I’m a rising senior who is really preoccupied with applying to places that would be a good fit for me. Essentially, I’m looking for a college with an undergraduate focus and a supportive/collaborative, progressive, economically/racially diverse student body. The diversity aspect is particularly valuable to me. I’m white, but from a very low-income family and have had to work for everything I’ve accomplished, so naturally I want to be surrounded by students with similar backgrounds. I honestly feel kind of daunted at the thought of attending an institution where the vast majority of the student body is incredibly wealthy and white…
As for the location of the school, I’d like to attend a school in either a small city or a rural/suburban area that’s not too far from a city. I’m definitely leaning towards attending a school in the Northeast or Northwest right now. I’m from the South, and honestly would much rather live in a place that’s a bastion of tolerance and progressivism.
My metrics are pretty damn good. 2200+ SAT, stellar subject test scores, a surfeit of 5’s on AP exams…
My ECs are alright as well, and I’d really like to attend a school where I could continue to participate in them. For reference, I’ve done a lot of work in environmentalism, liberal politics, poetry, and…indie rocking (I play guitar/write a lot about music), lol. Any school where any of these things are big is ideal.
No clue what I want to study yet, but I’m leaning towards a major in the humanities/social sciences. History and foreign languages are two of my favorite things to study right now.
I’m pretty much stuck applying to places with full demonstrated need met due to my rather dire economics straits. The two schools that are really appealing to me right now are Brown and Swarthmore, but I know they’re both reaches and that I should consider similar schools but I’m honestly lost for as to where else to look. I have some legacy connections at UVA and Duke, so there’s a lot of pressure by relatives to attend those schools, but I’m not quite sure if they’re a right fit. Can anyone comment on whether or not these would be good fits?
Thanks for reading this rather verbose (and hopefully not too self-aggrandizing) post!
Have you looked at Questbridge? If you receive the scholarship and are matched with a school, you will receive a full ride plus money for transportation,
Vassar, Wesleyan, Oberlin and possibly Haverford are schools you should make yourself aware of. I don’t think UVa or Duke are the best places to look if you are serious about all of your criteria, though this doesn’t mean that you couldn’t find your place at either of them.
Sounds like you’d enjoy LACs. Oberlin comes to mind, if you don’t mind it not being in the Northeast or Northwest (Ohio). They meet 100% demonstrated need. [url=<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need%5DHere’s%5B/url”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need]Here’s[/url] a list of schools that claim to meet full financial need; many of them are LACs and are ones you might like.
You sound like you would enjoy Ithaca NY, Burlington, Vermont and Portland, Maine.
Cornell is in Ithaca and is very liberal. Cornell is lovely, right on Cayuga Lake. Heaven on earth.
Middlebury is about 30 miles from Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain. Liberal, lively and beautiful. University of Vermont is there as well.
Bowdoin and Bates are about 30 miles from Portland, Maine. These are both liberal minded schools. Portland is fantastic with great food and great music.
Brown sounds like a great choice. Providence is a little tired but it works.
@merc81 and @CE527M Oberlin and Wes seem like a match made in heaven, but they’ve recently gone need-aware, even if they still claim to meet full demonstrated need. Should this impact any aid packages?
@BatesParent2019 All fantastic schools. I actually got the chance to interview at Bowdoin this summer and really dug the scene there and at Portland. My sister’s friend actually teaches at Bates and can attest to it being a great school as well.
Cornell and Ithaca also seem really compelling (and it’s probably my favorite Ivy aside from Brown), but I’m worried that the school might be too much a pre-professional pressure cooker.
You should consider both Pitzer College and Pomona College in Claremont, California. Although they are in Southern California, they both fit most of your listed criteria.
There is that part of Cornell but its big enough to zig zag away from that. I wouldn’t worry too much.
When I read your post I thought Ithaca, Burlington and Portland. I am from NJ and have travelled the Northeast extensively either skiing or visting clients and these are my favorite places.
" … they’ve recently gone need aware, even if they claim to meet full demonstrated need. Should this impact any aid packages?
I can see how this limitation within their policies could make you slightly skeptical, but your individual aid package should not be affected at these schools as a result or by-product of their being need aware.
Regarding Cornell and Ithaca, apply to the College of Arts and Sciences, let the pre-professional students in the other Cornell schools do what they do, and enjoy a great college town with your classmates and Ithaca College students.
How about Carleton? Great school in a wonderful small town, 45 minutes from the Twin Cities. Their Taste Of Carleton expense-paid diversity weekend is open to low-income students as well as URMs and first-gen kids. Swat, Bowdoin and some of the other LACs have fly-ins as well.
The arrogance of “pretty damn good” metrics at traditionally Quaker Haverford and Swarthmore might pose some problems…especially since those metrics aren’t particularly “pretty damn good” for their applicant pools.
@rlkirklandiii I thought that was a pretty modest way of phrasing things. Considering the arduous uphill climb my tenure at high school has been for me and my family, I can say I do feel pretty validated by my numerics. Sorry if that came across as pretentious. I can see where you’re coming from – I added the “self-aggrandizing” bit at the end for a reason.
Everyone else – Pomona, Carleton, and Reed all seem like stellar choices. I’m just afraid I won’t be able to fly out there and back every semester.
Oberlin, Reed, Carleton, and Macalester come to mind for liberal, artsy experiences. Mac is in a suburb of Saint Paul, so more of a city feel, but not intensely urban. It is diverse! We live in a majority minority area and Mac was the only place that looked like home. It isn’t majority minority, I don’t think so anyway, but I saw more of a variety of people there than elsewhere.
The coming home thing: ask about how often kids come home and whether dorms are open over breaks. I went to college far away and came home twice a year, at Xmas and in the summer. I stayed on campus for the shorter breaks. And ask about cheap, creative ways to get home for longer breaks, like buses, trains, and rides with other students.
@Lizardly thank you! Mac seems like a great option as well. I’ve heard the opportunities for merit aid there are pretty unparalleled, plus you guys certainly have some of the coolest alumni…
May not be fully what you’re looking for, but check out Northeastern for sure. I currently attend, and your situation seems to fit very closely with mine. While you will find a decent amount of wealthy kids, those that tend to choose northeastern tend to have a desire to work for their earnings, even if they want to go into the financial sector etc. They usually aren’t content living off family money and will be more similar to you.
Personally, I have gotten an amazing aid package. I was also offered to do questbridge, though I decided against it for varying personal reasons. As a whole, the program checks out though, and if you like enough schools it’s certainly a good idea.
I came from Florida, liberal by southern standards, but I needed badly to get away. Boston is an amazing place for someone looking for a left leaning feel but also some political diversity. For example, I’ve found some people who lean fiscally conservative but are very liberal socially, and have well developed arguments on both. In general, check out Boston schools. If your family is low income enough, many can become affordable with aid.
I would also recommend the University of Rochester. Frankly, probably better than NEU for the humanities. I chose NEU as a CS student. But, a co-op program sounds right up your alley.
@PengPhils No way! A friend of mine here in the South in very similar straits is about to be a NEU freshman. I have a ton of respect for the whole co-op program, so best of luck in your future endeavors. However, I don’t think it’d be a good fit given my focus on the humanities, like you stated.
Boston definitely seems like an ideal place to go to school. Would a school like Tufts would be a good fit?
Tufts would be for sure. Not BU, think NEU without co-op and more wealthy students. Same with BC, and even more right leaning there.
Again, U of R is def more up the humanities alley. It will be a good match.
Looking again as a refresher at questbridge, it seems like the best option by far. You get Brown, Swarthmore, and Tufts right there.
In this thread, Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Carleton and Pomona also overlap with Questbridge. I don’t know the details about how applying with questbridge and other schools outside of it works, but ideally you could get match / safeties from outside of the program. I’m no longer very familiar with the details of the program but many here on CC are. Honestly, I would be surprised if one of those didn’t take you based on the OP, assuming a comparable GPA to the test scores.
Kenyon is in the middle of nowhere, so not a match for your criteria in that way, but a great school for the humanities, spectacularly beautiful campus, and extremely generous need-based aid. Stats-wise it’s a practically a safety for you, and there aren’t many schools with aid that good of which that could be said, so it may be worth a look.
Being male is going to be an advantage in admissions to LACs, where the applicants skew heavily female. At Bowdoin, for example, the entering class was bare majority male, but they had 3800 female applicants to 3000 male. https://www.bowdoin.edu/ir/images/cds2014-15.pdf
