<p>Keilexandra, women’s colleges are often “admissions bargains” – in other words, they are more intellectual than their admissions difficulty would suggest. Most of the usual suspects certainly qualify as the kind of schools where linguistics/Proust conversations are more popular pastimes than TV or outdoor activities. What do you mean, they don’t measure up to your need-based list?</p>
<p>Another defense of the South: I am blue blood Asian, came to the South (and the states) at the age of eighteen. By and large it is a pleasant place to live, work and raise a family. I haven’t really encountered any discrimination of any kind during my whole adulthood here. Be open minded. Be positive.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that JHS’s suggestion of the honors program at Pitt is an excellent one. I couldn’t convince my kid to apply there as a safety–he didn’t want a school of that size, and didn’t want an honors college within a larger U–but I think that they offer substantial FA to OOS students who qualify for the honors college. They also have one of the top philosophy programs in the US, so intellectuals shouldn’t be too thin on the ground! :)</p>
<p>Something else you should at least check out is the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. It may not work for someone who has broad interests, and I don’t know what the OOS FA situation is, but it is definitely worth looking into.</p>
<p>Read thread on parents forum titled: “The results of choosing a full ride state school scholarship”</p>
<p>I attended an LAC many years ago and loved it. But…if I had the opportunities Vig has described in the beginning of that thread, I would have seriously considered that kind of school and program.</p>
<p>Also look at Honors at Miami of Ohio…another state school with an LAC-like campus.</p>
<p>With the current economic situation, there are likely to be more and more top notch students who will seriously consider the full tuition options at schools like Denison. While it will make these programs more competitive, it is also likely that these programs are going to attract more than a large number of top notch students who are just over the edge of need-based financial aid at the non-merit schools. You will have plenty of academic peers.</p>
<p>What about Rice U? Although not a LAC, it is a LAC size (3000 undergrad, 2800 grad - with undergrad slated to increase a modest amount during the next 10 years.) Very good merit aid, excellent need-based aid and meets 100% of determined need, capped loans to less than $10,000 at graduation (or $0 if less than $80,000 family income). Excellent academics and res college system that can’t be beat. Southern only in location; tons of athiests, etc. Both my kids have had/are having stellar opportunities there. Beautiful campus in nicest part of Houston.</p>
<p>Encore listing for Macalester. I’ve only seen it mentioned once on this thread. They have some merit aid…</p>
<p>Keilexandra:</p>
<p>I agree with other posters that you may want to look at some of the women’s colleges such as Smith and Wellesley. They are both quite selective and also offer merit aid. My D applied to Smith 2 years ago and got one of the few large merit scholarships which would have cut COA by half. She only got need based aid from Wellesley but they meet full need. Smith also an engineering program and you can take classes in the 5 school Consortium. At Wellesley you can cross-register at MIT. </p>
<p>You may also want to reconsider your position regarding so-called “tech schools”. Our D had absolutely no interest in engineering but in the end picked MIT. She is premed but also loves the humanities. MIT is not just a “tech” school but also has some the top departments in economics, philosophy, linguistics political science and management. She has taken classes taught by Pulitzer prize winners and minoring in English. She can also freely cross-register at Harvard. Although MIT has no merit aid aid, it offers some of the most generous need-based aid in the country.</p>
<p>One “southern” college worth a look is Guilford in Greensboro NC. My neice received buckets of money from them in both merit and need-based aid. Guilford is Quaker, and definitely not a religious environment in the conventional sense.</p>
<p>YDS, my mother (atheist) was asked regularly when she was a newcomer to Lexington VA which church they were planning to attend. She found it a bit disconcerting, but no one shunned her (as far as I know) for being an atheist. She ended up very involved in the community there (book club, garden club, various do good activities). I suspect this assumption that you are Christian varies from place to place in the South, but I don’t think the concern is completely unwarranted.</p>
<p>Keilexandra:</p>
<p>I don’t blame you for not wanting to go to school in Dixie. Just the thought makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I will not let my daughter go any further south than the University of Virginia in Charlottsville. I know there are fine colles and universities in the south. It’s not about the schools. It’s about where those schools are located. The south just gives me the creeps. Very backwards. Why go there when you don’t have to? There are a lot of very fine schools not located in the old Confederacy.</p>
<p>OP, I want to second cellardweller’s suggestion of MIT. My son went to top private schools his whole life, and a very smart asian classmate was deeply involved in Linguistics from 8th grade on ended up at MIT, which has one of the top linguistics programs in the country. Since you would be able to “have you cake and eat it too” with cross registering at H, don’t discount MIT too fast.
I also want to mention that when my son, who was a very strong HS student, was a JR, he was SURE he wanted to go to an LAC. The UC’s in Calif were not even on the radar, because class sizes were too big. As he did more research, he added a number of smaller U’s[ Chicago, Brown, Dartmouth] to his list, because we realized that many more U’s had the depth of classes, and the top professors who specialized in the areas he was interested in [Seismology and Music]. He also added USC [Southern Calif] as a safety despite their size, because he was a NMF, and because of their strong Geology and Music programs. Fast forward- he was accepted at 14 of the 15 colleges he applied to, but ended up choosing USC , something I would have NEVER predicted the year before, in large part because of the full Tuition scholarship he was awarded, as well as the quality of students who go there. He has found LOTS of very smart students there [ his best friends are all in the Engineering school] and a ethically diverse, lively campus. My advise is to widen your search, especially if big time Merit $$ is a factor. You may change your mind about which factors are most important to you by the time May 1st first rolls around in 2010.</p>
<p>I’ve already formulated a strong need-based list (composed of schools like Swarthmore, Carleton, Oberlin, etc.) that I’m satisfied with; while women’s colleges offer many advantages, the gender disadvantage–while not a deal-breaker–means that I would prefer attending Macalester or URochester over Bryn Mawr or Smith. My parents would also be happier–well, less annoyed–if I went to the Midwest than if I attended a women’s college, I believe; I have to pick my battles over their stereotypes.</p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom, my counselor has suggested Case and Rochester; but I think she is underestimating the difficulty of major merit money at Rochester, and I’m unsure about Case humanities (I attend a math/science magnet so her experience is in that area). Regarding the schools you mentioned (not right for me but may be for others), I will add that Muhlenberg and WashColl’s merit are capped significantly below full tuition, IIRC; Richmond and Miami however have very generous merit policies.</p>
<p>JHS: I adore Beloit and will be applying, though enough merit is a long shot (would need the full-tuition diversity scholarship). Lawrence doesn’t offer CS, unfortunately. I’ll definitely take a close look at Tulane, given the number of mentions it has in this thread.</p>
<p>How does UPitt compare to UDel for an English/CS double major?</p>
<p>MIT is an amazing school but out of the question for me; I wouldn’t get in, of course, but I would also be miserable there. Science core is not for me. In fact, just lab-science GEs at an LAC is a minus factor.</p>
<p>Current personal list to investigate: Tulane, Case, Pitt, Richmond, Miami of Ohio, Rice, USC. Any others? The thread is shaping up to be a great resource for future intrepid researchers.</p>
<p>Although Emory is in Georgia, it is not a southern feel school. If you truly have the profile, you may want to apply for Emory Scholars which can award you full tuition or a full ride.</p>
<p>My S goes to Case and is graduating this year. While he went because of his interest in the sciences, he has a second major in History so there is definitely plenty in the non-science arena. Scholarship amounts were excellent as well.</p>
<p>I’m wondering what your parents’ stereotypes of women’s colleges are…Wellesley, for example is usually #4 on the LAC list, and is teeming with bright Asian women. It is also located a mere 13 miles outside Boston/Cambridge, and has cross registration with MIT.</p>
<p>^ My mother has actually heard of Wellesley (she has never heard of AWS), but she thinks that a women’s college is not right for me because I’m introverted (implied: she wants me to find a serious boyfriend/future husband in college).</p>
<p>Here are links to two classic CC threads with lots of info about schools with full-tuition merit scholarships:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=what+I’ve+learned+merit[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=what+I’ve+learned+merit</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/313156-your-kid-takes-top-scholarship-instead-top-school-whats-next.html?highlight=full-ride[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/313156-your-kid-takes-top-scholarship-instead-top-school-whats-next.html?highlight=full-ride</a></p>
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<p>Huh. Well, in that case she may have somewhat of a point. Although Wellesley is not a convent or isolated by any means, and there are plenty of opportunities to be around guys, it is true that you would be likely to have to make somewhat more of an effort to be out there than at a co-ed school. I have to say that having attended both Wellesley and a much larger co-ed U, my observation is that the people who are good at the dating scene date more in both settings, and those of us who are less skilled are less likely to do so, even when in classes that are half male. Same thing is true in HS and in a work setting. </p>
<p>The vast majority of Wellesley women do eventually get married, even the introverts. :)</p>
<p>OP,
USC has a strong CS dept but is not yet currently known for the strength of it’s English dept [though my son did love one of the English profs there- he taught at Dartmouth for 12 years before coming to USC.] USC does not a have a linguistic dept. They DO have a terrific ,rigorous, writing intensive Honors Humanities program- Thematic Options [Thematic</a> Option](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/general_studies/TO/]Thematic”>http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/general_studies/TO/) , as well as strong Honors science program for qualified Freshman and Sophomore students. Both offer small class sizes and the opportunity to be taught by top profs. And USC encourages students to double major, with the Renaissance Scholars program <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/programs/ugprograms/renaissance/[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/programs/ugprograms/renaissance/</a>.
USC is focused on recruiting great faculty from other Universities, in order to attract top undergraduate and graduate students. Within academic circles, USC is now often being referred to as the “University of Stolen Colleagues”.</p>
<p>Oh, and USC has one of the strongest financial aid programs in the US.</p>
<p>Keil, how are you going to double major in CS if you don’t want to do the science core???</p>