<p>Just curious. Anyone find a gem of a school that was a pleasant surprise in New England. All seem really expensive and with competitive admit profiles and limited merit. D has 1330 math/verbal SAT, and great EC's. Just don't want her to miss out on any generous sleeper (non-Ivy) schools so close to crunch time.</p>
<p>Connecticut College, Trinity, both good schools with happy students. Generous FA, but no merit money, at least at Conn.</p>
<p>I liked UConn. It looks about $34,000 for out of state (or maybe you're in-state or able to take advantage of compact tuition?). Maybe my fondness for it is that I had seen the campus pre-basketball team fame 20 years ago and it has really sprouted all kinds of new facilities since.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Providence College?</p>
<p>How about Wheaton?</p>
<p>UConn, Providence, Yep. Trinity and Connecticut College both excellent.. but no merit aid really hurts if your EFC is fairly high. All great suggestions though.
Trinity is in downtown Hartford, so whether justified or not folks do have security concerns. But yes, generous FA when I checked also. D didn't like Hartford though, too close to home... same with Mount Holyoke.. a shame.</p>
<p>check out Clark in Worcester as well</p>
<p>Trinity is quietly moving into the merit arena in a fairly substantial way:</p>
<p>Trinity</a> College</p>
<p>Also check out post #8 in this thread.</p>
<p>Clark University has some very strong academic programs and merit scholarships that your D's scores would put her in the ballpark for.</p>
<p>Clark</a> University | Financial Aid | First-Year Students</p>
<p>Smith College is the best in terms of quality of educat for students w/ 1300 scores (as opposed to 1500 for Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan); FA is generous and merit money is avail for superstars. Better location (Nono) and academic than MHC - - though no farther from home.</p>
<p>Your D is far more likely to get merit money from slightly less selective schools in the mid-West: Wooster, Case, Earlham, etc. Or consider some of the southern schools (if you don't mind frats): Furman, Rhodes.</p>
<p>But if D wants to stay in the NE, remember that some schools (like Clark) have lower tuition, which will result in the same out-of-pocket expense as a more expensive school w/ a small merit award.</p>
<p>I think Clark is still over $40,000. I'm trying to find inexpensive but reputable NE privates as well and it is very hard. Someone on CC mentioned St. Thomas More; it's like a Catholic St. Johns where you read great books, near Manchester NH, and it is selective and tution was low.</p>
<p>Stonehill College in MA; St. Michael's College in Burlington, VT.</p>
<p>Marlboro College in VT? I think they have a summertime writer's conference, so that's how I heard of them. Extremely small number of students.</p>
<p>New England College in Henniker, NH? I think NEC would be a safety for her stats.
maybe l000 students total; great accommodations of LD students which your D isn't but consider that; skiing; beautiful; too much drinking for my taste and my parents who retired as professors from there :)</p>
<p>Bard College, but not if you are in any way conventional espec politically.
It's upstate NY but so close to New England, physically and culturally, I just
squeaked it over the border for you.</p>
<p>I have no idea where they stand re: aid, sorry not to know that piece. None of my kids attended them, I just have heard of them by reputation.</p>
<p>Middlebury in Vt but I bet you've already heard of it a lot. Megabucks, like Bennington. Why don't they just name the colleges "Megabucks" with a number after them like P.S. 142 in New York City... Best wishes and good luck to your D.</p>
<p>Just remembered my D over in Providence RI; through her I've heard of: Providence College, Quinnipiac (Sp?), Roger Warren, URI.</p>
<p>FYI: Clark $39K; MHC $46K, Trinity $48K</p>
<p>A savings of $9K in the tuition is effectively the same as a $9K grant (Clark isn't the only school w/ signif lower tuition, but it immediately came to mind b/c 3 friends chose it for that reason).</p>
<p>We got merit offers from both Wheaton and U. Vermont. Wheaton's immediate location isn't great, but it's close to Providence, and when we were looking at it four years ago you could cross-register for courses at Brown. At UVM you get Burlington and Lake Champlain and the mountains close by -- the best of both worlds, urban and natural. Smith was the final choice -- also with a small merit offer -- but if your D has rejected MH, then Smith may not be the place for her.</p>
<p>Emerson in Boston would be a place to check out.</p>
<p>Is Muhlenberg too far south for you? She would probably get some merit money there.</p>
<p>I'd second Marlboro: small and somewhat quirky, but with a strong reputation for faculty involvement, rigor, and an individualized experience. Check out some of their stats on the NSSE survey (2004):</p>
<p>USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Survey of Student Engagement</p>
<p>In the real sleeper department: University of Maine at Farmington. A very solid, welcoming public LAC. OOs tuition is about $20K, and there are a number of merit scholarships specifically targeted at attracting high achieving out-of-state students.</p>
<p>Re public Us in Maine:</p>
<p>It is my understanding that UMF is supposed to be particularly good for those interested in teaching careers. The University of Southern Maine has a strong School of Music (and possibly other stuff). The University of Maine at Orono is supposed to have strong engineering programs.</p>
<p>Whether they have merit money I don't know, but if any of their programs fit the bill, the reather specialized College of the Atlantic on Mt. Desert would be an interesting place.</p>
<p>At least that's the word in-state.</p>
<p>I just checked out UMF!!!! University</a> of Maine at Farmington. It looks great! they have real-life examples on the website of what IS/OOS would pay with merit/need aid (I love when colleges do that). VERY inexpensive. BUT COLD COLD COLD.</p>
<p>Could someone who is familiar with them say something about the relative merits of St. Anselms in new Hampshire and Salve Regina in Newport, RI? Thanks.</p>