my wants and needs</p>
<p>CMC
Pomona
Davidson
Wharton
Swarthmore
Amherst
UW foster (safety)
maybe Pitzer?</p>
<p>If you had an internship in the city during the academic year, 2 hours would be a very, very long commute. I’d stick with schools in urban and suburban locations. Then again, I did all of my internships during the summers, in which case you can go anywhere in the country.</p>
<p>I believe you are looking for a “cocoon in a city” college based on your criteria, and that you would like smaller colleges. Therefore, I would go with the following:
Harvard/MIT/Wellesley
Caltech
University of Chicago
Columbia/Barnard
Wharton
Swarthmore
Johns Hopkins (an absolute must on your list)
Washington University at St. Louis
Vanderbilt
Colgate
Rice
Georgetown
Boston College</p>
<p>Of course, the larger schools work too:
NYU
BU
USC
Villanova
UCLA
UT-Austin</p>
<p>Thank you for giving me some ideas. I initially looked at a few ivies, but then I thought about it. Sure, the name is nice, and a couple of them meet some of my needs. Here is…everything I want out of a college.</p>
<ol>
<li>Small undergrad community (2000 students or less), with an undergrad focus (or, not just pushed aside for grads).</li>
<li>Majority of classes are small (15 or less), and with the exception of core-classes no large-scale classes. Great staff:student ratio.</li>
<li>LAC curriculum/environment</li>
<li>Need blind admissions and loan-free financial aid.</li>
<li>Great career center/services.</li>
<li>Decent college town (doesn’t have to be NY/Boston, but not in the middle of nowhere with no decent town minutes away).</li>
</ol>
<p>With all 6 of those I think that makes all the colleges (great list though!) on your list moot to me. Great colleges, but not for me.</p>
<p>However, now I’m hearing it’s not smart to have a non work/study job during the academic year, and to get into business school you don’t need to have a non-intensive part time job/year round internship? Would it be smarter to NOT choose a school based on the ability to get a job for the academic year?</p>
<p>macalaster would fit you criteria perfectly</p>
<p>Rhodes hits 5 of 6, but hear me out on the sixth item.</p>
<ol>
<li>About 1650-1700 undergrads, about 10 (yes, ten) graduate students.</li>
<li>Average class size is about 14. The biggest classes are probably the intro econ courses, which are maybe 30-35 each. I once had a class with 4 people in it at Rhodes.</li>
<li>See [Rhodes</a> College | Foundation Requirements](<a href=“http://www.rhodes.edu/academics/541.asp]Rhodes”>http://www.rhodes.edu/academics/541.asp) to read about our Foundations of the Liberal Arts curriculum.</li>
<li>I’ll talk about that more below…</li>
<li>I think we have a really good career services group. You can read about them at [Rhodes</a> College | Career Services](<a href=“http://www.rhodes.edu/careerservices/default.asp]Rhodes”>http://www.rhodes.edu/careerservices/default.asp) and I can answer any questions you have about that.</li>
<li>Memphis is a really cool place. The school is right across the street from a large park and the best zoo in the country ([Trip</a> Advisor: Memphis Zoo tops in the nation - Memphis Business Journal:](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2008/08/04/daily38.html]Trip”>http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2008/08/04/daily38.html)). It’s also the home of the blues and the birth place of rock and roll. There’s AAA baseball and an NBA team, the Memphis Tigers NCAA basketball team, Memphis in May Music Fest and BBQ contest, etc. etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, about the need-blind admissions and no-loan aid. If I get my facts wrong, I know people will jump in and correct me. Most of the places that I’ve seen with no-loan aid or need-blind admissions will only meet demonstrated need per the FAFSA or CSS Profile. Rhodes is not need-blind nor does it avoid federal loans in aid packaging. However, we do offer quite a bit of merit aid - over $9 million to first-year students in grants alone last year ([Rhodes</a> College | Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.rhodes.edu/1328.asp]Rhodes”>http://www.rhodes.edu/1328.asp)). </p>
<p>Rhodes isn’t unique - I think a ton of schools package financial aid similarly. So, while I understand that fa is important and you don’t want to take on loans, don’t assume that need-blind/grant-only schools will be the most affordable for YOU. Maybe, but not necessarily. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>