<p>I would think that your daughter would be a strong contender for merit money at many of the colleges listed. Before she applies and gets stuck on Pomona though, you should decide whether you’re willing to pay, especially if she has another offer with financial support. There was a recent thread about a student who turned down Pomona – her first choice – for a full ride from Holyoke. To me, the family seemed conflicted about the decision.</p>
<p>If merit aid is more of a want than a need, then maybe she should add some of the eastcoast LACs, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury. None is exactly analagous to Pomona, but there are a lot of overlaps.</p>
<p>Bard offers a full tuition scholarship for students planning to major in the sciences.Distinguished Scientist Scholarship. <a href=“Types of Aid at Bard”>http://www.bard.edu/financialaid/programs/bard/</a> I don’t know from your post whether Bard would be a good fit for her or not. (I have two sons - one graduated from CMC and one from Bard, and they’re quite different.) My Bard son was an NMF and had a terrific education there even though it is a less selective school than CMC. And my CMC son had many friends in the sciences who were really pleased with the Joint Science program at the 5C’s. If memory serves, merit money is limited but exists at CMC, is non-existent at Pomona?, and good at Scripps.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to pay the whole jalapeño, then why aren’t we talking about Princeton?</p>
<p>Bard also offers full tuition for those planning to major in economics.</p>
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<p>I am always surprised when a student wants to apply to all three. The vibe is quite different between them.</p>
<p>improve your odds, @intparent?</p>
<p>@intparent, I don’t think it’s really that surprising. I think your comment assumes that we don’t have any familiarity with the Claremont Consortium but we have actually put a great deal of thought into this. I’ve read many, many of your posts about Harvey Mudd and it sounds like your daughter loves it. It also sounds like while it’s a great school, it’s not the best fit for D nor is Pitzer. But it would be unrealistic for my D to assume she can get into her first choice and it only makes sense to broaden her options. She doesn’t have a certain career path in mind but is seeking first and foremost a broad liberal arts education. Pomona is probably her first choice but she is also legacy at CMC and though she is thinking of chemistry as a major, she may well end up in law school. Scripps is probably the best option for merit aid. Therefore these 3 are part of a longer list. I appreciate all the great suggestions on this thread.</p>
<p>Well, obviously it improves the odds of attending a consortium college, but they are not interchangeable. Glad to hear that you are familiar with them. Certainly Scripps falls on the very liberal end of the spectrum, and CMC falls on the other end politically. CMC is quite pre-professional, while Scripps and Pomona are more LACs in the true sense of the word. And if she really wants to major in Chem, then possibly she should consider Mudd instead of any of the others… I know kids at most of the colleges (except PItzer) from my D’s midwestern high school. I don’t think they could or would just move to a different consortium school and be comfortable and happy.</p>