<p>j07 -- please expand your search beyond the Ivy League to look at many excellent colleges that offer substantial merit aid. Someone mentioned that you should send a PM to Curmudgeon - his daughter turned down Yale this year to accept a full-ride scholarship at Rhodes (an excellent LAC in Tennesses). </p>
<p>In 2005 there was a poster called EvilRobot who, after some agonizing, turned down Yale and opted to accept a very generous merit-based financial package from Vanderbilt. He has since posted to let us know that he is doing tremendously well at Vandy -- as well as the academic opportunities he has, I think his love life was also going very well there at the time he posted, so he was a very happy camper. </p>
<p>I know from following threads this year that Brandeis seemed to prioritize its merit money to fulfill a collegiate goal of increasing diversity, passing over many exceptionally well qualified students in order to offer generous aid packages to students coming from minority backgrounds. </p>
<p>All of these are excellent colleges. There are many, many excellent LAC's and small colleges that are willing to wine and dine students like you, and offer you the moon... if you are willing to expand your options beyond prestige schools. You can find resources on this site by looking at threads about which colleges give good merit aid -- and you will also find info on the college web sites. A lot of colleges that do NOT promise to meet full "need" of all of their applicants leverage their aid to be very generous with the 5-10% of applicants that they really, really want -- and you have a good shot at being one of those.... ESPECIALLY if you swim will enough for Div. III competition. (Div 3 can't give athletic scholarships, but I am sure that the schools are happy to be able to give academic scholarships to scholar-athletes). </p>
<p>If your heart is set on Princeton or another Ivy, you should also apply there - you will kick yourself forever if you don't at least try. But focus your college search on colleges where you've got a good shot at getting a full-ride, or at least full-tuition, scholarship. I think you will be pleasantly surprised about what many non-Ivy, slightly less prestigious colleges have to offer you.</p>