I agree that budget and aid eligibility will be the limiting factor here. You do have good in-state public options, and hopefully those would work financially.
Have you run Net Price Calculators for the schools on your list that offer need-based aid? (Richmond, Wake, UVA, and Syracuse) If not, please do so and let us know how the numbers look. If these schools look affordable, there are probably additional options to consider that are financially similar.
Some schools on your list are guaranteed-unaffordable. At UW-Seattle, for example, merit scholarships do not exist at the level that would get you to your price point… and this is likely the case with most if not all of your OOS publics (except for UVA, which is unusual in meeting need… but this also makes is a very tough OOS admit).
Some options to consider, off the top of my head:
- In terms of vibe, Tulane fits the pattern of schools you have loved when you visited. It offers both psych and linguistics majors. Financially, it’s similar to Syracuse - doesn’t guarantee full-need-met aid, but meets over 90% of documented need on average. It has a low admit rate but not super-high median stats. Applying ED makes a huge difference here, and EA applicants are often deferred and pressured to switch to ED2 in order to score an acceptance. If the NPC is favorable, you could consider ED, as an offer wouldn’t be binding if the aid didn’t measure up to the NPC projection.
- In the Massachusets 5-College Consortium, Smith College and Mount Holyoke both meet need and offer psychology majors. Neither offers a linguistics major, but you could take UMass-Amherst linguistics classes via cross-registration.
- Centre College has a decent chance of meeting your need with a combination of need-based aid and merit aid, and they offer a psych major and a linguistics minor.
- URochester has similar weather to Syracuse (in the “con” column for you) and might be less of a vibe fit for you than SU, plus it’s a tougher admit, but URoch does meet need and it could be a great fit academically, with Psych, Linguistics, and Cognitive & Brain Sciences departments that could all be of interest, and a flexible curriculum that could make it easy to combine your interests. Even before so many schools went TO because of Covid, URoch was test-flexible, meaning that you could submit other strong scores (like AP’s) in lieu of the standard SAT/ACT. Could be worth a try if the combination of lake-effect cold/snow and a more bookish, less sports-spirit-y atmosphere would work.
- If you’re willing to consider west coast, as your possible inclusion of Stanford suggests, you might look at the Claremont Consortium Schools. Pitzer, Scripps, Pomona College, and Claremont McKenna could all work well academically. The linguistics major is offered only through Pitzer and Pomona, but is freely available as an off-campus major at the other two. All offer psychology, of course, and all support dual majors (two majors, one combined undergrad thesis) and double majors (two majors with a separate thesis in each). All would be reaches, some more so than others. Scripps and Pitzer could definitely be worth a try; CMC might only be attainable via ED; and Pomona might not be attainable at all, but certainly no worse than Stanford! If you like the Wake/Duke vibe, CMC probably comes closest to that… but the beauty of the close-proximity consortium is that all schools and “vibes” are accessible no matter where you attend.
If you give us more info on how the NPC results look at various schools, we can fine-tune our advice accordingly.
Also, you may be aware but FYI - unfortunate timing for you, sorry: The end of legacy admissions at UVA