Suggestions, Phil Dept important

JHS
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 10:17:50 +0000

I can’t imagine why you have Chicago as a “probably not,” since it meets most of your criteria other than being Christian (and it has deep Christian roots, which are reflected in a strong Divinity School and a strong allied/adjacent Protestant seminary). And, honestly, I don’t think you are going to have an easy time finding a Protestant college that is well-respected among academic Philosophy departments and that meets financial need (although Berea is an important possibility). Chicago also guarantees loan-free aid packages to students in your apparent financial circumstances.

Your son will need backups/safeties, but to me he looks like a perfectly good candidate for the high-prestige private colleges that in general give the best financial aid to low-income students they accept. Almost all of them, not just a few, should be on his “definitely apply” list. Not just Yale, but also Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Chicago, Stanford, Duke. And certainly Williams and Swarthmore, and maybe Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Carleton. The modest differences among them aren’t worth worrying about when your first priority is getting a solid financial aid package.