Ah yes, I should expand my scope. I’ll have to think about that for a while. Only thing that comes to mind right now are my pen pals from latin america and playing music at hospitals for the sick.
Add UC Berkley, NC State, Wm and Mary, Va Tech to your list? BC? BU?
Do you have any interest in running in college? If so, contact the coach at the schools you are interested in. Check your times against the freshmen that are on the college’s current rosters.
Many LAC’s are DIII schools, and are highly competitive. While DIII schools can not award financial scholarships for athletics, the coaches may be able to help you in the admission process.
UC Berkley, is that as hard as an Ivy to get into? And possibly run in college, I may contact coaches at the D3 schools.
UC Berkley is as hard as an Ivy to get in to.
CAL is no joke, it is very competitive to obtain admission.
No, UC Berkeley is nowhere near as hard as an Ivy to get into. It’s very very hard to get into - you nee a 4+ UCGPA, excellent essays, and very high test scores- but there’s no need for supplements, recommendations, and especially nothing about exceptional EC’s to the point as those used at Ivies. It’s not as random as Ivies and, to a certain extent, a bit easier to predict. Although UCB and UCLA are unpredictable due to selectivity, they’re not complete lottery.
Note the spelling: BerkEley.
I am confused about your finances. Are you able to be full pay at a school like UC Berkeley? You won’t get any need based or merit aid there. You mentioned Pomona, CMC, and Mudd – I don’t think Pomona or CMC really give merit aid, and Mudd’s is quite competitive.
How much can your parents afford to pay? Look at the guaranteed merit thread and run the colleges’ Net Price Calculators to get an estimate of what they might cost. It won’t do you any good to apply to unaffordable schools.
Wow many rankings place Berkeley ahead of Ivies for Math and Science I will definitely further consider that school and proceed with caution of how difficult acceptance is.
Now for price, I want a good deal. I have looked at thee guaranteed aid thread many times. The schools there just don't interest me; I have better cheap option in state. I may throw an application to Alabama just for a guaranteed cheap option. Return on investment interests me. I can afford expensive schools. with 60k pushing my boundaries, but I benefit from going to a cheap school, from the leftover capital. Explicitly, I'd go to Princeton for 60k but Rutgers for 15k. Moreover, I have learned from public high school that I can learn and progress in my studies a lot on my own so I know that at a public university I could still continue my education strongly. It still comes down to financials though as college will only be four years; I will have time to learn and grow for my entire life during work experience. So in conclusion my college search targets a good deal and is not bound by price but rather by return on investment.
You are in an excellent position with that attitude.
Just to confirm, your parents are willing to pay $60K, and you would not be relying on large loans?
With savings, my parents and grandparents, yes. I would not have to rely on large loans however grad school would be out of the question at 60k. With a school like Princeton I don’t think I’d need graduate school right away though.
After researching more into the colleges suggested I have changed my college search goals a little bit. I realized that a liberal arts college would most likely suit me best since I benefit the most from seminar based learning like in Model UN and have a broad spectrum of interests. Also, I’ve liked small classes in high school most where I got to participate a lot. I still applied to Princeton, I consider them liberal arts leaning, and Rutgers and UMich EA. I think that I can find clubs to get that small group learning feel there. Now, I really like the Clairmont Colleges. I head from IntParent that I have a shot at Harvey Mudd. How do Claremont McKenna and Pomona compare with admissions? Also, are there any other consortium like the Claremont one with the different colleges within walking distance?
Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mar are together, and they can all take a classes at Penn. Amherst with UMass Amherst and a few others. I think you don’t need to limit yourself to LACs, but smaller universities as well. For example, Tufts has 5k undergrads, so their classes are probably smaller than those at Cornell, which has well over 10k undergrads. Berkeley will probably have lots of classes with a hundred or more students, by contrast. You could get lots of merit aid at U Rochester, and it is a strong school underrated by many people, but not academia. They offer a number of full rides and large merit for strong applicants.
CMC and Pomona are about equally difficult for admissions with Mudd, unfortunately. The consortium is very populat. 
So that would be adding two more reaches to your list.
@op:
Just to clarify, yes… there are the two consortia mentioned by Daddio3 in his post above. But,since you mentioned
“…within walking distance,” you should know that the Claremont Colleges are the only consortium in the U.S. where the college campuses are contiguous…i.e.,modeled after the Oxford system Even though each college has is own campus, identity, architecture, etc.
It really is like having one multi-dimensional campus of 6,000 students. The two eastern consortia, by contrast,require buses to travel between the colleges. Of course, they are all great schools.
if you wnt a clear picture,you can go to CMC’s website and click on the interactive map.
Haverford & Bryn Mawr are actually within walking distance, aren’t they?
^You could potentially walk but they’re not contiguous so you’d spend a lot of time walking because it’s 2-3 miles. Not long on the shuttle at all.
You can walk…but i think they’re a mile or two apart, so generally most people take the bus…
My point was, the Claremont Colleges are the only contiguous colleges, which comprise a consortium, in the country.