I'm not sure why.. but I was told to post this here lol.

Parents Forum
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<p>If your SAT's come up in senior year, as they so often do, why not add some reach schools onto your list that are Midwestern and honor the individual? For example, Oberlin, Carleton, Macalester, or Grinnell? Dare to dream. You know you need safety, match and reach schools on your list, in addition to "financial safeties", right? Once you have some academic and financial safeties in mind, you might feel the courage to add on match and reaches. It's a bottom-up way of building a list. Why are you so sure Northwestern is out of your grasp? I'm not. At least it could be a reach on your list.</p>

<p>To figure out if you have the "stats and the money" to go somewhere, have you tried comparing your stats to the middle range of their stats on the Common Data Set for each school? Also, for money, you sound like a candidate for need-based aid, so don't just look at the sticvker price; read about their Financial Aid policies, too. Sometimes the old, established schools with the bigger endowments have more to offer as need-based financial aid.
You would first apply to them by next December, and then fill out the FAFSA forms during January and Feb that tell the whole story about your need.</p>

<p>Look especially for colleges that claim to meet a high percentage of need. Oberlin, for example, meets 100% of need. As well, if there are meritorious things about you, some of these small LAC's might pick up on it if they give some merit aid; however, that's nothing to count on. Just don't rule yourself OUT of high-sticker-cost colleges, especially if they are closer to home, </p>

<p>If everything I said above is brand new to you, that's fine, and you just need to begin reading also over at the Financial Aid part of CC, too. </p>

<p>I'm not suggesting it's easy, but aren't you capable of filling out all those FA forms? If so, stretch your vision a bit for your list. Plenty of research to do.
Good luck. (Is your GC involved, or not? If she's only processing community and state college forms, you're not alone on that). </p>

<p>On practicing Wiccan, I'm not sure what that means. My D had friends who were interested in h.s., but I saw less carryover into college. You are right that you need a place that is tolerant of differences if you want to continue to explore that practice. You might research it and not even mention it on your application, since it doesn't really bring anything positive to mind educationally; but you just want to reassure yourself that if you were to do certain unusual rites in a dorm setting, that the school is socially tolerant to diverse viewpoints, that's all. For that reason, I'd rule out Christian colleges, but stay with the secular ones.</p>

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<p>3tuitions, I wasn't planning on putting it on applications... I'm not sure where that came from? I just meant if I was going to look at a Christian school, I'd want to know it was open minded. </p>

<p>I don't practice any unsafe rituals. What I man by practicing is that I do do rituals and prayers but none that would intrude on anybody's lives or privacy. I've been Wiccan for 7 years so I don't think it's just a high school interest.</p>

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<p>I don't usually do "where should I go" threads -- especially ones where there isn't much specificity. Almost any good LAC would meet your requirements academically, as long as you don't **have **to go to a top-50 school. </p>

<p>I just wanted to chip in that Whitman in Washington sounds like a good fit for your interests and unusual spiritual choices, as would the Claremont colleges in California and Lewis and Clark in Oregon. Reed's probably a good fit, but might be an academic stretch. Good luck!</p>

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<p>izzybella-- Assuming you live in the lower peninsula, a road trip to visit Kalamazoo College should be feasible. Your profile is a great fit and I highly recommend you check out this excellent LAC practically in your backyard. Strong in your academic areas of interest, generous merit aid, tolerant/accepting campus culture, no Greek system, college-owned Lillian Anderson Arboretum for nature walks and outdoor recreation, and a comprehensive community service-learning curriculum through the Stryker Institute. K College is one of the CTCL colleges referenced above. My S is a current sophomore so PM if you'd like more info.
<a href="http://www.kzoo.edu/arbor/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kzoo.edu/arbor/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.kzoo.edu/servicelearning/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kzoo.edu/servicelearning/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Understand that I'm in no way criticizing you for WIccan rituals! I'm basing my advice on what you said, that at a Catholic school, it was torture. So think about it: even if you're open-minded and eager to take religion courses at a Christian college, wouldn't the other girls in the dorm be atttracted to it as a Christian envrionment and be upset with you for doing what you have every right to do. </p>

<p>The label Christian College attracts students who might give you a hard time when you do what you want to do. I want you to find peer acceptance wherever you go, so I was suggesting to rule out Christian colleges because the students who attend there expect a certain kind of uniformity and might be intolerant. There are many other choices for you. Also, there's a difference between Christian colleges with weekly chapel and big mission statements on their websites, versus a school that was founded by a Christian group long ago but does not require affiliation or chapel attendance today. </p>

<p>I want you to feel welcome and not have to be defensive about activities in the dorm. I'm on your side, actually.</p>

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<p>I wanted to throw in just a vote to not immediately discount the school size. The reason I say that is because I currently teach at a large university BUT our particular school on campus is small. The students majoring in our program are a very tight-knit group with a huge amount of comraderie and spirit, who have close relationships with their professors and the staff, everything is in one location. Basically like a small college that happens to be on a large campus (with all the benefits that go with size). Thus depending on your major, you may find a great 'small school' in a large one which could have the best of both worlds. This may be particularly important if you need good financial support which limits some of your choices.</p>

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<p>One of the reasons my son didn't want to go to UW was the prevailing intolerant leftist attitude on campus (his evaluation, not from me). Intolerance cuts a lot of ways.</p>

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<p>3tuitions, sorry I misunderstood you. Haha, thank you for explain though.</p>

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<p>Goucher in MD is another possibility, but I think Beloit might be a better fit. I agree that Mac, Oberlin and Grinnell would be nice Midwest reaches, but Beloit would be a match, I think. And if anthro is an interest--it doesn't get any better than Beloit.</p>

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<p>It's important to remember that the student is low income, first generation and lives in Michigan. The farther away the student goes to college, the less likely her family would be to participate in activities that most students want their family to do: take her to and from college, participate in Parents Weekend, etc. In addition, the farther away from home she goes, the less likely she'd be able to go home for holidays like Thanksgiving.</p>

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<p>NSM, Alma is not what I would describe as a conservative Christian college at all!!* It is a United Methodist school, which basically means it is affiliated with the UM church ... but UMeth is a pretty liberal denomination (especially in the midwest).* Alma, Adrian, Albion, DePauw, and Duke are all UMeth schools.* Bet most don't even realize they are "Christian" schools.* I imagine people think conservative when they hear Calvin, Hope, and Hillsdale ... but Alma??For the OP, though, I think a larger school would be in order.* Wiccan is a bit off beat.* I am a high school sub teacher & I can tell you that the typical Michigan teenager finds Wiccan odd, and the OP would like to get away from that kind of thinking.* I think OP might be more comfortable in a place where she wouldn't stand out too much.* The 1000-2000 student schools that have been named here might not be a good fit.* I do suspect that Grinnell could be, though.* I get the sense that being different is okay there.* That is the type of campus to concentrate on.</p>

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<p>Well I don't know if it's just that I've been really lucky but I live in a pretty conservative area and most people my age don't find Wiccan off beat. I mean it's not as though as soon as you meet me I'm like "I'm WICCAN! BOO!" Lol, the only thing that is obvious is that I wear a Pentagram necklace. But I also wear a Crucifix and the Star of David (both family heirlooms). As I said before, a majority of my friends are Christian so I'm used to all kinds of reactions.</p>

<p>But thank you for those of you who gave suggestions =]. I'd never heard of many of the colleges listed but they gave me a good place to start.</p>

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<p>Beloit fits that "accepting" criterion as does Macalester, Oberlin, Carleton (that has had a Druid grove since the '70's) and Grinnell. Others may too, but I'm sure about these schools. And they are Midwest, so might be more accesible to OP transportation-wise.</p>

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<p>Izzybella, you have been fortunate to be in an accepting environment. And even a very small college can be accepting (K'zoo C is about 1000 students & is reputed to be quite accepting). But if you are in a small school where students are NOT accepting, it can be very difficult. I see that in my district's 2 high schools. Some kids will transfer to the other school because their personal choices are considered odd & they feel almost shunned. If they feel more accepted at the choice school, they are just so much happier. So if you can find a college where you really feel comfortable being yourself, it will just be a better fit than one where you don't. As long as you have a choice, why not choose the best for you.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
But if you are in a small school where students are NOT accepting, it can be very difficult.

[/quote]
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<p>Haha, trust me I know. I went to a Catholic school with 200 students in grades k-8. But thank you. I am planning on going to Kalamazoo with a few friends over midwinter break. (It's only about an hour and a half from my house).</p>

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<p>You might check out St. John's college <a href="http://www.stjohnscollege.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.stjohnscollege.edu&lt;/a> especially the Santa Fe Campus. Santa Fe is known as The City Different for a good reason.</p>

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<p>Wash Dad- do you mean UW as in Wis? The liberalness of the campus allows for plenty of conservatives, the majority of the students come from all those other places in Wisconsin after all- where the parents complain about those d--- liberals down in Madison. The most vocal may be "leftist" but there niches for many differing views.</p>

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<p>I think, if you're willing to go far from home, Mills College in Oakland, California might be a really good school for you.</p>

<p>You'd have no difficulty being a practicing Wiccan; they have extremely generous financial aid; they have a fabulous support system for first generation college students; there is no Greek system on campus, at all; and the anthropology department does some very interesting work.</p>

<p>My daughter went to Mills and, while it isn't perfect (the neighborhood is downright awful), there is a lot to like.</p>