<p>hi- i'm a high school junior trying to build a college list; i have a few reaches and enough matches, but i really only have 1 safety that has everything i'm looking for, so i was hoping that you guys can make some suggestions.</p>
<p>the main things i'm looking for:
-politically involved student body, preferably very liberal
-needs to offer arabic
-not religious and preferably not in the south
-i'd love for it to be near (and not in) a city, though that's not the most important</p>
<p>my current college list:
reaches: swarthmore and pomona
matches: oberlin, macalester, bard, grinnell
safeties: american (and maybe ithaca)</p>
<p>my main stats:
4.3 WGPA, around 3.9 UW
2350 SAT
fine ECs, not great</p>
<p>thanks for your feedback!! :)</p>
<p>Take a look at Ursinus in PA. 40 minutes from Philadelphia.</p>
<p>I take it cost is not an issue?
(You have nothing that looks like a financial safety.)</p>
<p>I was going to suggest American as a safety when you said politically involved. check out the princeton review rankings and they subdivide into “Most politically active” and such. good luck!</p>
<p>@tk21769: i was assuming that if a school is a safety and you’re above average for an applicant, they’re more likely to give you merit aid so it is more of a financial safety. is that not the case?</p>
<p>cost is kind of an issue, but i don’t like any of my state universities (i’m in MA and amherst is WAY too big)- are there other cheap schools i should be looking into?</p>
<p>You need a financial safety that you can afford without any merit scholarships. According to the Fiske Guide, some of the best bargains are:</p>
<p>University of Arizona
UC Berkeley
UCLA
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
Miami University (OH)
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
College of New Jersey
University of Oregon
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
SUNY
UT Austin
Truman State University
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin - Madison</p>
<p>Most of those are pretty big, but some have honors colleges that give you a smaller school experience.</p>
<p>Financial Safety - First, have your parents run an EFC calculator to give you a general idea of your EFC. Some schools may offer good merit, but if it is only 50% of Cost Of Attendance, it may not be enough. Schools on your list are in the $50,000/yr range.</p>
<p>You will have a tough time finding Affordable + Arabic + urban + not large.</p>
<p>My suggestions below do NOT offer all 4 things, but here you go:</p>
<p>Dickinson College in PA offers merit scholarships up to $20,000/yr. Although not enough, they also permit you to stack outside scholarships on top of that and I have heard their financial aid packages are usually generous (but do include loans). It is not near a big city.</p>
<p>Moravian College in PA offers merit up to full tuition, but it is not urban and only offers 2 courses of Arabic, not a full major.</p>
<p>Some of the SUNYs offered Arabic, but they have had some changes and I am not sure which specific SUNYs still offer it. The SUNYs are the cheapest OOS public schools in the mid-Atlantic/New England region.</p>
<p>I would suggest applying to UMass as a financial safety.
If you are National Merit I suggest also looking at the schools outside your preferred area for full rides.</p>
<p>FWIW - I’ve always heard American is one of the top 5 for Arabic.</p>
<p>thanks everyone! i’ll definitely look into those suggestions :)</p>
<p>@longhaul: that’s a good idea, i’ll be at least a semifinialist for national merit so that’s something to look into for scholarship possibilities.</p>
<p>one more question; is this merit aid most schools offer on top of need-based aid? from the basic calculations i’ve done, our EFC is pretty reasonable and my parents say they can afford it, they just might have to take out a few loans to cover the difference, so just having a few thousand on top of need based aid would be perfect. does merit aid come out of the EFC?</p>
<p>I’m surprised you aren’t considering UChicago as another reach. </p>
<p>Arabic is what’s difficult to find. Ohio State or SUNY Binghamton both offer majors in Arabic. </p>
<p>For interesting safeties, you might want to consider the University of Toronto or McGill. Of these 4 public schools (OSU, SUNY-Bing, Toronto, and McGill), Binghamton is the smallest. Toronto is the largest school in North America.</p>
<p>Aopsgirl, many of those schools (like UCB and UCLA) don’t offer scholarships to kids outside their own state meaning they cost ~$50K/year. Not financial safeties. And a merit scholarship is certainly a good way to afford a school.</p>
<p>OP, You would need to ask schools about how they handle merit and needs based aid. Some will say the merit narrows the need portion before figuring the need based portion. </p>
<p>Ohio State is putting some major funding into their language programs and your stats would put you in the merit scholarship area.</p>
<p>Merit aid will not reduce your EFC. </p>
<p>If a school gives you 10K in merit aid, your “need” just got 10K smaller, so the financial aid package will be taking that merit aid into consideration.</p>
<p>oh, that’s too bad 
thanks for letting me know, though…i guess i’ll talk to my guidance counselor to see what i should look for in financial safeties, and/or ask individual colleges about their policies</p>
<p>Binghamton may be a good fit actually & not too far from home for you.
It is highly regarded, the most difficult SUNY to get into. </p>
<p>I understand a lot of kids want to leave their home state, nothing wrong with that, but it has to be affordable for your family. :)</p>
<p>Most financial aid offers will not meet your full need. Even though you say that your EFC is “manageable” you really do need to sit down with your parents and find out how much more than that EFC your family can come up with. Find out how much they are willing to take out in parent (PLUS) loans and how much they are willing for you to take out in student loans. How much money will they expect you to earn through summer jobs and/or during the school year? Both you and your parents might find some of the threads in the Financial Aid Forum informative. You don’t have to let them know what your user i.d. is here!</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>cost is kind of an issue,</p>
<p>Then you need to identify schools that you know FOR SURE that you can afford with assured grants, assured scholarships, small fed loans, and/or family funds.</p>
<p>Since most safety schools do not give much financial aid, you need to find schools that you know for sure will give you Huge merit.</p>
<p>EFC may not matter much for safeties since safety schools don’t meet need and families usually have to pay more unless the school gives huge merit.</p>