Getting to 40k on merit alone would be extremely difficult. Most of their merit is in the 15-20k range. That is one one of the highest sticker prices. They do however stack merit on top of financial aid.
Will affordability at all needs-based private colleges represent a prohibitive issue for you?
So, your budget is roughly 40k and the NPC at generous universities shows 78k. It means you get a financial aid award of about 5k and will need 40k in merit at most private universities - from half tuition to full tuition. If such awards don’t exist at the colleges you’re looking at, you can cross them out.
Apply for Emory Scholars (early deadline) and include Oxford Emory (1st 2 years at smaller campus).
Catholic universities tend to require philosophy classes and have good depts. Look into Holy Cross in MA beside Loyola Chicago and DePaul.
Not Catholic but good for philosophy&religion, merit if you demonstrate interest (ie., join mailing list, open emails they send, click on links within emails… or try to visit) St Olaf. Although Carleton, Grinnell, and Macalester would all work, look into the merit situation.
2 Likes
Based on what @MYOS1634 just noted, it might be a good strategy to go after schools like Kalamazoo, Allegheny, Depauw and many more- solid LACs with a heck of a lot better chance to get that $40K off - although still not good - than the higher ranked schools.
But if your budget is $40K, a small school like Truman State would work for you - and be under budget. And it’s got a very good reputation.
And then there are bigger publics - all over the country - where with your stats, $40K is a gimme - but they are big schools.
But again, it’s a choice - the tradeoff to hit budget may be to go to a school not on your radar or not hitting your desired profile.
2 Likes
Knowing that you’re open to things outside of the northeastern quadrant, these are some other schools you may want to consider that I think have a decent to good chance of getting below $40k for you:
-
U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 5900 undergrads. In College Navigator (the feds’ website based on data reported via IPEDS) there were 23 students who received a Bachelor’s in philosophy in 2022. If that was a typical year, the philosophy department might have 90+ students in it, which would be a fairly large department, relatively speaking.
-
Baylor (TX): This school is larger, with about 15k undergrads. But it does have an honors program that could help shrink the class sizes and there are some substantial merit scholarships available. 19 students received a Bachelor’s in philosophy, per College Navigator, and 2 received doctorates, so there should definitely be good depth available here.
-
Wheaton (IL): About 2200 undergrads that is well-respected academically, though you should be aware that it is more stronger religious affiliation than at many schools that are more loosely affiliated. It had 19 philosophy majors (completely separate from their theological majors) and will have the small classes desired and is likely to provide sufficient merit aid to bring this school well within budget.
-
College of Wooster (OH): About 2k undergrads, 11 philosophy majors, very well-respected academically, and likely to give you sufficient merit aid to bring the price within budget.
-
John Carroll (OH): About 2400 undergrads at this Jesuit institution with 10 philosophy majors in the most recent year. In a suburb of Cleveland, so there’s lots of activities when you want big city life, but none of it’s a requirement.
-
St. Lawrence (NY): About 2100 undergrads, 10 philosophy grads in the most recent year.
-
Furman (SC): About 2300 undergrads, 9 philosophy grads in the most recent year.
Seconding Loyola Chicago, St. Olaf, and Rhodes for you.
4 Likes
Seconding the above but with the caveat Baylor is THE conservative Christian university in Texas (Baptist though 100% open to other protestant denominations) with a religious-based of conduct etc. and Wheaton IL is the premier Evangelical college in the US, with a creed to sign for faxulty abd students, chapel attendance, etc. So you have to be comfortable with the environnement. If you are they are topnotch.
If you belong to a faith community check out the top universities sponsored by that group.
1 Like
I saw Ole Miss being suggested and wanted to raise the option of the Lott School there. It’s a separate application but with your stats I think you’d definitely get in and receive merit. It’s a very unique program with internship options in DC: https://lottleader.olemiss.edu/future-students/ Within the program you’d certainly find smaller classes but you’d get the SEC state school experience.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.