While I like your list, before you apply to any school you need to know your budget. That’s because why apply if you don’t know if you can attend.
That said, your list has a lot of solid schools for you - and I like that you applied to Mizzou for its auto merit.
Schools like Miami of Ohio and WVU will have solid merit. Ohio U in rural Athens Ohio is another and is known for journalism. Alabama has a strong journalism program and you’d pay only $7K or so a year ($24K auto merit).
If finances are unknown - then I would add schools - like you did Mizzou with auto merit. In addition to Bama, you can see Arizona, MS State and Florida State (reach). Ohio U as well for strong journalism. But is there a chance you can’t afford the dorm, etc?
One thing about CSS is - if you have need, it will help. But if you don’t, then it won’t matter so if you need cost to be lower, it will have to come through merit. I don’t want to be presumptuous but I’d assume if your parents won’t do, they likely don’t know of the significance or perhaps believe they cannot demonstrate need.
Best of luck to you - and MIzzou is a wonderful journalism program if that’s where you end up.
Thank you for all of the advice! I’ll certainly take a look into the schools you recommended.
My parents decided not to fill out the CSS profile for multiple reasons. They’re very aware of the disadvantage it puts us at for financial aid, especially after I brought it up with them dozens of times. I’m applying to plenty of scholarships locally and hopefully the picture will be clearer in the spring! We’re on the same page but I appreciate yours and everyone else’s concern for our budget. Thanks again!
Please keep in mind that those local scholarships tend to be smaller amounts…and are for one year only in most cases.
Mizzou has a terrific journalism program. I’ll second looking into Ohio University…I’m a grad and know a number of very successful folks who graduated with degrees from Ohio University journalism.
Hi, just wanted to update everyone now that I’ve gotten more decisions back!
I’ve been accepted to SNHU, Keene State, and Plymouth State, so my safeties are all set!
I was invited to Quinnipiac honors college and their accelerated 3+1 dual-degree program. I got $104k in scholarship over four years!
I was recently accepted at Hofstra with the Provost Scholarship, adding up to $122k over four years.
I’ll hear back from Emerson tomorrow (12/14), Fordham, Fairfield, and Endicott within the next few weeks, and Richmond and UNH in January. I’m probably not going to apply to BC or GW, and I’m exploring other options similar to both schools that are a bit more obtainable/less reachy.
Congrats. Hopefully these schools with scholarship are affordable for you. Congrats to you.
If you cannot afford full pay and your folks won’t do CSS then you are smart to avoid the very top privates and if you’re not happy with your acceptances and want more options, focus on those publics with auto merit or that are known for huge merit. Or third tier privates that will step up for a quality student like yourself.
Of course if you prefer one of your current acceptances, you can stop and breathe
Thanks again I haven’t received merit from either Emerson or Fordham, but thankfully we’re much more confident with financials now than in October. I’ve had this conversation with my parents multiple times, and they’re most focused on sending me to the school that’s right for me. We weren’t as sure in October, but now they can reassure me that finances will not be a boundary. Very grateful for that! Now it’s about finding the perfect fit
Emerson have a link in the future to allow for petitions to merit aid. Last year my S was initially given no aid and then after the petition he had a small scholarship. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for.
It’s certainly a great opportunity, however I’ll need to tour the campus and area because the midwest is a lot different than the northeast, and I really value urban/suburban settings. Going to try and visit in February/April vacation weeks!
Hey all, it’s been a bit! I got deferred from Richmond EA today. Not upset, honestly just proud I earned my shot at reconsideration for RD. Now it’s time to follow through with additional documents and wait on this and Syracuse! My current top choices for schools I’ve been accepted to are currently Emerson and Quinnipiac.
I’ve also received a couple of financial aid offers, unfortunately without submitting the CSS profile it makes some of these schools out of reach. I have revisited the conversation with my parents and if allowed by the different financial aid offices, hopefully we’ll be able to appeal with the additional documents. I expected this, but my parents didn’t.
If anyone has any advice for approaching a deferral and financial aid appeals (both need and merit based) please let me know! Thanks!
I’d suspect if you missed the aid deadline it’s over. And I suspect even if flexible they would want css, not just documents. Some schools are IDOC which is CSS + docs.
What’s the cheapest school ? Are either of your top 2 affordable? I ask bcuz I assume Mizzou is cheapest. Is that still on the table ?
Congrats on your progress. Just remember you could probably be happy at 500 schools, maybe a thousand so don’t fall in love with any, keep all in on the table because you are pursuing what’s generally a lowly paid career so you don’t want to take on debt.
Yeah, I’ll have to check with the offices before we take any more action, which will be on the top of my to-do list next week! Going to stay optimistic even though realistically I believe I’m out of luck.
Mizzou is definitely the cheapest, but Quinnipiac is still affordable. All my state schools (including UNH, forgot to mention I was accepted w/ Presidential Scholarship) are decently cheap, but those would be my last resort. QU is the school my parents are pushing for the most, which is just confusing me in my decision making process. I think Emerson would be the best fit, but the money may be a very unfortunate dealbreaker. I need to think more about Mizzou and ideally get on campus to see if I can picture myself there. It’s been on the back of my mind because I’m still not 100% about Missouri and the surrounding area.
I’ve taken Fordham, Fairfield, and Hofstra off the table because they’re all too expensive and I’m not as interested in them as I was when I applied. I’m also not too worried about the outcome of this Richmond deferral, as it will very likely be to expensive if I’m accepted.
If I’m accepted to Newhouse (which I did not realize would be as competitive as it is when I placed Syracuse as a target school–Newhouse is probably a high reach on it’s own!!) it will earn it’s place against Quinnipiac and Emerson. Unfortunately, the numbers are probably going to look very similar to Emerson and make it a hard choice. Hopefully, I can get my parents on board with the CSS profile soon enough to submit late FinAid documents. Fingers crossed.
These next few months are going to be full of lots of money conversations and hopefully campus visits!! Oh senior year
Don’t worry about eliminating schools. You can only go to one.
But do look at costs. If your parents can afford QU then great. If not go where is cheapest. If you save $25k at Mizzou for example, that’s $100k over 4 years. The journalism program draws nationally. But it’s likely huge and I do think small departments may offer a better education.
You might ask each school for outcomes of their grads in the programs you are pursuing so you can determine the reality of pursuing the career you want from that school. UNH is a great school but from a prominence POV Mizzou and Newhouse with Emerson third are tops. Doesn’t mean you should go.
I’d estimate 90% of my BJ cohort at SU never made it on air or even lasted behind the scenes after a few years (like me).
Any way see about the docs like you said and check back in a month.
The good news is you have schools you can go to. An opportunity is all you need !! And you’ll have multiple so congrats.
It is definitely worth talking to QU’s financial aid folks and submitting any additional info needed. They have worked with families in the past.
UNH with the Presidential scholarship instate puts you at $26.000 a year for direct costs of tuition, room and board, and fees. That gives you a point to compare financial packages and where to try to get your other options closer to, if not even better.
Thanks again!
