Great suggestions, but I wanted to stress that Kenyon isn’t Greek-heavy at all. Their Greek life doesn’t dominate the campus and it’s more like clubs. My daughter wasn’t interested in Greek life at all, Kenyon was the only college on her list that had any, and she ended up there. Both our tour and the feedback from current students at the time dispelled any concerns she had about it. She had a rich social life there without any connection to Greek organizations.
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A few more possibilities that your D may want to consider that I think are pretty likely admits are:
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Centre College (KY), and I suspect she would be competitive for one of the Grissom Scholarships (a full ride scholarship). It’s one of the Colleges That Change Lives schools and people who have visited the campus have spoken well of it.
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Truman State which is Missouri’s public liberal arts college and is a pretty heavy hitter with respect to students who go on to earn a doctoral degree (not that all students must…but I think it’s an indication of the culture here). Your D would automatically qualify for a $10k/year scholarship (source), and if she does receive her IB diploma, she would get another $2k/year (source). But I think she’d be competitive for one of the big named scholarships here (which would either result in a full ride or full tuition plus some $ towards the $12k in room & board costs).
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U. of Dallas (TX): Your daughter might be competitive for one of the full tuition scholarships, and departmental scholarships of $1-5k (including one for Classics) can be stacked on top of those to help defray the costs of room & board (source).
This school is not a likely admit, but I still think is worth checking out:
- Washington & Lee is another school your family may want to consider. It does have a high perentage of students who participate in Greek life, but most reports indicate that because so many students participate, it is very much not like how Greek life stereotypically occurs elsewhere. It has the Johnson Scholarship (full ride) which 10% of students are awarded, but even if she doesn’t get the Johnson, W&L is very generous with need-based aid.
At these next four schools, if the NPC doesn’t come back as affordable, I don’t think they’d have a route to reaching your budget via just merit aid:
- Beloit (WI)
- Lawrence (WI)
- Drew (NJ)
- Randolph-Macon (VA)
If you let us know if any of our suggestions resonate or repel (and why), that could help us to mention better possibilities for your family.
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Thank you for this!
We have considered the role that her amount of need will have in admissions at need aware schools. She loves Oberlin and Kenyon, but I worry that our amount of need might make it harder for her to be admitted there, and other need aware schools.
She is prepared for rejection and has a realistic idea of what a single or low double digit acceptance rate means in reality. She has avoided having a “dream” school, but really fell in love with Amherst when we visited over spring break. She loves the open curriculum, the location and campus and the five college consortium. She also really loves Haverford, will probably choose to ed 2 there if she doesn’t get in to Amherst ed. She thinks she can be happy and successful at all of the schools on our list, though. The challenge is getting in!
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There are so many great suggestions mentioned here. I have added several to the list to discuss with her:
Denison: we visited and she likes it, but it didn’t make the list because the NPC comes in a bit higher (14k) than some other’s on the list, but we might reconsider.
Ohio University HTC: we visited here and she did not like the campus as much as I did. Our visit was just a general campus visit, and we didn’t learn much about the honors tutorial college, so maybe exploring that a bit more might influence her opinion. I think it might be a good idea to add it back just for the comfort of having another safety on her very reach-y list.
Franklin and Marshall: in budget, but it wasn’t a favorite. Her stats make it a more likely admit, I think, than many on her list, but I don’t know how much our financial need would influence the admissions decision.
Washington and Lee: the fact that the school has retained the name of the Confederate general is a big turn off for her. I have talked with her a bit about how the school has more recent commitments to diversity and inclusion, but she seems very firm in not considering it for this reason.
We will continue to explore some of the other suggestions mentioned! Thanks so much for the help!
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And IIRC, Ohio University provides costs for freshman year, and those are frozen for all four years of the student’s undergrad years.
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When she applies to Ohio State she should indicate “live on campus” which will increase the calculation of her “need” and if the resulting financial aid package in spring isn’t big enough she can decide to live at home then. She should also be sure to submit the supplemental essays/application for Morrill and Stamps. Be sure to follow up and apply for ‘special scholarships’ through Ohio State’s Scholarship Universe when that opens.
Since she is a Franklin Co/surrounding area student she should consider adding Notre Dame regardless of the net price calculator. There is a full ride set up by Glenna Joyce that makes awards to either Notre Dame or Ohio State for students in that geographic area.
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Thanks for this! I had no idea about the Notre Dame scholarship!
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Your daughter’s interest in Classics may help her admission chances at Amherst and is something she should highlight in her personal statement. Admissions offices of schools like Amherst and Williams are keenly aware of departments with declining numbers of majoring students and are actively seeking to bolster student ranks in those departments.
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Look at Rhodes College. They can pay for fly-in. They can give good merit and guaranteed FA for all 4 years.
I would apply and negotiate COA. She is 100% will be admitted.
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Your daughter being first generation and from an urban Title 1 school would also match Amherst and Williams’ admissions priorities.
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This is an amazing outcome. A school average ACT of 25 is more typical of a well-resourced suburban public. Congrats to your school!
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edit: will delete this comment
Is that right? At the school my kids used to go to, average was 30, and it’s 31 at their current school. Both are suburban publics.
I live in a well-resourced suburban school district. Our high school’s mean SAT in 2023, according to our school profile, was 1188, equivalent to an ACT of 24-25. So I agree with @fiftyfifty1 . We do have kids who score 1500+ and this year have two going to Penn and one to MIT. But there are other kids who score under 1000.
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It may depend on how many students in the school take the SAT/ACT. In Colorado the ACT was used in 11th grade as the ‘No Child left Behind’ test, so everyone took it, even many kids in special ed, students who had only been in the country for a year (ELL), kidts who had no desire to go to college. Some schools have averages of 17 or 18.
In Wisconsin when I was in high school, test scores weren’t required to go to Wisconsin colleges (not sure if that’s still the case) so hardly anyone took the test. Our hs, with one of the biggest graduating class sizes in the state, didn’t host the test and if you wanted to take it you had to drive about 45 minutes to another town. In my sister’s class, only 3 kids took the SAT and they were #1, 2 and 5 in the class; the SAT average for that school was quite high (the three students went to Harvard, MIT and Middlebury).
Our (good) public has a mean ACT of 30 and SAT of 1350. But I don’t know how many students take them. They’re not required, and also students who are only applying to California publics might not bother as they’re all test blind.
Average ACT Test Scores by State | ACT shows an inverse correlation between percentage taking the ACT and the average ACT score in the state.
This can also be seen with SAT scores and participation: SAT Scores by State 2025
So a 25 ACT average score in the OP’s school by itself may not say much about the school without information about the test-taking cohort.
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Thanks everyone for the excellent advice! My daughter just found out that she was accepted to Dartmouth Bound! She is very excited! I am wondering if anyone knows if acceptance to this fly in program gives a large boost to her admissions chances? She’s wondering if she should revise her ED plans and consider ED to Dartmouth instead (if she likes it, of course).
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