<p>Ok- time for my big squee! On the way to NY on the bus to pick up some portfolio materials from Cooper so that they could be used for a local scholarship competition, my S got the call that he was accepted into Cooper Union. Can’t hardly believe it. For him it will come down to a decision between Cooper and MICA, depending on a scholarship package from MICA. We are on cloud nine, he says he doesnt even know how to think or talk about it.</p>
<p>switters: That sounds great! Daughter would love to go to Cooper Union, but it’s such an incredible long shot that she tends to not worry or think about it. We expect a denial letter next week. Since she hasn’t gotten any calls and we know they only admit a couple dozen people this time of year, it sounds like she can assume she’s not admitted. </p>
<p>Ugh, I sound horribly depressing! I probably need to take a break from posting until I’m feeling less funky about the financial aid situation. 
I’m still happy for your family, though.</p>
<p>artsmart, that’s very sweet of you, sorry I bit your cute bottoms at Skidmore issue.</p>
<p>congrats switters! told you so !!
come to cooper to raise that school smarts and attitude average of them kids if you can afford, I will feed him occasionally, does he like ramen?
not that I am waiting good news, but everyone else, only SPECIAL kid get phone calls RD round, do not despair (yet).</p>
<p>congrats greenwitch, does she like rarmen? we can have ramen party instead of pancakes. Back woods of Columbia campus could be the one of cheap-est food related area in Manhattan if you are careful and don’t look like Columbia students. It take lotta practice from what I know about y’all but can be done. </p>
<p>trin, I can’t say I told you so but that’s how private art schools are. you’d have known you are as long time as me being in here.
You can try and negotiate but I should warn you, they are not those top LACs, different agenda, different folks, no money but tuition incomes. I often wonder why big shot artists don’t donate to their alma matters and my guess is that true big shots would do grad study in high powered institution or abroad, if any dough left, they’d give to then so their profile looks better on the paper.
And /or they’d usually have multiple families or homes or drug habit, private plane or ranch farming fetish, it all costs money, not like those CEOs doctors lawyers bankers politicians ivies and top LACs would produce and constantly have to watch what they do or say.
From my kid’s Tuscany big buck scholarship bunch, none was afford to go to MICA but one. More likely low EFC won’t help. Supposedly aid friendly-sh MICA simply could not help them enough last year.
One kid is from CA, doing time at state school to see if can transfer in few years. She can still do that since you are in state, Or SFAI would have piece meal class if she wants to gain whatever skill she needs while do internship at that fabulous museum that cooks up everything, SFMOMA!!
Going to the well known expensive school does not make her better artist, if you still insist on that, you can always try again and again, art school kids are older than those selective UG schools, 20-25 sh is common.
let’s face it, top art schools are for rich willing full pay unless one is super determined and not worrying about 300K debt, or for pure genius that would have been proven at merit $ review. we are in the same boat, either you like it or not.
All is not lost, is what I’m saying.
Even you(we) are in dumps, try to keep her spirit up.</p>
<p>Dear Bears and Dogs
Actually my bottom’s not all that cute but thanks anyway! and I don’t mind a little back and forth, in fact our discussion was interesting and something I’m interested in so I found your take on things informative.</p>
<p>One thought for those who are finding themselves in a pinch financially, it’s not such a bad thing if you think your kid is really really dedicated to going to take a year off and work if there’s work to be found. But I’m not sure school’s will defer an aid package? does anyone know?</p>
<p>For those who had good news Congratulations and for those with not such good news, hmmmm, well I sometimes think everything happens the way it does for a reason. I don’t know if I do this just to ease wounds when there’s bad news but actually in my heart of hearts I think I do believe this.</p>
<p>or divine peter cooper will come thru for her, remember, HE is watching…</p>
<p>trin - that was hard news to hear. Your daughter is lucky to have such a caring mom. Your spirit and determination are one of her greatest teachers. Please keep us posted. </p>
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Many schools have a program that will match the stipend towards tuition.
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<p>Ah bears your faith in Peter is sweet but I kinda think that’s like counting on a lottery win to make the rent next month. I read in the Times that their ED count went up 70% last year and I doubt that it’s gone down this year with this economy. Have known kids who were almost assured they were in after being asked to apply ED and then didn’t make it because the application numbers are so high now.</p>
<p>However if I had a kid who got in and then decided on another school I would be sorely tempted to throttle and whip ‘em…just kiddin’!!! Even though cost of living in NYC is still very high I would suspect that it’s still going to work out cheaper with the free tuition and the facilities are somewhat lacking (haven’t seen the new building) but still one of the best deals around for sure.</p>
<p>Also saw bar none some of the best student paintings there when I toured but that’s kind of like touting PS 6 in NYC as being a top scoring public school a few years ago when 85% of the kids were from out of zone and only admitted when they tested in the top 98% quartile. Of course their test scores were off the charts! Cooper is so selective it would be disconcerting not to see high quality work there.</p>
<p>Trin - in light of the financial stuff, would she consider going to a lesser known school and then trying to transfer up? D saw NMU (TheresaCPA’s D on this board goes there) and they had some good offers for my D, especially because she was OOS. Their OOS tuition was very low in comparison to other U’s OOS $. they have a new stand alone art department, all brand new facilities. Only down side is the area if she’s looking for a city - it’s in small town of Marquette, Michigan. NHIA also gave my daughter merit aid of $7,700 yr for 5 years and their tuition is some of the lowest around (15.4K, with a total cost for tuition, room board and fees about $24K). Not sure if this is up her alley. I know how hard it is when they (and you!) have a school pretty much chosen in your head. It’s that vibe/feelings things B&D talks about. But thought I’d throw it out there anyway. I think all these schools have taken a hit with the recession and it’s the trickle down effect.</p>
<p>redbug, you are so sweet, so is drae(always, you my mama bear)
trin sort of said course of years where her D doesn’t wnat to be, and it is tough shot, really. </p>
<p>hi there smarty, sorry to going to bite your cute bottom </p>
<p>I remember the NYT article but they counted everyone, eng, arch ( those native NYC Asian no need room board kids maybe tough shot for Ivy yet SAT 2200 plus because there are just so many of them-- whose parents usually being skeptical sending their kids to weird school on Bowery but $ crunch made them a go option.
Besides, I have nagging doubt that school of art would count everyone who initially applied as # of application, which is ridiculously easy to do, no multiples recs, no must have ECs, no frills just few pages and scores and grades sent.<br>
I doubt they’d check on every initial applicants if they’d send back done hometest packet, then finally count them as true numbers of serious application.
Again, I could be wrong, but just how their administrations are in general, and half kids I knew chickened out of the test (mine did, almost) I have nagging suspicion.
Then take away those who has no clue what they are getting into, just applying because it’s free, because it’s in NYC, or counting on repeating this fable Cooper would accept someone never drawn using their hands but have something that Cooper-sh which could be anything who knows, some nuts just wants to make a statement and send in dead animals for hometest and get disqualified …the true competitive serious Cooper wannabe applicants’ number is much much smaller = I did rough guesstimate and it is like 30%-50% acceptance rate within. How about that?</p>
<p>PS 6, in upper east side? It got to be wrong because it’s a zone school, you are guaranteed spot if you live in the catchment. Kids are smarter there of course, you live in what, 70st- to 90 sh, 5 Ave -Lex, the prime upper east land.
If you want to jump the border from east harlem or riverside projects, of course you’d better have 99-plus percentile. There are enough local kids to fill classrooms because it’s common for families there to opt for public education until middle school or try Hunter again for upper school, if flops, then pull them out for private school if you got money, if not, selective specialized schools. They can take picks because 4th grade test scores determines which middle school they could go, then again, 7th grade test scores do them in for un-specialized but highly sought after hand full HSs.</p>
<p>And this goes back to Skidmore talk. If kids are accepted/ survived / thrived in NYC public magnets, like the ones you know, s/he is no longer count as those under privileged. Not money wise of course, but capability to do college revel works, just that whatever the reason s/he picked Skidmore over Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Bard, etc etc </p>
<p>Sorry folks, none of ^this do anything to artschools money worry.
But really, people outside of NYC system, what do you make of this, there are choices but no good choice really if kids won’t test well when they are 10, 11?
Like back in England 11 thing, Keith Richards made to go to voc school. tyranny, or what?
It was actually trin’s CA issue as well, if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>“But really, people outside of NYC system, what do you make of this, there are choices but no good choice really if kids won’t test well when they are 10, 11?”</p>
<p>I think that happens a lot of places and it makes people CRAZY. Camping out for a shot at a certain school, pulling their hair out at a lottery, committing fraud to reside at a certain address… and then just all the stress! I remember moving to MD and calling about Kindergarden and them telling me on the phone, very strict, very precise, about “if you child tests into the G & T program, or this other program, or the other program” and I could feel my heart start to beat erratically because it all starts there. Or even sooner. And it’s not good for the kids, especially.</p>
<p>Bears
You might be on the money about Cooper, would be interesting to know if their admissions were based on home tests received or initial ap. I’ve seen them ranked as just below Harvard/Yale type schools in terms of percentage taken but that could be just initial ap and I’ll be the finish rate on that home test is low (I’d guestimate 50-60%). Supposedly about 6th most difficult to enter but that could be those initial aps.</p>
<p>I had heard that PS 6 is now almost all cachment (neighborhood) but back in the rockin’ 80s-90s when that neighborhood was rolling in money as I remember it the number of neighborhood kids was very low, almost all went to privates. So most of the PS6 kids were from out of neighborhood and testing out at 98% or higher. Then the privates starting filling up (baby boom), money got tighter and the school had such a great reputation that parents from neighborhood with dough were willing to put their kids in there. I always figured they just looked at the test scores and figured this meant the school was doing a great job and didn’t realize that most of the kids were little Einsteins.</p>
<p>Which brings me to a couple of thoughts I had yesterday somewhat more on topic. I thinks this is applicable also to those highly selective schools and then those less selective. It’s hard to know if the school is really doing a bang up teaching job when all the kids are budding Koons, Kahlos and Kandinsky’s. I actually like the idea of schools that take a more mixed bag like SAIC because there are always those people who find themselves after high school and not before. But of course that leaves one out of the loop of scholarship money because it’s all based on work you did in high school and not how you apply yourself in college. Personal take having been a “late bloomer.”</p>
<p>And yes, I think kids who come out of magnets that are more demanding can make an adjustment more easily or if they do Prep for Prep or a similar program. But I do think there are some people who just discover themselves at some point in college, discover a love, and go regardless of background. Which is why I sometimes question all this selectivity. But I’m way off topic. Good luck to everyone…</p>
<p>Just saw Greenwitch’s post.
Absolutely agree, but NY is the creme de la creme when it comes to parental craziness and intense pressure on kids. I’ve also seen some real nutty things done and it is definitely not good for the kids. And what about those tests for the 5 years olds to go to Hunter. How do you test a 5 year old??? Well I am you can but should you is the question I guess. But don’t get me started, we could do a separate thread about all this.</p>
<p>Just remembered one thing: Had a NYC middle school principal tell me that college search would be easier and you know what, it was! That’s what bears is talking about I think, it’s so intense. I think our college search was awfully easy because my kid loved the place that loved my kid but even if we had to “look” more nothing will ever be as traumatic as a middle school search in NYC. (And for you out of NY parents, you don’t just go to your local middle school) The advantage NY kids have is they’ve spent so much of their lives interviewing and testing for schools (and I’m talking public school kids here) that college is just another interview another test.</p>
<p>My twins were tested when they were 4 years old. Why? Because I had a friend doing research in a psych department and one of the other students needed to do the “whipsy” test on some preschoolers, and film it, for his class.</p>
<p>It was ridiculous!!! In one test, he’s sitting there with a stop watch, telling D1 to put together puzzles. She does. It’s a little doggie. Oh, let’s bring the doggie over here and play with the other toys. Tester could only tap his finger on the desk and tell her to “stay on task”. She has no idea what he’s talking about. The clock is ticking.</p>
<p>D2 is putting together tangrams. “make it look like mine looks”, he says. She does, only makes it reflexively symmetrical, so it makes one big shape together. Points off! I was bursting, but managed not to laugh. And these same tests are USED to determine admissions at competitive private schools! We lived in New Orleans then, and these test were even used there. Poor NY kids must go through a lot more.</p>
<p>yep, that sure made my kid the master of interview.</p>
<p>and yep, it was “level”, not revel. level to level things, revel to revel in when your level have leveled. level revel level revel…</p>
<p>Awww… first rejection… from Cooper…: (
Who else got a letter >cringe<</p>
<p>so sorry
hope valtergeorge (sic?) checks in</p>
<p>redbug: Daughter likes Pratt, but at this point, it’s not that she has her heart set on it and won’t go anywhere else. Our fear is that the aid packages <em>everywhere</em> will be that bad. She will attend any school she gets into that has a package we can afford. While she can take a gap year if she wants, she can’t stay here, so she will have to find something that gives her alternate residence as well. Staying home and working for a year is not an option for our family.</p>
<p>Hopefully one of the other schools will come through, you never know until you know…
Keeping fingers crossed for you.</p>