I am currently a senior in high school from San Diego looking to experience a different part of the country. Northeast schools interest me because of their seasons and proximity to the ocean (need to have some body of water somewhat close coming from San Diego.) I am already considering Princeton, Dartmouth, and Boston College, but would like to add more New England schools.
Looking for selective schools (25% and lower) that hopefully give good financial aid.
I’m going through the same dilemma as you right now! I live in Orange County and though everyone else seems to want to come to SoCal, I’m crazy enough to want to wade through the snow. Apparently Harvard has a winter coat fund for us naive Southern Californians. I also started a discussion looking for some more schools with actual seasons that a lot of people have given great advice on, you can look to see what they have said on mine.
Since you’re also new to College Confidential I’ll just give you a little advice from the bit that I’ve learned starting earlier today. Like @merc81 said you should include your academic interests since every student wants to pursue different things and every school excels in different areas. I was also asked to elaborate on my family income in case financial aid needs to be taken into account. Your reasons for wanting to go to an East Coast school are kinda broad so maybe make them more specific so it’ll be easier for the more experienced people to list schools. Many other areas also have seasons and proximity to the ocean so consider other areas too, I know that I’ve had to broaden my horizons. If you are replying to someone make sure to tag them so that they can receive the notification. Let’s make it through this brutal process together!!!
Check out the NESCAC schools. They’re mostly small(ish) liberal-arts colleges, scattered around New England. Some are extremely selective but all are competitive, with enough range that you should be able to find some schools that appeal to you geographically, academically, and socially.
I assume you know that most of the super selective schools only give need-based aid, for which you can run the NPC on their websites (note that if your family’s finances are complicated it is not always reliable). For schools that do offer ‘merit’ aid you usually need to have stats in the top 25% of admitted students; you can get some idea of how much aid students get by going to the ‘money matters’ tab on the College Data file for each college.
Good financial aid to me means all or nearly all demonstrated need is met among the student body, however I have a unique financial aid situation that cannot be accounted for by the net price calculator. I would hope to receive merit aid, but will not be expecting any should I get in to say Princeton or Dartmouth.
I am currently hoping to study economics or financial math, although that could change very easily for my interests are fluctuating.
Collegemom3717 relative to some other schools that I am applying to, 2 hours is fairly reasonable.
Another major factor for me is school spirit. I am hoping to go to a school with good football and academics (such as Boston College), but will not rule out schools for not playing in a major conference. I will, however, rule out a school if it does not seem like it is a place that students want to spend their time. School pride is very important to me, and will be something I base my decisions upon.
If you hope for merit aid, then you need schools on your list that award it. That would exclude Ivy League schools, including Princeton and Dartmouth, as well as NESCAC schools, such as Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin etc. One family on CC indicated their son received merit award, non-need based, last year at Connecticut College (New London, close to Atlantic Ocean). Schools with merit awards on the east coast are hard to find. Richmond and Pitt (not exactly near water) give merit awards. Villanova might be one to consider, in suburban Philly, about an hour+ to shore.