<p>Momofthreeboys, Sounds like our boys are similar in their school lists. What grade is your S in? Keep me posted on your search and results, I’d like to see where he ends up. As far as FA is concerned, we will get the full picture next year when he gets a little closer. My H is self-employed and so our financial picture changes rapidly. We are committed to no student loans though.</p>
<p>Look at some of the former all-girls schools that are now co-ed: Skidmore, Connecticut, Goucher, Vassar, Wheaton, Sarah Lawrence. They are all small, LACs, with the close one-on-one professor contacts he is looking for. I’ve known them to accept boys with below 3.5 GPAs but high SATs.</p>
<p>Thanks fireandrain, I’ve heard a lot of great things about Conn. College and Skidmore. I think he would have no problem getting in to either of these schools if he likes them( based on the stats from his school). Vassar looks a little reachy but will take a look. I don’t know much about the outdoor opportunities at these schools either and that is a top priority for my S. He just would NOT be happy at school where he couldn’t do some hiking,climbing, etc. He needs it like air. I’ve talked to a few of his teachers and they say that he is one of the best in group discussions and really makes the conversations interesting and exciting, they feel he really needs to be at a school that promotes that sense of community.</p>
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<p>Ahh! completely understand! especially in this economy! :/</p>
<p>However, it would be a good idea for you to use an EFC calculator, and input a couple of “income scenarios” to get an idea of what your EFC would be. That info will tell you what you really need to be looking for. 
<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml[/url]”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml</a></p>
<p>You may already know this, but OOS publics can rarely (if ever) meet the need for OOS students (heck, most can’t even meet the need of their in-state students and in-state students’ costs are much lower). </p>
<p>So, if you’re interested in some OOS publics, you need to look at schools where merit $$$ will cut those OOS costs. And, note…many OOS publics don’t give merit to OOS students, but there are some :)</p>
<p>Since you’re firmly against the idea of loans (I completely agree), you have to make sure that you’re looking at schools that can meet need w/o loans (thru grants, scholarships) AND that you can meet your EFC (scholarships do not reduce EFC)</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’re familiar with the term Cost of Attendance (COA). That’s the total estimated Cost of Attendance to go to a college for one year - tuition, room, board, books, fees, misc. </p>
<p>For in-state publics, the COA is <em>about</em> $25k per year</p>
<p>For out-of-state publics, the COA is <em>about</em> $40k per year (UMich is $50k)</p>
<p>For privates, the COA is <em>about</em> $50k per year</p>
<p>These are just general estimates based on a chart that was posted here on CC. Some schools cost a bit more, some cost a bit less.</p>
<p>Tip…beware of when you visit COA pages of various colleges…some only post their “per semester” COA (which some people don’t realize), and some schools only include the cost of their cheaper dorms and cheaper meal plans. Also, some colleges don’t include fees, books, or misc expenses on their COA pages. So, it’s something to keep in mind when comparing.</p>
<p>Another tip - It was shocking to us to find the wide range in dorm costs at various colleges…some colleges charge $5k per year, some charge $15k per year!!! This doesn’t include food! So, it’s something else to consider! yikes!</p>
<p>5boys, your S sounds a lot like one of mine. CTY, high SAT scores in middle school, lots of IB courses but not quite a “type A study all the time guy”, very outdoorsy.</p>
<p>He’s a first-year student now at Colorado College and absolutely loves it. The combination of location, block plan, and academic quality make it especially good for any study that benefits from outdoor field work (environmental science, field botany or zoology, geology, anthro/archaeology) or other focused, individual and team projects. The school has a nice arts/music scene, plus an unusual mix of small-city environment and spectacular mountain setting.</p>
<p>As other posters suggest, the place is intense in ways you may not imagine (starting with orientation week, when my kid’s 8-student team did trail maintenance on a 14k-ft. mountain). Each class has a room assigned, for the entire block, only to it. This means that discussions and other activities can and do continue there, long after class hours. The school emphasizes discussion, participation, and close relationships with professors. It is not a place where you can snooze in the back of a large lecture hall (though I don’t think it has the bloodshot intensity attributed to Swarthmore or Reed.)</p>
<p>There’s a rather glowing review of CC on CollegeGuide.org, which is a conservative college site (though CC tends to be described as a fairly liberal place). </p>
<p>As for FA, according to the school’s Common Data Set figures for 2008-2009, 286 of 550 enrolled first-year students had applied for need-based aid. Of those, 236 were determined to have need; 236 (43% of the class) were awarded aid. The average finaid package was $30,402. These numbers are for enrolled, not admitted students. Colorado College also awards merit aid (an average of about $10K to students determined not to have financial need). </p>
<p>([Link</a> to Colorado College Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/dean/oir/comdata.htm]Link”>http://www.coloradocollege.edu/dean/oir/comdata.htm))</p>
<p>5boys, Before you go any further I thinks its important to clarify your position on financial aid: what you absolutely need and what you’d like. Many of the East Coast LACs are quite generous in NEED based aid, but don’t offer any MERIT aid. Thus, if you can get by with need based aid alone they can stay on the list. If you’re not sure use one of those aid calculators to give you an idea of what to expect. It’s not guaranteed and mileage varies from school to school but at least you can see what’s feasible.</p>
<p>My son shared many of your son’s characteristics: intellectually curious across a wide range of disciplines, artistic and involved in outdoorsy activities at the Eagle Scout level of activity. Laid back on the surface but actually quite serious and intense at the core.</p>
<p>Some East Coast schools that I’d recommend: Williams (my son’s alma mater), Hamilton, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Kenyon</p>
<p>All of these schools look at the applicant holistically: Grades/Scores/Rank/ECs/Essays/Recommendations. If one is weak (but not too weak, of course) the others can compensate. </p>
<p>Since Williams is the one I’m the most familiar with I’ll comment further. It’s highly selective but also puts a lot of emphasis on admitted kids who fit the Williams profile. Williamstown is a small village located in the middle of spectacular mountain scenery. It offers multitudes of outdoorsy activities – hiking, climbing, backpacking and a whole assortment of winter sports. The campus outing club is one of the best in the country. </p>
<p>In spite of it’s athletic focus Williams also has a highly developed arts culture – an excellent theater program that draws on the long established Williamstown summer stock theater, excellent music and world class museums. </p>
<p>The academics are top notch. Williams IS very rigorous but there are excellent support systems among professors and peers to help kids through. The retention level is superb meaning that if they accept you they want to keep you.</p>
<p>TK, Thanks so much for your reply! I have seen your posts many times on this forum and I know that your S LOVES CC. I hope you can be a great support for us during this process. My S LOVES everything he has read about CC and can hardly wait to visit… maybe your Son can be host when he gets that far. I know that CC can be intense but I think being able to study one thing at a time would be perfect for my S. He recently took a summer school class and loved being able to focus on that one subject. He got an A easily. He tends to have SO many interests that focusing on all his classes at one time can be frustrating for him and it is why is GPA is not where it should be based on his intellect. I know he would LOVE the music and theatre scene at CC as well as the amazing outdoor opp’s. He needs to be in the outdoors like he needs air!!! Is your S loving the block breaks?? I think that one of the best things about CC. I really fell optimistic about the aid %. Someone said earlier on this post that 75% of kids were full pay. I found that hard to believe. What do you think about my S’s GPA? I know in every other area he will shine.</p>
<p>Momrath,</p>
<p>Yes, one of my best friends son is at William’s now.He graduated from the same school that my S goes to. Her son is a lot like my son in many ways. I just felt it was WAY too reachy based on my S’s GPA. He also won’t have but a few AP’s. I was trying to keep him looking at realistic schools and maybe just a few reaches. I don’t want him to be in over his head, remember he wants to go to med school and GPA is very important. As far as FA goes, I’m not excessively worried about it. We will try to get some but whatever we have to pay to bridge the gap we will. We have a lot of extended family support.</p>
<p>Congrats on getting started in this process in the Sophomore year. This gives you lots of time to research schools, and plan some visits. Since merit aid is important, you might want to check out the data on the College Board site. For each college, they list the average non-need scholarship. They also list the mid 50% SAT scores. From these data, you can get a sense for where you S might get extra merit aid. Also, it’s worth preparing for the SAT, since scores can translate into $ at many schools.</p>
<p>momrath quote: </p>
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<p>I agree. I don’t know if your read my post (#24), but when people need money for college, and they have a decent income that will indicate an unaffordable EFC, then school choices must include schools that give good merit. Many schools don’t give any merit money.</p>
<p>You’ll be very disappointed if you’re told that you have a $30k EFC for 50k schools (believe me, people are shocked to learn what their EFCs are 
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<p>tk–I wish I could remember where I read the 75 (ish) % figure regarding the admitted students not needing financial aid. I remember it, as it hit home. Your data is from last year before endowments sank and need blind traditions became compromised at various colleges across the country. Things changed a lot last year.</p>
<p>Smithieandproud: “…I mean in Maine, they call them “mountains” but speaking as a West Coaster, no timber line = no mountains.”</p>
<p>Sugarloaf in Maine: Only lift-serviced above-timberline skiing in the East.</p>
<p>[Sugarloaf</a> | Maine & New England’s Premier Ski and Golf Resort - Great Lodging & Lift Ticket Deals](<a href=“http://www.sugarloaf.com%5DSugarloaf”>http://www.sugarloaf.com)</p>
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<p>Yes, we are all at the mercy of incomplete, conflicting, and changing information. On paper, according to the most recent Common Data Set information I was able to find, Colorado College and Whitman College appear to have very similar financial aid numbers (the percentage of students who apply for and receive need-based aid; the percentage of need that is met; the average FA packages compared to total costs). Perhaps the two schools did suffer different effects from the meltdown, or developed different responses. Who knows? They are both terrific schools that seem to be attractive to some of the same kinds of kids.</p>
<p>Marlboro College in VT…Hampshire in MA… both great for self-starters, small and nurturing, lots of opportunities (Hampshire is in the 5 college consortium so, though it is small and tight-knit, there’s access to lots of classes.) Not sure either is great with FA…</p>
<p>I think you have a great start although Macalester is abit of an outlier on your list. Along with helping figure out trips/college info/etc. I agree that it is very helpful to find a real financial bargain to have in your hip pocket that your son likes. Statistically they should be an easy admit for your son which has it’s own bonus in that the kids get really excited about that first exceptance. For that particular school look at Ft. Lewis in Colorado, Western Sate College in Gunnison, Westminister or U of Utah in Salt Lake City, Northern Arizona, University of Montana, Montana State and that ilk that having rolling admissions. Find the colleges that participate in WUE which means generally tuition is 1.5 times the in-state rate. We found, too, that the western states (with the exception of Cali) have out of state rates very similar to our in-state rates since we’re in a high cost state and if the kiddo falls into the top quarter there is some merit monies for OSS kids. Always good to have one of these on the list. I won’t know where S2 is going until spring since he applied to Colby, Colorado and Hobart as an RD candidate and we will need some aid for those schools to make it happen.</p>
<p>I guess what I took away from last year’s application process was that I was sorry that I didn’t factor our D’s admissions chances vis-a-vis our need for FA enough. She got into Bowdoin (need-blind and more selective than CC) and Berkeley (in state) and Whitman (need-blind) but not Colorado College, who actually told us that we had too much need. Like I said, she’s happy, but I think I would have encouraged her to apply to more need-blind schools if I had been more on top of it. Just trying to share our experience, and pass on whatever lesson I learned that might help someone else. On the other hand, some of the less selective schools (American, Westminster, Tulane) that weren’t need blind offered her full rides. There’s that way to go also.</p>
<p>As I was reading your OP, I kept thinking - WHITMAN - then I saw it was on your list. Has your son visited? My S is a junior there and has absolutely loved it. They just completed a huge new rock climbing wall - indoors! to go with other outdoor facilities. The outdoor rec club is one of the most active in the US. The academics are high level, as another poster stated, but my S has had time to heavily pursue community service, play a varsity sport, and participate in some outdoor activities. It is a friendly laid-back atmosphere where the students are bright and care about their classes, but aren’t uber-competitive about it. His classes have also all been tiny - as few as 9 and as many as 30. This class size definitely deters getting behind in any way! I predict if your S were to visit he would have a feel if it seemed like a comfortable spot for him. My S receives quite a lot of merit aid, as well as need based aid, and he knows many other students with one or the other as well. The school admin and financial aid people are incredibly easy to deal with (I spend alot of time wishing the high school was as easy to work with as the college!). Have fun in your search!</p>
<p>Puma, Thanks for the wonderful feedback on Whitman! I really think it is going to end up being high on his list. We are in the process of planning a trip up to visit in April. My dad lives in Seattle so we are going to Whitman and then over to Portland to see Lewis& Clark and Willamette. I think Reed is WAY to academically intense for him, although in a lot of other ways it sounds perfect for him. He likes a lot of different types of people but mostly unpretentious and authentic. I don’t think the rural environment would bother him at all if there is plenty of outdoor stuff going on, and it sounds like there is. </p>
<p>Wrist, momofthreeboys, he is definitely going to apply to some true academic safety schools; Willamette, Lewis&Clark, UVM,Westminster& Green Mountain School( two recent finds that sound great for the outdoors, GMS even has an Outdoor Adventure major.) I think at these schools he would have a realistic opportunity for merit aid.Then he can go ahead and apply to less safe schools like Colby, Bates, Whitman and Colorado and we can see how it all plays out at the end. I know he will want to apply to a few EA schools so if he happens to get in early and the FA or Merit is good, he can just relax.I know he is going to hate the stress of all these college app’s and how competitive all the kids are at his school. He definitely shies away from that.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys, please keep me posted as to where your S gets admitted and ends up. It would be interesting to me since our boys sound so similar and like the same schools:))</p>
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<p>5boys, I’d like to encourage you and I certainly wish your S luck. Sometimes I worry I’m over-promoting one of our own schools, but I try to do so only when I sense it might be the right place for a particular kind of kid. </p>
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<p>Yes, he is. He’s been using break time to explore other parts of Colorado. There’s a lot to see and do. The school philosophy and systems encourage exploration. Check out the CC “venture grants” to support travel and other costs associated with independent projects. </p>
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<p>Well, it won’t hurt to bring it up (and there’s plenty of time for that if he’s only a sophomore). 3.3 would be a little low for CC, and maybe a show-stopper for Williams which of course is a fine school, but even more selective. </p>
<p>CC does have a “holistic” approach to admissions. He sounds like a great kid and an interesting applicant to me. Volunteer fireman is a good one. There seems to be a consistency to his interests in the outdoors and service activity, which would fit very well at Colorado College and some of the other schools mentioned.</p>