Any suggestions on Franklin & Marshall, Lafayette, Skidmore and Union?
It might help if you let us know why you dropped the other schools. Was it all financial or have you narrowed down what you are and are not looking for?
@gallentjill, I have narrowed the long list down (still long way to go) and dropped these schools as they didn’t entice me (environment, campus vibe, academics, etc.) Boston College & Boston University weren’t helpful (or rather rude) when discussing my prospective (financial, NCP, special circumstances) situation. Hence they deserved to be axed.
@GuessME5 I was just thinking that it would be easier to give you suggestions about Lafayette, Union, ect…if we knew more about what you liked and didn’t like. What you are hoping to find there that you didn’t find at the schools you dropped .
BU does not have a good FA reputation even in normal circumstances.
You may want to run the net price calculators on all of the college web sites with the assumption of a waiver being granted. Those which are still unaffordable in this best case situation can be removed.
@gallentjill, well, Union College has shown optimism in getting my CSS NCP statement waived. I’m not sure about Lafayette, Skidmore and Franklin & Marshall as their robotic replies weren’t helpful in reaching a conclusion hence asking for suggestions whether they deserve to be on my list.
I’m looking for qualities I mentioned in my original post and post #10.
Grinnell’s social scene and in middle of nowhere, conservative rural location (also high crime) didn’t entice me. Same with Carleton and it’s weather. With Syracuse and URochester, their surrounding area and campus vibe was something I disliked, not to mention Syracuse’s stingy FinAid. Harvey Mudd didn’t have the majors I’m looking for. Occidental’s boring bohemian type and the courses in the major didn’t suit my wants. Dartmouth and Brown indicated they give out NCP Waivers very, very rarely, not to mention Dartmouth’s location either.
Location isn’t that priority to me if all other factors seem good. Planning to apply to colleges which meet need, optimistic chances of NCP waiver, rigorous and quantitative academics with reputation in East coast finance industry. Also, schools with compulsory core education /general study requirements / religious lose points.
@ucbalumnus, I already did the NPC based shortlisting. The schools I originally mentioned in my very preliminary list in original post all meet need. You are right, I need to trim down further where I seem / likely to get a NCP waiver.
Not sure why TCU (Texas Christian University) is offering huge school grants (upwards of $40,000) in its estimate. Is it simply front loading and enticing freshman applicants? Does this school has the reputation to offer and maintain offering such amounts of assistance?
Updated (yet still very preliminary) list - (based on 2nd strategy)
LACs-
Williams
Amherst
Bowdoin
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Davidson
Babson
Bates
Colby
Colgate
Vassar
Hamilton
Haverford
Wesleyan
Oberlin
Pitzer
Lafayette
Union College
Franklin and Marshall
Skidmore
Connecticut College
Dickinson
Denison
Gettysburg College
Universities-
Bentley University
Brandeis
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke
Emory
GWU
Georgetown
Harvard
John Hopkins
Lehigh
MIT
Northeastern
Northwestern
Rice
Stanford
TCU
Tufts
Umiami
Umichigan
Notre Dame
Upenn
USC
Villanova
Wake Forest
WUSTL
Yale
I believe most, if not all of the LACs have general studys requirements. But those can usually be reduced with AP credits. My daughter and I visited both Union and Lafayette. She crossed Lafayette off her list because it had a very “jock” Greek feel to it. We were there for an open house and met many students. All of them were friendly and welcoming, but all seemed to fit a certain mold. A lot of school spirit, heavily involved in Greek life and athletics. We came away thinking it was a great school, but not for us. I can’t speak to the specific major or the cutthroat nature of the academics. My guess though, is that its a place where students work hard, but not quite as hard as you would like.
We liked Union very much. Its beautiful and about 1.5 hours away from NYC. The tour gave the impression of a school for highly intelligent students who also like to have a good time with many campus events. However, the school has a reputation for a hard drinking party school. There is a thread discussing it that you should look at. We only met the one student giving the tour so I can’t attest to the truth of the opinions in the thread. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/union-college-new-york/2081292-why-you-shouldnt-study-at-union-p1.html
Skidmore has a reputation for being bohemian so if that was the reason you dropped another school, you may not like this one either.
Given what you are looking for, I really think you will like Brandeis and love Columbia. I assume Chicago is still first choice? That one seems perfect.
@gallentjill, thanks for the really informative and helpful review of those colleges. I’ll be dropping Lafayette now. Will decide on Skidmore and Union. Chicago is my clear first choice. Do you have any experience with Brandeis, would love to know more about it.
I think you may be disappointed when it comes down to the NCP waiver. You don’t qualify, at all. Schools may blow smoke up your thing, but when it comes down to it,you have contact with your dad so you are not qualified for a waiver. You should be looking at merit sccholarships, not need based with a NCP waiver.
@CottonTales, whether or not I’ll be disappointed with NCP waiver isn’t important. I’m trying to cast a wide net and diversify my portfolio, rather than putting all eggs in one basket. It’s better to know the outcome rather than later dreaming ‘what if it had actually happened’. There’s no harm in trying, only regret if you don’t.
What I have described here regarding my NCP situation isn’t the entire, original picture but just 5% of it. There are several details which I can trump in my petition. It always doesn’t imply that if I have contact, I don’t get the waiver. It doesn’t work that way. Some contacts are not to be counted as they don’t qualify. But not all schools look at the situation and work with it the same way. What I’ve found and doing in my research in compilation of this list, I have across schools that showed pessimism, disinterest or a straight not possible answer to this case, while some schools showed a beam of light while the others fell in between.
Anyways, I’m not developing a monotonous, hit or pass portfolio. I have almost compiled a list based on merit scholarships, which is my first strategy in applications. This list will be compiled based on my 2nd strategy, irrespective of whether I’ll get the NCP waived or not, that’s a different issue, not to be discussed here. Let’s focus on the thread topic.
If you have suggestions on the schools on my preliminary list, I’d appreciate that.
I’ve created this thread to seek guidance and suggestions on developing the list, not to hear a hundred different opinions from a hundred different people regarding NCP waiver case, as that will digress and deviate from the thread topic I created.
Guidance and suggestions on the college list is highly appreciated, I’m not interested in personal, NON professional evaluations and opinions of my NCP waiver situation.
Your thread topic is to try to find schools that will give you a NCP waiver. I am telling you not to bank on that, at all! You don’t qualify for that. Keep your search to merit based scholarship schools. Good luck.
@CottonTales, thank for your advice. I’ll take it. I think there’s a misunderstanding in the thread topic, I’m asking for help in compiling list of schools that meet full need, not which schools could give NCP waiver. People on this forum won’t know that (which ones give and which ones don’t), that’s something the Financial Aid dept. at each school looks into.
I’m not banking on it, just diversifying my portfolio. I’m not going to be like a kid at a candy store with the NCP waiver. I may qualify, at some schools, I may not. There are more myriad and deeper details that I’m confident will get the NCP statement waived, but not all schools look at it the same way I want to.
Anyways, thanks for your suggestion on searching only schools for merit scholarships. I’m finished with that, but not limited to it there. No harm in trying at these, either! 
With regard to Brandeis, we toured and I have many friends and family members who have attended over the years. My impression is that it is a highly studious place for serious students. Not that they never have fun, but they definitely seem to put their education first. The students we met on the tour all had research projects and multiple majors. The campus is as ugly as can be, but it is very close to Boston, one of the world’s best college towns.
I’m glad my posts have been helpful, but I would be very concerned if you are taking schools off the list because of my one review. Please remember, we were only there for one day. It was an open house, so we did meet many students, but my impressions may be very different from others.
Good luck to you, I say this as a parent who went through the NCP process. It is pretty cut and dry, not arbitrary.
@gallentjill, Brandeis sounds very likeable then.
I highly value suggestions and personal experiences from people like you. I have to take them seriously because being an expat and not able to personally visit schools to find out which ones would suit me, I’ll have to depend on other parent’s experiences, even if it was a single visit. If your daughter didn’t like the Greek feel at Lafayette, neither would I. As I’m a rigorously academically oriented person, never partied in life nor don’t know how parties are.
I’m trying to stay away from schools with dominant Greek life, partying, drinking, vomits, noise, disgusting weekend scenes… Schools where fun comes to die like UChicago and Columbia interest me. I hate fun.
Columbia is as studious and cutthroat as you could ever want. However, thay have a very extensive core curriculum. I know thats one of the negatives you mentioned about other schools.
Please don’t feel pressured to answer, but I’m curious about your FAFSA only list. Have you found any good candidates for a very studious person? If I remember correctly, you want to major in business. Have you looked at Baruch in NYC? It might fit the bill.
^^Very few schools like that. A few religious schools don’t have much in the way of partying. When Amherst banned fraternities because they were SO out of control, the school didn’t suddenly become a monastery. It still has a lot of party guys. Animal House was based on the frats at Dartmouth. Princeton has legendary food fights in the Eating Clubs.