Good mathy liberal arts schools with good financial aid

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi,
So what do you guys think are the best (educationally, not necessarily statistically) "mathy" liberal arts schools? I would prefer schools where students are more interested in learning than in competing. My SAT scores are R=690, M=750, and W=720</p>

2

<p>Oh, and also with very strong financial aid.</p>

<p>ps. bump…</p>

3

<p>Are you certain that you’ll qualify for a lot of FA?</p>

<p>What I mean is, does your family have a low or lowish income?</p>

4

<p>oh, I am veeeery certain. Income is something<10K</p>

5

<p>pomona (10 char)</p>

6

<p>Reed is well known for students more interested in learning and is also well known for FA. Your stats may be just a little low. How are your grades and your class rank? The essay is worth quite a bit for Reed’s apps.</p>

7

<p>Harvey Mudd is probably the best LAC for math. St. Olaf is good too.</p>

<p>Not sure about aid at either.</p>

8

<p>Grinnell and it offers merit aid.</p>

9

<p>How about Swarthmore or Williams? Both are generous with FA, meet 100% of need, all grants, no loans. My son is at Swarthmore and will probably major in math. He too was looking for a liberal arts atmosphere rather than a _IT atmosphere. Mathematics is not one of the top majors but the department is stong. Swarthmore ranks very high in the number of students that go on to grad school.</p>

10

<p>I visited Swarthmore and liked it. Williams doesn’t seem so attractive to me. Any less selective schools with good aid, just for variety’s sake? St. Olaf was mentioned, Grinnell too, although it remains fairly selective. Any others?</p>

11

<p>Of the LACs, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, and Pomona will likely offer you the best financial aid.</p>

<p>Williams is the well-known for its math department, though.</p>

<p>You could apply to all four of these schools, and there’s no reason that you should limit yourself to one of them.</p>

12

<p>The other places my son was considering were Wesleyan University (still meeting 100% of need), Tufts, Brandeis (excelent math dept, not as good with FA). Down another step in selectivity: LaFayette, University of Rochester, Dickinson (all 100% of need).</p>

13

<p>Thanks guys, and keep the list growing!</p>

14

<p>Grove City College has a good engineering & math departments and has an extremely low COA. Not a good choice if you’re not a conservative Christian though.</p>

<p>Hillsdale (my personal favorite LAC) is also an excellent choice with great financial aid, though you cannot use any federal or state monies there.</p>

<p>How about Lehigh?</p>

15

<p>Top LACs based on HEDS Consortium data for the per capita number of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in Mathematics:</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd
Reed
Pomona
Rice
Grinnell
St. Olaf
Swarthmore
Carleton</p>

<p>The numbers may be a few years out of date, but I doubt program quality would have declined much (though key professors have been known to retire/move).</p>

16

<p>Rice is a liberal arts college?</p>

17

<p>Well no, not really. It’s a small university that is not strictly focused on the liberal arts. It has schools of engineering, architecture, and music. But, it only has about 3100 students and may appeal to someone interested in a LAC.</p>

18

<p>Williams has one of the best math programs among the selective LACs. Need based financial aid which it appears you will qualify for is generous.</p>

<p>Scores are only the price of admission for schools on this level. You also need good grades and rank. Essays, recommendations and extracurriculars are very important at LACs as well.</p>