<p>I am a high school junior and I am interested in going to a small-medium (preferably more than 1,700 students) sized liberal arts residential colleges. I have been looking into colleges like Allegheny, Goucher, Willamette, Ursinus... But it seems like most of these don't have very good social scenes. I really want a college that has great academics (I hope to be pre-med), offers opportunities for internships and study abroad, and has things to do. I also want an interesting, well rounded curriculum and relatively small class sizes. I don't want to go somewhere where everyone is studying 24/7 or where the only idea of fun is getting super drunk at huge parties. I am looking for somewhere probably on the West or East coast, but maybe the Midwest to, that is relatively close to a city or has things to do off campus. Hopefully also with a diverse, friendly, driven, and down to earth group of students. Its better of course if its less expensive, but definitely somewhere where merit-based scholarships are available. </p>
<p>I have a 3.9 GPA and this year and next year I will be taking multiple AP and Honors classes. I go to a large public high school, do volunteering in my community, and participate in extracurriculars. </p>
<p>You are very early to start looking but the two schools my kids went to both may offer something for you.<br>
-My D is at Lafayette College. She works hard but never seems at a loss for things to do socially either. They give some merit scholarships.
-Another idea is to look at schools located in/near major cities where you can have a diverse social life. If your SAT/ACTs are high enough you might qualify for merit aid at Fordham - Rose Hill.</p>
<p>I was thinking that, too, snarlatron, but a lot of those schools aren’t located near cities. Goucher is, and Baltimore is a great city, and only an hour from DC. Maybe Lewis and Clark in Portland? And University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, a half hour from Seattle.</p>
<p>Willamette is less than an hour from Portland and doesn’t seem to be a big drinking school. From what a friend tells me, Lewis & Clark isn’t a big drinking school, although weed is fairly common, much more so than at the rural Southeastern LAC he transferred from.</p>
<p>I actually started with CTCL, and I am interested in Goucher, but I heard there is a huge drinking/drugs culture there. I haven’t visited or anything, so I’m not sure how much truth there is to that. Occidental may be a possibility. I’m looking especially for a school where there are a lot of interesting and different activities that students take part in.</p>
<p>You are going to find drinking and pot at most colleges. You will also find people that have other things to do. So you’d do best to focus on where good students go. Then when you get there you can pick and choose who you like to hang out with and what parties you attend.</p>
<p>Holy Cross-near Boston has great pre-med program one of the better ones on the East Coast. HC(don’t have to be religious) has fantastic school spirit and social life. Holy CROSS also has Division 1 sports that competes againgst the Ivies. HC website is informative.</p>
<p>Look at Amherst, MA. Schools that may fit your critieria are Amherst, Williams and Hampshire. Amherst and Williams are highly selective. Amherst is a nice town and there is always a mix of people. UMass is right around the corner. There is the Five College Consortium that allows students at the aforementioned schools and Smith College to takes classes at the other schools.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Wesleyan, Vassar, Haverford (Holy Cross was a solid suggestion and places very well into medical schools), Tufts, Davidson.</p>
<p>The OP said: “Its better of course if its less expensive, but definitely somewhere where merit-based scholarships are available.”</p>
<p>Somewhere this took a turn and veered away from possible merit aid. You won’t find much of it at Occidental (maybe $10K?, not enough for us, anyway), Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Claremont, Wesleyan, Vassar, Haverford, Tufts, Colorado (there is some but not much), Macalester (probably not much, good for aid, but merit is tricky I believe).</p>
<p>Lots of drinking, and not near cities for some of these places, too.</p>
<p>Rhodes is in an urban area (Memphis) and gives a lot of merit aid (an average of $16K to 80% of students, according to Kiplingers).</p>
<p>St. Olaf is fairly close to the Twin Cities, and gives a lot of merit aid.
Occidental is in an urban area (LA), and gives a fair amount of merit aid.
Colorado College and Macalester are in urban areas, and give more modest amounts of merit aid (~$9K to 14% of students, in Macalester’s case).</p>
<p>Schools more selective than Colorado College and Macalester generally give little or no merit aid. Exceptions include Oberlin and Grinnell.</p>
<p>Even if you get a great merit scholarship at Oberlin, $20,000, you will still have to pay $40,000 . . . That may work for some but not for many.</p>
<p>Thanks thats really helpful. I will look into Occidental, Oberlin, Kalamazoo, etc. Also, any opinions on schools like Wesleyan, Bowdoin, and Middlebury? They look like really good schools, but is there a lot of pretentiousness and a cliquey-social life at all? Also, are these schools super liberal? I guess I’m liberal, but not in-your-face liberal and I don’t really want to go somewhere where everyone is like that.</p>