<p>I second muhlenberg as a suggestion. They offer pure merit aid of up to about $20K/ year. Merit aid scholarships are for academics and community service (you are asked to apply for them by the school in late winter if they feel you meet the basic “scholars” qualifications.) You can also set up separate auditions for music, dance and theatre scholarships. Or send in a portfolio for consideration for art scholarships. The school will combine these scholarships and cap them at the the $20K mark.</p>
<p>Oh, Juniata might be a possibility. Very strong in sciences as this a hotbed for pre-med. Don’t know about the Theatre program. But, the merit calculation is very straightforward and can be done right on the website. Only drawback is that a super high achiever might consider Juniata a safety that’s almost too safe.</p>
<p>I’ve lost track. Has anyone mentioned Hobart & William Smith? Great little school with good merit aid.</p>
<p>uskoolfish and Mutti2012, have a point. We came out with some financial need calculated on the CSS profile (about $16k) which is the financial assessment most of these schools use, but some have their own formulas. The financial aid awards at the most selective schools, need- based only, given in grants varied wildly. The schools with slightly lower selectivity mixed merit and need awards. We were looking for grants, not loans, in this regard Macalester beat everyone else hands down. But S may have received such an attractive package because he demonstrated a high level of interest with a visit, on-campus interview and communication with adcoms. These schools get used a lot as safety schools for high stat kids who are aiming for the top ten, so it does make a difference if they feel like the student might actually attend.</p>
<p>I’ll second what bopambo said about how need offers can vary widely. S received need offers from top LACs ranging from zero to about $20K. Unless your income is over $200K, it’s worth a shot…</p>
<p>Whitman’s offer - combined need and merit - turned out to be the most generous for my son. Whitman is very stong in science and especially theatre - just renovated its performing arts center, I understand. Very smart, high stat kids, so I can’t imagine anyone at Whitman feeling unchallenged and unstimulated by their peers.</p>
<p>I’m not clear yet exactly where we’re going to fall on the EFC, but I have a strong hunch that it’s going to be higher than the cost, i.e., no demonstrated need. It’s going to be close, though.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, you’re probably right. D has had a bit of a tough time in a very small high school feeling somewhat isolated on her own little academic island, and that’s had a shaping effect on her desire to be surrounded by a lot of bright kids in college. But I’m sure college is going to be a whole new ballgame wherever she goes, and she’ll find her niche.</p>
<p>Sunmachine, D is definitely applying to Whitman. Aside from the attributes you cited, the whole vibe of the place (from what we’ve been able to glean without actually visiting) seems like it suits her to a tee. Plus, we haven’t heard anything but glowing reviews from books, students or parents. I just wish it weren’t so darned far.</p>
<p>Busy digging into the many intriguing suggestions on this thread…</p>
<p>Check out Rollins College. They have some great merit aid scholarships. They are in the process of building a hotel that will provide funds for scholarships as well. My S is a science major there and has high praise for the departments. The science building is undergoing a renovation as well. My D is a freshman theater major and Rollins has a strong theater department.</p>
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<p>Perhaps if she thought of them as “women’s colleges” instead of “girls’ schools”? :)</p>
<p>Seriously, MHC and Smith both have exactly what she wants, and are part of the 5-college consortium and 12-college exchange, so it is not as if there aren’t men around. Smith possibly more so than MHC, due to location. Same thing with Scripps and Bryn Mawr (does BMC give merit aid?). I have the perhaps-erroneous impression that Wellesley and Barnard don’t give merit aid these days.</p>
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<p>I think that it is perfectly reasonable for her to want to be part of a student body that is largely composed of her intellectual and academic peers. While there are very bright student everywhere, classes WILL be pitched to the typical student at the school. I’m sure Michael Jordan would have found it unrewarding to play basketball with me, and equally sure that I would have found it unrewarding to study literature with him.</p>
<p>DougBetsy is right about Juniata…they offer GREAT merit aid and they have an amazing theater program-more like a conservatory within a LAC. They work with professionals and make great connections. They also have a special arts fellows.</p>
<p>Consolation, please excuse my use of…er…shall we say ‘overly juvenile’ nomenclature for Smith and MHC :)</p>
<p>But seriously, rational considerations aside, the women’s college thing is just NOT going to happen. That’s one of the few things she’s absolutely sure about. It’s a pity, but there it is. Again, it’s probably an outgrowth of her super-small school experience that presented a crop of boys she deemed pretty uninspiring. She’s really looking forward to having appealing boys (men!) around in college and the ‘they’re right there in the consortium’ argument is not cutting any ice with her.</p>
<p>Now I’m worried that all this discussion of DD’s criteria makes her sound like a snob. She’s really very pleasant and friendly! Anyway, thanks again all for the suggestions.</p>
<p>^^Neither of my daughters would apply to single sex colleges either. It’s a preference like any other factor a student uses to determine where they’ll be happy and successful, not snobbish IMO.</p>
<p>LACs are small, we like that, but it makes it all the more important to address fit. All our kids have criteria, my son had a list a mile long, doesn’t make them snobs. The intellectual component had to be there, first and foremost, but my S is 6’3", 200 lbs and likes to crash into things and dangle from huge heights, so we needed hockey or rugby and climbing, preferably on real rocks. I’ve had people wrinkle up their noses at me when this was brought up, but the truth is if he isn’t physical he’s miserable. You’re doing all the right things, this is the most important and arduous shopping expedition you’ll ever go on.</p>
<p>In addition to looking for LACs that give merit aid, you might want to look at HYP. You may actually qualify for need based aid as these are the most generous schools in the country for the upper middle class. If your daughter is looking at the life sciences, then these would not give a LAC type student teacher ratio because so many students are hoping to go to med school, but if her interests are in the physical sciences then the programs are much smaller. My D is a physics major at H and most of her class sizes have been reasonable and it was very easy for her to get involved in research. And while there is no academic dance program there, the EC dance program is very strong. Quite a few students have gone on to dance professionally at very top companies in the past few years (including another physics major). She did not apply to Y or P, so I don’t know as much about their dance programs.</p>
<p>If your daughter likes Williams and Middlebury for location, then I’d suggest Bennington since it’s right in between. Great dance department. And they offer merit aid right in the range you are looking for. I don’t know exactly what your daughter is looking for in a man, but my daughter never lacked for male companionship. I also second Bard for science/dance, and they do offer some very good aid for science majors.</p>
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My daughter also refused to include women’s colleges on her list … then visited Barnard since we were visiting Columbia in the morning … and is now a Barnard sophomore (ED admit) and loving it.</p>
<p>Danceclass, we drove through Bennington when we visited Williams and it seems like a neat town. I’ll have to give that a closer look.</p>
<p>cltdad, Princeton is actually on D’s short list and she may well apply. It’s not out of reach for her stats-wise, though I know they turn down plenty of folks with qualifications comparable to hers. Wife is an alum so it’s not quite as improbable as it might otherwise be. It would be interesting to see if, in the event she actually got in, they offered a better financial package than other schools on her list.</p>
<p>Also nice to hear about your daughter’s good experience at Harvard with physics. One of the few, the proud, the female physics majors! Good for her. I’m a physics guy myself, so the subject is near and dear to my heart. I think there was a single woman in my class in grad school. D’s taking AP physics right now, actually, and liking it quite a lot. We’ll see where that goes…</p>
<p>We’ll probably visit Harvard this fall sometime–it feels sort of wrong not to with it right in our area, even though D’s leaning pretty heavily toward LACs. I grew up listening to my dad talk about how much he hated it, so that’s something I have to get past. It’s only been 60 years or so…I’m sure little has changed 
Yale got crossed off because D had a strong negative reaction to New Haven.</p>
<p>You are in luck since this is the first year that the schools have on-line net cost calculators:
[Princeton</a> University | Princeton Financial Aid Estimator](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/)
[Net</a> Price Calculator](<a href=“http://npc.fas.harvard.edu/]Net”>http://npc.fas.harvard.edu/)
The small amount of feedback that I saw on the CC thread on H’s indicated that it was pretty accurate.</p>
<p>AP Physics is what turned my D on to the field. Before that she was interested in neuroscience thanks to AP Psych. Physics does seem to be a last male bastion, but I know that Harvard has worked hard over the last decade or so to change that. The current head of the department is a woman and a number of the other profs are too.</p>
<p>please try to fit in Macalester on your trip! Great school!! Twin Cities a great theater town (s). </p>
<p>I totally understand your wanting your daughter to be with her peers and not be at the top of the academic distribution.</p>
<p>My D attends Grinnell and you will find plenty of bright, interesting students there for sure! Some kids turn down higher ranked schools, better known schools (some at the top of the USNWR list) for it, either for personal fit or for financial reasons…</p>
<p>Harvard is very physics friendly for females. 25% of those majoring in physics are female.</p>
<p>D2 is interested in Rochester, Union, St. Lawrence and F&M. I know F&M is need only, but can anyone tell me how the merit is at Rochester, Union and St. Lawrence? From what I’ve read on CC, neither Rochester nor Union seems overly generous but maybe that is not accurate. Thanks for any info!</p>