I’m looking to transfer to schools 1-2 hours away from NYC. Maybe even 3 hours. I am currently in top 100 a liberal arts college with a Gpa over 4.0 and a 1960 SAT score. I was on the honor roll in high school as well with a 3.6 gpa. Any ideas?
Why do you want to transfer? Major? Financial situation? Do you still want an LAC vibe?
I want to transfer to be closer to home in NYC. I like the strong liberal arts vibe, and I like small schools. I am a psychology and English double major.
Merit is preferable, but not if it means a bad edication
As a transfer you really won’t be offered any merit aid. Those packages are designed to attract new freshmen.
@erin, I know, which is why it’s not a deal breaker. 
but I do really want a good, strong liberal arts education like that of my current school. So if some schools
Offer merit, that’s great. If not, that works too. I just want a working list. I’ll be applying soon.
Do you want to be in the city or outside of it? The schools that I am thinking of (Rutgers, NYU etc.) are too big. If you’re in state in NY, you could go for a SUNY school.
I want a small lac with a strong curriculum. If that’s in the city, that’s fine–it doesn’t need to be. But I do like schools with campuses. What matters to me is a small student body and a rigorous academic curriculum. I like schools like vassar and Sarah Lawrence and Swarthmore.
You just named three obvious possibilities. If you’re willing to sacrifice a campus for a location right in the city, look at Fordham-Lincoln Center and Eugene Lang/New School. Bard is another option.
Muhlenberg, Connecticut College, Vassar, Marist, TCNJ, Bryn Mawr, Lafayette, Franklin&Marshall, Ursinus, pushing it a bit Dickinson or St Mary’s of Maryland?
There are tons of good LACs within a few hours of NYC. I suggest you look at the USNWR list of LACs – not for the rankings but because it is a good list of LACs and you should be able to pick out ones which meet your academic background, interests, and location preference.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges
I will say that while I like St. Mary’s College of Maryland a lot, I know from one of the OP’s other threads that she wants easy transportation to NYC. I don’t think you would get that at SMCM.
@happy1 I’ve been looking at the USNWR list frequently, but I feel like I’m running out of options for schools that meet my criteria in a sense.
Oh, the LACs have to be within easy reach of NYC, not just in a rough 3hour radius?
@MYOS1634 yes, that is preferable. Easy commuting or within easy reach. I have very personal reasons for wanting to be closer to my family.
Haverford, Villanova, Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell in PA. In NY, look at Ithaca, Bard.
OP, from your past posts it seems you got some merit aid and an NCP waiver from your current school. You need to be careful to consider that when looking at other schools. You may not get that kind of deal in the future. And have you really asked your parents if they can pay $60K/year for school?
Define easy reach please
within ? hours
will you have a car?
public transportation?
people have made good suggestions but you seem to be looking for something else
If you like Vassar and Sarah Lawrence, then Bard and Marist would meet your criteria and be similarly easy to get in and out of NYC. I think they are all on NY Transit lines. Connecticut College, Trinity and Wesleyan, though in Connecticut, would also be a good choices as well. Skidmore is on the edge of the 3 hour radius you set for yourself, but sounds like a good fit too.
Yeah, OP, we really know if you are going to have a car because that will change everything. Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Skidmore, Union, and - if 4 hours is okay - Utica College can be reached from New York by car, but are very difficult to impossible to get to on regular public transit. The small liberal arts units of the Five Colleges (Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire) are also about 3 hours’ driving from New York, but I’m not sure that there’s easy train or bus service there. (It looks like Megabus makes one trip a day out of Amherst, at about 10:45 am; they also go to Saratoga Springs, where Skidmore is.)
Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, Marist are different stories - close and Metro-North can get you home. Bard has an Amtrak station about 9 miles away (you could take a taxi), but the closest Metro-North station is in Poughkeepsie which is about 25 miles away. Connecticut, Trinity, and Wesleyan are also doable by public transit to New York (Amtrak mostly, although also Greyhound and Megabus in some cases). Maybe even Providence College - definitely 3 hours away by car; there are probably trains that go from Providence to New York (and Megabus, of course, lol). If you are willing to extend up to Boston - which, although it is 4 hours away from New York, is probably easier to get to by train than rural central PA - there are a whole lot of options. You can get Megabus tickets from Boston to NYC for $5.
If you’re a New York resident, consider also one of the smaller LAC-like SUNYs - New Paltz and Purchase are both in the greater NYC area and reachable within 2 hours, and Old Westbury is out on Long Island and designed to give an LAC-like experience.