(top?) LAC's with good/great Financial Aid?

College Search & Selection
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<p>So I am a Junior in high school and my parents are starting to really put pressure on me to come up with a list of schools that I am going to apply to..... this past summer I visited Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Princeton. I liked all of them except for Yale (I don't know why but the campus just seemed really boring, I mean this could have been because it was the middle of summer and empty, especially compared to Boston and NYC where we were the day before). Also I live in MI so MSU and U of M are kind of must apply to schools according to my parents. The Financial Aid at MIT and the Ivies is fantastic, I'd basically go for free if I am accepted. I'd have in state tuition at MSU and U of M. Basically my family makes 70-80K, my mom is in a grad school program and hasn't had a full time job in what will be almost 2 years when it comes time to apply to schools. I'm pretty sure that I will get into both of the MI schools, but I don't really think I'd like to go to either because MSU is 10 mins away from home, U of M 2 hours and also because they are have huge student populations. Because I would obviously be lucky to get into MIT, Harvard, or Princeton, I would like to have some other schools to apply to......</p>

<p>Basic stats:
I just took the ACT in March with my school, I was pleasantly surprised to get a 34</p>

<p>SAT subject tests: Math 750 SAT Chemistry 750</p>

<p>GPA 3.9-4.0 uw 4.0-4.2 W</p>

<p>AP Classes 11th and (registered for 12th) AP Chem, US, Euro, Bio, Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics (My school makes us take AB and then BC calc, I know it is weird and we can only take APs as an 11th or 12th grader)</p>

<p>PSAT 213 (I should be at least a semifinalist in MI with this)</p>

<p>Girl Scouts 11 years, NHS, theater 2 years, quiz bowl 4 years, tutoring, mentoring autistic children, floor hockey</p>

<p>Summer program at MSU's cyclotron (very competitive)</p>

<p>yeah yeah yeah, right? I was also thinking about U of Chicago but I looked at their website and I couldn't really tell how good fin-aid is there and also I am unsure about living in/near the city. Can anyone clear up the fin-aid and/or comment on dorms/life/city at U of Chicago?</p>

<p>Also my parents say that Stanford and UC Berkley would be too hard to get into (on top of being competitive) because of me being not from CA.... anyone care to comment on this and whether or not it would be worth applying anyway (my mom doesn't want me to apply to too many schools or any just on a whim because of the app fees and other things that cost money</p>

<p>I know that LAC's have smaller populations than other schools so I was basically just wondering if there are any you can think of that have good fin-aid and are good at science and math? </p>

<p>(sorry for being so long-winded)</p>

2

<p>Williams College is tops in science and Math and has financial aid that is rarely topped by anyone, including Harvard and Princeton.</p>

<p>Stanford is not any tougher to get into if you are not from California.</p>

<p>If you are looking at MIT, then don’t fail to look at Caltech and Harvey Mudd.</p>

3

<p>Yeah I was thinking about Williams, but I wasn’t sure about the financial aid so thanks. I hear it has a great campus and town.</p>

<p>That’s what I told my mom about Standford, she didn’t believe me, but maybe I will apply there now that I know that that isn’t the case. </p>

<p>Caltech and Harvey Mudd are great schools, but I don’t I could take the Southern California heat. I am used to 5 month long winters up in MI. :)</p>

4

<p>If anything, Stanford would be easier to get into from Michigan than from California.</p>

<p>Look at Amherst, Middlebury, Pomona, and Grinnell. The first three are nearly as competitive as Harvard et al, but all offer great financial aid. Grinnell accepts around 40% of applicants each year, so is less competitive than the others, and due to an extremely large endowment, offers great financial aid.</p>

5

<p>For better or for worse, the pattern of generosity of need-based financial aid at LACs tracks that at universities: the most selective are also the richest and thus the most generous. Grinnell is an important exception.</p>