Any chance for merit aid?

Parent Cafe
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<p>USC is generous with merit aid – their deadline is earlier than other colleges by a couple of weeks if you seek financial aid. They have a good film school. UC Berkeley has a good academic film department, but not production. If you’ve ever had occasion to read any academic film studies stuff, it is very “intellectual” – lots of jargon and poststructuralism.</p>

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<p>yes, bethie. CMC and HMC both have merit awards (and Scripps but I think he’s disqualified). Both are very tough and HMC is very stat based.</p>

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<p>His rank may hurt at UMiami but I’d keep UM on the list if he’s interested. If your son applies, don’t be discouraged if at first he doesn’t receive the merit $ you’re hoping for. My son was initially offered one scholarship, but within weeks it was replaced with a better one. I’ve heard of others whose scholarships were bumped up (without asking). </p>

<p>Spread a wide net and see what happens. We were surprised at the results. My DD got merit $ at RIT and Syracuse that we never expected. My son got mixed results: the Singer (full tuition) at UMiami but not a penny from UNC.</p>

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<p>I am a little confused about the mention of LAC’s and “the business side.” In my mind these don’t go together because LAC’s are notoriously lacking in business.
However, I am going to suggest Macalester which does have some merit aid and would probably be the kind of population he is looking for. </p>

<p>If he is willing to come east Skidmore might be a good deal. They do have some merit awards as well as a very arty student body + business.</p>

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<p>Skidmore looked very good to me and to hubby. Too close to home for son. Good one, mythmom.</p>

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<p>Skidmore is very limited on merit. $10K max.

Macalester is worse for merit awards (although it sounds like it may be a school worth considering).

I agree that rank will hurt at Miami (who have in the past been very numbers driven). The bigger money is for top 1% or top 2% or at least top 5%.
Whoever mentioned USC, they have a great program for NMF’s but not as good for the rest of the world.</p>

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<p>Quirky arty business/film major who needs substantial merit aid, or is at least looking for substantial merit aid. Hmmm. That 1470 top 12% is nice and I’ll assume great rec’s and essays but I still think he’ll do better bringing his west coast quirkiness to (for example only TCU and SMU) class schools. I have zero idea about film. Not on my screen. It’s my opinion that many of the schools mentioned are not great merit bets for this kid. Not if we are talking 1/2 tuition or better awards. If merit is the goal, as the OP says, he needs to set his big merit sights at a different level . </p>

<p>BTW, when you are playing the big merit game, your currency is stats (at least partially) . IOW, stats make you cash money. Can’t do much about rank, but what about the ACT with score choice? Could be the difference maker. A kid a couple years ago got shifted up 2 levels of awards at UMiami for a super SAT.</p>

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<p>Rollins College has a nice businsss school, and some excellent merit aid that your S probably would have a good chance to get. My S’s scores were higher, gpa lower than your S, and my S got merit aid.</p>

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<p>College of Sante Fe offers merit aid, has a strong arts emphasis, and has a business program. Maybe someone with personal experience can jump in, but I’ve always liked what I’ve seen on their website.</p>

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<p>college of santa fe merit scholarships <a href=“http://www.csf.edu/prospective_students/financial_services/scholarships[/url]”>http://www.csf.edu/prospective_students/financial_services/scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m the one who mentioned USC. It is true that they are particularly good for NMF – half tuition, if you put them down as first choice; but they also offer full, half, and quarter tuition scholarships apart from the NMF scholarships. They seemed to have a significant number of these. You have to apply by the early deadline and then, if nominated, you have to go there in person for an formal interview (in business attire). From what I gather, they sometimes increase the scholarship offer after the interview (on the other hand, you might go there and not get one…). For film, it is one of the best schools in California.</p>

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<p>Okay, this is the other side of the country from California. This school is mentioned here on occasion. I just visited, and it is a nice public U with about 11k undergrads. UNC-W. I think that your son has excellent chance at their honor’s college, though I know nothing about it. The airport is 15 minutes from campus:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.uncw.edu/filmstudies/about/about-the-department.html[/url]”>http://www.uncw.edu/filmstudies/about/about-the-department.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Film seems to be a very strong department at UNC-W.
More from their website:

</p>

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<p>Chapman in Orange County has been mentioned here several times both for their film program and their merit dollars.</p>

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<p>I always liked what I saw on College of Santa Fe’s website, too. Couldn’t get S1 interested although the documentary studies program looked very interesting and up S1’s alley. We did have an opportunity to do a drive by/drive-walk through of the campus last month when we were in Santa Fe because S2 although only a sophmore is most likely going to be a design major in college. S2 didn’t “like” Santa Fe and didn’t like the urban campus but I thought the campus was nice and definitely “in” Santa Fe. The kids were moving in when we were there and the campus felt more “arty” than business-y. Still all in all a very interesting school for the right kid. At least I know now that S2 isn’t an “urban” campus kid. The Santa Fe campus is contained and nicely landscaped with roads that go around it but it is in an urban area. Didn’t talk to any admission folks so can’t speak to that aspect. They dangled money in from of S1 so I do think they have merit dollars.</p>

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<p>Leaving L.A. to study film production or business does not (IMHO)make sense. Ive worked at Viacom, and my husband has worked at WARNER, Sony
and Disney. Its ALL about the internships and connections. He should stay in So Cal.. And most of the film business jobs arent offered to “film students”. My nephew studied accounting at UCLA and now has a fantastic job traveling the world for the music division of SONY.</p>

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<p>I think Harvey Mudd at the Claremont colleges would be a stretch. My son had higher rank and slightly higher SAT scores and was waitlisted. I suspect being a guy doesn’t give you any brownie points there either, but it doesn’t sound like it’s the right one, given his interests.</p>

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<p>Exactly my point, musicmama. He needs connections to get those jobs–and finding them in NOLA or Miami is a big ask.</p>