<p>If you liked Carleton, check out Lewis & Clark in Portland OR--they have an excellent biochemistry program and I'm sure can share their med school stats. No business school, but you could do Econ. When DD visited there they were very up front about aggressively recruiting top students--the director of admissions seemed to want to push them up a tier and actually said "we love to compete for those kids" meaning the ones that are competitive for the top 25 schools. </p>
<p>Another school to consider with good stats and your interests is RPI in Troy NY. It may be too late for you (rising juniors need to know this) but if your school nominates you for a Renssaeler medal junior year and you get into RPI they knock $15K off of your tuition each year as long as your grades are respectable.</p>
<p>Oh, and what he said about Case--check them out too, because you don't have to sacrifice academic quality and smart peers for money like you do at some smaller colleges.</p>
<p>Top 20 Univ w/ merit aid: Caltech, Duke, Chicago, WashU, JHU, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt. Top 20 LAC's w/ merit aid: Davidson, Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, Grinnell and Smith. While not in this group Case is an excellent suggestion, they are very generous with merit aid.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all your help and advice! :)</p>
<p>To address some questions, yes I'm (going to be) a NM finalist and yes I've also ran a few calculators from FAFSA to finaid's to a few specific colleges' as well. My EFC ranged from 45-60k! :O At most, my parents can pay $10k/yr and a couple thousand/yr from me. We're willing to take $10-15k/yr hit in loans to hopefully end up with ~$50k debt when I graduate. I don't want too much since I might go to grad/med school and that's just asking for even more loans! Therefore, my realization that merit aid would be absolutely crucial in my college search ;)</p>
<p>And yes, I'm doing my homework ;) I spent quite a bit of time digging through threads and, as someone suggested, curmudgeon's posts (which are very helpful!). I think collegekid hit the nail on the head as to the reason why I created a thread instead of just searching on my own. (I'm sure the merit aid question has been beaten to death.) I'd like to know of colleges that give out significant merit aid that also tend to be a hot spot for recruiters. Most colleges named as recruiter magnets tend to be Wharton, Harvard, etc., which are all need-only aid. While most merit aid schools obviously won't attract as much attention as Wharton, I want to know which ones still have a respectable amount of high-end recruitment. </p>
<p>There's quite a few suggestions thrown out here that I don't know much about so it's back to college researching! :D</p>
<p>What state to you live in Life? Some states have small public LACs that aren't necessarily ranked but attract capable students like you who don't have the financial resources to go private. </p>
<p>We live in WA, and of the top 25 students in D's senior class, 10 or so went to the University of Washington, but nearly that many went to Western Washington University, where there are some highly regarded programs and an excellent honors college. Kids in WA who want a small college experience at a reasonable price have "discovered" WWU and so the quality of the student body is better than you'd expect for a second tier state school.</p>
<p>May not have the type of student body you want, but as a female, you would likely be a strong candidate for good merit money from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - they also have a strong business program, in addition to science. Also check Union College in Schenectady.</p>