I’m a senior interested in bio/environmental science and the like. I am looking for suggestions of liberal arts-vibe colleges that aren’t 2000 kids in a tiny rural town, or mid-sized universities that fit the vibe I’m looking for.
This is my list so far: Cornell, Wesleyan, Reed, Oberlin, Macalester, Bates, Bowdoin, UVM, William and Mary.
I have a 1420 SAT, great gpa, pretty strong ecs. nothing crazy but I think I have chances at all of these schools.
I’m looking for schools that offer the kind of experience these schools have, but in a setting that isn’t quite so isolated. I live in a flagship university town (I am applying there too-not listed here) and I really love the kind of life students have here. Population around 80k, plenty of groceries and pharmacies, opportunities outside of campus, but totally still a “small town.” I am not interested in living in the middle of NYC or anything of the sort-- yes, Reed’s in Portland, but other pros of Reed balance that out for me.
Would appreciate any school recs!! I also would love slightly less insane acceptance rates just bc, obviously, these are all a bit reach-y. Thanks in advance for any thoughts 
I misread your size desires as 2000 being too small, but now realized that it was location and not size. I edited Cal Poly out as a result.
Look at UNH. It could be a good option to consider in your mix.
Lots of enviro sci options.
Shout out from Sierra club:
Merit and opportunities for additional scholarships to apply for with your stats. Great research opportunities for undergrads.
Honors program has cross-curricular relevant topics for their courses. They have plans to expand the honors program more from the sounds of things.
Amtrak station on campus goes to Boston in an hour and a half or Portland, ME in an hour. And a free bus system takes you to surrounding areas like Portsmouth for expanded shopping and things to do.
Thank you! I would be out of state and I can’t afford anything close to the current rate for UNH, but I’m going to look into their scholarships/private scholarships in the first place. It was a little bit on my radar but I didn’t realize they had that cool marine biology major-- I’m super into that.
I have the same issue with UVM with the out of state cost problem. Oh well. I’m going to apply and see how it all shakes out, but I definitely won’t be going if it’s not significantly reduced.
What is your budget? Is Reed affordable for you? Have you/your parents run the Net Price Calculator? It came off our list after we did.
We live in NC and these are some good NC schools I know of for environmental science type majors:
Duke
Appalachian State
UNC-Asheville
Warren-Wilson
If you could talk to your parents about budget and provide that information, posters can give better suggestions. What can/will your parents pay? Will you qualify for any need-based financial aid or will you be chasing merit?
Take a look at Eckerd… not sure if FL works for you.
Reed is notttt currently affordable. We do need to look on the website calculator. Currently trying to get my parents to sit down and put everything in, haha. I have a bad feeling it is not going to be feasible for us-- 30k a year is like a hard maximum, I would estimate. Especially with Reed’s lack of merit aid, I’m worried about it.
I’m going to look into Appalachian State’s out of state aid!
I’ll definitely qualify for need-based aid, but not like, full-ride type of deal. Ivies and the sort would be totally affordable for me. I think I would also have to rely on merit aid at some schools, especially larger places. I would estimate that 30-40k a year (total coa) would be alrightish but absolutely not ideal for my family-- I have a twin, so we’ll be hitting the parents pretty hard at the same time 
Would a smaller college in a college town (with other colleges) also work?
When need-based aid comes in to play, you really need to ask your parents to run the NPC on each college’s website. It will give the most accurate estimate, but it isn’t perfect. So if it is somewhat close, it may be worth applying to see how it plays out. Just don’t fall in love with any one school. Fall in love with the school that wants you and is affordable for your family. As long as you have that mindset I have no doubt you will find the perfect place to thrive for four years.
yes!
With the merit and some need based aid at UNH, you will get below $30,000 per year most likely based on your stats.
Pay attention to dates and dig on some of the websites. Apply Early Action to some of your state schools you add to your list. This will trigger more options early on for you.
Some state schools have early rounds for their bigger scholarships.
NC State: Park Scholarship will come up quickly in the coming month https://park.ncsu.edu/
College of Charleston will have a later due date posted for regular decision, but apply by Nov 1 if you want to be considered for the scholarships within the honors college that are a part of their fellows programs. You may get offered close to a full ride if you go through the steps needed and do not miss deadlines.
There are threads on here with similar merit based scholarships. Most Merit will be for 4 years as long as you maintain the GPA and participate in any related requirements. Need based will vary from year to year. Once you complete the FAFSA and CSS with your parents and your twin you will have a better idea to what to expect your Estimated Family Contribution to be.
All the best! You are asking the right questions.
And here are links for your parents/guardians to help them get started.
This one will help walking them through the first steps of FAFSA. Tells them what they need to get started. You will all have separate logins.
https://studentaid.gov/articles/fafsa-multiple-children/
And for your schools on you list that meet 100% need, most require the CSS with the College Board. A few state schools with full scholarships ask for this, too. This page will get your family members started:
https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/getting-started-your-css-profile-application
Most Ivy League and top private colleges will give you your financial aid packages at the same time as your acceptance or within a few days. (some were delayed this year like Cornell due to covid with staff remote, etc).
Some state schools release the need based financial aid packages weeks to months later.
Look at Trinity University in San Antonio, Rhodes in Memphis, Occidental in LA.
What is your home state?
What can you afford? Editted: OOps, I see that $30,000 is the limit. If you are out of state for UVM, I would be surprised if merit aid would get the cost down that low. You can run their NPC. For us it did correctly predict merit aid.
What can you afford without taking on any debt?
What is your unweighted GPA (based on A=4, B=3, C=2, …)?
Was just at UVM and i believe they said max merit scholarship was around $20k for OOS. Maybe they have some other scholarship you can apply for, but if so, they did not mention it at the info session.
Bates is not isolated. It’s in the Lewiston-Auburn metro area and has a combined population of about 50,000. There is plenty of shopping, plenty of restaurants, a bowling alley, a brewery, a couple of museums, churches, two medical centers, and so on. It even has a cool retro roller rink. It’s a forty minute drive to Portland and 30 minutes to Freeport.
So many students seek what you are seeking. Strangely, the midsized university offering everything you want is a bit of a unicorn. U Rochester is a great option and it’s definitely in an urban area. Binghamton isn’t too big, but many underclassmen will find themselves in lecture halls. Case Western could work.
Okay, then there’s more to work with. Obviously, look at the merit scholarships and run the NPCs.
For instance, Kalamazoo College is in a medium-sized city. It’s a small college, but near a public university so that there are plenty of students. Kalamazoo has excellent merit scholarships.
Another one you may want to look into is St Olaf: about 3,200 students, shares a small town with Carleton College, about 45mn South of the Twin Cities (major metropolis). They have merit but it heavily depends on interest shown (and it helps if you’re a good musician).
More small colleges in towns with lots of college students:
University of Dayton is a small university in a town that also has a large public university.
Hendrix, in Conway, has excellent merit, is small but is next to University of Central Arkansas.
Eckerd, in St Petersburg,is small but next to University of South Florida branch campus.
Goucher college is in Towson, home of Maryland’s Towson University.
Transylvania University is in Lexington, home to University of Kentucky.
UNC Asheville falls within your town+college size parameters but I’m not sure about the merit scholarships they offer.
my unweighted is a 4.0. I live in Indiana
Thank you so much!! I’m going to look into these.