@KMich That’s interesting what you say about Denison–my D17 (with stats solidly in the 25%-75% range–nowhere near above the 75%tile) got a fairly generous merit offer from them $24K), plus work study money (Denison was the only school to offer WS money, and we didn’t even complete the CSS Profile)–I knew we weren’t going to qualify for any federal or institutional need-based aid–we only filled out the FAFSA to qualify for the unsubsidized loan, in case it was needed. Wooster was generous as well, and they start with a lower sticker price, so I was sorry that my D wasn’t considering it more seriously once the acceptances were in.
Can’t remember–did Susquehanna come up as one of the hidden gems of PA? They were the most generous of all the schools from which my D received merit aid–brought COA to approx. $30K and was probably going to be tied (with Wooster) for the least expensive of all schools she was accepted to with the exception of our in-state flagship. I only became aware of it through time spent on CC–it has a few devoted fans here.
Interesting to hear @kmich experience with Denison – my kid received comparable merit aid at each of K, Wooster and Denison – roughly 1/2 tuition at each school. We did find that Denison’s terms for keeping the merit were more flexible than Kalamazoo’s, and some other schools, as best I recall. At K, I believe it was a mandated gpa after freshman year, or the student lost the award, though I could be mis-remembering about losing the merit award entirely. At Denison, it was a mandated gpa after 2 years, and if the student did not meet that, they did not lose the award entirely, only dropped a tier. While the required gpa was reasonable at all the schools, it was reassuring to feel there was some more cushion if the transition was rockier than expected.
My D also got at least 1/2 tuition at Denison - it was a really strong package.
Allegheny was our strongest package, over 1/2 tuition.
Ursinus ended up coming close to half but it took an appeal to get there and it was partial FA so some of it was not guaranteed to renew in following years.
Both had attractive requirements for maintaining scholarship funds (2.0)
College of Wooster was by far our child’s strongest package – merit scholarship (for good but not stellar test scores) plus music scholarship resulted in a non-need based award that cut tuition by more than 2/3. Wooster is an excellent school that combines strong academics with outstanding arts programs.
@xanthippe OP here. Do you have any insight on what most kids do on weekends at Wooster? My son liked what he saw and heard from Wooster and is currently high on his list. Any and all additional comments are welcome! Where did your child decide to attend?
@jcmom716 I sent you a PM. Also, @janjmom has a son attending Wooster, and was extremely helpful in providing us with great and positive insights on the school.
I would also love to hear about the social life at Wooster if anyone wants to comment here. Thanks.
My son is at Wooster, as @xanthippe correctly noted. His stats were lower than OP’s son’s, but he received significant merit aid - enough to bring the cost to the equivalent of our in-state public tuition (not a school he was considering but for reference). He is halfway through college and a few weeks ago commented to us that if he had to do it all over again, he would still choose Wooster - he is incredibly happy there!
Re social life: as mentioned above, Greek life exists but is not dominant on campus, is not residential, and is not affiliated with national organizations. It is also not exclusive. My son rushed and was invited to join a frat, but ended up turning down the invite. He is still friends with all of the members of the frat and attends their events (as well as events at others).
His weekends are generally busy and fun. In addition to the normal campus parties (again, not dominating the scene), he has done everything from forming an intramural bowling team to heading to Cleveland and Akron for professional sporting events. (Note about bowling - he never bowled regularly before college - Wooster has its own bowling alley on campus BUT it is scheduled to be renovated this year and not guaranteed to remain a bowling alley). He has attended cultural events on campus (mostly because he has a girlfriend who makes him go!). He has also attended fair amount of activities in the area off campus, including the annual county fair and some of the political marches that have taken place over the last six months. He is also involved in a year-round club sport which keeps him busy most weekends.
The most important thing he (and his girlfriend) have said about the Wooster social life is that the campus culture is incredibly friendly and open. There aren’t exclusive “cliques.”
I was on campus a few weeks ago for the IS Symposium, when all of the seniors present their research. It was amazing and I was blown away by the breadth and level of research that is conducted each year by the student body. Here is a link to the program: http://www.wooster.edu/academics/research/is/symposium/2017%20Final%20Program.pdf
Most important - I came away realizing how incredibly fortunate we are that our son chose Wooster. The school really delivers on its promise to develop their students into scholars - and the skills he is learning in order to be ready to complete the senior independent study (project management, presentation, research, etc.) will serve him well in ANY field.
@janjmom Thanks for your input! Where else did your son look before choosing Wooster and was it a hard choice? For a mom, it has to be great to hear your son would choose Wooster again. To me, it means whatever led up to the decision is all worth it 
For my son, I want him to find his group. Some will say you can find that anywhere. And while that may be true, isn’t it better to be in a situation where it’s easier rather than harder? He gets along with most, a bit quiet (funny once you get to know him), and test smart, but not always common sense smart. One of his drawbacks is he would spend more time helping his friends get through their classwork, than work on his own homework. Finding a small college that will allow him to grow personally and have intellectual peers who like to play video games or hang out in small groups over the weekend would be ideal.
At Wooster, it seems to be a good fit. He picked up on the friendliness of many students. When we ate in the cafeteria he met a girl from Connecticut who put my son at ease and they had a nice discussion. I do have a few questions if you don’t mind me asking?
What field/major is your son in and does he plan to go on to grad school? My son is thinking that he doesn’t plan on grad school and wants a job after four years. He isn’t sure on a major but is currently interested in math/stats/economics/computer science. It appears Wooster has a stronger number of math students than some of the others we’ve looked at. With a lot of discussion while we were there on the IS and undergraduate research (which is great for many and I actually think could help improve my son’s skills), not a lot was said on internships. Do you have any insight on internship opportunities or in general what percentage of students go on to grad school? Many of the schools he’s interested in have over 90% job/grad school rates (taken with a grain of salt), but Wooster does seem more focused on the grad school route…maybe only perception?
@xanthippe Thanks for the PM, sent you a message back and congrats to your daughter!
@jcmom716 Sending you a pm
I’m sorry if these have already been mentioned, but here are some that come to mind – schools outside the top 25 in the Midwest and PA that come to mind:
Earlham
Beloit
Lawrence
Franklin & Marshall
Gettysburg
Illinois Wesleyan
Ohio Wesleyan
Wabash
St. Olaf
DePauw
Kalamazoo
Luther
Dickinson
Lafayette
Denison
Gustavus Adolphus
Cornell College (IA)
Knox College
Coe College
Loras College
Muhlenberg
Augustana (IL)
^^^I like the looks of DePauw, but it seems to have a huge Greek scene, and I don’t think the OP’s son wants that. The others look like great choices. Gettysburg may also be big on Greek.
muhlenberg college should be at the top of the list! another school a little further south is the hidden gem of all hidden gems
hendrix college.
p.s. hendrix has no greek life
We are going to try to to visit Otterbein next week on our vacation. Any tips on the place? Cheap place to spend the night beforehand? I’m not sure it will be a formal, scheduled tour; might have to be seat of our pants.
There are some good hotels in nearby Polaris along with shopping and many restaurants. Further south there are options, it depends how far away you want to be. We’ve stayed at a few around Columbus when my daughter had volleyball tournaments. Westerville itself is a cute, small town but don’t know of any hotels.
Any hidden gems in PA for engineering for the b-b+ student?