<p>Hi I'm currently a senior in the east coast looking into liberal arts colleges that are strong in the science fields, especially biology. I plan on majoring in bio and heading off to med school (or dental), but i definitely want to keep my options open. I have a fair share of ivies on my list...considering that I might as well take the chance, but I'm looking in to more schools that I'm likely to get into. any suggestions of LAC schools that are on similar levels as...say BC or tufts?</p>
<p>I'm looking for
-family like campus environment
-fun social life
-good pre-med studies
-midwest, east coast</p>
<p>i have a weighted 4.0 GPA and a super SAT score of 2300. and i'd like to convince myself that i have everything that's required on the checklist ( extracurriculars, sports, volunteering, traveling experiences, decent college essay)</p>
<p>Your post is confusing. All the schools you’ve mentioned – Ivies, BC, Tufts – are universities. Are you looking to add small schools, too, or just schools with higher acceptance rates? </p>
<p>Just about any liberal arts school is going to fit the description you provide. By virtue of being small, campus-centric and usually not in an urban area, these schools are going to have activities provided for the students and a family feel.</p>
<p>Most schools will have a strong biology program and pre-med prep. Sure, some schools have more resources, but frankly, it seems like just about every campus has a pretty brand new science building.</p>
<p>You don’t seem to have done any research whatsoever on your own. We started out with the Fiske guide. This really gave us a good initial idea of the campus culture. You can also go down the USNWR list of top liberal arts colleges and start looking at the school’s websites, and the individual school forums on CC.</p>
<p>…and a list of strong LACs a step down from the Ivies but still with high grad school admissions rates. Most if not all will publish their med school admissions rates on their websites:</p>
<p>I would not get too caught up in levels or rankings. If you want to go to Medical or Dental school your undergrad GPA is very important so you may want to consider a school where you will be well prepared and be able to enjoy your undergrad experience all while earning a fabulous GPA! Also, regardless of your financial situation - medical school is expensive so you should consider keeping the under-grad cost as low as possible so perhaps you should add some schools to the list where your stats are above the schools 75% thus putting you in the top of their student body which may get you some merit aid ( depending upon the school)</p>
<p>I am not sure what you are getting at in terms of acceptance rates but here are some LACs to consider: Holy Cross(MA), Trinity(CT), Bates or Bowdoin or Colby (ME)
Oberlin (OH), Macalester (MN), Union(NY)</p>
<p>Also, there are a bunch of solid LAC’s in PA that are worth considering:Bucknell, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Muhlenburg, Lafayette</p>
<p>Carleton is a bit more selective than BC; Grinnell, Macalester, and Colorado College are about as selective as BC, or a bit less so. </p>
<p>Carleton - the most selective of the ACM schools; graduates a relatively high percentage of science/math majors compared to other LACs.</p>
<p>Grinnell - has one of the highest endowments per capita of any American college; has a newly expanded and renovated science center; is a full-need, need-blind college. </p>
<p>Macalester - known for internationalism/multiculturalism (with its relatively high percentage of international students); one of the few top-50 LACs located in a major urban center (Minn-St.Paul).</p>
<p>Colorado College - has an unusual one-course-at-a-time “block plan”; has its own human cadaver dissection lab and new science center; is located in a mid-sized city at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.</p>
<p>muhlenberg college, lafayette college, kenyon, college of wooster</p>
<p>all very high freshmen retition rates (very important)
good places to go pre med. muhlenberg even has a two shot early admit set up! one with drexel med school and another with temple u med school.</p>
<p>any of the above would make for a great college experience and a great footing to head to med school.</p>
<p>I second TK2176’s list. With the addition that Grinnell is one of the few top LACs that provides merit aid, which might matter to you given how expensive med school is. Also, the same percentage of internationals as Macalester. It’s that endowment.</p>
<p>Carleton - 14% of students get merit, average grant is < $3K </p>
<p>Grinnell - 52% of students get merit, average grant is ~$11K</p>
<p>Macalester - 13% of students get merit, average grant is ~$7K</p>
<p>Colorado College - 12% of students get merit, average grant is ~$14K</p>
<p>Another good Midwestern LAC to consider for merit aid is Centre College, which is less selective (and less expensive at full sticker) than all of the above. 91% of students get merit, average grant is ~$15K (AND the full sticker price is only ~$44K, which is more than $10K cheaper than Carleton.) So, if your stats place you well into the top 25th percentile, you could be looking at a net COA comparable to in-state rates at many public flagships.</p>
<p>tk, you are misreading the percentages for the Best Value Schools. Look at the asterisk – that’s the percentage of students who did NOT receive need-based aid who got merit aid.</p>
<p>I thought there was something off when I looked at your post, because about 85% of Grinnell students receive need-based aid.</p>
<p>No way do half the students at Grinnell receive MERIT aid. That figure means that half of the full-pay kids got merit aid, but full-pay is only about 15% of the student body…</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion, I’m definitely looking for a wide range of schools so that I have multiple experiences and choices to choose from. In this post, I was targeting on getting info on liberal arts schools since I already have a lot of research universities on my list. </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice on merit aid, I’ll have to consider that when I’m making my final list of schools.</p>
<p>Looks like Carleton and Grinnell are the most popular schools suggested, I’ll start by looking at those and going on from there.</p>
<p>Davidson has everything on your list. It also has a relatively high acceptance rate because many applicants (and, somewhat surprisingly, most posters on CC) overlook the several very good LACs in the South. </p>
<p>Davidson meets full need and is loan-free for all students, despite having a smaller endowment than many of the colleges listed so far. Personally, I think that is more helpful to the average non-full pay student than the relatively small scholarships most LACs offer – even “generous” ones rarely give more than $20K, and scholarships in the $10-15K range are much more common.</p>
<p>Other colleges to consider that haven’t been mentioned:
[ul][<em>]Denison
[</em>]Furman
[<em>]Kalamazoo
[</em>]Knox
[<em>]Ohio Wesleyan
[</em>]Rhodes
[<em>]Trinity U (TX)
[</em>]U Richmond
[li]If female, some single-sex schools like Bryn Mawr and Smith[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Along with the previously suggested Bucknell, Oberlin, and Wooster, these are arguably the LACs most generous with merit aid. </p>
<p>Washington & Lee is definitely the top LAC most generous with merit aid, but it also has the largest Greek scene in the country, which doesn’t appeal to everyone (or perhaps even most).</p>