<p>Hey, I'm kind of in a bind. It's my senior year and I'm trying to pick the colleges that are right for me, like my top ten to apply to you know? Well, a friend of mine suggested that a liberal arts college might be my best bet for the things I want to do in life. I am a fictional writer who wants to go on to be a novelist.</p>
<ol>
<li>I want to find a college that is in Maine, New York, Ohio, or MA.</li>
<li>I want a Liberal Arts College that isn't in the middle of a really big city- something that had a bit of a country feel like with a lake or hiking trails or a forest. Needs to have some gardens or something. </li>
<li>I'd like to stay under 50k per semester.</li>
<li>A college that specializes in writing programs and art programs like acting and dancing. <em>VERY IMPORTANT</em></li>
<li>I want the enviroment to have a creative flow, nothing that's to hardened or business like or too professional.</li>
<li>Activities and groups are important, I want to be able to do something while I'm there of course. Go see a dance recital or plays, I love theater and music.</li>
<li>I'm hoping for a small amount of people..like average class size of 30 or less, for every 20 kids there's a teach, something like that? </li>
<li>Yeah, I don't care if they have soroities or frats, and I don't want a one sex school.</li>
<li>I suppose I might should be honest and say I want a laid back campus so I can enjoy my free times and weekends. </li>
</ol>
<p>I have looked into Bates, Vassar, Williams, and Kenyon. Any feedback on these colleges or any other colleges to suggest would be much appreciated. :)</p>
<p>Try Ohio Wesleyan University. They give generous merit scholarships to offset costs, and it’s definitely NOT in a big city. I think the school has around 1000 students or so total so it has the small college feel that you desire. Since you seem to be looking into upper-tier LACs, you must have high stats… so OWU would serve as a nice safety school; plus they’d probably give you money.</p>
<p>Bard is very artsy, and so is Sarah Lawrence and Vassar. You might like Haverford? Of course, Oberlin would be a great choice. You also might want to consider a few public options, such as SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Geneseo. Not in your geographic area, but New College of Florida and St. Mary’s in Maryland (I think) are also public options.</p>
<p>God, I hope that’s doable. Obviously check out Colby and Bowdoin (the former is probably a better fit?), and then look at Hamilton, Bard, Colgate, and, if you’re willing to stretch the limits, Connecticut College</p>
<p>Many LACs cost less than $50K/year. All of them cost far less than $50K/semester (thank goodness.) Unfortunately, the most selective LACs in the Northeast generally cost more than $50K. So do some of the most selective West Coast LACs, and a few Midwestern schools. </p>
<p>As far as I can tell, based on cost rankings at stateuniversity.com (which are outdated), the over-$50K LACs add up to about 40 schools. Other LACs (the balance of about 150-200 schools) cost less. Examples:</p>
<p>Wesleyan (CT) ~$54K
Sarah Lawrence ~$53K
Oberlin ~$53K
Pomona ~$52K
Carleton ~$52K
Vassar ~$51K</p>
<h2>Kenyon ~$50K</h2>
<p>Grinnell ~$49K
Macalester ~$49K
Davidson ~$47K
Ursinus ~$48K
St. Mary’s College of MD (out of state) ~$35K
St. Mary’s College of MD (in state, residential) ~$24K</p>
<p>These numbers are taken from school sites then rounded off. Generally they refer to tuition, fees, room and board (but not including travel, insurance, or personal expenses.) Of course, after-aid costs may be far lower.</p>
<p>Colgate and Holy Cross. Colgate has active fraternities and location is somewhat remote. HOLY Cross(don’t have to be religious) has no fraternities and a nice campus 1 hour from Boston. HC is need blind for financial aid as is the Ivy League.</p>
<p>SUNY New Paltz meets all your criteria. Great country feel and lots of hiking, swimming holes, mountains, rail trail and many other outdoor activity options. Very cost effective. Strong in creative writing and the arts with a very creative student body. Small class sizes and a laid back campus. Seems like a perfect fit.</p>
<p>I’m partial to Amherst in MA but Kenyon and Oberlin (both in Ohio) are both really good. All of them have tuition slightly over what you want but they all cover most of the demonstrated need, especially Amherst. Also, Haverford and Swarthmore are really good and both are in PA.</p>
<p>Kenyon is definitely up your alley; it’s all about the writing, the campus is very relaxed (and GORGEOUS), and the theater program is supposed to be top-notch too. It’s got miles of trails on a nature preserve or experimental field station or something. And it’s got a very country feel. It’s completely liberal artsy and there seemed to be a lot of activities planned & plenty of a capella and theater productions. And classes are small. The need based financial aid I got was slightly better than the average LAC, so if you are needy, don’t count them out. (The final Kenyon cost was cheaper than Grinnell & Colby for me, even though I got merit awards from both of the others & not Kenyon.)</p>