<p>I'm looking for colleges with a student population largely and earnestly devoted to intellectual pursuits, questioning life, challenging the status quo, etc. - a college where intellectual conversations are popular, it's cool to be well-read, and most students are intelligent. </p>
<p>I'm not looking for the "best" colleges or ones that you may expect to have intelligent, hardworking, or study-focused students, but rather student populations who are genuinely devoted to learning and not just mindless memorization and homework-completion. </p>
<p>I've also already looked at the Huffington Post's Ten Most Intellectual Colleges, and found that most of them are out of my price range, so any cheaper colleges or ones that give out a lot of merit-based aid would be good. I found Bard College to be appealing (but also out of my price range) - so any cheaper ones similar to it would be appreciated. </p>
<p>Here are my academic credentials:
GPA: Unweighted: 3.68; Weighted: 4.62
Class rank: 113/624 (Top 20%)
SAT: 2260; Critical Reading: 780; Math: 740; Writing: 740
Various extracurricular activities: president of two clubs, art editor for school magazine, and publicity officer for one club</p>
<p>I've been looking for a college that has an "intellectual" population that is genuinely devoted to learning AND IS:
1) is between $15,000 - $30,000 OR a college that gives out enough merit-based aid to negate its high price (one of the most important factors)
2) has a liberal leaning
3) a large population of people who enjoy an "alternative", maybe hippie-ish or hipster-ish lifestyle</p>
<p>I agree with Bard, but unless you meet certain criteria (like an interest in science) they don’t give large merit scholarships. Bennington may. The difference at school like these is that the students are less interested in grades and more interested in learning. If you are in NY, you might consider Purchase for the “hippy” atmosphere you’re looking for. Oops, just noticed you’re in NC. How about Warren Wilson? Very cheap and very hippy-ish.</p>
All those schools have good to excellent financial aid. So you must have estimated your Expected Family Contribution and concluded you would not be eligible for need-based aid. Right?</p>
<p>I think Grinnell is the only one of the those 10 that offers a significant amount of merit aid. Chicago offers a few, either for full tuition or for $10K. The competition (especially for the former) would be tough. Macalester and maybe a couple others offer some small merit grants ($3K-$5K or so).</p>
<p>Most of the other midwestern LACs (Oberlin, Knox, Lawrence, Beloit, etc.) offer a fair amount of merit aid. </p>
<p>Antioch College reopens next year after being shut down for financial problems. Tuition for all students will be free of charge. Worth checking out.</p>
<p>^ Maybe so. Another contender might be Davidson College, which grants quite a lot of merit aid. How it tends to be stacked or blended with need-based, I don’t know. Merit aid works most predictably to reduce out-of-pocket costs when you don’t qualify for ANY need-based aid (i.e. your EFC is 100%). Otherwise, it might simply offset the amount of n-b they offer.</p>
<p>Just a side note - I’m looking for a college that has a student population above 1000 - I’m fine with small colleges, just as long as they aren’t too small. (So Warren Wilson and Antioch would be out, unfortunately - though thanks to those who suggested them.)</p>
<p>tk21769 - you’re right; I actually haven’t done my exact EFC calculations, but am expecting them to cover little to none of my college tuition, as my family is the average suburban middle-class family. </p>
<p>So how many of those colleges would you guys say would be most likely to give me merit-based aid just based on my academic credentials? (I do realize that my unweighted GPA isn’t terribly great.) I want to apply somewhere that I would have a good chance of getting in and getting enough money to actually attend. Money is the biggest issue, I think.</p>
<p>I did not get the sense of Davidson being at all hipster during my visit there. In fact, since it is a small LAC but plays DI sports, about 30% are athletes, which gives it much more a jock/preppy feel. At least that was the vibe I got.</p>
<p>Some of the selective schools mentioned above (Amherst,Reed, Carleton, Swarthmore) offer little or no merit aid. Among the more selective of the ones that do (Grinnell for example), merit scholarships of $15K or more probably will all go to students with very high grades and rank. </p>
<p>Centre College has costs a bit lower than many other private LACs (~$43K) and grants merit aid to many students in amounts averaging about $14K. Your scores are high enough that you should have no trouble getting in and perhaps getting higher than average aid. Dittto on all counts for Beloit, Juniata, and the College of Wooster. These schools seem to have the atmosphere you’re after.</p>
<p>This may not get you close enough to what you can cover from family help, loans, and your own earnings. So look at your in-state public schools too (possibly one close enough to commute from home for one or more years.)</p>
<p>Don’t necessarily mark a school off your list because of price, you may qualify for some merit and need-based aid, middle class folks often do. Schools that ONLY offer need-based aid aren’t a good bet. The key is to find schools where you rank in the top 25% of their applicant pool and that offer merit and need-based aid. Your test scores are terrific and the weighted GPA shows you’ve taken multiple AP classes and have done well. </p>
<p>Macalester sounds perfect for you, they offered my son good merit ($15,000) and need-based aid as well. He decided that he needed an active outdoor program so didn’t end up at Macalester, but we all loved it. Smart interesting kids abound.</p>
<p>Lawrence was also high on his list, although he didn’t apply in the end. I really think Lawrence is a hidden gem. Very intellectual environment, but well rounded, and good merit aid.</p>
<p>^ I agree, Macalester might be just the ticket. My S applied, too, got in with merit aid, and also decided on a school with more of an active outdoor program. But Macalester has a great urban location (one of the few LACs that does) if you can hack the winters.</p>
<p>The OP should have a good shot at admission, but his class rank may not be high enough to get more than a few thousand in merit aid. Hard to predict, so give it a shot if the school is appealing.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re competitive enough for Swarthmore and Brown. I would definitely apply to Grinnell; it fits your profile perfectly, and why not see what happens with the aid?</p>
<p>Thanks again, everyone, especially those who mentioned Grinnell and Lawrence - I did a bit more research on them and there’s a big possibility I might apply to them. (Mac looks good, but is a bit too far north, and Kalamazoo is also a possibility.)</p>
<p>Does anyone have any other colleges to bring up?</p>