<p>Sorry to be so blunt, but you need to play the FA game and then (FA being alike) then decide between schools. </p>
<p>Falling in love with a school, only to be denied because they want another FA candidate better or falling in love with a school only to find out that their package this year is not adequate for your needs due to their own financial situation … leads to heartbreak. That said, many elite schools have generous financial aid for needy candidates. I doubt too many would argue with the student body of those three schools described as 'having a significant number of nerdy and/or quirky students. And all willl handle the classics quite well and all will have fine study abroad programs. </p>
<p>FORGET about that ‘I’ve worked so hard’ essay. There are other ways to get it across than that - but in essay form it will come across as ‘I’m great and I’ve had to work so hard outside of school wrapped into a school like ‘X’ can free me from that’ is a dud. As part of your FA package you WILL be doing work-study (at the least) so that won’t come off like you think it will. </p>
<p>Also, Law School is about a great G.P.A. AND LSAT score. Where you went to school is a tie-breaker, at best, so choose the school you want to go to. That said, Brown being pass/fail before switching to grades gives a kid a chance to adjust to college studies before having to sweat grades.</p>