<p>I'm looking for top notch academics and a quirky student body. I love a school with a sense of humor and a laid back, open, collaborative atmosphere, both of which Carleton does a wonderful job of exemplifying. At the same time, schools suggested are either going to have to be merit money happy or love to give out generous financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Current schools of interest include:
Brown
Grinnell
Oberlin
Chicago
Wooster</p>
<p>Being a mere junior, at the moment I'm just compiling a list of schools to visit at some point. As you might have noticed, I'm orienting myself around the Midwest although I am open to any suggestions fitting the friendly-quirky theme.</p>
<p>Some schools like Carleton that are less selective but give good merit aid are Beloit, Lawrence, Knox and Earlham. I applied to Knox and am going to Beloit so I can answer any questions about those schools. I also was waitlisted at Grinnell and visited a few times so can answer questions about that too. Send me a PM. If you are competative at Carleton, Oberlin and Brown then you should be able to get good merit scholarships at these schools.</p>
<p>Wesleyan doesn’t give any merit scholarships, but it does guarantee 100% of financial need. If you’re looking at the colleges in that list, you should definitely check out Wes.</p>
<p>Many people who apply to Carleton and Grinnell also include Pomona in their list-but only if you are a competitive applicant at Carleton. Not so much <code>quirky’ as</code>laid back’ in the California way. And because it’s part of a 5 school consortium on contiguous campuses, you get the benefit of a larger place without sacrificing the LAC culture-and great weather, of course.</p>
<p>Swat is certainly worth a look. Although it doesn’t offer merit scholarships, Brown and Carleton effectively don’t either. </p>
<p>Rice and Vassar are other excellent options. </p>
<p>Many other LACs fit your laid-back, collaborative requirement (Bowdoin, Davidson, Haverford, et al) as well as a few universities like Tufts, but I would hesitate to call them quirky.</p>
<p>Haverford’s honor code is interesting. Rice, Swat, and Knox are all extremely appealing. Lots of great suggestions here.</p>
<p>Macalester, Reed, and Wesleyan I’m somewhat on the fence about, but seeing as I’m at the early stages of researching them, they’re still on the list for consideration.</p>
<p>I use the term ‘quirky’ very loosely. I like to think I could thrive in any environment (including my very Greek southern state flagship) but I would love to attend a school with unique, intellectual, nerdy people. Basically (perhaps wrongly), I’ve used the very overused ‘quirky’ to encompass those traits.</p>