<p>I live in Portland and am very used to the political climate. This includes little religion and a very liberal population. I want to attend a small school (under 5,000 preferably near 1500 or so). The thing is, I don't want to stay in portland as I've been here my whole life! There are great schools here, namely Reed and Lewis & Clark. I am sort of curious as to what schools would be a good fit for me. I am looking to play d3 soccer and pursue a major in either chem, bio, or environmental studies. I basically want pre-med as I want to go to medical school. My UW gpa is 3.9 and I haven't taken the ACT/SAT yet. I'm a female junior.</p>
<p>As the title suggests, I am basically looking for a place somewhat close to home but not at home. This being said, I am totally up to suggestions regarding schools AS LONG AS they are not on the east coast. Even as far as indiana (although I would prefer closer).</p>
<p>Some schools I've looked in to a little and seem interesting: Whitman, Puget Sound, Willamette, Pitzer. What other schools seem to be along this sort of liberal climate?</p>
<p>third, what’s your financial situation? Do you need or want financial aid? If yes, do you qualify for need based aid? The answers to those questions will be important in formulating your list. Some LACs only offer need based aid, some offer both need and merit.</p>
<p>I’d look at Pomona, Carleton and Grinnell. If you’re willing and able to play D3 soccer you might want to loosen up on your “no Eastcoast” dictum as there are some excellent LAC choies there as well.</p>
<p>I both need and want financial aid to go to a private school. My sister is a senior and FAFSA projected our estimated family contribution near 16,000. I don’t think I will be getting good enough test scores for Pomona as I have attention problems with timed testing. My sister was just rejected from Carleton 
As for Grinell, I haven’t heard much about it. Do you know anything about Earlham, Beloit, or Cornell college? I am open for east coast schools if you can recommend any. I want a school that is competitive due to my gpa but won’t be literally impossible for me to get in to.</p>
<p>Whitman is a great school, son just left this morning to drive back after spring break, we live in northern California. He’s a sophomore and loves the campus and Walla Walla. They have all the things you listed as wants, plus a fun loving, smart, active student body. There are quite a few students from Portland there, meaning that there are always students to hitch a ride back to campus with if you don’t drive yourself. Good luck in your search.</p>
<p>Thirrd, Sorry to be so specific but can your family afford its expected contribution OR do you need MERIT aid? [Your parents should use an aid calculator to get their EFC with two kids in college.]</p>
<p>If it turns out you need merit aid, you will have to focus on schools that offer it. Pomona and quite a few of the eastcoast schools do not offer merit aid, so before we start recommending eastcoast schools we’d need to know if NEED based aid works for you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry so much about your test scores especially if your counselor can explain your testing challenges. Your GPA, rank, recommendations, essays and extracurriculars can overcome weak scores. Further, several schools are test optional.</p>
<p>Grinnell offers good merit aid and despite being in the middle of the middle of the country, is suitably crunchy and liberal. Smith is another idea for liberal atmosphere and excellent merit aid.</p>
<p>Work out the financial parameters first then put together a balanced list of reach/match/safety. A 3.9 GPA plus varsity soccer is enough to get you into any number of LACs, even the most selective, but of course there’s no guarantee and the money may be problematic.</p>
<p>Add Macalester, Colorado College, Pitzer, and Occidental to your list of schools to check out.</p>
<p>If you want to go as far as CA, Pomona College would be a great choice.</p>
<p>One school to do some research on is Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.
The campus is on 1,000 acres at the base up Puget Sound w/ a half mile of shoreline (gorgeous), the atmosphere is very liberal and world conscious as well as close enough to home that feeling a ways away but only 2 hours up I-5 from home.</p>
<p>My son has researched this campus and although it is not likely a match for him (Engineering Major expected), it does offer a well rounded education from a truly unique perspective.</p>
<p>Grades are a narrative vs letter - student tailor their ‘major’ there and class ‘programs’ are taught inter-disciplnary so understanding how each area of study relates to other areas is quite interesting. This last part allows all the students to do a week long field research project because everyone has the same block of classes in that quarter’s program choice.</p>
<p>It also is only one of two public institutions on the ‘Colleges That Change Lives’ list. Google this for more info - Whitman & Reed are also on this list of 40 of the LAC’s with the most life altering impact. Good luck!</p>
<p>Presumably you took the PSAT. What was your score on that?</p>
<p>Pomona
Occidental
Whitman
Pitzer</p>
<p>Outside of the west coast
Colorado College
Macalester
Oberlin
Kenyon
Carleton</p>
<p>My parents went to Evergreen State actually! I believe my psat was around 176, not the best. My sister got a 30 on the ACT, so I might be able to get the same? In addition to soccer, I also play varsity lacrosse.</p>
<p>It seems like most schools would either be a huge safety or a complete reach. There doesn’t seem to be much in between.</p>
<p>Also does anyone know about warren wilson?</p>
<p>We looked into Warren Wilson during S’s college search. It sounded pretty interesting, but one of my friends said her very hippyish niece had visited and it was too hippyish even for her. S crossed it off the list. I guess it depends on how far back to nature you want to go.</p>
<p>From what you’re saying I think you should visit Evergreen, University of Puget Sound and Willamette. We’re in Portland too. All of those offer good merit based financial aid if your test scores could be decent. It might be worth it to do some training for them and try to get tests up close to over 2200 SAT or 32 ACT. </p>
<p>Beloit is definitely one for you to look at too and also some of the smaller Minnesota schools like St. Olaf and Hampshire. If a college fair comes to town, go talk to their rep. Good luck.</p>