admitted to both swat and brown and chose swat. you sound like a swattie. brown would also be an excellent choice. applying ED to one of these would be a great idea! wesleyan, pomona, and yale are also good choices
If you don’t mind staying in the South, consider New College of Florida as a low-match/safety. They are very progressive and liberal, with a geek-chic vibe. Their official title is “Florida’s Public Liberal Arts Honors College.” They have been called nicknames like “Bikini Bennington.” You can design your own curriculum. Sarasota is a very pleasant, small city. There are plenty of rich, old, white people there, but there’s a sizable working-class African-American community, and there is plenty of liberal activism to be found among some northern transplants. My son is a progressive activist at NCF, so I can affirm that much. There is also a vibrant arts and cultural scene in Sarasota, and not too far away in St. Pete. Look at Goucher, also, as a low-match, along with obvious choices like Reed, Pitzer, Pomona.
While new college is nice and a fine school, i’ll say this: I’m from St. Pete, and I know the area well. It isn’t terrible, and beats most of the south, but the northeast and west coast will beat it tenfold. There’s activism, but it’s a hard battle down here. If there wasn’t that activism, it would pretty much be the rest of the south. Unless you’re coming down here to fight in that, I don’t see any reason to go to NCF with all the other options you should have.
@hs2015mom Those are some really intriguing statistics. I was cognizant of the advantage women receive at STEM-focused schools like MIT, but this makes a lot of sense as well.!Kenyon seems like a great option.
@nerdybamboo That’s at once an incredibly enviable and tough decision. Could you please elaborate on why you chose Swat? Both schools are incredibly appealing to me for different reasons, and I’d like to get your perspective.
@woogzmama I have to agree with PengsPhils here. I’ve never been to Sarasota or St. Pete, but if they’re anything like the parts of Florida I’ve been to, I can’t say I’d enjoy it too much. NCF, while a great school, seems to me like a mere blip in the politics of Florida as a whole.
You might be able to get some major aid at University of New Mexico. My son is probably going to apply there, but his grades not matching his test scores will probably keep it from being affordable. I can understand wanting to go to a different part of the country; I left Eastern Tennessee for Brooklyn after grad school. You could probably find like minded people at the big southern state universities that give major aid to students with your stats. My son, a liberal kid from the DC area, is considering University of Mississippi.
I would strongly suggest:
Bowdoin
Brown
Haverford
Reed
Swarthmore
Vassar
Wesleyan
You might also consider:
Macalester
Occidental
Pomona
Re: posts #22-23, @ PengsPhils and OP - You are right about FL, of course. I mentioned NCF, because my son (whose stats weren’t as strong as OP’s) got into some places like Oxy and Pitzer, but NCF’s aid package was irresistible. We’re paying less, as NJ residents, than we would for Rutgers or TCNJ. This son has always rooted for underdogs, and is enjoying the challenges of working on re-districting and organizing in FL. He might even wind up a delegate at the Democratic Convention next year. He also loves warm weather and beaches.
Others have pretty well covered it. My first thoughts are Brown, Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin, Pomona, Carleton, Wesleyan, and, maybe, Reed. We’ve visited most of these and loved things about all of them.
@zombiethingie Swat had a better community (being completely subjective here!) that was actually interested in exploring the intellectual side of things. I don’t think that was my impression of Brown. This is very parochial but when I met up with some other admitted brown students in my area, I realized that they weren’t my cup of tea. But honestly, they’re more similar than different. Swat is smaller, is near Philly (which is so much more preferable than Providence? haha), and has REALLY GREAT teachers. That’s probably the biggest thing… world class teachers who’s only job really is to teach you.
Why has no one mentioned UC Santa Cruz? UC Davis? And UC Berkeley?
I’m visiting St. Olaf and Carleton on Friday, so if you have any questions about campus or the area or anything feel free to dm me!
Ditto, Macalester. But unlike what someone said earlier, it is NOT in a suburb of St. Paul. It is in St. Paul, right on multiple bus lines and very accessible to internships and such.
Professors at top LACs don’t have just one component of their job. Teaching is important to them, but they are also active, engaged researchers. They couldn’t get their jobs and keep them if they didn’t do both well.
Are the UC schools really options? I love the idea of all of those schools @MegaMetalHead aside from perhaps the sheer size. But I’m almost positive that due to the dearth of funding for the UCs, out of state kids are almost always full-pay.
OP, UVa has EA and since it is a public school you can check and see if it does not conflict with other EA and even Single Choice EA schools’ policies. It is also a Questbridge partner. It would be a good idea to line up a safety school (or two). UVa has an honors program and the net price calc will show you the financial picture which I suspect will be generous, since even out-of-state students do well there with financial aid.
Need-based aid may be your most feasible route altho other posters may have suggestions for merit-based programs. For us need-based aid at a well-endowed, 100% need met school was the most generous option. Merit-based scholarships may cover all the way up to full tuition, but be sure you know how you would pay for room and board and books and expenses.