Scholarships in the humanities

[AustenNut]

OP, you’ve indicated that the NPC for Bowdoin came back at $11k and the one for Brown came back at $26k. As you really like Brown, you’re trying to figure out how feasible it is to come up with $11k+/year in order to make Brown affordable.

You’ve indicated that you have a balanced list of schools that you’re going to apply to. In your previous thread, these were the schools you were considering:

Bennington
Bowdoin -$11k
Kenyon
Pomona
Wesleyan

Have you run the NPCs for those (apart from Bowdoin)? What were the results? Are any of them affordable? Do the ones whose NPC comes back as NOT affordable have sufficient merit aid that could make them affordable (i.e. they offer a full tuition scholarship or full ride, or whatever, that could bring the school within budget?

Please realize that a balanced list should include at least one (and preferably more than one) school that meets 3 conditions: 1) Extremely likely to be accepted, 2) Extremely likely to be affordable, 3) You would be happy to enroll and attend for 4 years. Do you have any schools on your balanced list that meet all three of those criteria? If not, that’s where your focus needs to be, rather than on scholarships for humanities students. Most scholarships come from the universities themselves, and there may not be a significant pay-off for your time with respect to the outside scholarships. So you need to find those extremely likely options for you. Have you found them? If not, what were the results of the suggestions from the other thread (synopsis below, for those who want it).

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For people who haven’t refreshed themselves on the other thread, OP was interested in a non-cutthroat student body with a number of quirky kids that offered strong literature and philosophy programming and the ability to study abroad in Japan, which some people (myself included) interpreted it to mean that a Japanese major on campus could be a desirable thing as advanced coursework could be taken during while at the home campus and not just abroad.

These were three school suggestions that seemed to get some traction:

• Vassar
• Oberlin
• Occidental

Additional schools suggested included:

@blossom

If you had posted nothing about yourself other than you wanted to study literature in an environment with other students (and faculty) who love literature, I’d be suggesting colleges as disparate as Beloit, U Chicago, Brandeis, Bard, Bowdoin, Kenyon (for sure), Connecticut College, U Michigan, Rice, Iowa, Carleton, Macalester, SUNY Binghamton, Wesleyan, Fordham, Haverford, Holy Cross, Brown. And about 30 others which likely includes one of the public U’s in your own state.

@AustenNut

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

• Beloit (WI): About 1k undergrads, 2 Japanese majors (and a focus on foreign languages generally), 3 philosphy majors, its College Navigator page
• DePauw (IN): About 1700 undergrads, 4 Japanese majors, 6 philosophy majors, its College Navigator page
• Gustavus Adolphus (MN): About 2300 undergrads, 7 Japanese majors, 6 philosophy majors, its College Navigator page
• U. of Puget Sound (WA): About 1900 undergrads, 3 Japanese majors, 5 philosophy majors, its College Navigator page

Likely (60-79+%)

• St. Olaf (MN): About 3k undergrads and there have been many reports on CC of visitors who loved how collegial and intellectually curious the student body is here. 6 Japanese majors (and a focus on foreign languages generally), 12 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page . It has cross-registration with neighboring Carleton, 1 mile away.
• Whitman (WA): About 1600 undergrads, 0 Japanese majors (though a foreign language focus generally), 12 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page

Toss-Up (40-59%)

• Macalester (MN): About 2200 undergrads, 4 Japanese majors (with a focus on foreign languages generally), 10 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page

Lower Probability (20-39%)

• Bates (ME): About 1800 undergrads, 0 Japanese majors, 12 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page.
• Carleton (MN): About 2k undergrads, 0 Japanese majors, 9 philosophy majors. Can also cross-register with St. Olaf which is about 1 mile away. Its College Navigator page.
• Colgate (NY): About 3200 undergrads, 4 Japanese majors, 15 philosophy majors, its College Navigator page.
• Vassar (NY): About 2500 undergrads, 2 Japanese majors, 9 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page.

Low Probability (less than 20%)

• Hamilton (NY): About 2100 undergrads, 0 Japanese majors, 11 philosophy majors. A very open curriculum, which might appeal to you. Its College Navigator page.
• Middlebury (VT): About 2900 undergrads, 4 Japanese majors (with a focus on foreign languages generally), 5 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page
• Swarthmore (PA ): About 1700 undergrads, 1 Japanese major, 10 philosophy majors
• Williams (MA): About 2200 undergrads, 2 Japanese majors, 6 philosophy majors, and its College Navigator page