<p>I have no idea what I want to do. Basically I enjoy studying everything except maybe survey style history. That’s kind of why I’m looking for an LAC.</p>
<p>Not trying to be a jerk, but
is an understatement. </p>
<p>US News has a list of the 100 most selective colleges in the nation. Bucknell is on this list. There are 2000-3000 colleges in the US. That immediately places Bucknell in the top 5% most selective colleges in the nation. Bucknell was not ranked 90 or above, and given that there are more than 2000 colleges, that would rank Bucknell as in the top 3-4% most selective schools in the nation.</p>
<p>So to say “somewhat selective LAC” is very misleading. US News ranks it as “most selective.”</p>
<p>So do not think of it as a safety.</p>
<p>This applicant has strong enough qualifications that she can afford to focus on the USNWR top 50 or so LACs, plus an admissions & financial safety (unless money or geographical preference forces a wider focus). For her, I’d consider Bucknell a match, maybe a high match. Is it a good fit, though, for someone very attracted to Swarthmore, Bard, and Wesleyan?</p>
<p>Agree with Bucknell and would also add fellow Patriot League colleges Colgate, Holy Cross, and Lafayette. May want to read reviews by students at the web site students review.com.</p>
<p>With your interest and background in swimming and writing, you my want to consider Kenyon College. It has an outstanding reputation overall with an exceptional writing program. Their women’s swim team is a perennial powerhouse in D3. Their athletic facility, which includes the swimming facility, is one of the nicest I have seen at any college of any size. It offers great academics and the ability to pursue your other passions. It is also a beautiful campus. It is worth a look.</p>
<p>Kenyon is a good choice, and will potentially offer some merit $.</p>
<p>It’s hard to be more specific without knowing how much merit you need to make attendance possible, but the following schools offer NO merit aid aside from maybe a 2k NMF scholarship: Swarthmore (unless you live in the Delmarva region, if you don’t know what that is, then you don’t live there), Wesleyan, Carleton, Reed, Macalester (5k NMF only), Haverford, Vassar, Pomona, Brown.</p>
<p>Rhodes has good merit aid and academic rigor, but is far more conservative than Bard or Wesleyan (I think of it as southern moderate). Denison is also on the conservative side, though it has very good merit aid. Knox might be your best Midwestern bet, or perhaps Earlham. I wouldn’t call any of the Patriot League colleges a good fit for someone attracted to Bard/Wes.</p>
<p>I’m actually from Delaware too so I do qualify for the McCabe Scholarship at Swarthmore. I actually do not NEED any merit aid because my parents have 200k in savings but basically after undergrad I’m totally done, which I know isn’t bad, but I’d like a wee bit of money for grad school. So I’d say even about 5k annually in scholarship money would be pretty good, more is better, but not required.</p>
<p>^Oh duh, I remember why your name sounds familiar now. :P</p>
<p>Holy Cross, Colgate.</p>
<p>[SUNY</a> Geneseo | SUNY Geneseo](<a href=“http://www.geneseo.edu%5DSUNY”>http://www.geneseo.edu)</p>
<p>SUNY Geneseo is a good Public LAC option.</p>
<p>some schools in the south that award pretty good merit aid. They are all small (some have some semblance of a graduate program)</p>
<p>Centre College
Rhodes College
Hendrix College
Trinity University (San Antonio)
Agnes Scott College</p>
<p>All award merit aid to alot of their incoming class, although some don’t offer TOO much (not throwing around full rides/full tuition too often).</p>
<p>Your 90%+ of being in at all of them, and you should get some pretty nice aid all around.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in schools on the West Coast at all, Whitman could be a school to look into. Though perhaps not on par with Reed in terms of sheer intellectual intensity, I would say that most students are generally intellectually curious as well as laid-back. There are merit scholarships available ranging from $8,000-12,000. If you are looking to swim at all, an added bonus is that Whitman also has a fairly good swim team. As it is probably a match/low-match for you, I would definitely encourage you to apply.</p>
<p>Macalester, Oberlin, Macalester, Haverford. If you’re female: Bryn Mawr, Smith, Barnard.</p>
<p>I would check into Davidson and Elon (Honors) in NC. (not Guilford, as recommended earlier).</p>
<p>Look at Carlton</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the great suggestions. I think I am now formulating a more practical list.</p>
<p>^^^ I wouldn’t call Guilford intellectual, either, but neither is Elon an LAC.</p>
<p>I guess if you are saying that to be a LAC you can’t offer graduate programs then you are correct (but aren’t many LAC’s actually University’s now) but, if your talking about schools that require a core set of classes based in the arts and sciences then Elon is certainly classified as a LAC. </p>
<p>Elon - “The curriculum is grounded in the traditional liberal arts and sciences and complemented by distinctive professional and graduate programs”. </p>
<p>[About</a> Elon University](<a href=“http://www.elon.edu/e-web/visit/about_elon.xhtml]About”>http://www.elon.edu/e-web/visit/about_elon.xhtml)</p>
<p>(I know it’s true that for USNWR rankings it is listed as a master’s-level university (#2 in the Southern Region), but not everything fits so neatly into rankings and I believe you will find that most people classify Elon as a LAC or perhaps LA-U)</p>
<p>^I am using the conventional CC definition of an LAC, along the lines of a small undergraduate institution (some may have graduate programs) with the distinct mission of serving undergraduates with a liberal arts–which may or may not have a “core,” cf. Amherst, Vassar, Hampshire, Hamilton–education. For example, Bryn Mawr College is an LAC that has several renowned graduate programs (French and Classics come to mind.) Its mission (<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/character/mission.shtml[/url]):”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/character/mission.shtml):</a></p>
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<p>At 5000 undergrads and with “distinctive professional and graduate programs,” Elon falls into the same category as Wake Forest–a small undergraduate-focused university. Certainly some would consider SUNY-Geneseo, a school of similar size, to be a “public LAC,” but by conventional understanding the “public” modifier is important as public institutions tend to be larger in size and allowance is made for the size of “public LACs.” Consider that Bryn Mawr actually has more graduate students than either Elon or Geneseo, yet no one could reasonably argue that it is not an LAC–IMHO this is partially a function of history but also in large part due to the intimately small undergraduate population, where all four years together is approximately equivalent to Elon’s freshman class (~1300).</p>
<p>EDIT: Also of note re: Elon–</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.elon.edu/e-web/visit/about_elon.xhtml[/url]”>http://www.elon.edu/e-web/visit/about_elon.xhtml</a></p>