<p>Section H2(i) shows the average percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid. This example shows that for Vassar, the figure reported for a recent class was 100%:
[H</a>. Financial Aid - Institutional Research - Vassar College](<a href=“Institutional Research – Vassar College”>Institutional Research – Vassar College)</p>
<p>Also pay attention to H2(c) through H2(e). These rows will tell you how many students were awarded any financial aid (H2(d)) and how many were awarded need-based scholarship or grant aid (H2(e)) of those determined to have need. </p>
<p>Ideally, you want H2(c) through H2(e) to be the same number, and H2(i) to be 100%. </p>
<p>For H2(l), “average need-based self-help award”, lower numbers are better. Harvard’s number is $1,824; Vassar’s is $3,612; Whitman’s is $ 6,021.</p>
<p>Oh heck, I’d recommend Vassar. Not traditionally known for its strength in the sciences, Vassar has been been working steadily to expand its science programs. It has some unique offerings - worth taking a look at!</p>
<p>Don’t overlook the smaller <a href=“http://theaitu%5B/url%5D”>http://theaitu</a> schools which have graduate programs. These usually have a small student body and very strong science programs which are needed to support engineering.</p>
<p>All right, dodgersmom, I won’t take it out of consideration so quickly. What kinds of “unique offerings” are you referring to?</p>
<p>xraymancs, that seems like a very interesting list of schools, but I’m concerned that technology-focused schools won’t give me the broad humanities/liberal arts basis that I really want access to. Thank you, though!</p>
<p>Sorry about the delay in my response. Many of these schools have majors outside engineering as well and a significant requirement for Humanities and Social Sciences courses. I can only give you specifics about Illinois Tech because that is where I teach, but we have students in the physics program who are getting minors in philosophy or social sciences and taking courses are Shimer College which is a tiny great books-based liberal arts school on our campus. Students interested in music can take courses at Vandercook College of Music which is also located on campus.</p>
<p>These schools clearly will have a primary focus on engineering.</p>
<p>If you like Stanford, take a look at the Structured Liberal Education (SLE) program. It’s a LAC within Stanford for freshman. Admission requires an additional application. D loved it - the best of both worlds. If you do a search on SLE on the Stanford forum, there’s a lot more information there about it. [Structured</a> Liberal Education | Structured Liberal Education](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/sle/]Structured”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/sle/)</p>
<p>Vassar is starting construction on its new science building soon. It will actually be a bridge across a small stream and house biology and chemistry and environmental sciences. The other science buildings are being updated as well. One unique science offering that Vassar has is a small acoustics laboratory. This is an unusual offering for an LAC. Vassar also has two observatories. I am not familiar with the other science departments. Vassar is definitely cooperative not competitive.</p>
<p>Hamilton has a beautiful science building and a more cooperative atmosphere I hear but I can not confirm it.</p>
<p>I agree to check out Holy Cross - especially for biology.</p>
<p>Quick followup for anyone who may find this later - I chose Pomona! It had everything I wanted, plus the Claremont Colleges Consortium and great weather.</p>
<p>The interesting thing about Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan is how much more in outside funding Wesleyan is able to pull in. Of the approximately $8 million in total R&D funding Bryn Mawr listed for FY2011, nearly six million was from Bryn Mawr itself. This is especially striking in the sciences, where 3/4 of the funding came from Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>At Wesleyan, the funding was in the reverse proportion. Only third of it’s $10 million in total
R&D funding came from Wesleyan itself and about 75% of its science funding came outside sources, mainly the NIH and the NSF:
[NSF</a> – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – Academic Institution Profiles](<a href=“http://webcaspar.nsf.gov/profiles/]NSF”>http://webcaspar.nsf.gov/profiles/)</p>
What kinds of “unique offerings” are you referring to?</p>