Looking for suggestions for a safety school and some matches for C27

College Search & Lists
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I thought about making this suggestion too - it has only recently become a part of Cal Poly which should really raise its profile, and the oceanography program looks great. But I’m not sure the student’s humanities interests would be well-served in Vallejo.

Another vote to consider Conn College, which has strength in all of the areas of interest and also has cross-registration with the Coast Guard Academy, which is essentially adjacent and has its own marine science offerings.

I do agree that W&M in-state looks hard to beat. Would the student consider applying ED there?

Scripps could be great academically, but the biggest merit award is half-tuition and that gets the net price nowhere near 40K - more like 60. And I’m guessing you’re clear on this, having already looked for your C25, but it’s quite far inland; students with a marine bio interest typically get their hands-on, coastal experiences through study abroad. (Pretty sure the OP knows this but for anyone else reading, there’s no relationship between Scripps College and Scripps Oceanographic Institute at UCSD, other than being named for members of the same family.)

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I don’t think CC can get to $40K - is the issue there. Fine school though. There are definitely “more aggressive” LACs though - aggressive from a merit POV.

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Agreed, but the best case scenario cost-wise is better at Conn College than at Scripps, and it has a lot of the same strengths and much more coastal exposure.

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UMAINE Orono has an excellent marine science program and is an R1 university. It offers a flagship match for many states. S23 had a lower GPA and a similar SAT and could have attended for less than our in-state option. Highly recommend. The people are great, but the town is small. S23 chose animal science at another institution but this was a contender.

Also agree on UDEL and Eckerd but no insight on cost. More expensive options for Marine Bio are BU, Duke, University of Washington and University of New Hampshire.

S25 is at St. John’s College. All classics, all the time. Great law school placement. Lower tution to start and strong merit available. Guaranteed funding for at least one summer (internship, classwork, etc… make a pitch for a summer program at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center!)

Theoretically, you can study classics anywhere, but it always seems like liberal arts are on the chopping block. I cannot think of another esteemed “classics” program that isn’t a top 20 university or SLAC.

Look forward to seeing what everyone else suggests.

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I will second (third?) the suggestion of Connecticut College. First, it is an excellent liberal arts college.

Second, as mentioned, they are very good with scholarship awards. I have a niece who is a student there and she is there because she got the best financial package there in addition to the the fact that it is an excellent college.

Third, as mentioned, Conn College has cross registration privileges with the Coast Guard Academy (one course per semester) which is literally right next door. So, majors at Conn College like Environmental Studies or Biological Sciences: Ecology Concentration can be supplemented with courses from the USCGA Marine & Environmental Sciences Dept, which is one of the majors at the Coast Guard Academy.

Fourth, for a student like your daughter with interests as diverse as Marine Biology, Classical Studies, and English, the Conn College curriculum is particularly appealing. Their approach is to not force you to choose among your interests but with the help of an advisor, to figure out how to weave them all together. They call it “Connections” and from the connections a student identifies among their diverse interests, they develop what Conn calls “Integrative Pathways”. Read about their approach on their website. It would seem to offer a lot to your daughter.

Fifth, Conn College is about 10 minutes away from Mystic Aquarium, one of the 5 largest aquaria in the United States. There are marine scientists on staff who are actively engaged in research and there are internships available to college students. The Mystic Aquarium staff are involved in projects and research ranging from marine animal rescue, to predator-prey studies, habitat mapping of Long Island Sound, deep sea coral studies on the continental shelf, and marine floor recovery studies. They are also involved in conservation policy development.

Sixth, the Conn College campus includes land - including a small island - on the Thames River estuary. New London Harbor is the best deep water port on Long Island Sound, which is why submarines are built there. So, there are opportunities right in a corner of campus to do coastal studies and observations.

Finally, as mentioned, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is about a 2 hour drive from campus. They offer summer internships with dormitory housing for college students. It doesn’t get any better than that if you want experiences in marine biology. Also, one of the “study away” options which Conn College offers is a semester-long immersion program in The Marine Biology Lab at Woods Hole. You can read about it on the college website.

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This seems like a good opportunity for rising College Seniors, no matter where they go to school.

It was on another school’s website I listed above - but seems open to all. The most recent 32 says came from 25 or so colleges.

So good for OP to file away for the future no matter the ultimate school choice.

Summer Student Fellowship - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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There was a recent student who got $20K from UNH in merit. Direct costs today are $55,548.

So hitting budget isn’t assured - but it’s a safety school, a fine rep, and while if I’m OP I’d want an assured to hit $40K, if they liked the school (it’s a smaller public), it would certainly be a reasonable safety app - just knowing that if the merit doesn’t come and they have a hard budget, they’d drop it.

I’m a fan of having assured to hit costs - so a UNCW, as an example, would beat $40K before merit. But supplementing that with may hit cost, if they like them better, that’s a good thing too - so they have both - a 100% place to land and then, if liking it better, a possible place to land.

So UNH is reasonable - even with the budget.

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I read the $40K as a preference rather than a fixed amount. Reading between the lines, I came away with the impression that there was some flexibility there.

I agree that the Woods Hole summer internship is a wonderful opportunity for any college student. What I discovered from the Conn College was the “semester away” (like a study abroad semester) immersion program. It is not a Conn College proprietary program, but I don’t know if it’s available to students from all colleges or just from ones that have some sort of affiliation with Woods Hole. This opens up the opportunity to get college credit for a full semester.

At a place like Conn College, which has had a long-standing commitment to interdisciplinary study, the Woods Hole semester opens up the opportunity to create a major in something like Environmental Sustainability with a focus on Marine Biology or Marine Studies. The Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment at the college exists precisely to facilitate such interdisciplinary study either for a major or a certificate program. With the option of taking additional courses at the Marine & Biological Sciences program at the Coast Guard Academy in addition to those offered on campus in both the Environmental Studies and Biology Departments, there are really a lot of ways a student could go with this. Conn is also very open to double majors, so there is that is an available option as well.

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@DadBodThor Check your DMs.

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This is an interesting find! C27 did a marine biology summer camp up in Acadia national park area last summer (also how they found out about College of the Atlantic). Looks right up their alley, they will want to do this in college probably !