Preference for Lib arts schools, applying as a transfer student.
I like schools in the NE and I like the city environment but I also don’t mind schools with environments like MHC.
Looking for merit-based aid.
4.0 GPA at an Honors college.
SAT 1800 (1280 combined), willing to take again.
If you have more than 12 or 30 credits they don’t need to see your SAT scores.
OP, any generally good LAC will have a generally good to great sociology department. You can peruse the course catalog to see what the offerings are like in the department and see if the classes appeal to you. But if you’re looking at the level of Mount Holyoke College, you can find good sociology departments at schools across that swath of selectivity.
If you like a city environment but also something like MHC, check out Simmons College in Boston. They have a sociology major and a 3+1 program where you can get a BA in sociology and an MPP. They also have a social work major and a social justice minor.
I wouldn’t bank on getting much merit-based aid as a transfer student.
This largely depends on the school. Many elite LACs that require standardized test scores for first-year applicants still want to see them for transfers. The thing is that many LACs are test optional, so for those colleges you don’t have to submit them - although you wouldn’t even if you were applying as a first year. Amherst and Lafayette recommend that first-year and sophomore transfers send their SAT or ACT scores, although they are test optional; Swarthmore straight-up says they are optional. Bowdoin emphasizes they’ve been test optional since 1969, but they also say that only 30 percent of their applicants have chosen not to submit their scores.
However, many elite LACs that are not test-optional for first years - like Oberlin, Williams, Haverford, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Carleton, Washington and Lee, and Davidson - require them.