<p>Did anyone mention Clark (MA)? I think you are above their average so you could get a good merit scholarship and it may have the vibe you are looking for. You’d have to check into if they have a band though.</p>
<p>Would a less selective school offer me better financial aid because my stats are a bit higher than the average applicant?</p>
<p>Clark looks nice in theory, but most of what I’ve read about it has been negative, especially regarding the administration and the cost vs the value.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, and Allegheny is also on my list.</p>
<p>I hope I have the challenge of picking between Bard, Bennington, Hampshire and Sarah Lawrence come April, that would be amazing!</p>
<p>I should mention that my weighted GPA is actually 3.7, and was 3.8 first quarter. I don’t know where that puts unweighted, though it should really make too much of a difference.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry so much about the specific GPA. Alot of schools recalculate anyway by their own formulas. What’s more important is your course rigor and where your GPA places you in the context of your high school – even if your school doesn’t rank, it should provide some kind of profile that shows the grade distributions so that adcoms can get a sense of how applicants did in relation to their peers.</p>
<p>Ah. Well, my rank isn’t so stellar either - 66/262. I’ve consistently taken Honors/AP Social Studies and English courses, but absolutely no math and science. My high school is a high ranked public school.</p>
<p>Most of the schools I’m applying to seem to be strong in non-science/math areas.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I’ll just have to hope my extracurriculars/things like building a mandolin help me.</p>
<p>are you saying you’ve taken no Math and Science, or just no honors classes in those areas? If it’s the former, I think you’ve got a pretty tough row to hoe, sorry to say.</p>
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<p>That’s generally not how need-based aid is supposed to work. Not that there aren’t ever cases where families persuade a school to up the ante (say, to compete with another school’s offer). Being in the top percentiles surely can’t hurt in these cases. </p>
<p>If you look at the Kiplinger listings of average need-based aid packages and average debt at graduation, in general, the more selective the school, the better it does by both measures.
[url=<a href=“Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts]Kiplinger.com[/url</a>]</p>
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Many colleges offer what they call “need-based merit scholarships,” which are a blend between merit and financial aid and usually easier to get than regular merit scholarships. High-achieving applicants with a lot of financial need can get extra grants, reduced loans, etc. In that sense, the OP might have an edge in financial aid.</p>
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<p>Haha, I meant no science/math APs or Honors. If only I could take no science and math! I typically do pretty well in science (A-) and get anywhere from B+ to C in math, usually around B-.</p>
<p>Thanks warblersrule, that was helpful.</p>
<p>Even if you do not want to take more math, you may want to consider taking a statistics course and a logic course from the philosophy department in college, as the information and skills from such courses are likely to be generally useful.</p>
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<p>I probably will, and I may enjoy it, but there’s not much I like doing less than precalculus at the moment.</p>
<p>After some soul searching, I decided I’ll at least apply to Macalester. It seems to have exactly the vibe I’m looking for, even though it’s a little too far for my (mostly my parents’) taste.</p>
<p>I may get in, too, which would be a nice bonus.</p>
<p>More than a month later, I thought I’d update this thread, in hope that it may be helpful to others next year. So far I’ve gotten into the two schools from which I’ve received decisions, University of Vermont and Green Mountain College.</p>
<p>My complete list ended up being:</p>
<p>Allegheny College - Match
Bard College - Match
Bennington College - Match/Slight Safety?
Colby College - Reach
Geneseo, State Univ. of New York - Match/Slight Safety?
Green Mountain College - Safety (in)
Hamilton College - Reach
Hampshire College - Match/Slight Safety?
Macalester College - High Match/Mid Reach
Sarah Lawrence College - Match
SUNY New Paltz - Match/Slight Safety?
University of Rhode Island - Safety
University of Vermont - Safety (in)
Vassar College - Reach, and my Early Decision school. (fingers crossed!)</p>
<p>I’ll continue to update, partly for future applicants, and partly for my own sanity.</p>
<p>Not that anyone cares, but here’s some closure.</p>
<p>Allegheny College - Match - In
Bard College - Match - In (will be matriculating)
Bennington College - Match/Slight Safety? - In
Colby College - Reach - Rejected
Geneseo, State Univ. of New York - Match/Slight Safety? - In
Green Mountain College - Safety - In
Hamilton College - Reach - Rejected
Hampshire College - Match/Slight Safety? - In
Macalester College - High Match/Mid Reach - Rejected
Sarah Lawrence College - Match - Waitlisted
SUNY New Paltz - Match/Slight Safety? - In
University of Rhode Island - Safety - In
University of Vermont - Safety - In
Vassar College - Reach, and my Early Decision school - Rejected (in retrospect, early decision was ill considered; Bard is almost definitely a better fit)</p>
<p>Thanks for playing, everybody.</p>
<p>^^^Congrats</p>
<p>Congratulations. Did FA work out for you at Bard?</p>
<p>Thanks, happy1!</p>
<p>And it did, SgtDonut. I’m very happy, and honestly, a little surprised. My expectations had lowered and lowered as I received offers from other schools, so anything within range would have looked good, but Bard was very doable (with an income below $75k).</p>