<p>Title says it all.
Criteria for judgement:
-Availability of Phy/Engineering major
-Aid for internationals(substantial...like 90%)
-Research
-People at campus: Don't want a place full of pot smokers, arrogant rich pricks etc
-Less selective(At least less than HYPM)
-Don't care about anything else
Please help. I'm confused and frustrated. All seem the same. Except Reed. Reed looks awesome. They have their own reactor, run by students. But I'm not sure whether Reed gives enough aid to int'ls: CB says they do but other websites say they don't.</p>
<p>These schools offer very different environments. Reed & Swarthmore are at the liberal end of the spectrum while Duke, Middlebury & Bates are on the opposite side. I have difficulty imagining one who would be equally comfortable at Reed as at Middlebury.
Have you read any college guidebooks ? Try Princeton Review & ISI’s Choosing The Right College for starters.</p>
<p>OP: How did you come up with this list of schools ? I don’t think that Middlebury College offers engineering–but I’m not certain. Same for Reed.</p>
<p>All those things are secondary to me. Thanks for asking, though. And I’ve gone through their websites. And others. It sounds odd, but yeah, I mainly care about the education that I’m gonna get. Btw, I grew up in an extremely weird and “variable” environment like that so I’ll be okay either ways, but I can’t write my bio here to explain obviously.</p>
<p>Bates is in a fairly isolated location. </p>
<p>Are you willing to share which country you live in ?</p>
<p>Reed is often half-jokingly referred to as Weed due to the prominance of pot on campus.</p>
<p>Duke is the most diverse in terms of students & in course offerings because it’s the largest among your listed schools.</p>
<p>As I said before, I don’t care about isolation, setting, girls, dorms (unless they are too bad) or anything else. A lot of opinions on these things are subjective anyways.
I know a lot of LACs don’t have engg, hence I wrote Physics as an alternative.
And I wish to know how good their Phy depts are. Is Duke really known for physics??
Sigh. Asian. That’s enough, I think.</p>
<p>Axelrod-
Where are you getting your information? Bates is in Lewiston ME. Lewiston and its twin city Auburn comprise the second largest community in the state of Maine.</p>
<p>And Middlebury and Bates are conservative? No.</p>
<p>Which isn’t saying much.</p>
<p>What do you want to do with that Physics degree? Will you be able to get a job back home with at Physics degree from an LAC in the US? Where do the employers in your home country want you to study?</p>
<p>And I dont like 3-2 programs.</p>
<p>Reed and Duke are respectable. The rest… probably not. What if I get placed somewhere out of my country(not necessarily in the US, but in some other country) while on campus?</p>
<p>True, but it’s still a community of 60,000, and it’s 45 minutes from Portland and 2 1/2 hours from Boston. Middlebury is in a town of 8,500 and is 4 hours from Boston and 3-3 1/2 hours from Montreal.</p>
<p>OP, these are all great schools but they’re also highly selective, particularly for an international student needing aid. I hope you have some less selective schools on your list or a good alternative plan.</p>
<p>The small liberal arts colleges on your list (all but Duke) all have 3-2 engineering programs. Duke would probably have the greatest recognition outside the US. If you’re really interested in smaller schools you may want to expand your search and look at schools like Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union, Bucknell, U of Rochester, Lafayette or Lehigh. Unfortunately I don’t know about these schools’ FinAid offerings.</p>
<p>I agree with your point about Duke. But this isn’t getting anywhere otherwise.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure whether Reed gives enough aid to int’ls: CB says they do but other websites say they don’t.”
[Reed</a> College Financial Aid](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/financialaid/financing_knowing.html]Reed”>http://web.reed.edu/financialaid/financing_knowing.html)</p>
<p>Does that hold good for internationals? I’ve seen plenty of websites say so on their general page but they say something else entirely on their international students page.
If so, then the hard part is getting in, I guess.</p>
<p>Yes, “every” means “every.”</p>
<p>Here is the “international” section: [Other</a> topics](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/financialaid/handbook_other.html]Other”>http://web.reed.edu/financialaid/handbook_other.html)</p>
<p>Students who are not citizens of the United States should be aware that financial assistance is limited. Only exceptional applicants will be considered for aid, and even those students must be prepared to contribute significantly to the cost of their education. There are no full scholarships.
from
[Reed</a> College | Catalog](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/catalog/admission/admission.html]Reed”>Admission - Catalog - Reed College)</p>
<p>International financial aid is usually quite different than that available for US citizens except at a small handful of schools. One reason, among many reasons, is that verification of income & assests is more difficult–sometimes extremeley difficult–for international applicants.</p>
<p>“There are no full scholarships.”</p>
<p>There will be loan and on-campus job components as part of meeting full need, same as for domestic students.</p>