Hi everyone. I’m a rising senior and have decided to go the LAC path for college. I’m applying to my home state universities as a safety but am looking for more “middle tier” LACs that have good programs in STEM (I’m going pre-med) as well as good research opportunities ( I want to intern every summer).
My projected/target SAT score is 1450
UW GPA: 3.8 W GPA: above 4.0 ish (my school doesn’t weigh APs)
-13 APs by the end of senior year
-tibetan
-apart of my school’s accelerated math program
received a scholarship to OWU (20k per year)
Extracurriculars/awards: worked in a biomedical research lab since 8th grade (researched hearing loss, I’m hearing impaired), will be co-authored this spring/summer, dedicated member/officer for my school’s human rights club, have served on a national/regional feminist board for high schoolers and a writer for a feminist blog, NHS, competed in science fairs (Intel ISEF + state/regional fair), national recognition for Oticon Focus on People Awards (3rd place), Boeing Legion of Youth 2017 recipient
Depending on what you mean by mid-tier – LACs strong in science which are not the usual top 25 LACs would include Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and Earlham College, in Richmond, Indiana. Wooster, in Ohio, has capstone research project for all seniors, which might be of interest. More selective admissions would include Denison outside Columbus, Ohio, and Dickinson in Carlisle, PA.
Your SAT score would place you above average at the majority of even top-20 LACs, which might make you a good candidate for a few of them. If, because of your pre-med ambitions, you would like to enter your college with well above average statistics, then you could find some good choices (as well as reaches) in this online article:
15 Best Value Small Colleges for a Chemistry Degree
Chemistry’s position as “the central science” might suggest STEM strength in general at these schools. With respect to your stated criteria, you may want to consider Union and Wooster.
For hearing impaired, consider Rochester Institute of Technology, specifically their National Technical Institute for the Deaf program. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are about 15% of the campus, enough that there is an infrastructure for supporting them. There will be no problem with getting professors in any class to wear microphones for hearing assistance devices. There will be other peers with hearing aids. U Rochester is right across the way and has a significant ASL program and support for hard of hearing as well. UR is more known as a premed school, so I would try to visit both if you visit one or the other.
Also, there is a reason multiple responses have suggested Wooster.- a great LAC for a research-oriented student.
I’m guessing from the legion of youth award that you might be in the Northwest? We dont have as many LACs here as in the midwest and east coast, but Whitman and U of Puget Sound, and Lewis & Clark are worth a look. Of those, Whitman is the most selective and has the best need based aid. Puget Sound many give a better merit award, but you won’t know until you apply.
Congratulations on your hard work! Good recommendations above. Denison would offer a great chance of receiving significant aid.
Other LACs with strong science programs would include Union College and Hamilton College in NY and very certainly Carleton College in Minnesota. You might also look the University of Rochester, which is a mid-size national university, but not dramatically larger than an LAC. You might also look at WPI in Worcester, MA. Very hands-on, project-oriented program with very close ties to New England tech companies. It’s a STEM school–like RIT, RPI, Case Western, etc.–but has a beautiful New England campus with an LAC vibe. I think it’s a little under 5000 students, so about twice the size of a standard LAC. It used to be heavily male, but school has its first female president and is coming close to gender balance in its very recent classes.
If you are female and would consider an all-women’s college, I’d recommend Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Wellesley in MA. Smith and Mount Holyoke are members of the Five College Consortium, which can offer advantages. Here’s a link:
Have the money talk with your parents as soon as you can, find out if you can afford full pay or if you will need to be chasing merit. If you are serious about becoming a doctor, think about finding the best combination of low cost and rigorous academics as you can, since med school is expensive. You don’t want to finish your four years at undergraduate and then have to postpone med school because the money is gone.
You have a great background. Where in the country might you be targeting? With some of your extracurriculars I would also consider Bard or Oberlin (although Oberlin may not be considered “mid-tier”). Bard has some really nice and new science facilities and is trying to improve in that area (vs being known more for the arts).
Run the Net Price Calculator for some of the LACs mentioned here and see if they are in line with what your family can pay. With your stats you can target meets-full-need with need blind admissions LACs. If your family income is on the higher end, you can probably get merit awards at a good number of these schools.
Besides the colleges mentioned, I will add that Grinnell could be a happy place for a human rights involved, feminist, science major. Macalester and St. Olaf come to mind too.
@mindlescat01, could you please clarify what you mean by “-tibetan”? Are you an American with Tibetan heritage or are you a Chinese national? (Or is this just a SpellCheck Gotcha!?)
The amount of financial aid you require will be pivotal in determining your college list. Have your parents run some colleges’ net price calculators to find out how much need-based aid you might be eligible for? If need-based aid works, then you can put together a broad list.
If, on the other hand, you really need merit aid (a scholarship not necessarily connected to your family’s income) to afford a private college, then you have to look carefully at the figures. Merit aid is definitely available, but not all schools offer it, and amounts vary widely.
If you are going to need merit vs financial aid based on need that likely will eliminate Bard and would certainly eliminate F&M.
On the east coast perhaps check out Clark University.
As you will hear from some of the more prominent posters on this site the LACs most likely to give a lot of merit are in the Midwest (and are excellent schools that easily match up well with their more coastal peers).
For merit and STEM, check out St Olaf. The top merit scholarship, the Buntrock, meets about half the cost of attendance.
Again, have the money talk with your parents and ask how much they are willing and able to pay. Depending on their finances, you might also be eligible for need based aid, you might not. LACs typically offer merit awards between 20k-30K, leaving 35-45k+ left over if your family does not qualify for need based aid.
Denison, Grinnell, and Kenyon offer a few full full tuition awards but they are very competitive.
Within the Claremont Consortium, Scripps, Pitzer, and CMC offer some merit.
If you are open to women’s colleges, check out Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Bryn Mawr. I am not sure if Wesleyan offers merit or not.
Maybe google “colleges that meet full financial need” and look for some of the above suggestions and other likely LACs. Note that these colleges might be “need aware” and consider financial need in the admissions decision. They might also calculate that your family can pay more than it feels it can pay. So this is not perfect but a good place to start. Just doing a quick search, several listed above are on some of the lists that I see.
Also, you could google “colleges that offer generous merit aid.” Your stats are high, so you’d be eligible at lots of schools. Good luck!
That’s good on several counts: You won’t have to deal with international admissions and financial aid issues and you may be able to expand on your life experience.
But it’s still unclear, are you sure you won’t qualify for need-based financial aid? Have your run a few net price calculators to get your expected family contribution?
If need-based aid is really not an option, then the next question is how much is your family able or willing to pay? Merit awards of $10-20K are relatively common, but less so when you get into full ride territory. You need to quantify how much you expect before you can make a realistic list.