<p>DD loves the University of Chicago and its core program. Unfortunately we will qualify for no financial aid. Any other options for a possible physics major? We can contribute $40k/yr.</p>
<p>SAT: 800M, 780R, 750W
ACT: 36
GPA: 3.8, unweighted from an extremely rigorous school</p>
<p>Will be a merit finalist. No southern schools please.</p>
<p>What’s your home state? The usual top Public science Us (UIUC, UMich, etc) have good physics programs. Grinnell as a LAC has great sciences but I’m not sure about Physics.</p>
<p>Grinnell and Macalester are quirky, intellectual schools that give merit aid to very competitive applicants, which your daughter seems like. They’re both very, very good schools academically, and Grinnell is known for its awesome science center.</p>
<p>Look through this thread too. It lists all the scholarships offered for Nat’l Merit Finalists.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/136920-full-rides-national-merit-finalists-scholars.html</a></p>
<p>Carleton and UChicago have a lot of overlap in their applicant pools. Carleton is nerdy, geeky, rigorous, and very strong in sciences.</p>
<p>Reed [ which has a core program] and UCSB have great Physics programs. Columbia has a core program too[ its the one Chicago’s program was based on, and a very strong science program. Carleton is very strong in all areas, but especialy its science program . Harvey Mudd [ in Calif , part of the Claremont Consortium] is a top choice for many strong science students who don’t make it into MIT or CalTech, and they have merit programs for students with top Stats. And Mudders can take outside classes from other CC colleges, thus one can get a core education as well as a study at a top science LAC.</p>
<p>[The</a> 10 Most INTELLECTUAL Colleges (PHOTOS)](<a href=“The 10 Most INTELLECTUAL Colleges (PHOTOS) | HuffPost College”>The 10 Most INTELLECTUAL Colleges (PHOTOS) | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>Here’s Huffington Post’s votes, for what it’s worth.</p>
<p>I also suggest you look at Grinnell. Very generous financial and merit aid, fabulous sciences and they have their own observatory, which is very cool.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/grinnell-college/438138-why-grinnell.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/grinnell-college/438138-why-grinnell.html</a></p>
<p>You can find intellectual niches at most schools, and the more selective a school is, the more likely that you’ll find a larger portion of intellectualism. Since you can contribute $40k, and the rest would come from aid, you might look into schools that are known to be generous with middle- to upper-income families and that have strong physics programs as well. If you’re looking for reaches, try Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Caltech - all superb in physics and generous with aid, and just based on the stats you gave, your D would likely have a shot at all of them. It would be very easy to find intellectual contingencies at them as well.</p>
<p>If you’re set on having a large core, Columbia would be worth looking at. The ones I mentioned above have their own unique ‘core’ - e.g. Stanford has its “introduction to the humanities” (IHUM) that students are required to take freshman year, or they can do Structured Liberal Education (SLE), a much more intensive sequence that’s conducted in-residence (2-3 dorms clustered together that have lounges and rooms for SLE class/discussion), similar to Yale’s Directed Studies program.</p>
<p>A lot of good suggestions here. </p>
<p>I remember that the University of Washington had an Honors program with a “great books” curriculum that seemed like it would be attractive to someone who likes UChicago. They seem to have diluted it a bit, but you should check it out. It’s pretty hard to get into, so I suspect your D might like it. </p>
<p>Other honors programs that had some “great books” aspects are at University of North Carolina and at University of Texas but those are southern. </p>
<p>Chicago offers some merit money, though I don’t think it’s enough to get the cost down to $40K. Other top schools with merit aid include Rice, Johns Hopkins, WashU, Duke (southern again) and Harvey Mudd. </p>
<p>I know Rice is southern but it surprisingly caught the interest of my daughter (who sounds a lot like your D and attends UChicago) when they toured with UChicago, Cornell, Brown, and Columbia. She got into UChicago EA so she never actually applied there, but she would have had she not bagged UChicago EA. </p>
<p>Another potentially affordable good choice for an urban intellectual is University of Toronto.</p>
<p>@phantasm: This family does not qualify for financial aid. Unhooked 3.8 GPA would never get into Stanford or Harvard.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with the the Claremont Consortium for aid. I don’t know anything about the social aspects of CC.</p>
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<p>How do you know whether they qualify for aid? Financial aid is so complex that both schools require students to submit the extremely detailed CSS profile before they can calculate their aid. If they can contribute only $40k, they very well might get some aid. Harvard only requires 10% of incomes up to $180k, and Stanford gives aid to families making up to $200k.</p>
<p>And your second statement is equally wrong. “Unhooked 3.8 GPA” students routinely get into Stanford and Harvard. That’s about the average GPA for those at Stanford (whose admissions website says students typically have a 3.6 or higher). Those who are “hooked” do not make up a large enough group to account for half the student body (i.e. those who have under the 3.8-3.9 average). Even if they did, it would be completely wrong to assume that only the hooked students have lower GPAs (which is bordering on racist if you’re quick to assume it’s the minority students; Stanford has routinely said that athletes are required to have extremely high GPAs as well, and the average GPA for legacy students is very likely higher than the average for non-legacy students).</p>
<p>If you don’t believe me, look at the ‘results’ threads on the Stanford and Harvard forums. You’ll find plenty of unhooked students with 3.8 GPAs. Not that it’s even relevant to the OP, who attends an “extremely rigorous school” and who has a 2300+ SAT and perfect ACT score. Honestly, where do you get your information?</p>
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Reed’s is one yearlong freshman humanities course, and distribution requirements (something from this group, that group, etc.).</p>
<p>Is she willing to consider women’s colleges? With your budget, Bryn Mawr would be affordable with some merit money. Probably others. </p>
<p>University of Rochester hasn’t been mentioned, so I’ll mention it. Has USC been mentioned? Not a physics powerhouse but they do offer nice merit money (guaranteed for a NMF; Rochester also has NMF money) and their physics profs do work with undergrads, and promote them to the outside community. </p>
<p>If you are in California, I will second the UCSB College of Creative Studies program in Physics. If you’re not in CA, it’s too pricey and there’s little to no merit aid. Not sure about OOS fees for UT Austin but the Plan II honors program is a gem. I don’t think of Texas as being southern, just Texan. :)</p>
<p>You said nothing southern, but the merit program at UNC-Chapel Hill is highly competitive and there’s a good physics department, so maybe worth considering. Then you might as well think about rolling the dice on Duke. More big dice rolls (for both admissions and merit aid) can be found at WUStL and Rice.</p>
<p>Bard College is consistently noted for the intellectualism of its approach. It has good merit aid, especially for science oriented students. My daughter started there this week (part of the approach is a three-week freshman orientation called Language & Thinking) and already is intensely engaged.</p>
<p>Thank you for the great suggestions.</p>
<p>DD had a great interview with the department head at the state flagship school. </p>
<p>JHU and Bard will be considered.</p>
<p>We will not let our child to amass debt for an undergrad degree when she will most likely pursue graduate education.</p>
<p>Of course, if your daughter intends to pursue a graduate degree in physics, she will most likely not have to pay for grad school.</p>