This all sounds amazing! She will definitely have to check this out more.
Why is medium the rarest size? It’s what all my kids wanted…. But yes she is getting more open to small schools since medium sized are harder to find (and seems like the hardest schools to get into).
Also agree that the meets 100% needs schools will probably be our best bet. We found even those differed so much in price for my older two which is why I am hoping to learn here which of these smaller more outdoorsy schools might be “known” for being most generous (my older ones did not apply to any of these).
We will definitely look more into Hendrix and WandL and St. Olaf!
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That’s great to hear! She will look more into Hamilton!
I haven’t even heard of this schools Will definitely take a look!
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There are many meets need midsize schools but that doesn’t make them obtainable. Nor are they in outdoor areas (few).
The Ivies
BC
Case Western - sure in Cleveland but Cuyahoga Valley Natl Park is nearby
Chicago
Claremont Colleges - small on their own but mid size together - sure in the inland empire but 20 mins from Mt Baldy - hiking and skiing
Duke
Emory
Gtown - nature very close in VA
Johns Hopkins
Lehigh
MIT
Miami
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Rice
Rochester
Stanford
Tufts
Vandy - sure, in the city, nature very close- from Radnor Lake to Percy and Edwin Warner Parks - always students on the trails. Meets need and has multiple full rides
Virginia (on the larger size of mid) - near lots of nature
Wake Forest
Wash U
As examples of some
Rochester is a legitimately midsize school that seems like a potentially good fit, if it ends up affordable. The setting itself is not necessarily perfect, although it is interesting (it is basically in a bend of a river, and the land side is mostly adjacent to a large cemetery). But then lots of cool outdoor stuff is not far away. And it has a great curriculum structure for exploratory kids.
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A student tenderly reported $5k at Skidmore and $20k more at Rochester. Both meet need.
This is the slippery slope where each NPC needs study. How did Skidmore rate differently ? It wasn’t merit I assume as Skid only gave out two merit scholarships that year and most don’t allow stacking.
There does seem to be out of pocket variation at many.
@green1724 will your student have a car or extra money for things like uber or Lyft? If not, many (if not most) of the schools on this list won’t have the outdoor recreation activities she is looking for nearby…and will require transport a bit of a distance to get to them.
And many of them are…urban.
Another thought…and it might meet the price point. This school doesn’t have winter outdoor activities within walking distance of campus, but there are other outdoors activities nearby. Check West Virginia University.
You might also want to check Ohio University.
Check for colleges with Outing Clubs…they tend to foster the types of outdoor activities your daughter wants (you mentioned Dartmouth which has a big Outing Club).
I think I already mentioned University of Maine.
Kids that don’t have cars often use friends - like my daughter used to do to go to the beach (but also uber’d when she was alone). And even at most schools in the outdoor areas. You still need to get to those activities - so friend, public transport, uber, etc. Even at outdoor school clubs, kids carpool - like my son and sailing club.
I noted - there were many medium colleges . But I added where there may be nature nearby will be few.
I listed them because OP noted Medium is the rarest size - but there are many - and many medium sized state schools too - including in CA where they might very well qualify for free tuition.
UC Merced is just under 9k
The Cal States have many mid size - from Bakersfield to Channel Islands to Chico to East Bay to Humboldt to Monterey Bay to Sonoma and Stanislaus - all mid size - and some near nature.
Another one you might look at and run the NPC for is Luther College in Iowa. It’s in the Driftless region which is hilly and quite scenic. It’s in a small town, so it will read as rural, but it might be too small. They provide need-based aid, although they don’t say they meet full need. But your child would automatically qualify for their largest merit scholarship, so maybe it could work.
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Another factor to consider with schools of all sizes is the dominance of fraternities and sororities in the campus social culture. In the midsize rural class Dartmouth, Colgate and Cornell come to mind. My son wanted to avoid Greek prevalence altogether, but your daughter may feel differently.
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It is hard to predict the final cost w/o knowing your financial aid amount.
Dartmouth /Cornell and some others obviously could be free depending on your income/assets, etc. (and yes, MANY super outdoorsy people at Dartmouth, not all finance people, at all, I know a few kids there, and they are opposite of finance actually). Average ECs seem to make it a long shot to me, though (even with strong rigor and grades). As someone points out, it is very Greek, though - though there is a wide variety of KINDS of Greek-type houses - some are coed, some are very alternative, etc.
Would small LACs in Maine (Colby, Bates, etc) and/or Middlebury, Hamilton give you enough financial aid? I would think they would meet a lot of your needs, but don’t give out merit…. I know a few Hamilton and Bates folks and SUPER outdoorsy
Colorado College is way more urban than UVM IMO if you haven’t been to both in person. (And Burlington is nicer than Co Springs downtown by a LOT IMO).
Hobart and William Smith is a great suggestion - lovely setting, not at all urban.
Random:
U Maine -Farmington – outdoorsy, but not sure about the major selection. likely pretty cheap
Bennington – Middle of nowhere in gorgeous VT setting…
Ithaca College - likely give huge merit, not sure about fin aid (or major selection) - in ithaca (like cornell)
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You daughter might consider Kenyon, a small LAC in rural Ohio (close to Columbus). The leafy 1000 acre campus is one of the prettiest that we visited and academics are top notch across the board.
I’m not sure that Kenyon is need blind (it does show up on some lists) but they do guarantee to meet full need of admitted students and also offer merit.
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Kenyon doesn’t state which is a signal is need aware - and 3rd parties all say this (but one). Need blind schools tell you.
They show this link below. Per CDS, 50% of last year’s first years got need aid averaging $57K. It’s $90K. So you never know…but the desire is above the average - and desire doesn’t = NPC need. But maybe. If you look there, you can look at Denison too.
Kenyon is Need Aware but meets 100%. FWIW, the best package my son got this year was at Kenyon.
I would never say UVA was “medium-sized.” It’s possible to spend a semester in lectures without any professor knowing your name, and four years having to take a bus to get to your classes.
Medium, to me, is 3K to 8K at the VERY largest. My college as around 6K undergrads, and 20K with every grad program if memory serves. Sure didn’t feel medium.
I don’t know why goldilocks sized institutions are rare, except that SLACs have a long tradition, and so do land grant schools. But I fear D1 sports are part of the problem, and the money from R1 is hard to turn down.
Olaf is around 3K. My son just returned from admitted student day, and remarked on how pleasant the size was. He’s grown up around SLAC’s, and he liked how it felt full but with the advantages of a SLAC.
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College Navigator - Search Results shows 369 bachelor’s degree granting schools with enrollment of 3,000 to 7,000. For comparison, there are 500 bachelor’s degree granting schools with enrollment of 3,000 or fewer, and 449 bachelor’s degree granting schools with enrollment of 7,000 or more.
So if you consider 3,000 to 7,000 “goldilocks sized”, they are not that rare among bachelor’s degree granting schools.
Fair point. That said, it seems they are not so proportionally well represented in a lot of the chats I’ve seen here.
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Congratulations to your D on making herself a competitive college candidate!
Below is a rather large list of colleges that I think could meet your family’s budget, sorted by my guesses as to your D’s chance for admission (not necessarily affordability). The net prices on the privates generally went into your budget, and although the public schools didn’t on face value, I think that some of them might get you a merit aid package that would bring them within budget.
I’d recommend applying early to the colleges because many of them will indicate what the merit aid package is with their admission letter. Once you have two affordable schools that your D would be happy to attend, then she need only apply to others that she likes even more (and allow the ones who’ve admitted her to try and woo her…always a nice feeling during the stress of college admissions!).
Obviously, several of these schools have already been mentioned by others. Consider their mentions by me a second. Additionally, if the school is part of the Colleges That Change Lives association (a marketing group based off a book of recommended colleges), I included the link to its profile. Although the profile is marketing material, I find that the descriptions do tend to give one a decent sense of the school.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Cal Poly – Humboldt: About 5700 undergrads
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Cornell College (IA): About 1100 undergrads and does the one course at a time model. https://ctcl.org/cornell-college/
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Fort Lewis (CO): About 3400 undergrads at Colorado’s public liberal arts college
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Gustavus Adolphus (MN): About 1900 undergrads
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Hendrix (AR): About 11000 undergrads. https://ctcl.org/hendrix-college/
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Hobart William Smith (NY): About 1800 undergrads
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Hope (MI): About 3400 undergrads https://ctcl.org/hope-college/
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Kalamazoo (MI): About 1200 undergrads and students can take classes at neighboring Western Michigan for any classes that aren’t offered at Kalamazoo. https://ctcl.org/kalamazoo-college/
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Lawrence (WI): About 1400 undergrads https://ctcl.org/lawrence-university/
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Luther (IA): About 1400 undergrads
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U. of Alaska – Anchorage: About 9900 undergrads, but perhaps too urban for your D.
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U. of Alaska – Fairbanks: About 5800 undergrads
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U. of California – Merced: About 8400 undergrads at the closest UC to Yosemite NP
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U. of Idaho: About 9600 undergrads at this state flagship
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U. of Montana Western: About 1300 undergrads at this school that does the one course at a time model.
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U. of Montana: A relative small state flagship, with about 7900 undergrads, but solidly mid-sized.
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U. of Nevada – Reno: About 19k undergrads, but if Burlington, VT is too urban, then this should definitely be nixed. But transportation costs should be much more reasonable than the east coast and it has the Sierra Mountains available for exploration.
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U. of Wisconsin – Lacrosse: About 9500 undergrads at this school…and one that could well be worth checking out if seeing Luther or the MN colleges
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U. of Wyoming: About 8100 undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
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St. Lawrence (NY): About 1900 undergrads
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St. Olaf (MN): About 3100 undergrads https://ctcl.org/st-olaf-college/
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Whitman (WA): About 1600 undergrads https://ctcl.org/whitman-college/
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Lower Probability (20-39%)
- Colorado College: About 2k undergrads
Low Probability (less than 20%)
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Williams
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Colby
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Bates
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Middlebury
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Hamilton
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Dartmouth
I think a lot of them are regional state school types - not a U South Dakota but a Black Hills State at 3425.
Not a UT Austin but a UT Permian Basin.
Not a Mizzou but a Missouri Southern, etc.
My second child also wanted a medium sized college…somewhere between 2000-6000. Many of the Jesuit colleges fall into that category, but I’m having trouble thinking of one that is not in an urban setting.
Has she considered UNC Asheville?