<p>My son seriously considered Dickinson. Attractive campus in a pleasant town of 20,000, that is within an hour’s drive of one million people (meaning jobs and internship opportunities). They have excellent merit and need aid.</p>
<p>Steve: York College of PA. in York PA has the typical range of sports found at most similarly sized colleges, in addition to several club sports. </p>
<p>[Go</a> Spartans! - York (Pa.)](<a href=“http://www.ycpspartans.com/landing/index]Go”>York College of Pennsylvania - Official Athletics Website)</p>
<p>It also happens to be the lowest sticker-priced 4 year private college I know of in the middle atlantic states. It is a well-rounded college with new residence halls, new athletic facilities, etc. They apparently don’t have a marching band but they do have music programs.</p>
<p>[Music</a> Majors | Music, Art & Communication Dept | York College of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.ycp.edu/academics/academic-departments/music-art-and-communication/division-of-music/]Music”>http://www.ycp.edu/academics/academic-departments/music-art-and-communication/division-of-music/)</p>
<p>In Maryland, your choices would be Saint Mary’s and UMBC for publics. Saint Mary’s is not part of the UMD system. It stands alone and is the only public LAC. DD attends and loves it. UMBC is in another one to look at while here. Your child may get some merit from both. Washington College, Stevenson, McDaniel, Hood and Goucher are some of the privates. I don’t think any of these privates are better choices than our publics for a better education but you may like them for other reasons. I am sure some of them(if not all) will give merit aid.</p>
<p>I must have been on the wrong York site. The CB had them listed as 550 students total–but the above link is 4600. That is a better size :D.</p>
<p>steve - it wouldn’t hurt to look into york but as you mentioned there is no marching band as there is no football team so if that’s a requirement then it doesn’t sound like the right place to be. i do believe we had most of the other common sports though. :)</p>
<p>Since fendergirl brought this up and I forgot about it, we toured several schools (8) in the area including Dickinson and Gettysburg, did not make it to York as it just wasn’t the right fit overall. Found some great options for the kids now we just have to see how the money shakes out for all of the schools they looked into everywhere.</p>
<p>Just curious, why that area? Baltimore for instance is very different than West Virginia… Why do you want a specific geographic region rather than based on other factors?</p>
<p>DD is being recruited by some schools out there, had DS look into some schools in the area as well. We were traveling out there already, just looking at other options we may not have known about. The specific regions, for those trips, fit in with the travel schedule. We were able to add or rule out schools based on other factors by looking on the internet.</p>
<p>Westminster College (where Winston Churchill gave his Iron Curtain speech) in Fulton, MO is about 2 hours east of KC. While slightly smaller than your 1200 minimum (1150) it is a lovely school with a lot of history. Merit aid is very generous. Students are from all over the country and the world (very interesting international student program) but the majority are from Tornado Alley states. Biology is one of the more popular majors. [Quick</a> Facts](<a href=“http://www.westminster-mo.edu/admissions/Pages/QuickFacts.aspx]Quick”>http://www.westminster-mo.edu/admissions/Pages/QuickFacts.aspx)</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about the school or my kiddo’s experience.</p>
<p>Augustana Sioux Falls S.D. Small schools have trouble supporting a traditional marching band though.</p>
<p>Muhlenburg, Dickinson, Gettysburg, St. Mary’s/MD, UMBC (sports, CS, science, merit $$), Goucher…
A friend’s S graduated from Gettysburg last year and was VERY happy with his time there. I have a couple other friends whose kids went to Dickinson and had a terrific experience.</p>
<p>SteveMa, </p>
<p>What were your students’ reactions to the schools you visited?</p>
<p>Which ones did you like/dislike?</p>