My daughter and I are planning to visit colleges in the Northeast over her spring break in March. I’d like some help narrowing down our list of colleges, since we’ll only have time to visit 5-7 colleges. She’s a HS junior-- here are her stats/criteria:
1335 on PSAT taken this fall; 4.0/4.0, now taking all IB and AP courses
interested in math/sciences–wants a LAC where sciences are strong
outdoorsy/active student body (hiking, skiing, camping)
merit aid would be ideal but not a must
college where students who didn’t attend east coast prep schools (or whose families aren’t wealthy) don’t feel out of place
At this point, we’re curious about Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Middlebury, Dartmouth, Amherst, Tufts, Clark, Williams … any other suggestions are welcome! We don’t need travel tips, but impressions of colleges, student bodies and the likelihood of merit aid would be appreciated.
Whew. Those are all very competitive schools. Any chance you plan to include ones with less lofty admissions?
Middlebury and Colby are not on the way to anything. Are they her top choices?
Bates, Colby, Middlebury, Dartmouth, Amherst, Willaims, Tufts, and I think Bowdoin do not give merit aid. Need based only. So chances of merit at these schools is zero.
1335 out of what? What is the total on the new PSAT?
You sort of have two clusters excluding Middlebury and Dartmouth.
You could see Bates, Bowdoin and Colby the same day if you arrive the night before and start early the next day. Bates and Bowdoin are very close to each other.
The schools in Mass would be impossible to see the same day. It looks like you will need a solid 5 days on the ground for all the schools.
Hi there @406for3 welcome to the forum! It looks like you might be a fellow Montanan given your username
So my daughter and I used spring break to visit NE colleges her junior spring and we were able to fit in A LOT of schools. When it was all said and done she literally saw 14 schools in New England (in total combined with another trip fall of her senior year). I have notes on the NESCACS (visited all but Hamilton and Trinity) plus Dartmouth, Brown, Hampshire, Wheaton, and UVM. I’d be happy to share them with you if you want me to private message you (I figure it might bore the rest of the forum).
You’ll have to run the NPC for each individual college to determine what sort of FA your family would qualify for as it varies. Regarding merit aid the NESCACS and Ivies don’t offer any. But Clark does as well as Wheaton, Smith and Mt Holyoke (those 3 schools were specifically mentioned upstream)
My daughter is currently a freshman at Middlebury so, again, PM me if you want some details regarding her experience so far… which has been fabulous…
Thumper, any recommendations of less lofty schools that meet some of her wishlist? We’re also looking at other schools outside the NE, but I’m focused on this trip for now. We will not qualify for need-based aid, and merit aid would be a factor in her decision because she could carry more 529 $ into grad school someday vs taking out loans. New PSAT score of 1335 converts to ~2010 on old SAT. She didn’t study for the PSAT, so she’s also hoping to raise her actual SAT score slightly. I should have mentioned in her criteria: she’s not drawn to single-gender or religious colleges.
Wheaton in MA is not a religious college (that would be Wheaton in IL) and one of my daughter’s close friends is there with really generous merit aid. I believe Skidmore and Clark give decent merit aid.
St. Lawrence, Lafayette, Gettsyburg, Union, Dickinson, Bucknell might have some merit. Muhlenberg would be a perfect high merit play.
If her SATs come in around 2000, Clark is a good idea. The others would be a stretch especially for a female at those LACs except Colby. In regular decision the average for all those schools is about 2150 and higher all with acceptance rates below to well below 20%.
Bowdoin and Bates are test optional. You can go that route depending on test scores. That route is very difficult in my opinion.
Well…most of your original list are need based financial aid only schools which are in the >$50,000 a year range. If you can’t pay for those or do not want to, your list isn’t particularly good.
The reality is…in the northeast, it’s going to be hard to find a small, elite school…which is what you have on your current list…that gives a lot of merit aid. And where it’s given, it is highly competitive…very highly competitive.
What about schools like Lehigh, Villanova, Ithaca? She might get some merit aid there…depending on her actual SAt score. If you are willing to look outside of New England, you might want to consider Muhlenberg…again merit possibilities there.
What about St. Michaels in Burlington? I know…it sounds religious, but it is a very ecumenical campus. Skidmore is another option, as is Stonehill outside of Boston.
Actually, what amount can you pay annually? If it’s not >$50,000 a year, then many of your original list needs to be dropped as they don’t give merit aid.
Colgate gives merit aid, and is very much out in the country. I am not sure about its strength in the sciences, however. Lafayette is great for engineering and gives merit aid.
Thanks very much for the college suggestions - we’ll definitely check them out! Merit aid is NOT a must, so I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. To clarify, I’m primarily focused on uncovering a range of NE schools that match her interests–strong science programs and outdoorsy (vs. artsy) student body–while recognizing that some of these schools will be highly competitive.
@thumper1, I think almost all of the schools on the OP’s list are actually now >$60K/year And, I don’t mean to be a buzz kill, but you can expect a high density of NE prep school kids at all the NESCAC schools, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. If outdoorsy-ness is a high priority, your list has virtually all the schools I would have recommended. Wesleyan and Vassar are also quite strong in the sciences, but I don’t think they’d have quite the outdoorsy vibe of a Middlebury, Williams or the Maine schools.
One very outdoorsy NE school that DOES offer merit aid that might be worth considering is St. Lawrence. Don’t know much about their strength in math and sciences.
Not in New England, but, if it’s not on your list already, take a hard look at Whitman – super outdoorsy, very strong in the sciences and overall academics, laid-back non-preppy vibe. Plus, they offer some merit money to highly qualified applicants. It’s also not quite so darned hard to get into as the NESCAC schools, while still attracting a very high-caliber student body.
I second Conn college. While it is strong in the arts, it is also strong in science. Excellent academic rep, but easier to get into than Williams, Amherst etc. I will give ops dd, benefit of the doubt by thinking her SAT will be higher than the PSAT, but even another hundred pts, makes a lot of the schools on original list reaches. St Lawrence another good idea.
And, I don’t mean to be a buzz kill, but you can expect a high density of NE prep school kids at all the NESCAC schools, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. If outdoorsy-ness is a high priority, your list has virtually all the schools I would have recommended. Wesleyan and Vassar are also quite strong in the sciences, but I don’t think they’d have quite the outdoorsy vibe of a Middlebury, Williams or the Maine schools.