@CA1543 just bear in mind the boy/girl ratio is 70/30; for some boys this is a real downer, others don’t care. (if you read student reviews, almost all the negative ones are about that, and Troy being a place where “nothing happens”; everyone agrees its academics are great)
College of William and mary maybe?
This has been my first post and am grateful for your suggestions. Thank you.
In general, it appears that I have more options in the midwest. Grinnell,Carleton, Denison, Oberlin, Wooster, Earlham, Case Western and Honors at Ohio University - all seem like wonderful colleges.
In my preferred location in the mid atlantic and north east, the choices seem slimmer, more selective and offer less merit. Wesleyan, Brown, Clark U and Rochester.
Yes, generally speaking, good merit aid schools run down the middle of the country. Very little merit in the NE or the west coast. Not sure why that is so, but that is the reality.
Good luck. You have some nice options to consider.
Some NE schools do give merit for high-scoring students. My D with same stats as OP got a full tuition scholarship at RPI. So it’s there if they want you.
Your initial requirements were stated as relating to an eastern college with an open curriculum and a purely undergraduate focus. Since your requirements seem to have changed somewhat, the suggestions will become broader. RPI is a good one.
Congrats to your D for the scholarship at RPI. I cannot remember now the gender of the OP. I stand by my general comment in my post above, but obviously there are exceptions!
Yes, if merit aid is an important consideration, that changes the equation, particularly for LACs – it’s pretty scarce in the northeast (though not entirely nonexistent at less selective schools).
If you do pay a visit to Carleton and Grinnell, it’s pretty easy to add Macalester and St.Olaf to that trip. Both are terrific in the sciences, give merit aid and would meet all your criteria other than a desire to have no distribution requirements.
@ColdinMinny I agree with you. And if OP is a boy, probably less likely to get merit for RPI - I believe they’re keen on balancing their M/F ratio (70-30) and esp. attract women engineers.
My requirements have not yet changed. Am still looking for a good fit on the east coast.
There have been several mentions of possible merit-aid in this thread. Am beginning to consider the possibility of earning merit-aid while getting a good education in a college I will enjoy and not being seduced by rankings/selectivity. Going west as far as Ohio may be a tradeoff I can live with.
Thank you @digmedia for the suggestion of the honors college at Ohio University. I will plan to visit them as well as a few other honors colleges on the East Coast.
@Sured17 - I think it would help to read through all of the posts in this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-university-athens/294722-honors-tutorial-college-anyone-p1.html
There are both positive and negative comments here, but good information, expecially the questions/answers later in the thread.
My son wasn’t completely convinced until he visited, and then he didn’t want to go anywhere else.
Some advice if you visit:
- Beforehand, set up an interview with the head of Chemistry department (where the Biochemistry degree is housed). In the interview, be specific on what you want to study (ex: cell communication in a disease environment or whatever). Do a little reading up on that specialty before the interview.
- BE PASSIONATE in the interview; come across as KNOWING what you want to study and that you will thrive in an environment where the curriculum is tailored to YOU.
- Set up an interview with (or just stop by) the HTC office and be curious (and excited) about the program.
Like I said, your stats speak for themselves, but the two things they are looking for are PASSION about a subject and DRIVE (independent, driven person).
https://www.ohio.edu/honors/future-students/programs/chemistry.cfm
I considered the Ohio University Honors Program when I was looking at colleges! It sounded like a great program. Also, OU has a gorgeous campus and Athens is a nice town.
I totally feel you about not wanting to go further into the Midwest hahaha. People told me to consider Grinnell and Carleton, I refused because I didn’t want to go to Iowa or Minnesota. Looking back, I definitely should have given them a chance but there are great schools all over that will offer what you’re looking for.
I definitely prefer collaborative leaning; I always fall over when the leaning gets competitive 
(sorry, I’m a former copy editor, stuff just pops out at me)
I think if you’re willing to go as midwest as Ohio, then you probably should keep all of the midwest on your list. Both my kids are looking for open curriculum and supportive atmospheres for STEM undergrad stuff, and Brown pops up a lot (although it’s such a reach).
The Daily Beast has a 100 happiest colleges-this may be of some help:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2010/04/11/the-100-happiest-colleges.html#slide43
I’ll put in the plug for the College of Wooster. My son is a freshman intending to major is geo,minor in bio, and go on to grad school. Their whole focus is non-competitive, collaborative learning, accessible professors, and mentored research. We are from the DC area and it takes only 6 hours to drive there, which isn’t too bad. There has already been great advising and he used his Wooster connections to line up his summer internship over winter break. He also really liked Carleton but it’s much further away from the East Coast and also a lot colder than Ohio. Keep in mind that if you have to drive up and down I-95 you are likely to hit tons of traffic which can make a shorter distance take more time, the drive to Ohio is pretty easy and fast. They also give nice merit awards.
I have the same interests and expectations for college and this is my tentative list:
University of Chicago
Case Western Reserve University
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Earlham College
Macalester College
Hillsdale College
Augustana College (Illinois)
Kenyon College
(Denison University and the College of Wooster are also good schools that meet your needs, I have a sister attending each and they both love their choices.)