<p>I’m a junior, and I’ve probably searched about 8,000 colleges by now.
I have a 4.0 GPA, and haven’t taken the ACT yet.
I’ve been in all honors classes, etc. </p>
<p>I’m looking for a college very close to lots of nature, with a very liberal campus, preferably smaller, and hardest to find… a reasonable out of state tuition. (15K is about the end of my budget)</p>
<p>I’m looking at Bemedji, Humboldt, and Northern Arizona… any advice on those?</p>
<p>Also, I thought Laramie looked rather interesting but I heard it is very boring there… anybody have any experience?</p>
<p>Have you ruled out the possibility of adequate need-based aid from a private school? (Your “Expected Family Contribution” would need to be no more than $15K, and you’d need to get into a school that meets close to 100% of need).</p>
<p>Reed is very liberal, small, and not a lot of people know about it because it doesn’t participate in rankings. It’s in Portland, Oregon so you get a lot of nature too. It meets 100% of its students’ need, but I don’t know if you would qualify for that.</p>
A “very unique” school is Deep Springs. Lots of nature (LOTS and lots), don’t know about the liberalness of the campus, as small as you can get (26), and free tuition and R&B. I don’t know what you call boring, but it’s in a muuuuuch smaller “town” than Laramie. :D</p>
<p>YOu don’t say what you are interested in majoring in.</p>
<p>Never heard of Bemedji, Humboldt, or Northern Arizona, and I’m a researcher in higher ed. </p>
<p>As much as I hate to recommend them, Sewanee matches your criteria and with aid likely would be affordable for someone with a $15k budget, a 4.0 GPA, and an ACT score to match the GPA.</p>
<p>Check out Evergreen State. If you’re willing to look at privates (hoping for financial aid), look at College of the Atlantic and Prescott. Both very small, liberal and close to nature. More conventional private LACS that still might fit the bill (if they give you aid) are Lewis & Clark, Whitman, and Colorado College.</p>
<p>Thank you so much everybody… I added all the suggested colleges to my list and will be researching further…
As for financial aid, I will be eligable and I will definately look into that further as well with private colleges! Thank you very, very much!</p>
Humboldt State has a great reputation for biology and environmental science, less so for other things. Along with UC Davis, it’s sent more people to top grad programs in ecology than most other California schools I know of. It’s very laidback and has an absolutely gorgeous location. </p>
<p>I’ve heard NAU is decent for anthropology, but I don’t know anything more about it than that. There was a poster here (noimagination?) who has frequently posted about Bemidji State, but the only thing I’ve gathered is that it has a nice campus. A search through CC archives might prove helpful.</p>
<p>
Warren Wilson meets all of your criteria. </p>
<p>– A beautiful campus near the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of NC
– Very liberal
– Small (1000 students)
– Dedication to financial aid and low income students as a Work College</p>
<p>Lala, before you get another 8000 suggestions, I think you should take a step backwards and approach your search more analytically. My guess is that your high school doesn’t provide much in the way of counseling. This board is an excellent source of information and advice, but you need to narrow in a bit. There are dozens of rural colleges that would be possibilities for a high achieving student, so you need to clarify the money, make a balanced list, decide what’s right for you.</p>
<p>First, ask your parents to use an on line calculator to determine how much need based aid your family might be eligible for. This isn’t foolproof but it’s a good starting place. If your estimated family contribution is $15K or less, then you can have a wide open list. If it’s more than that you’ll need a different list, but put that to the side for now.</p>
<p>Second, think about what you have to offer. 4.0 GPA in honors classes is an excellent start. Do you know your rank? When will you take the PSAT, SATI or ACT? How about your extracurriculars, formal and informal? These could be very influential in admissions. Also, do you have any demographic pluses: ethnic background, economic status, geographic location?</p>
<p>Third, make a list of about 20 colleges/universities that you can afford and that have what you want. If need based aid works for you and you’re open to travel, then the Eastcoast rural LACs are certainly an option. If you are female, consider women’s colleges too.</p>
<p>And lastly, explore QuestBridge. If you fit their economic criteria, they will guide you through the process.</p>