Good point. This reminded me that Kenyon has a similar program (and probably some other colleges, too, as you said, but it’s worth looking into).
Your D has done well in high school and is fortunate to have such an engaged parent helping to create a solid college application list!
I just want to push back gently on the need to find a school that meets 100% of need. I elaborate more in the linked post, but there are schools that don’t meet full need that are more generous in defining need than schools that meet 100% of need. Does "meet full need" really mean much? - #7 by AustenNut I suspect that looking at the net price for schools by various income tiers will be more helpful for finding schools that will meet your price point rather than just looking at whether they claim to meet 100% of need. Of course, the NPC is the best tool to figure out where a particular school will land for your family.
As a starting point, these are some other schools that have likelier admissions than most of the schools on your list that I think are worth investigating:
- Gustavus Adolphus
- Hendrix
- Hope
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And some schools meet 100% of need with no loans and other schools meet 100% of need with some loans included in their package.
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Maybe something like Hobart and William Smith as a more likely school? It has a classics major though no clue how big/reputable it is.
Conn College also may be worth a look?
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I think most highly selective schools have this.
I even got one of these 30 years ago at my college, I don’t think it is rare - at least at wealthy NE schools.
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Below are my guesses as to your D’s odds for admission to the schools on your current list. Please note that low probability does not mean impossibility…these are just what I project to be the odds.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
- Muhlenberg
- Ohio State
Likely (60-79%)
- College of Wooster
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Kenyon
- Mount Holyoke
- Oberlin
Lower Probability (20-39%)
- Bryn Mawr
- Case Western (leaning towards toss-up)
- Haverford (ED) – low probability otherwise
- Smith
- Vassar
- Wake Forest
- Wellesley (ED) – low probability otherwise
- Wesleyan
Low Probability (less than 20%)
- Amherst (ED or not)
- Grinnell
- Hamilton
- Swarthmore
- U. of Chicago
- Williams
I strongly suspect that your D will have more than one acceptance, which is very important. For a family where the NPC result is very important, I think it’s especially valuable to have a couple of extra “likely” options in the event that a school’s offer does not align with their NPC, as every year there are families whose offers come back higher than the NPC indicated and the school hasn’t budged upon appeal.
Additionally, you may already be aware that if a school guarantees that it meets 100% of need and it does not say that it is need-blind, then that means it is need-aware. As your family needs significant financial aid, then that may affect admission decisions at some of those schools.
I would also think about your D’s mental makeup and the effect that multiple rejections may end up having on her. For some people, rejection’s like a fuel that makes them want to be even more awesome wherever they land to prove their naysayers wrong. For people like that, a very reach-heavy list can be a reasonable decision. Additionally, when one is searching for Big Aid™, that is often a necessary risk to take. But rejection is still an emotional and mental blow for most, and when someone receives a lot of rejections, it can influence their perception of themselves and of any offers they do receive. All of that to say, I would think carefully about your D’s reactions when deciding how to weight the reach-heaviness of the list and/or what kind of supports and preparation are needed if she wants to go very reach-heavy.
Wishing your family the best and looking forward to following along on the college search process!
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Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) meets 100% demonstrated need and has a well regarded Classics Department. They also have full tuition scholarships for Classics majors.
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I know you don’t need more reaches, but in terms of meets-full-need schools, I’m curious as to why the Maine NESCACs aren’t on the list (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby). They are often in the mix for students who are considering the LACs you’ve mentioned. Bowdoin is need-blind (don’t know about Colby), and they’ll all meet demonstrated need. All have excellent majors in your D’s interests. For the record, my D is a Classics major and History minor at Bates and loves both programs (just finished her sophomore year with a short-term course in Rome). I know that Bates is need-aware but offers generous support for students who need a lot of financial aid, including travel money to go home for school breaks and support for study abroad (equivalent to financial aid for study on campus). This may be typical of similar schools, but I know about Bates specifically based on the experiences of my D’s friends. Unless there’s a specific reason your D wishes to avoid these schools, it’s worth running the numbers, at least.
Other not-so-reachy schools to consider (some already mentioned): St. Olaf, Macalester, Oberlin, Conn College, Dickinson, and Bryn Mawr. I think that based on what you’ve said, Kenyon might be a little too Greek-heavy for your D but might be worth looking into regardless.
ETA: Oops, forgot Kenyon and Oberlin were already on the list.
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I would suggest she look at Bard College. Strong Classics department. They are generous with need-based aid and when my son applied, they said they meet need at least in ED/EA round.
I had seen this when he applied as well but do not know specifics. Awards in Classical Studies.
Best of luck!
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Haven’t heard it talked about very much. And its quite a benefit to students who have to make ends meet over the summer.
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Agree it’s super important
They talked about it in a couple tours we did- Conn College I believe
Schools that have an equity-focused /liberal stance have worried about unequal intern ops for a LONG time IME
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e.g https://careercenter.wesleyan.edu/channels/wesleyan-summer-grants/
https://careereducation.wellesley.edu/grants
Feldman Internship Grants – Undergraduate Humanities
https://careercenter.swarthmore.edu/channels/swat-funded-opportunities/
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Good to hear. But only some of those schools are on the OP’s list
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I just did a few random SLACs… I didn’t exclude some that didn’t have any. My point was trying to be this was widespread and nothing unique to vassar.
I literally was 4 for 4 with a quick google. If you feel like googling each one feel free.
actually they are ALL on their list, so that isn’t even true. at list on initial post. If they edited later I didn’t look that hard.
It’s still an excellent benefit many are unaware of. I was made aware of it when I made a significant contribution to Vassar’s career education endowment fund. The donation helped the fund reach our class gift’s 100K goal this year. Quite proud and happy to share the availability of this scholarship/endowment fund. Carry on. “Feel free”.
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It’s great that you have commuting to tOSU as a fallback - no need to consider anything she wouldn’t prefer to that very solid option.
I know she would prefer a smaller school, but it seems worth mentioning that U of Cincinnati has a particularly strong Classics department, plus they have some good merit scholarships, so maybe worth a look since it’s in-state.
Have you run the NPC for Kalamazoo College? K-College doesn’t guarantee full-need-met aid, but they’re quite generous with merit (in addition to meeting 94% of documented need on average) and might end up making a good offer. They have both History and Classics majors, and are double-major friendly. Students can also cross-register at Western Michigan U, which is only half a mile away and has its own Classics and History departments (including a Public History specialization if that’s of interest), plus very strong performing arts. So K-College offers a small school experience in a vibrant small city (pretty easy driveable distance from Columbus, too), plus the larger student community and additional coursework options afforded by its proximity to this larger public U.
In terms of fly-ins, it may be worth trying to suss out which schools actually give a more meaningful admissions advantage to its fly-in students. For example, I was in contact this admission season with a student who did fly-ins at both Smith and Wesleyan. Smith seemed really to be invested in those who’d attended, whereas Wes denied that having attended conferred an advantage. So, there’s variability on this front (which most likely correlates with the relative diversity of the student body and the school’s need to enhance said diversity by recruiting fly-in kids).
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Just adding…you can also look at Western Michigan University. Their cost of attendance for OOS students isn’t a lot higher than for instate. I don’t know if they could reach your price point with merit aid (which usually goes to instate students first), but someone else here might have a better answer!
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We toured a lot of the colleges discussed here, including several on OP’s list and others recommended in the chat, for my D23, and we’ve visited others for S26. All LACs. Virtually every one had summer stipends to support unpaid or low-paid internships. Now, the conditions vary – some colleges guarantee one stipend for one summer, some offer more, but they’re competitive, and in many cases, you need to submit a budget, etc. to qualify (so you were guaranteed a stipend if you needed it but not if you had a paid internship while living at home) – but all of them offer this to some extent, and many provide more for students with financial need.
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Yes, they are competitive and both the amounts available and criteria for applying for them vary. Nice to hear there are some others available.
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