Thank you! It has been rather difficult whittling things down, so that is encouraging to hear. And I concur; St. John’s is the school I am least certain about applying to.
I am not female; one of the reasons Haverford appeals to me as it does is due to its relationship with Bryn Mawr, and the ability to take full advantage of their offerings in Classics and Classical Archaeology as a student at Haverford (or Swat, for that matter). And, my understanding is that Haverford is quite strong with the biological sciences–biochemistry and biophysics in particular–so that would check a few boxes for me.
I had not considered Brandeis, though I will definitely look into it. Thank you for the suggestion! And thank you for the information about Chapel Hill. I was aware of their strength in Classics, but was not clear on their financial aid offerings for OOS transfers. That is very handy information to have.
I had UPenn on my list for quite a while (and I am still considering it in place of UChicago, as Penn seems to be more friendly to transfers than Chicago is, though I do love Chicago), but decided that I could make use of its resources by way of Swarthmore or Haverford. Do you recommend I consider Penn more seriously? I believe it is also more friendly to transfers than Brown is, but I figure that my recommendation from a Brown faculty member will be quite useful.
Hamilton was under consideration for a time, but I moved away from it for the very reason you stated. By virtue of the size of the department, their course offerings are rather more limited than other LACs, and I feel they are missing specialization in some important fields of study (e.g. Late Antiquity). And as far as LACs in New York go, Vassar was more appealing to me.