<p>I'm genuinely interested in Southwestern because it seems like a nice, intimate liberal arts school and everyone was super friendly when I visited. My admissions packet also included an AMAZING merit-based scholarship that blows my mind. However, I am kind of worried about the lack of diversity: is there lots of room for debate even if people come from the same background? Also, does anyone feel that Southwestern is a little too sheltered? </p>
<p>Basically: Is Southwestern worth going to over a top-20 school? I like to learn for learning's sake, and like a good debate. </p>
<p>Striped… You have a 2240 SAT and 2 perfect SAT IIs. How much did Southwestern give you? Was it a scholarship for internationals or a scholarship that anyone with high stats could get? Was it entirely based on stats or was “need” an issue?</p>
<p>My son was accepted to Southwestern and when we visited I was very impressed. People were all very friendly and helpful, the interaction between students was positive. He was offered a pretty generous (about 20k) merit award. My son, however, was lukewarm to it, at best. I think his biggest issue was that it is in Texas and the vast majority of the students are from in state. In the end, he chose a school in the Northwest but I would have been perfectly happy if he had chosen Southwestern.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, have you checked out SU’s website? They have a great matrix that shows exactly what scholarship money you qualify for with given stats. As far as I can tell, it’s pure merit money with no strings attached.</p>
<p>For example, the high end of the matrix shows a $22,000 award to a Valedictorian or Salutatorian that has a 1550 on the SAT CR+M or 34 on the ACT. The mid range award is $14,000 for a 3.6 GPA and 1250 SAT or 28 ACT. The low end award is $9,000 for a 3.4 GPA and 1150 SAT or 25 ACT.</p>
<p>SU is pretty generous with money for the good, but not elite student. The mid-range scholly listed above is almost half-tuition.</p>