<p>I've received 6 decisions so far; accepted at all 5 safeties, but rejected from ED school. The 5 safeties were:</p>
<p>Chapman University ($80,000 merit aid)
Lawrence University ($80,000 merit aid)
Allegheny College ($80,000 merit aid)
Fordham University
Florida Southern College ($62,000 merit aid)</p>
<p>I've pretty much ruled out Florida Southern and Fordham. It's awesome that three excellent schools are practically half price for me; I just want to identify my top safety, in case my other 7 schools reject me (Colorado College, Occidental, Pitzer, Colgate, Kenyon, Colby, and Tulane.)</p>
<p>Lawrence seems to have the most notoriety for academics, but I love warm weather. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do; I'm just going to go in as a philosophy major and hopefully find my calling. Chapman is the only one with an Honors Program I think, and I'll definitely be applying to that.</p>
<p>Opinions???</p>
<p>Marshallmeyer12 - Chapman is academically rigorous and you can get a sense of this as you browse the faculty research activities and degree requirements for the different majors. The location is an easy sell. Living in an area where our local high school graduates are actively recruited by Allegheny college, I can tell you they are well known for high acceptance rates to law and medical schools. Location-wise, it is nowhere near southern california. I would say visit your top three schools before deciding where to send your enrollment deposit. Bottom line is that only you know what all your expectations are, so it would be hard for someone to tell you if a school meets your expectations other than that it is academically challenging. Best wishes, and let us know how the chips fall!</p>
<p>My S did choose Chapman over several other very good schools. His reasons may be completely different from yours, though. Field of study was key – he got into the primo Dodge College at Chapman, with excellent merit aid. Loved the campus and location, loved the size (5K undergrads). This is an area where he’d like to live/work after graduation and he figured getting internships that might turn into jobs in a place you’d actually like to live once you have a diploma was a plus.</p>