I’ve looked it up and it looks insanely beautiful from the pictures… hogwarts level beautiful. Does the whole university look like that or are they picking and choosing what they show? The only immediate downside is that it’s religiously affiliated— but I’m also considering Villanova so…
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OP said her dad (or parents) run airbnb. That may terribly complicate the picture. I would go for schools where with reasonable chance to get 35k merit with left out not more than 50k.
If you are open for far away. My DD in Hogwarts beautiful Rhodes College in Memphis (look at the pictures). It is not for everyone. It is city. But they are gated community with very smart kids and good merit scholarships.
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From what I recall of my visit (some time ago), the vast majority of the campus is composed of stone buildings. It really was beautiful architecture in a beautiful setting.
Exactly especially if it’s paid off
All assets need review. If you can afford $60k in retirement, you either have a significant passive income or significant assets.
It’s the whole campus! The architecture is really great but the natural beauty of the mountain is also very special. I graduated with an English degree from Sewanee many moons ago.
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These are some schools you may want to consider, all of which seemed to have fairly popular anthroplogy majors, as that is the field you’re interested in that would be the rarest to find:
Sure Thing (to both get in AND already falls within budget at sticker price)
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Millersville U. of PA: About 5800 undergrads
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St. Mary’s College of Maryland: About 1500 undergrads, and don’t be fooled by the name. This is a public liberal arts college.
Good Shot (to both get in AND get sufficient merit aid to bring the cost within budget)
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Drew (NJ): About 1500 undergrads
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Ithaca (NY): About 4600 undergrads
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Mercyhurst (PA ): About 2400 undergrads (and a link to its anthropology/archaeology website). It’s just over budget before merit aid, which I strongly suspect you would receive.
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Monmouth (NJ): About 3800 undergrads
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St. Lawrence (NY): About 2100 undergrads
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Wheaton (MA): About 1700 undergrads
Reach (to both get in AND get sufficient merit aid to bring the cost within budget)
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Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads
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Dickinson (PA ): About 2100 undergrads
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Mount Holyoke (MA): About 2200 undergrads and part of the 5-college consortium with Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and UMass-Amherst.
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U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
If you’re open to expanding to Ohio (as you already have with Kenyon), then I’d consider College of Wooster (about 2k undergrads, a Good Shot) and Oberlin (about 3k undergrads, between a Good Shot and a Reach, but closer to Good Shot).
Wake Forest is beautiful but not really near a walkable town…it’s a ways off from Winston Salem. Also, very Greek feeling (which you mention you may not like). Hamilton is really pretty. Nearby is Colgate, which is slightly bigger and also a beautiful campus (although has a bit of a Greek culture). Another school to consider is Davidson…it’s right in a cool little town that’s a suburb of Charlotte (which is also a nice city).
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I am going to discuss your stated preferences noted above with regard to UNC - my daughter was there as an OOS student.
Size- you want small to medium. UNC is large (my daughter did not find it to be big, but it is)
Amazing professors and good value- In our experience, yes
Fun and inclusive social scene, interesting clubs- my daughter found the students to be inclusive, the clubs are very active and she was quite involved in several, one of the organizations she was involved in had a lengthy interview process
Academically centered, research- yes, very academic and easy to be involved in research
Want to avoid sports and Greek life- Greek life is very easy to avoid, basketball is big
Beautiful campus- parts of the campus are beautiful, other parts are old and in need of some work. My daughter and her roommate chose the “ugliest” dorm on campus (that was its reputation) but they didn’t care. They liked the location and my daughter was not into aesthetics.
Surrounded by nature- parts of the campus are, there is a a beautiful walkable garden on campus and several nearby
Walkable college town- yes
Side note: there is a 19% cap for out of state students. Besides being competitive for OOS, keep in mind that most are from NC. This can be a positive, negative, or neither- depending on you. My daughter made friends from all over.
Wake Forest- we visited 3 times. It is small and was very quiet compared to UNC. UNC is a busy campus. Wake Forest’s campus is very pretty, but there isn’t a lot directly off campus. It felt Greek. Classes are small. Some were under 15 and everybody sits around a table.
Use the NPCs and eliminate schools that do not meet your budget and do not give merit. Good luck!
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If your high school has Naviance or SCOIR use them to see acceptances from your high school. No one from our NJ high school was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill for many years, including students with perfect GPAs and test scores. I knew a student from Delaware who went there and she found that a lot of the in-state students struggled academically and needed tutoring, so that was interesting.
Other NC state schools, i.e. NC State, App State or UNC Asheville, would be easier acceptances.
Regarding Kenyon, my D was accepted with $15k/year merit, as one data point. I think a strong essay was a factor.
UNC is a state school whose goal is to serve the residents of NC. There will be a range of students with different strengths and weaknesses. My daughter was a very strong HS student from OOS who did very well academically at UNC. While the course work came easily to her and she learned quickly, she still worked hard and studied for her grades. She found the academics to be a good match for her and she was also surrounded by academically strong instate students (although my guess is that there were some who struggled just like in other schools).
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Sewanee is beautiful, but it is one of the most remote schools I know. Because of this isolation, it would be very difficult if you were not a fit with the other students.
Yea I’m starting to realize that remote may not be the best option… especially out of state remote. Like Kenyon for example— great school, but it’s in rural Ohio (and to begin with Im not crazy about going all the way to Ohio). I think I might end up taking it off the list
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You might consider making a distinction between the amount of students who study away (as is the focus in the U.S. News site) and the quality of programs that are available to them. For example, colleges that run their own study away programs may be preferable to those that rely mostly on the programs of other colleges.
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The OP says their parents have also been saving…and that helps too.
That being said…looking for good merit aid would be a good idea as it sounds like finances could vary from year to year.
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SUNY Geneseo would be a great fit for you. My 2023 daughter who is an English major had similar stats to you (yours are probably a little better) and total COA for her would have been about $22k/year. We got zero need based aid. It’s a beautiful campus, very liberal arts college vibe. It’s in a cute little walkable village but Rochester, which is a good sized city with a lot to do, is only 35 minutes away. One of my daughter’s close friends is there and LOVES it. Good luck to you!!
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Someone above mentioned UDel, they really pride themselves on study abroad, I believe they had the first program. Their winter session is extra large so that students can use it for study abroad. My daughter was 5th in her class (out of 300+), 34 act, got decent merit from UDel, both she and #2 went to UDel honors college (she’s now at BU for grad school).
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Villanova is not generous with merit, mine was offered $0 (but was accepted into honors).
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Another vote for Geneseo. You should also consider new paltz and purchase
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Do you have any type of career in mind ?
If teaching, then consider a double major that will get the proper credentials to get licensed in your state.