<p>I dont think William & Mary meets 100% need for OOS kids.</p>
<p>The thing is I have half of your list my sat were 1790! I got into macalester with huge scholarship! I think you are a very very good student so you have to add better universities or colleges! Dont underestimate yourself college is very very important for your future so dont you want to be in ivies or similar schools such as gtown or washu?</p>
<p>^ Here’s the profile of Macalester’s recently admitted class:
[Macalester</a> Admissions](<a href=“http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/admittedstudents/classprofile.html]Macalester”>http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/admittedstudents/classprofile.html)</p>
<p>The Ivies do not grant merit scholarships. But if your income is a little too high to qualify for need-based aid at other private schools, you might still qualify at some of the Ivies. At Harvard, for families with income between $60K and $180K, the average expected parent contribution is about 10% of income. The trick is getting in.</p>
<p>What about Davidson? It has a similar vibe to a lot of your schools (kind of preppy, East Coast) and has great merit aid.</p>
<p>Emory and Rice shouldn’t be considered matches. They are at least as (if not more) difficult to get into compared to UNC-CH, Middlebury, or WUSTL.</p>
<p>I was going to recommend Rice, but it looks like it’s already on your list and you already visited. I do agree Rice would be a good fit for you (we don’t have a neuroscience major, but we have a cognitive sciences major and will probably be getting a neuroscience minor soon).</p>
<p>I think Rice will be a match for you. Nevertheless, it is still a difficult school to get into (20% acceptance rate this past year).</p>
<p>I know your parents want you to stay in the East, but Rice is pretty easy to get to from Ohio… there are always flights to Houston, especially if you are near the Cleveland area.</p>
<p>Other suggestions: Duke, WUSTL, and Emory (already on your list). I think you should reconsider Duke, but that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>If you have any questions about Rice, feel free to PM me. I’m glad to hear another Ohioan is considering Rice!</p>
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<p>True, but you never know. I don’t know if I’m actually going to apply or not, that list is just my “seriously considering” list.</p>
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<p>Thanks! I don’t have very many important EC’s is the main problem–I know that I’m not too bad of a student. 
I’ve debated the idea of such schools as Dartmouth and Brown, both Ivies with an emphasis on the liberal-arts education and on undergraduates. I don’t know whether they’ll make the final cut or not… We’re visiting Dartmouth over the summer, and my parents don’t like Brown very much. But we’ll see.</p>
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<p>Haha, yeah… 6.9% doesn’t sound too great to me. 
There is no doubt that Harvard is an amazing institution (arguably considered the best in the world); I just don’t think it will provide the kind of environment and atmosphere I would thrive in. (It also has a notorious reputation of putting an emphasis on its graduates versus its undergraduates.)</p>
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<p>I did consider Davidson for a time, but I would like to stay above the 2,000 mark in terms of number of students (which is why I’m reconsidering Mac). There is no doubt in my mind that Davidson is an amazing school; I just don’t want to go to that small of a school (been there, done that in high school!)</p>
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<p>UNC-CH is extremely difficult to get into OOS. My guidance counselor classified Rice and Emory as matches for me and WUSTL as a reach (I guesstimated for UNC and Midd. I could be wrong). I personally thought Rice and Emory were reaches, but my guidance counselor disagrees…</p>
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<p>Yeah, it’s a very difficult school to get into, but again, my guidance counselor has faith in me… We’ll see how much it means in the long run. I LOVED Rice when I visited: perfect size, perfect faculty, perfect campus… It was wonderful! If I had the financial means to do so, I would apply ED, but sadly…</p>
<p>I just didn’t really see anything spectacular at Duke, although that could also be because my allergies had really started kicking in and I was just feeling miserable. It was also cloudy and gray and windy and not conducive to happiness. I will try to do some more research… One of my friends is going there next year, and she is so excited about it!</p>
<p>I will keep your offer in mind! Thank you!</p>
<p>Does anyone have any other suggestions? Comments? Reorganization of my list?</p>
<p>Updated list:</p>
<p>Reaches:
-Duke
-Middlebury</p>
<p>Low Reaches/High Matches:
-Rice
-Emory
-UNC Chapel Hill? (I don’t know if I’m underestimating this one…)</p>
<p>Matches:
-University of Rochester
-Colgate
-Wesleyan University
-University of Michigan</p>
<p>Safeties:
-OSU
-Case Western Reserve University</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’ll keep Mac or not. The student body is a little smaller than I would have liked, but not by too much. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I’m also thinking about adding Northwestern to the list. I know it’s bigger than the majority of schools I’m looking at, but it’s a great school and it’s near my favorite city in the world (Chicago 
). The seemingly large presence of the greek scene intimidates me a little bit, but other than that, I love the school. Would Northwestern be a reach for me?</p>
<p>Does anyone have any other suggestions (maybe for some reaches? Often, what the school is really like is clouded by the prestige of such school, so I really don’t know the various environments of many of the “top” universities).</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who has already provided so much help!</p>
<p>I think you should apply ED to Rice if that’s where you really want to go. They have excellent financial aid (we’re always ranked in the top 10 for best value private colleges), and if they don’t offer enough aid if they offer admission to you in December, you can always apply to other schools. I pretty sure Rice meets 100% of demonstrated financial need. Definitely check out the Rice financial aid website. Nevertheless, if you can’t apply there early, I have faith you can get in through RD as well (I have a feeling they award more merit scholarships during RD as well).</p>
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<p>I know… but there’s always something disappointing about getting in, being all happy, then facing the fact that I won’t be able to attend. :(</p>
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<p>Thanks! It would make sense for them to offer more merit aid to lure people away from other colleges.</p>
<p>Both of my parents think very highly of Rice, and my mom has told me before that we could potentially stretch our budget a bit if I really, really would like to attend. She actually has brought up the idea of applying ED… I’ll talk to her again and see what she thinks. I guess we’ll see.</p>
<p>Thank you for everything, slik nik! You’ve been such a great help!</p>