<p>I’m thinking Macalester would be a great fit: there’s a campus and it’s in the middle of a really cool neighborhood in the Twin Cities, it’s tops for someone involved in international organizations and anything governement/politics/people/public speaking, its vibe is laid back (definitely jamming :p) and you’d get both merit and need based aid (guarantee 100% need met).
[Our</a> Neighborhood - Macalester College](<a href=“http://www.macalester.edu/about/twincities/ourneighborhood/]Our”>Our Location - About)
[Jobs</a> & Internships - Life At Mac - Macalester College](<a href=“http://www.macalester.edu/lifeatmac/jobsinternships/]Jobs”>After Macalester - Macalester College)</p>
<p>According to collegeabacus.com, based on the same assumptions I used above, Macalester would cost the OP $23,456. College Abacus does not show a break-down of merit and need-based aid in its estimates. </p>
<p>Unless Macalester has some new policy that guarantees merit aid for applicants with the OP’s stats, I don’t think anyone can say with confidence that he’d get both merit and n-b FA. He may well get it. However, at many schools, merit aid only offsets the amount of need. It is not stacked to offset the family contribution, unless you otherwise would be a full-pay student. So the net cost would be the same if you’re also getting n-b aid. I don’t know about Macalester’s policy in particular. Anyway, if the assumptions I used are not way off, it does appear that Macalester would be one of the OP’s more affordable options (other than an in-state public school or a school with guaranteed big merit scholarships).</p>
<p>Again, the OP would need to verify these estimates by running his own numbers. Even then, what you’re getting is only an estimate.</p>
<p>Mac is one of relatively few small LACS located in a major city. It’s known for having relatively high international student enrollment rates. Former VP Walter Mondale and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan went there.</p>
<p>Well hello! I am also looking for exciting, urban-ish schools! I couldn’t get in a million years, but UPenn is in philly, and I LOVE philly. Great music scene, always something to do. Of course, NYU is another in NYC obviously. Georgia Tech is in Atlanta, CMU in Pittsburgh, MIT/Northeastern/Boston all in (surprise!) Boston. All of those are great city schools.</p>