Schools like Cornell

College Search & Selection
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<p>*I would need aid and would qualify for good need-based aid. Merit is good, too, for safeties/matches.
*</p>

<p>Then your safeties would have to award HUGE merit, because they don’t typically award much need-based aid except for small fed aid.</p>

<p>Have some match and safety schools that might award huge merit and some schools that will CERTAINLY for sure award huge merit…these latter ones will be your financial safeties.</p>

<p>How much can your family contribute?</p>

<p>*
do colleges located in cities generally lack in the outdoorsy area? i’m sure it’s a self-explanatory answer, but i’m just making sure. i’m really interested in academic programs at both Northwestern and Penn, but the setting may leave a little to be desired, for me.*</p>

<p>What do you mean by outdoorsy?</p>

<p>hiking? biking? skiing? water sports? camping? </p>

<p>*</p>

<p>how are USC, Lehigh, Villanova, Vanderbilt, and Bucknell? *</p>

<p>It depends on what you’re calling outdoorsy. USC is a drive to beaches and mountains. Not outdoorsy in the general area. Vandy is in Nashville, a major city.</p>

22

<p>i want the opportunity to be able to do all that stuff mom2collegekids listed on most weekends (not that i would go most weekends, but i want the option, for i would try to go a lot), along with the presence of green, trees, and possibly water on campus. the sound of birds’ chirping is nice, too. i like nature. i guess it wouldn’t <em>have</em> to be directly on campus, but pretty close, at the least.</p>

<p>how long of a drive is that USC drive?</p>

<p>Vanderbilt looks really nice, based off of Google Images</p>

<p>huge merit - UMass (instate, too) maybe UVM?</p>

23

<p>also - skiing isn’t a necessity</p>

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<p>Evanston is very much a separate city from Chicago. Best of both worlds. UW Madison, Washington-Seattle, UM AA, Texas Austin and CU Boulder are all good choices.</p>

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<p>Duke: 9,000 private wooded acres incorporated into the campus, with biking and running trails throughout.</p>

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<p>barrons, would you recommend Evanston?</p>

<p>placido240, that sounds awesome!</p>

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<p>I like Evanston very much. Good restaurants, shopping, some bars, and awesome beaches/parks. Generally safe and easy train ride/drive to Chicago. Lived there 5 years after college and would go right back if I moved to Chicago area.</p>

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<p>I think you should definitely look into Middlebury, which has prestige and it’s in Vermont. If you end up living in the northeast, Middlebury is looked on favorably. Also Lehigh in Bethlehem Pennsylvania is an outdoorsy campus. Except for the Philly, all the schools in PA are in rural areas. I know someone at Lehigh and they give good financial aid. If your just getting an undergrad in business I’d shoot for the top ranked programs but if your going to grad school, a liberal arts college like Middlebury can be beneficial to build your base in engineering.</p>

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<p>if i weren’t interested in engineering i’d definitely add Midd to the list
Lehigh sounds good, though</p>

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<p>huge merit - UMass (instate, too) maybe UVM?</p>

<p>Was this an answer to a question? Can you clarify?</p>

<p>Do you need huge merit? If so, how much can your family pay?</p>

31

<p>~$10k
I’m aiming for schools with good need-based aid. I’m going to rely on UMass for my merit safety.</p>

<p>quick list:
Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, Lehigh, Virginia, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Villanova, UMass</p>

32

<p>Thanks for that post, warblersrule.</p>

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<p>UVA is weak in engineering.</p>

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<p>how weak? is a UVA SEAS degree looked down upon?</p>

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<p>

Engineering pays the same whether you attend UVA, Stanford, or Mississippi State. The difference is primarily in recruiting; some colleges are recruited more heavily by engineering firms than others. Glancing over the career fair list, UVA engineering seems to be popular with consulting folks, but I’d imagine one could easily get a job as an engineer as well. Keep in mind that the vast majority of engineers attend colleges like Iowa State rather than MIT or Berkeley.</p>

36

<p>I’m going to disagree with the Northwestern suggestion. I loved Evanston, thought it was a wonderful place to attend school and a wonderful place to live. But I’m a city girl. Riding my bike to Skokie to visit a Russian Jewish bakery, or waiting on the El platform to go into Chicago for the art institute was about as “outdoorsy” as I got voluntarily. There is one beautiful trail running along the lakefront, and you can go sailing on the lake, but if you want hiking and other forms of communing with nature, Evanston is simply too suburban.</p>

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<p>CuriousJane - any opportunities outside of Evanston, in a neighboring town, etc.?</p>

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<p>The Forest Preserve system has hiking and biking trails all through the suburbs. It is west of Evanston a few miles</p>

<p><a href=“http://fpdcc.com/downloads/maps/pdf/Districtwide_Map.pdf[/url]”>http://fpdcc.com/downloads/maps/pdf/Districtwide_Map.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

39

<p>RM,</p>

<p>I’m sure you could find resources if you tried hard, but it wouldn’t be simple, unless you had a car, and one of the great things about Evanston and Northwestern are how walkable they are. </p>

<p>Evanston’s an inner ring suburb. It’s bordered on one side by Chicago, one side by the lake, and on the remaining sides by more suburbs which are bordered by more suburbs, which are bordered by exurbs. It’s not quite urban, but it’s pretty darn close, with dense housing on small plots. </p>

<p>It’s a fantastic place to live if you like cities. I absolutely loved Evanston itself, and would move back there in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. But if you’re looking specifically for a school with an outdoorsy vibe and lots of outdoorsy things to do I think you could find better options. </p>

<p>On the other hand, NU is a fantastic school, and if outdoorsy-ness is just one factor for you I think you could find things to do occasionally to fill that need.</p>