<p>Vassar is a wonderful school, and I fell in love with it when I visited. Vassar does NOT give merit money, however, and Cur is asking about that.</p>
<p>LurkNessMonster, I am asking about merit BUT at the same time , my sis is a single parent (she's the one who is the breast cancer survivor) RN and around these parts that means about $70K a year. At the most generous schools that would be quite doable with the present iniatives in place. Unfortunately the 100% of need no loan schools may be just a smidgen out of her D's league. She'll still probably take a flyer. ;)</p>
<p>All she has is W-2 income. No assets other than a small home equity. The rest went bye-bye in the cancer fight including the SOB husband (not father). So , if one of the schools trying to be more national were interested maybe she could get a favorable FA read with merit taking away the loans and work/study components. That's one prong of startegy anyway.</p>
<p>Good point, twinmom -- I realized that after I posted, but I didn't want to make any assumptions either way about whether Curmudgeon's niece was Jewish or not.</p>
<p>^ ^ Makes sense.</p>
<p>As of this past year, Vassar is need-blind. True, Vassar does not offer merit aid. However, our family's experience has been that financial aid is generous, especially for a school of its size. </p>
<p>As stated on Vassar's website: "Beginning in the fall of 2008, loans will be replaced with Vassar grant funds for U.S. students with calculated family incomes of up to $60,000." </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Cur's sister just misses this mark. However, I have every reason to believe that they would be quite generous with their financial aid in her instance, should she choose to apply and be accepted.</p>
<p>A two pronged suggestion:</p>
<p>Since she took the standardized tests cold, by studying hard she MIGHT bring the math up so that she was in the 31 range on the ACT or SAT equivalent.</p>
<p>If so, I think she could go tuition-free to the Macaulay Honors College at one of the CUNY schools (couldn't find the numbers)</p>
<p>I started reading Back in the Game (Part 1) before I finished your first post in this thread.....all the way through Part 1, there was this little voice in my head, whispering: Brandeis, Brandeis......even though there was really nothing in that thread to suggest it. In fact, I started to post and then realized it was an old thread. Then I went back and read the rest of your Part 2 OP and saw that it is being considered.</p>
<p>I think the voice in my head was prompted by a memory of my daughter's visit to Brandeis. She was hosted by a very happy theater major who planned to continue on for the MFA in Acting and Design. Your niece is very comparable in stats to my D (who also had a strong distinguishing EC); Brandeis offered my D a nice merit scholarship - I don't remember exactly, but I think it was 12-15K per year, plus the total COA was lower than the other schools on my D's list. It came down to Brandeis and two other schools as her three favorites, and she went to another one, but it was a hard choice and I think she could have been very happy at any of them.</p>
<p>Oh, one more thing, have your niece check out the Holocaust Remembrance Project scholarship essay contest.</p>
<p>Great suggestions , folks. I am passing them all along. And thanks for the p.m.'s ,too. Sis is a tough ol' gal. Been through a lot and still ticking.</p>
<p>I have drug lil sis to this site and I hope she makes it through all of these wonderful posts. Now, to get her to register her screename (I still suggest "cat-eyedglasses" ;)) and to post her own thoughts. Or maybe Ms. Artsypants herself will post and I can stop speculating on what she wants.</p>
<p>I really like Vassar for her.
my son and I spent a night recently in Bryn Mawr's little on campus place for visitors. Katherine Hepburn went there and Philly is only a few train stops away..plus Haverford is a coenroll deal. I was impressed with the place for a good mix of family like access to teachers/support, nurturance and intensity..Niece has the self taught obsessional gene...she will move on to other topics to get encyclopedic about and to build on further. I raised one of those people...first it was maps maps maps then it was the history of the colonization of well..everywhere, now it is classical musicology 24/7 which by the way you can learn a whole lot more about if you have already mastered maps maps maps. You can figure our which church in which town the composer was playing in or writing in for every piece of music...when the town was zoned into this province which later became that country..
She needs a school where she has enough financial aide to indulge her need to really dig into all things where theater is lively. What about St Johns in Annapolis and the whole Great Books curriculum? I would love an excuse to walk around the Chesapeake town for four years while studying in that unique style. They have a sister school in Santa Fe.<br>
My point about her is that although her seven years on the Holocaust makes for a great study of her character and verve and drive, and makes for interesting essays...she could take any fork in the road next...she needs to be where they need a great Texas girl who likes to perform and create.
There is a lot of Theatre in Atlanta and Emory might find her interesting enough to admit her. Atlanta...lived there four times...last time there was last week...there are cool alternative sections of Atlantan society and of course there is a strong Jewish presence in the student body. Lots of focus on Ethics she might find some coursework in that would tie into her interests.</p>
<p>I think it might make sense to telephone the educational branch of the DC Holocaust museum and ask them if they know of undergraduate scholarships for students with a long-term demonstrated interest in Holocaust studies. (I also think that the fact that this is a non-Jewish student from Texas who developed the interest on her own and pursued it so avidly might really set her apart.) See also if they have a work-study or mentorship program with local universities. </p>
<p>Also, I'm not sure if Hopkins is outside of your niece's range, but they do offer a 10K renewable research fellowship for undergraduates (There is a separate application for this, and it would really enhance her application.) and they take it very seriously. I know it has been offered to students with an interest in research in Holocaust and genocide issues in the recent past. And even though everybody thinks of them as a science school, they are very proud of their drama program, student productions, and theater, and have a program (with a D.C. campus) for political science and government that could be a good home for Holocaust-related work.</p>