<p>How about Notre Dame or Saint Mary’s? They are considered conservative, which in real terms is maybe 50-50%, but conservative compared to the “average” college, which I feel is way left. Saint Mary’s is all women, but students can take classes at ND, join clubs there, be a part of the football, etc. Average ND ACT is 33; majority of students are in the top 5% of their HS class.</p>
<p>Of Wheaton, Hope and Hillsdale (and I am very familiar with all three as well as St. Olaf) Hillsdale is probably the most dynamic environment. Hillsdale is quite unique in so many ways, there probably isn’t another school like it in the country with regard to curriculum and vision. It was the first American college to prohibit in its charter all discrimination based on race, religion, or sex so in that respect it is “quite” liberal but it is very conservative in it’s attitude toward “big government.” If I were young again and not as desperate to get out Michigan as I was at 18, I would have taken a good long look at that college as a poli sci major it would have been an excellent foundation school. I like reading opposing views and I still receive their magazine along with 2 million other people…sometimes I agree and sometimes I don’t 
Good luck to you. I hope you keep participating and we find out where you land this year.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys, I agree about Hillsdale; it’s one of my favorites at this point. I especially appreciate the emphasis on classical, liberal education vs. the “trendy” education that many institutions seem to promote. What colleges would you say have a similar philosophy/mission?</p>
<p>Of the schools on my list, I know the least about St. Olaf. Could you speak to its general academic rigor?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think Colorado College is more moderate/middle of the road. It is in Colorado Springs, which is a fairly conservative community, too.</p>
<p>What about Pepperdine?</p>
<p>If Colorado College is more moderate/middle then it’s changed alot in 6 years. Colorado Springs is certainly conservative but the college, we found 6 years ago not so much. I love Colorado College, don’t get me wrong. It’s one of my favorites in the western states. </p>
<p>St. Olaf is probably most like Hope in my opinion. A mix of politically conservative, politically liberal, christian conservative, christian liberal. Hope probably as more active churchgoing percent of student body than St. Olaf (Hope being Christian Reformed and St. Olaf being Lutheran) The Christian reformed tend in general to be “better weekly churchgoers” than Lutherans and I’m painting with broad strokes. But even Hope has more less active church participants than say Wheaton.</p>
<p>I think that your entire list consists of safeties. Claremont McKenna would probably qualify as a match, maybe even a low match, assuming that you have decent ECs and recommendations to go along with those stats. I’m assuming that you have good course rigor. </p>
<p>I’d stop worrying about everyone else’s politics and start looking for an appropriately challenging school. The top LACs and the Ivy-caliber schools are going to lean left–most intellectual people do–but they will have a great diversity of opinion and experience. Yes, there are solid LACs where you wouldn’t fit, such as Hampshire or Earlham. But if you stop and think about it for a minute, the top schools have been supplying the captains of industry, corporate lawyers, investment bankers, and the like for generations. Groups that are not known for their liberalism.</p>
<p>If you want LACs, try Wellesley, Williams, Amherst, Davidson, maybe Swarthmore and Bowdoin. The Ivies (ALL of which have a substantial conservative presence), Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, U of C, Duke. You could also consider applying to outstanding state flagships that have big scholarships for which you might be competitive. I’m not as familiar with those, but I think there are some at UNC Chapel Hill and U VA. People can inform you of those.</p>
<p>If you need financial aid, you are more likely to get it if you apply to schools like these than if you apply to less well-endowed schools that claim to “meet need” but do so largely with loans. A student who needs substantial FA needs to cast a wide net, not listen to stuff about applying to 8 schools.</p>
<p>If you go to an elite school, you can construct whatever you consider to be a “classic, liberal education” at a high level.</p>
<p>Consolation-- I have considered all colleges with acceptance rates below 20% to be reaches to some degree for me. Claremont McKenna, with a 14.1% acceptance rate, certainly fits the bill. I’m not convinced it’s a match.</p>
<p>I do not qualify for most FA but my parents are only able to pay a max of ~25k/yr. Thus, we are on the hunt for substantial merit aid. I’ve been looking quite a bit at the merit offerings at each school and have built the list in part based on the “merit safety/match/reach” philosophy. The very limited number of reaches is due to my reluctance to add a bunch of need-only schools my parents won’t be able to afford. Does anyone have any advice regarding how to balance # of FA/admissions reaches with # of FA/admissions matches given my stats?</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional suggestions. At this point, I think the colleges at the top of my “research and maybe add” list are Princeton, Dartmouth, U of C, and Williams.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In this case, you may find that fiscal/economic conservatives are more common that you think at college campuses. While college-student-age people tend to lean left on social issues (e.g. gay marriage), they may not lean left as much on fiscal/economic issues. Indeed, libertarian types seemed to be more common around college when I was in college than they are outside of college environments. (Of course, heavily religious colleges may be much more conservative socially than most colleges.)</p>
<p>$25,000 per year could afford Truman State and University of Minnesota - Morris at out-of-state list price (Truman State has some automatic merit scholarships for high stats listed in its net price calculator).</p>
<p>If you are willing to put in work earnings or Direct/Stafford loans, you could probably go up to about $30,000 per year, perhaps a little more if you are willing to put in both. Some other schools in this list might fall into range: [COPLAC</a> | Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges](<a href=“http://www.coplac.org/students/admissions.html]COPLAC”>http://www.coplac.org/students/admissions.html)</p>
<p>Scholarships and financial aid affect reach/match/safety as follows (assuming no need based financial aid):</p>
<ul>
<li>Certain you can afford at list price or with automatic-for-stats merit scholarship: safety for cost</li>
<li>Likely but not certain merit scholarship would make it affordable: match for cost</li>
<li>Unlikely but possible merit scholarship would make it affordable: reach for cost</li>
<li>No merit scholarship available would make it affordable: out of reach, do not bother applying</li>
</ul>
<p>Then, compare reach/match/safety for cost with reach/match/safety for admission. The entire school is whichever is the more difficult category. I.e. a safety for admission that is a reach for cost is a reach overall.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Have you run the online cost estimators at individual schools using real figures? Have you looked at the FA policies at HYP?</p>
<p>Many people make assumptions about qualifying for FA that are not accurate.</p>
<p>The University of Rochester is a very good mid-sized university in that circa 4K undergrad sweet spot that give merit aid, some very substantial, some in a range that will probably not work for you. The University of Pittsburg is a solid school with an honors college and merit money for top OOS students. If you are interested in Rochester, display interest by making an appointment with a travelling admissions person. If Pitt, apply in September.</p>
<p>I didn’t notice: are you interested in any particular academic field at this point?</p>
<p>I haven’t seen it mentioned, so I’ll put in a plug for my alma mater - Washington & Lee. Its in Virginia, but neither the area nor the students are “deep South”. It should meet most of your criteria and has significant merit scholarships for those who qualify. It used to be very conservative, not nearly so much anymore. Students are from all over the country, but the East coast states predominate.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus-- your cost methodology is almost identical to the one I’ve been using. Right now I have Hope as a safety for cost (guaranteed NM scholarship) and very nearly a safety for admissions (not guaranteed, but I’ve demonstrated interest and am 99% sure I will be admitted.) </p>
<p>The only problem is, most of the suggested reaches are need-only-- for example, Williams and Dartmouth. Should I bother applying to them anyways? I’m thinking of having several need-only reaches for my parents’ benefit and in case somehow FA lightening strikes. (And, though I don’t like to admit it, it would be nice to know “I got into X University” even if I choose not to attend… )</p>
<p>Consolation-- we have run the actual numbers for Claremont McKenna, Hillsdale, University of Chicago, and UCLA (we are CA residents). None of the calculators gave us any significant need-based aid. I don’t believe we ran the HYP calculators; would there be a significant change if we did?</p>
<p>Hat-- I did look into Washington & Lee but was a little concerned about what seems to be an unusually strong Greek/drinking culture. Should I be worried about fitting in if I don’t plan to do either?</p>
<p>When I went to W&L (many, many moons ago), it was very greek (about 95% of the, then all male, students) and there was a lot of drinking (liquor, not beer). Now that it is coed, the greek percentage has fallen off and the drinking if more limited. Of course, “more limited” is a relative term. Drinking you will find at almost all colleges, but I doubt that not drinking would be a problem at any of them. The fraternity/sorority presence may be varied at different colleges, but there will always be groups of students who get together for any number of reasons, including partying. They may be “eating clubs”, “final clubs”, or any number of “societies” that exist almost everywhere. Keep an open mind.</p>
<p>HYPS (and perhaps a few others) are said to be extra-generous with financial aid; if your parents are pushing those and similar super-selective schools, you might as well run the net price calculators so that you can assess whether they are financially in-reach or not. If not, show your parents the price and maybe they will stop pushing those schools.</p>
<p>For merit scholarships, go to the financial aid and scholarships forum and look at the sticky threads at the top (automatic full tuition/ride, competitive full tuition/ride, and National Merit) for more school ideas.</p>
<p>If you are flexible about LAC, consider Northeastern in Boston - full tuition scholarships for NM. Room and board would be approx $15K/yr.</p>
<p>With a 4.0 and 2300 SAT Hope is a safety (financial + merit). Hillsdale and St. Olaf will probably give you merit as you would be going in at the top and you have geographic diversity. I agree that running the net price calculator for Dartmouth and perhaps Princeton might be the ticket to finding a couple reach schools if you want to shoot the moon. But in general if you like the colleges on your list you’ll find your financial safety no problem and be Ok with your parents’ budget. I’d keep Chicago on your list because they do give merit scholarships if they want you.</p>
<p>Well… Chicago gives merit scholarships, but most are a drop in the bucket. The large merit scholarships are very hard to get. $5,000 is a common merit amount at U of C – makes you feel good, except that it still leaves ~$55,000 to pay if you don’t get need based aid.</p>
<p>I second the Washington and Lee suggestion. They give Johnson scholarships to 10% of their entering class. I believe this is full tuition.
One of Dd’s old boyfriends was a Johnson Scholar and had a wonderful experience and education. He wasn’t a big partier- far from it.</p>
<p><a href=“Washington and Lee”>Washington and Lee;
<p>momofthreeboys-- I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion, ucbalumnus. I will go through that thread again (though so many of those scholarships are crazy competitive! Yeesh.)</p>