<p>RPI is generous with merit aid, but it is a very different type of school than many of the schools mentioned in this thread. They are very weak in the humanities, and obviously very strong in the sciences and math. My son was also considering St. Michael's, but felt he would be somewhat limited in the sciences there. Their merit aid was okay, but RPI's was much better so our net cost at RPR is lower. Many people love Fairfield. My son was not one of them. He thought the students were pretty preppy. A lot of designer-type clothing. When we toured, the financial aid person stated that they offer generous merit aid. If I remember, you had to apply early to be considered. The campus is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We did not look at Providence, but one of my son's friends is going there with a generous merit scholarship. Some parts of Providence are pretty sketchy so that would be my only concern.</p>
<p>Stonehill College & Clark University, both in Mass.</p>
<p>I would agree with palermo. If nothing else, the male to female ratio probably makes RPI feel very different than the other schools on that list. RPI is currently my son #2's first choice school - but he is a very techie kid.</p>
<p>Some of the kids from my sons' HS go to St Michaels and Fairfield (it's a Jesuit HS). Palermo's stereotype of the Fairfield student (preppy, very wealthy) is an opinion seemingly shared by several of them. One is transferring to Syracuse this fall. One is very happy there (and I don't think he's carrying dad's Platinum Visa). The other two I don't know about. </p>
<p>St. Michaels has sort of a wealthy, Boston crowd. The only kid I know well who is there has some other issues and while he's a really nice kid I don't know what he will do this fall. His sparents have been happy with the amount of effort St Mikes has made with their son and for them. </p>
<p>I have heard of kids (athletes) getting money from St Mikes but not Fairfield. It's a small sample though!!!</p>
<p>Stonehill I hear good things about, but it's pricey. Clark is an excellent school but has that dreaded "urban" campus tag attached. It seems some kids will kill to go to school within 10 miles of downtown Boston but are put off by schools like Clark and Trinity (CT) because of their inner city location. Fairfield I hear has the look of a commuter campus on weekends because it is populated by Gold Coast (CT) and Long Island co-eds who leave for the weekend. I don't know. I just get the feeling Fairfield is a safety for many wealthy kids that, through no fault of thier own, are not Ivy bound. Conversely RPI is, from what I hear, is more a working class school where blue collar kids bust thier humps to maintain thier scholarships and get thier degree. Less of a country club feel is what I'm trying to say.</p>
<p>During our tour of RPI, I did get the sense that the students work very hard, but they love every minute of it. We spoke with several students who were doing 10-15 hours of research work weekly on top of their classwork. All were also involved in extracurricular activities, but they were passionate about the research. If your child is a math/science type I would check it out. However, if there is any chance that they will not major in a scientific field, then it is likely not the right place. The campus does have a very different atmosphere from the New England LAC's and that is what my son liked about it.</p>
<p>Once again I agree with Palermo. </p>
<p>According to my son #2 he would "DIE" at a LAC.</p>
<p>Drew University in NJ is a sleeper. My DD did not like the school, but we know many others who really liked it a lot. There are nice ops for internships in NYC whichi is accessible by train. </p>
<p>If you're looking for merit aid, Salve Regina has good aid especially for its top applicants. However, also look at the course offerings.</p>
<p>Bryant College...nice small school. Good business offerings, but other things also. Good merit aid for top applicants.</p>
<p>My son was a top Bryant applicant (I am determining this by only looking at stats, but he also has strong ecs to add to those sats). He was not offered a dime in merit aid from Bryant. He was only offered a huge amount of loans, in fact this is the only school that offered him a Perkins loan on top of the Stafford! I am under the impression that 25% of accepted students receive merit aid, but it did not work out for us. This school had the worst aid package of all of the schools where S was accepted.
BTW, he also showed a lot of interest-visited the campus twice, sat in on 2 classes, and had an interview. He also knows 2 alumni. None of this helped him with merit aid.</p>
<p>weenie: It is great that your son realizes that. It took my son almost a full year to realize he did not want a liberal arts school.</p>
<p>palermo, Yeah I agree. He tagged along son #1's tours - who was looking exclusively at LACs - and he thought they looked dreadful. (Perfect for son #1 though.) When we got to Case Western he perked up when the guide started talking about their great something or other cable bandwidth (?), but that was it. Ha. When he toured RPI he thought it was perfect. All those boys buried in computers. Go figure.</p>
<p>Northeastmom- I don't get it! The daughter of a coworker of mine (4.0 weighted GPA) is getting 9K per year (36K total) in pure merit at Bryant yet your son, whom I'm sure had equally good stats, gets zero. Salve Regina is supposed to be tightfisted with merit, at least by reputation, but apparently they reach out to some candidates. I guess you find a bunch of places your child likes, submit the aps, and go with the highest bidder. Providence College will be our first stop. Anyone know the book on them.</p>
<p>Nightingale- The college of distinction website has a nice write- up on Providence. It's very wierd, as almost every college that has been listed here is also on the College of Distinction website. I think this site is much more valuable than I initially thought as our own "cc" experts seem to mirror all the info that is on this one site.<br>
They also list schools throughout the country, so though we may be concentrating on schools in the NE, they have similar listings of suggested schools throughtout the USA.</p>
<p>Nightingale, no my son does not have a 4.0, but is way above ave. in stats for this school. My son goes to a very competitive hs. People with 3.8+ from our hs get into Ivies, UVA etc. They don't even look at schools like Bryant. I know someone with much lower stats than my S that got 8,000/year last year. I really do think that they believed they were being used as a safety, even with all of the visits. He did apply with gold app, BTW (no app fee, earlier notification of admission). My son was offered merit money at a number of schools where applicants have much higher stats than at Bryant, just to give you some perspective.</p>
<p>I know a senior at Providence. She got a very nice merit package from there when she was a freshman. She did have an excellent gpa with excellent verbal sat, and above ave. math sat score. The hs she attended has a reputation for being very mediocre. She did take some SATIIs and I know that she scored well. She is an exceptional student from a mediocre hs. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>You people are listing supposed sleeper schools that are impossible to get in to!</p>
<p>Try Stonehill, Fairfield, Emmanuel, Simmons, Bentley....Look at the schools that have rolling admissions..</p>
<p>Yes, unfortunately many of the schools that have been mentioned are not necessarily difficult to get into, but rather difficult to afford, ie., Colby, Trinity, Holy Cross, without generous merit packages. The schools nicole1500 has mentioned are good schools with, as near as I can tell, good reputations for giving solid merit packages. Near as I can tell here are some solid schools with a propensity toward good merit aid.</p>
<p>Mitchell
Fairfield
Marist
Sienna
Stonehill
RPI
Mount Holyoke
Providence
U Maine
WPI
Fordham
Bentley
Sacred Heart (CT)
Northeastern</p>
<p>And Marney1 is right. The Colleges of Distinction website champions many of these colleges.</p>
<p>university of hartford offered my sister a huge scholarship to attend (i think its going to cost my parents $10,000 a year)</p>
<p>As much as I love Siena, the highest merit award they offer is $5000. It was $4500 4 years ago when my D applied. She was awarded the $4500 plus some need based money, although she went elsewhere. It kind of bothered me that their top academic students could only receive $4500 (at that time), yet if you were a DI athlete, you could get a full ride.</p>
<p>I need to add the following:
U of Hartford
Hofstra
Scratch Sienna until I learn more.. I do know a D1 female BBall player who got a full boat there though. She was outstanding but I'm guessing most of us don't have standout (four year starter) D1 players at home.</p>
<p>Fairfield offers a variety of schoarships from a full tuition ride, 50% tuition reduction and 30% reduction. However it probably does not qualify as a sleeper as it is getting more and more play in the northeast. Right now I think sleepers in the northeast are limited to those schools that may have one or two programs that are excellent in comparison to the rest of their offerings. If you are wedded to their programs you can do well. If you have to switch majors you may be in trouble.</p>
<p>Tufts in Boston. My D applied to big name schools (Yale, JHU, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Penn, UCLA............but fell in love with Tufts. It wasn't even on her list initially. She is very excited to be moving from So. Cal to Boston and is thrilled with everything she has learned since deciding to go to Tufts.</p>