<p>The area around lots of top colleges are not the best such as Yale, UPenn, USC, UCLA, Duke, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Fordham. They are all located in rough undesirable areas. But campuses at most of these colleges are like HC in that they are gated and large. HC is on 180 acres and fully gated and manicured grounds.</p>
<p>Like a previous poster , I would suggest looking into Suffolk University…don’t bother with Umass Boston… it is a commuter school or a school for adults going back to school</p>
<p>Does anyone know how CC is on F/A for a middle class family? We are not low-income but decidedly lower-middle class, ie. the lower end of the group Harvard ruled only pays 10% of income.</p>
<p>My son is interested in Connecticut College, Vassar, Bard, Swarthmore (stretch school), Franklin & Marshall</p>
<p>From the College Board:
Connecticut College
Financial Aid Statistics
Full-time freshman enrollment: 488
Number who applied for need-based aid: 275
Number who were judged to have need: 224
Number who were offered aid: 224
Number who had full need met: 224
Average percent of need met: 100%
Average financial aid package: $34,762
Average need-based loan: $3,313
Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $32,366
Average non-need based aid: Not reported
Average indebtedness at graduation: $26,545</p>
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<p>I assume that you have never heard of the Westwood/Bel Air/ Bevery Hills area, which is where UCLA is located.</p>
<p>What is Connecticut College like compared to say Vassar or Bucknell? Is there alot of really hard drinking there? How about life after college from these three?</p>
<p>Reposting my stats: 3.6 G.P.A. (unweighted), 1800 on SAT, 4 AP Classes and 1 Dual-Credit College Class, Main EC’s are freshmen mentoring, prom committee, FCCLA, and French Club. Which out of the pairs listed do I have the best chance at getting into?</p>
<p>Smith Vs. Mount Holyoke
Boston University Vs. Northeastern
Fairfield University Vs. Connecticut College
American University Vs. Boston University
George Washington University Vs. Boston College
Skidmore College Vs. Connecticut College</p>
<p>Also, could I get some recommendations on good colleges that I would have a chance at in the Maine/Vermont area?</p>
<p>“Life after college” can be a matter of how well a kid uses college years to get work experience, internships, field experience, etc. </p>
<p>Want to second what onecircuit says about UCLA- I can’t imagine a more high-rent district for a U. Nothing edgy about it, at all. </p>
<p>On the safety issue, we need to distinguish city or neighborood safety vs campus safety and factor in the stupid things some kids will do. In more difficult areas, most kids are savvy enough to watch their own backs. Most colleges have escorts for late walks from library to dorm- and kids use them. Most campuses take crimes in the immed local area quite seriously. When we looked at LACs for D1, the only place we worried about ws one where sketchy locals were wandering on and off campus with ease- that’s where we were concerned what could happen at twilight or later. D1 ended up at a school in a town CCers love to critique- and the only times she heads off campus are for comm svc or taxi runs with friends for take-out Chinese. Or, when we visit and make the proverbial WalMart run.</p>
<p>Butterfly, before you settle on lesser tier colleges, do work on the gpa, scores- and plan to write a great application with great ECs, essays and short answers- and make sure you impress the teachers who will write LoRs. That’s what can turn the tides.</p>
<p>Do you have a weighted gpa? How rigorous is your hs? Are your AP scores good? What are non-A grades in and how bad do they look on your transcript? </p>
<p>What can you do asap to bump up the ECs? What Intl Rels experience do you have? (Club, community action, intl issues, etc?) What do you do that is vol oriented? Is freshman mentoring the 1 hr/week walking them around? Or serious issues? FCCLA is the old FHA? What significant issues do they tackle and do you have leadership exp with them or just a member? See how to think it?</p>
<p>Bates is still test-optional, check Colby & Bowdoin (most selective of the 3 though.) Northeastern- check how much “campus life” there is- it’s purported to have many kids living off campus, commuters- could have changed. Skidmore is party-hearty, but a great school. But, doesn’t meet your orig criteria for near a significant city. Kids I know at CC are very happy. Same for BC (also party-hearty, tho I know some very conservative kids who are quite satisfied there.)</p>
<p>Connecticut College is in New London, CT, also a city that has seen better days, but seems to be rebounding. We have visited although our applicant did not care for the location, but great views from the campus. Very important to visit & form your own opinions, of course.</p>
<p>In a nut shell my list is down to:</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke College
Smith College
Connecticut College
Wheaton College
Boston University</p>
<p>And outside of New England:</p>
<p>American University
Skidmore College </p>
<p>Could anyone give me some “insider” information on these colleges based on experiences (like academics, social life, the location of the colleges). Also, anymore suggestions would also be great!</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me anything about these colleges?</p>
<p>You originally mentioned wanting to be near a big city I think. In that case, BU and American would be your choices. Skidmore has a great campus, very varied curriculum, fantastic town within walking distance – but doesn’t seem to address the city or intl studies aspect. Smith is also in a great town (Northampton) and near a lot of great schools, but Northampton cannot be considered a city. Your best bet is American, GW (which I think you took off your list) – did you look at the fairtest.org site mentioned earlier? I agree with some other posts that your SATs are not as strong as you might want them to be (neither were mine!) – but taking the ACT is very good advice and exploring schools with SAT optional also tells you something about the school – they value you as a whole rather than as a number. Four of the five NE schools are or were all women’s schools – no judgment, just observation, since it wasn’t what you were looking for, I thought. Not sure why Northeastern didn’t stay on the list – your grades are certainly good for it, SATs less so, but don’t forget that when an average is listed, as many had higher as lower – but you seem to have a very strong gpa and EC.</p>
<p>You chances are better at:</p>
<p>Smith Vs. Mount Holyoke-Mt. Holyoke but you would need to get your SAT’s up for either.
Boston University Vs. Northeastern-BU
Fairfield University Vs. Connecticut College-Fairfield
American University Vs. Boston University-BU
George Washington University Vs. Boston College-GW but again you need to lift scores
Skidmore College Vs. Connecticut College-You would need to lift scores for these too. Skidmore I would say is out of your reach.</p>
<p>Smith and MHC are both very good liberal arts colleges, all-women of course. So. Hadley(MHC) is very small. Northampton is bigger but not huge. But it’s a great college town.</p>
<p>Fairfield is a very good up and coming school. Located in a small city outside a larger one(Bridgeport)…but very close to NYC. Conn College is very good for liberal arts. The city is not the greatest but the school makes up for it.</p>
<p>AU, BU, GWU and BC are all large comprehensive universities in big cities. BC is a personal favorite(see profile). I think most of these are reaches for you, esp. GW and BC.</p>
<p>Oh yeah Wheaton is a good fit for you. Nice campus, good liberal arts, etc.</p>
<p>Good luck and if you have more questions esp. re:Smith and MHC, BC and Conn post them here.</p>
<p>Mt. Holyoke would no doubt meet a lot of your need. Wheaton, not so much.</p>
<p>The thing about the Northeastern colleges is that some of them are in what I consider to be TERRIBLE locations. Some of the best ones are in the middle of nowhere or in really depressing areas. You might want to keep that in mind when you’re looking.</p>
<p>BU & American are urban. (these two probably will not meet your need) </p>
<p>Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Conn, Wheaton, Skidmore: all attractive campuses, we visited them. These days affordability may end up being the key factor for everybody, no matter what your income level!</p>
<p>Hi everyone. My account butterfly510 was giving me some difficulties so I created this account. I have noticed that some of you have been responding to posts on my aid555 account and you may have notcied some similarities in posts between the two accounts.
The following are the colleges that I have narrowed down my list to:</p>
<p>University of Cincinnati (safety)
Indiana University (safety)
American University
Catholic University of America
Mount Holyoke College
Smith College
Goucher College
Simmons College
Boston University
Arcadia University</p>
<p>Goucher, Mount Holyoke, and Smith are all test option (which will be to my benefit in this situation, though I did raise my SAT by about 175 points). </p>
<p>Any input or opinions on the list? Is ten colleges too many to apply too? Financial Aid will certainly be a factor so I think it will be good to be able to compare packages between more than just a few colleges.</p>
<p>So butterfly510 and aind555 are the same poster! Confusing the issue here. </p>
<p>Your parents only want to spend $15,000/year which is your EFC & you reside in Indiana as I recall, just to clarify the situation. </p>
<p>Just reviewing the list above, American, Catholic, Simmons, BU, & Arcadia will not meet your financial need. Those schools will no doubt “gap” you, unless you have truly outstanding stats & ECs, but you don’t. Mt. Holyoke usually meets 100% of need. </p>
<p>JMO, but you are setting yourself up for some disapointing financial aid packages from those 5 schools. Some posters may not agree with me, but it is just my opinion.</p>
<p>Thats my problem. My stats aren’t great so my chances of being accepted to a school that meets 100% of aid (or close to it) aren’t very high. Being as I plan on going to law school as well, I can’t afford to go into debt $50,000 and still have law school loans to pay off. While Indiana has some good schools that I could get in-state tuition at, as well as the University of Cincinnati, I really don’t want to stay that close to home and there are basically no internship opportunities in this area for Internaional Relations majors. </p>
<p>There seem to be practically no colleges that accept “average students” that give 100% of aid. I hope to have all my applications in by October 1 ( so my deadline is looming), but I am really at a loss as to where to go from here.</p>