<p>I think I've finally gotten a handle on my very particular daughter's vision of a college.</p>
<p>I'm asking you if you can suggest colleges where a girl with 3.8/4.55 and 1490/2260 will find a student body with a significant intellectual demographic, a neuroscience/cogsci program, and a good shot at major merit aid.</p>
<p>I've ruled out the ivies and a lot of others because of my finances. Any suggestions? Any state schools? Any LACs?</p>
<p>Macalester. Mount Holyoke. Mac has a Neuroscience Studies major. MH has a Neuroscience & Behavior major. Don’t let her write MH off because it is a women’s college – it has a beautiful campus, and is part of a larger college consortium where she can have an active social life if she wants it. They are pretty serious about academics at MH and are good in the sciences. Both schools can give pretty good merit aid, too (MH better than Mac). My D, who was also looking for an intellectual environment, applied to both last year and was accepted with merit aid. She ended up picking another (more expensive) school, but if finances had been critical, she could have attended either and I think it would have worked well for her.</p>
<p>What state are you in? FA isn’t so great for OOS state students at most state schools, although a few states have reciprocity deals with other states.</p>
<p>Another school to consider is Dickinson. My D1 (older one) attended there and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Not everyone there is an intellectual, but my D found a nice group of like-minded academic friends and had a great experience. She also got merit aid. And they have a neuroscience major.</p>
<p>Merit aid is the key to this puzzle. U of Rochester has merit, a good cogsci dept. and is a good school, but I’m not sure if they would meet her definition of “significant intellectual demographic”. They’re very smart, but I’m not sure they sit around and discuss Proust.</p>
<p>Did she take the PSAT?
Does her score qualify her for National Merit Semi Finalist for your state?
If so, have her apply to schools that actively seek NMFinalists- check out the national merit forum on CC:
[National</a> Merit Scholarships - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/]National”>National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums)
If she will be a NMF -USC # 23 in the USNWR -offers 1/2 tuition scholarships to all accepted NMF’s. They also have the largest number of National Merit finalists of any US university. There is now a very large group of very smart students at USC. And the research opportunities there are unlimited. Its not the USC of 20+ years ago.
And if she applies before their Dec 1 deadline for merit consideration, she may have a chance to win one of their 150 full tuition scholarships- the reality is they are as hard to win as an acceptance to HYPS, but its worth a shot.</p>
<p>Are you positive you couldn’t get financial aid at the Ivy League (and Stanford) universities? A number of them offer phenomenal aid for those earning up to $200,000.</p>
<p>The reality is that aid starts really rolling off at about $150k. Up to $200k is generally for special circumstances only, like you’ve got two or three kids in college or other extraordinary circumstances. At least as I understand it. If someone has an EFC calculator that shows significant aid for only one kid in college and an income above $150k, I’d love to know about it.</p>
<p>LACs for merit and neuroscience: Smith (major), Grinnell (concentration), Rhodes (interdisciplinary program). All offer excellent overall academics.</p>
<p>I’d also look at Emory for a BS program in neuroscience and behavioral biology.</p>
<p>
I’d be willing to bet that doesn’t happen on any college campus, and I’d venture to say that even within the most erudite student body, drinking beer, playing video games, and watching The Walking Dead are far more common activities than engaging in intellectual discussions. These students put a lot of mental energy into their classes, and like the rest of us, they need and enjoy activities that are an escape. (But I’m waiting to stand corrected by someone who’s been there and done that.)</p>
<p>Sorry… but I do have a kid who sits around and discusses Proust with her friends. Also readily recites Shakespeare in any situation (actually can be darned annoying when you are trying to text with her!), thinks it is a blast to reel off Canturbury Tales in Old English in chorus with her friends, and thinks the most fun one can have on a Friday night is to attend a Quiz Bowl practice with other kids who like the same things. And, ironically, is attending a STEM college, but she picked one where many of the kids also like non-science/math intellectual pursuits as well (Mudd). She does have a weakness for watching Sherlock because he is smart. 
Just saying that there are kids like that and they pine to find others like themselves. So I understand something about the OP’s search… all colleges are NOT the same in this respect.</p>
<p>OP, what is ‘affordable’? Full-ride? Full-tuition? Partial tuition?</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for your help and suggestions. My daughter’s on a gap year this year. It seems, intparent, our children are of like mind. She doesn’t dig Proust, but she enjoys contemporary Shakespeare and TEDs, talk of the Bose-Einstein condensate, speculation about theories of mind and the likelihood someday of a unified field theory, engagement with Brunelleschi’s architectural harmonics, and debates about whether Italian is not the most beautiful language. These kids do exist and there are colleges that are more geared than others to enabling these students to find like-minded peers and helping them to maximize their potential. I mentioned state schools because some of them are large enough to have a critical mass of these kinds of people AND the honors programs and faculty to encourage and support them. There is such a good nearby state school with a good honors program but she has no interest in living 15 minutes from her parents or seeing her high school classmates everyday. I’m thinking that something like full tuition will be required to match my finances.</p>
<p>Just to confirm, have you run net price calculators for some of the more expensive colleges? Don’t just assume they are unaffordable if you haven’t had a chance to do that yet. They are on the financial aid page at the website for most colleges. If she does go to one of your state schools, I agree that an honors program that also provides housing for the honors students to be together could be a good fit as well.</p>
<p>I am not sure ruling out ivies is a good idea. Her grades and sats look solid. plus, ivies are pretty generous.</p>
<p>Intparent, I have run the npcs on the many non-ivy elites (like washu, mudd, vandy, and many others) and many second-tier schools like UMiami and MiamiOH, and they all turn up (without reference to any of the above named schools) a cost to us of 25K-40K/yr. With her stats, she can go to the nearby state school, live on campus, find a couple of people like your daughter, study abroad, and have spending money for 15-23K/yr. For a person whos almost certainly going to go on to a PhD in something, the difference between 60K and 160K in terms of our total debt is enormous, esp when you know that strong, mature students can get strong educations without going to an Ivy or near Ivy. Grandison, I agree with you in general, but we went down the ivy road last year to no avail: the child lacks a hook. Shes not particularly talented in any one thing (except giving of herself), not a legacy. She loved Big P and C and the students she met there loved her and insisted she apply, but this characteristic she has doesnt show up well on applications. Thank you for your continuing help, folks.</p>
<p>Some of the midwestern and southern LACs give out a fair amount of merit aid. However, you’d need a much larger than average award to hit a $15K/year target.</p>
<p>[Kiplinger’s</a> Best Values in Private Colleges-Kiplinger](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none]Kiplinger’s”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none)</p>
<p>For money, personality and academics, I’d say Smith is one of the best LAC options.</p>
<p>Maybe someone else can speak to this, but I know that most STEM graduate programs are funded and you will not have to pay for that. She won’t live high on the hog, but she can cover her tuition and expenses. I am not sure about neuroscience in particular, though. And obviously med school isn’t funded if that is the route she decides to take.</p>
<p>I’ll just give this a little bump and see if anyone else has anything to say about this topic.</p>
<p>I’m appreciative of everyone’s responses. I’ll take a look at every college mentioned. </p>
<p>As far as intparent’s last comment, yes, it is often the case that those accepted to the best PhD programs in STEM get significant support. This is also true of many humanities and social science programs; otherwise, very few would attend them. Still, many newly minted phds today find themselves beginning their careers with u/g debt with a sizeable interest burden built up in the 8-10 years they’ve spent in school. Graduates can spend the next ten years paying u/g debt and daycare before trying to save for a mortgage. And that’s if you get the phd and a full-time job that can service the debt. Thanks, everyone.</p>
<p>“but we went down the ivy road last year to no avail”
wait- she applied to “Ivy” level colleges last year and was rejected by all?
If so, you really do need to cast a much wider net, especially if FA is a must.
You may want to read this old CC thread, about a brilliant, accomplished student who aimed too high and had no true safeties, but after taking a gap year, ended up with a very happy outcome. One piece of advise -dont let her apply again to any college that rejected her last year- it will be a waste of time.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html?highlight=picking+up+the+pieces[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html?highlight=picking+up+the+pieces</a></p>