<p>Newchick and Emma, We are middle/upper middle class and FA gave my D a very realistic FA package. In fact, it was the only 'need only' school she applied to and she did it against our advice. We were sure that being need only they wouldn't come close to the merit schools and certainly not our in state UCs, but they did. They beat several of them, actually. There were two merit schools that would have been cheaper, but one was an hour from home and the other not nearly the academic powerhouse of BMC. BMC is costing the same as UC Berkeley would have (granted, Berkeley with housing in NOT cheap). If a family can meet their expected family contribution, they should be good to go at BMC. In order to meet your EFC, you better not owe any to credit cards, have your cars paid off and have saved for college the best you can.</p>
<p>I suspect there is much more to FA than just your income, also..... ;)</p>
<p>Nobody knows how the FA will pan out at any one college, so no one should let FA determine whether to apply or not. If you make sure to have a financial safety or two on your list, go ahead and take a chance! What is the worst that could happen? You certainly will get no chance if you don't try.</p>
<p>I don't know, I had a slightly different experience at the fin aid office. I am middle class if you count the income of both my parents, which is what BMC said they would do. But my dad doesn't give us any money and he refuses to help pay for college, and they understood that even though I still keep in contact with him and all that jazz. So even though it was a pretty unique situation and I didn't have any proof from a guidance counselor or lawyer or whatever, they still listened and gave me fin aid to reflect that.</p>
<p>But I can completely understand how a middle class student might get completely killed by fin aid- that happens at a lot of need only schools. Except BMC does give a few merit scholarships- something like 8 per class or whatever (if you look in past posts, this has been mentioned before). You can tell from their common data set. At least that's how it appears. So I'll give the same advice as citrusbelt- apply and see how it all turns out. People have gotten good aid and people have gotten bad aid...</p>
<p>Re merit scholarships: the only merit scholarships for new students I am aware of are the Posse scholarships, which are only awarded to students from Boston. </p>
<p>The vast majority of scholarships and fellowships go to upperclass students. The college awards a bunch of small and medium-sized scholarships on May Day, e.g. for the junior with the highest GPA, the best translation of a poem or demonstrated excellence in ___ (a major of you choice). Some departments also have significant scholarship or fellowship money for majors. For example, the math department awarded a two-year full scholarship (tuition, room, board and fees) to a sophomore last year (they had two such scholarships the year before!), and the computer science department has a fellowship that pays $7.5 K a year. (Regular on-campus jobs would pay around $2K for the same amount of work.) </p>
<p>Of course these scholarships won't help if the initial financial aid package was way too low, but they can easy the burden of a doable financial aid package in subsequent years.</p>
<p>This is going to be the lamest post, but it says something for Bryn Mawr:</p>
<p>I am so busy right now (Customs Week) that I can't come on and rant about how much I'm loving Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>One thing: My dean is the most amazing and magical person on earth- fifteen minutes and all my classes were balanced and scheduled and beautiful.</p>
<p>Leaving now... need to get dressed to go down to Staples or something. Bye bye!</p>
I cannot answer for previous posters – nor will they, since this thread is seven years old – but Bryn Mawr is known as an elite LAC in its own right. It is enhanced by the Quaker Consortium: BMC students can take classes at nearby elite LACs Swarthmore and Haverford and at the plausibly accessible University of Pennsylvania.
So like Barnard with Columbia, the Claremont Consortium, the Five Colleges, etc.: if you get into one, you acquire access to all.
Bryn Mawr is, based on reviews I’ve read over the years on this site, quite a wonderful school. When you add the benefit of being able to also take classes at two top-10 LACs and an awesome Ivy League university, the NY strip becomes a porterhouse.