<p>Williams, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Swarthmore>>>>>> the list of prospects is long. I would not hesitate to apply to any of these schools if you think it is a good match. All of the top LACs have very strong science and math programs. Many of the top LACs also have very generous financial aid programs equal to those at HYPS. Do your homework!!</p>
<p>^False regarding financial aid. The top LACs have very generous FA programs indeed, but not at the level of HYPS–rather, at the level of the other Ivies, of any school EXCEPT HYPS with their exceptional upper-middle-class policies.</p>
<p>Check out Grinnell in Iowa. Great merit and financial aid. No frats or preppiness, and the demanding academics preclude a lot of drinking. S doesn’t drink at all and has had no problem finding a satisfactory social life. Outstanding sciences with brand new facilities and the smallest intro classes (25 students and under) of any LAC we visited, even for chem and bio.</p>
<p>Re study abroad, this is a huge industry internationally. The same programs pop up over and over at all the top schools-London School of Economics in (you guessed it), Oxford has a semester abroad for US students, University of Melbourne in Australia, SITA in Bangalore, India, etc…so you can go to any US LAC or university and tap into these programs as long as your school recognizes them. Of course, if you want to study abroad with your class-mates in a program your LAC set up, thats a different matter and some schools have more international programs than others. Generally, the bigger the school, the more programs they have in-house so to speak.</p>
<p>^I love Grinnell, but I should note that “the demanding academics preclude a lot of drinking” is rarely true at any school–culture precludes heavy drinking, not academic pressure. Middlebury is a classic example of both high-level academics and alcohol consumption.</p>
<p>I have a friend at Grinnell, current sophomore and teetotaler. She adores the school, but couldn’t get into sub-free housing as a frosh, and her sole complaint re: the first year was the amount of drinking she had to put up with from peers.</p>
<p>S just got back from a trip to Grinnell and although some of the kids were drinking(not in a wild crazy “Animal House” sort of), he was pleased that it was more of a laid back kind of drinking, not a shove it down your throat kinda of drinking atmosphere like you see at some other schools… There is drinking at every college unless you go to a school like BYU. </p>
<p>Grinnell also has excellent merit aid(most of the top tier LAC’s don’t have any) and need based aid and is not into the frat scene at all. It’s a very intellectual college with an amazing record of students going on to get PHD’s and has incredible facilities to boot.</p>
<p>^The poster was saying that they were not into the whole party/drinking scene. I would never call Grinnell a big party/drinking school. It has far less partying and drinking than many other similarly ranked schools. It is known for having a laid back nightlife scene. Of course drinking goes on, but less than at many other colleges and there are many, many students who are substance free there as well.</p>
<p>Far less partying than peer schools, I would agree with–but not “far less” drinking by a long shot. For example, statistically speaking the binge rate at Macalester is probably lower than at Grinnell simply due to locale–the Twin Cities have more non-alcoholic activities available than Grinnell, IA, even though Grinnell does its best to bring in entertainment.</p>
<p>Specifically which “many other colleges” are you generalizing this comparison to? On drinking alone, I’d rate Grinnell as a notch lower than Middlebury, equal to Carleton, a notch higher than Macalester or Oberlin (also rural, but pot predominates more than alcohol), two notches higher than Swarthmore or Reed (also more pot than alcohol abuse, I’m guessing). So–higher than the median, not the worst and far from the best.</p>
<p>This is on drinking alone, not partying. I’d never call Grinnell a big partying school; I would, however, also never call Grinnell a “lower”-drinking school. College kids will be kids, and most college kids in rural Iowa will drink. Certainly there’s a significant sub-free contingent, so much so that you run the risk of being lotteried out of sub-free housing. (I’m not a huge fan of the way Grinnell runs sub-free housing, either; at equal peer Carleton, every dorm has at least one sub-free floor, providing both integration and de facto guaranteed access.)</p>
<p>I think you should consider some smaller sized universities which are in or near cities and allow freedom across the curriculum. Some that I"m familiar with are Wash U St. Louis, Brandeis and Tufts.</p>