Rising HS Senior from Chicago suburbs looking for Mostly LACs [IL resident, 3.95 GPA, 34 ACT superscore, <$30-40k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi! I’m mostly looking for more schools to add, or schools to remove from my list, I don’t feel super connected to any of the schools I have and am looking for a school where academics matter, but it’s not just a means to an end or the be all end all (most of the cutthroat culture of some of the ivies are too much for me). I’m not looking for a party school, but want some of the college experience with making friends and getting to do new things. I want schools that prioritize hands on experience and not just theoretical lecture style learning. I like LACs because of the freedom to do more interdisciplinary learning. I loved UChicago’s campus because it felt like a real, smaller college campus, but was super close to the city, so any schools that fit that vibe would be amazing. I also don’t want to go to a commuter school. I want to study abroad, so schools where that is a feasible option would be good too! Thank you!

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Illinois, Chicago Suburbs
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public HS

Cost Constraints / Budget

Highest we can pay is around 30k-40k a year, currently make around 160k but may make more this year (around 280k) (so will impact sophomore year of college). I am willing to do on campus work and anything else to make it work.

Intended Major(s): Environmental science, biomedical engineering, general bio (not totally sure what in bio yet, but hoping to figure that out as I take classes - was looking more into LACs for this)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.95
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.5 (out of 5 scale, honors and APs are 5/5 for As, regular classes are 4 for As)
  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 34 superscore ACT (36 English, 34 Reading, 33 Science, 31 Math, 11 Writing)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Honors English 1 (8th grade, counts for hs credit), Honors English 2, AP Lang (5), AP Lit (5), Creative writing (Senior year)
  • Math: Algebra 1, Geometry, Honors Algebra 2, AP Precalc (Senior year)
  • Science: Honors Biology, Chemistry, AP Bio (5), AP Environmental + Science research class (Senior year)
  • History and social studies: AP Human Geo (5), US History, Civics, AP Psych (5)
  • Language other than English: Spanish 1 (8th grade), Spanish 2, Honors Spanish 3, Honors Spanish 4 (Dual Credit), AP Spanish Language (Senior year)
  • Visual or performing arts: Concert Band for all four years, highest band junior/senior year (took for honors credit junior/senior)

Awards

  • Seal of Biliteracy
  • High Honor Roll
  • AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

  • Tutoring (Sophomore year onward), have tutored 6+ students aged kindergarten to 11th grade in all subjects, NEHS (PR Officer), Science National Honor Society (Vice president), NHS, Tri-M (Music honor society), Marching Band (Section Leader Junior+Senior year), Kindness/Community club (Mentor/leader for our two programs where we go to schools and teach students about kindness, and HS program where we talk about mental health) + will be on board for it this coming year (it is a 500+ member club, our HS has around 3,500), Camp Invention (Intern from Freshman year, where I am in charge of a group of kids aged either kindergarten-3rd grade or 4th-6th grade, this past year I was helping a teacher who came in at the last minute and helped her with the curriculum and logistics), 150+ Volunteer hours

Essays/LORs/Other
I’m not sure what to write for my essays yet, but they should be average or above average once I figure that out. My LOR should be strong, I am asking my AP Bio teacher and a Spanish teacher.

Schools

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): Community College, UIC, Northern Michigan,
  • Extremely Likely: Kalamazoo College,
  • Likely: Macalester, Stony Brook,
  • Toss-up: W&L, Colby, Carleton
  • Lower Probability: Lehigh
  • Low Probability: UChicago, Duke, Rice
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You should add St. Olaf to your list if you’re already interested in Mac and Carleton. St. Olaf checks a lot of your boxes and is more generous with merit than many LACs (it also has lots of music opportunities for non-majors, if you want to continue). Also add Beloit, Connecticut College, and Oberlin. You didn’t mention your gender (unless I skipped over it), but if you identify as a woman, consider Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr.

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Have you considered St Olaf as more of likely? You would get merit and they are strong for your areas of interest.

Cross posted with Shelby!

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I hadn’t considered it because of the location, but I’ll look into it! Thank you!

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I am a huge Stonybrook fan, but honestly, it is about as far away from an LAC as you could get. And it is not at all like U Chicago- it is a suburban campus on Long Island and getting to NYC is a real pain. If you don’t want an intense academic experience (trying to understand your requirements here) I think Rice and Chicago are misfits for you. Both are great “life of the mind” places, but the emphasis is really on intellectual inquiry.

Have you looked at any of the Northeast LAC’s– Juniata, Franklin and Marshall, Goucher, Skidmore, Connecticut College? These aren’t urban, but they are closer to cities than Stonybrook and seem to have the balance you are describing… Holy Cross?

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That’s good to know about Stonybrook! I wouldn’t mind being challenged by college (and it’s obviously inevitable), I just wasn’t into the more cutthroat culture and classes being hard just for the sake of being difficult. I haven’t really looked at those Northeast LACs, but I’ll have to look into them more! Thank you!

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Yes, Stony Brook’s students are intense,so it’s probably not the culture you’re looking for.

Check out Whitman College, an excellent liberal arts college in Washington state, because it does offer the kind of culture you’re looking for and because it will be affordable. They build a culture of cooperation and collaboration. They also offer a “10% promise”, which is that you won’t pay more than 10% of your family’s income in tuition. The net price calculator on their website will not give you an estimate of the cost, it will give you the actual amount you will pay, so check it out. The trade off is that it is not near a big city. In fact, it is at the exact opposite end of the state from Seattle. It is in Walla Walla, population 35,000. But no college is going to have everything you want and what you lose in city life, you’ll more than make up for in outdoor adventures. They don’t have biomedical engineering - very few small liberal arts colleges have any kind of engineering - but they do have Biology and they do have Environmental Studies. But more relevant is that they have a unique major called Biochemistry, Biophysics, & Molecular Biology. It integrates biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics with its graduates land in fields ranging from genomics to biotechnology.

Suggested above was St. Olaf’s, another excellent small liberal arts college where you have a good chance of keeping costs within your budget or close to it.

U of Maine has a flagship match program by which they will charge yo the same tuition & fees as your home state flagship university for students from certain states. Illinois is one of their match states. And room & board will be at Maine rates, which are a little cheaper tha UIUC. If you really want biomedical engineering or environmental engineering, they offer both of those. It is very small compared to most state flagship universities with an endergrad enrollment iof only 8000+. The only draw back is that again, it’s not in a big city.

If you want to focus on the environment at a small college, SUNY ESF (Environment Science & Forestry) focuses only on that and is the oldest college of forestry in the country with an expanded mission to include environmental science in more recent years. They offer majors in Environmental Biology, Environmental Resources Engineering, Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, and Sustainable Resources Management. They are in a city, Syracuse, NY.They are small (1800+ undergrads) but they sit across the street from Syracuse University with whom they have cross registration, so you can take courses there as well. Best of all is that they have a flagship match program (like Maine) so you will pay the same tuition as at University of Illinois.

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I can’t speak to your other schools, but Washington and Lee’s admission rate is under 14%, which makes it a lower probability school for almost everybody.

Have you visited any of the schools on your list? What about Union? Bates?

I read the thread quickly – do you need merit aid to get to your budget, or will need based aid be enough?

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Excellent suggestions. ESF is a fantastic option…especially for a kid (most kids, in fact) who haven’t quite aligned on the particular discipline they’re interested in.

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Based on your interest in environmental science, this site may be of interest:

As two suggestions, look into Colorado College and Hamilton.

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Note that St. Olaf is in the same town as Carleton, which you included on your tentative list.

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I have visited UChicago, and I loved the campus and the closeness to the city. I recently visited University of Illinois Chicago and wasn’t a big fan of their academics/general student vibe, but also liked the campus. I will need merit based aid, especially if my family income increases (I expect it to this following year).

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I have looked at Whitman because of their tuition promise and I really liked some of their programs! I’ll have to look into U of Maine and SUNY ESF, thanks for the reccomendations!

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Welcome to College Confidential, @a3947! From what you have shared you are well-prepared to be successful in college.

Two of the majors you’re interested in are definitely available at most liberal arts colleges, but not biomedical engineering. If that’s something you’d like to have as a possibility, that will filter out a lot of colleges. The colleges I’m recommending below are all ABET-accredited for biomedical engineering.

The first school that popped to mind while reading what you wanted was Duquesne. It’s a Jesuit school located in Pittsburgh (city!) and has about 5400 undergrads, so it’s it’s certainly bigger than most liberal arts colleges, but it’s still smaller than the 7600 of U. of Chicago that you loved. Students can also cross-register for classes at other area colleges like U. of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon (though the latter might not be the academic vibe you’re going for).

Case Western (OH) is another school you might want to consider. It’s in Cleveland and has about 6500 undergrads. People who visit the campus are generally big fans of the area. It would probably be tough to get within budget, but not completely out of the realm of possibility. Case loves demonstrated interest; if it thinks you’re serious about them they are more likely to grant you an admission and good merit aid.

Other schools you may want to check out include:

  • Marquette (WI): This Jesuit school is around 8k undergrads and is located in Milwaukee. I think your odds are pretty good for getting enough merit aid to bring this within budget.

  • Saint Louis (MO): Yet another Jesuit school, this one in…you guessed it, Saint Louis! (The Jesuits do education really well and they also tended to base their colleges in cities, which seems to be what you want.) This school rings in at 10k undergrads.

  • The College of New Jersey has about 7400 undergrads and is an 11-minute drive to Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, and a 40m trip to the heart of Philadelphia.

  • If you’re willing to go a little further away from the city, but not too far away, check out Union (NY). It’s one of the few liberal arts colleges with an engineering program, and it’s a half hour from Albany.

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Big difference between having lots of “hands-on” experiences and a full-tilt bioengineering program; the minute you commit to a typical ABET approved engineering program you enter first-year with much of your course load pursuing specific prerequisites in a specific order. You can find larger-sized LACs where engineering is available (Lafayette, Lehigh, Union, Smith), but frankly, they may not be the vibe you are looking for.

Dartmouth is a low-probability Ivy in New Hampshire that offers a dual degree to its own undergraduates that combines a typical liberal arts and science experience with a fifth year ABET approved engineering degree. What’s important for you to know is that Dartmouth offers the same program to a select number of LACs, including Amherst, Wesleyan, Colby and others:
Partner School Dual-Degree Program | Dartmouth Engineering

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Reminder that the OP has said they need merit aid.

Has your family run the net price calculators for your schools?

If you need merit aid, your focus necessarily needs to be on “safety” schools. Schools where you are in the top 10% or so of applicants. But first it would be good to get a handle on how much merit aid is needed.

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The reason the OP “needs” merit aid is because they face daunting odds being admitted to a wealthy LAC where need-based aid could bring their costs down. They need to run the NPCs for the wealthier colleges while pursuing merit at higher probability schools.

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Not having physics will hurt you for any engineering program or even your reaches in general, assuming any physics is offered at your HS… it is either a pre-req or STRONGLY recommended for engineering… less critical for enviro, but for a Duke, Rice, Lehigh? they likely will be surprised not to see it (once again assuming your HS has physics). e.g. Application Process | Wesleyan University not known for being SUPER stem heavy has 75-80% enrolled having taken physics (and that includes ALL students, even those that don’t have it offered or are super artsy, musical, etc). I would recommended senior year physics if you can.

Some schools even have checklists in common apps for engineers if you have taken bio, check, physics, check, etc.

Edit: I am not saying every engineer has taken physics, it is just harder and at competitive schools it is already hard!

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This one is kind of hard to change majors, AND I think w/o calc or physics isn’t going to be feasible (nor is merit in cards is it?)

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Clark! They have a lot of environmental and bio-related majors and research for undergrands AND a free masters.

There has been some news about financial issues, but I think overstated, honestly- it is like a LAC in a research university….in a small city with 2 other great colleges (WPI and Holy Cross are nearby) train to Boston nearby – would be a GREAT fit and you would get lots of merit I think!

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