You will be full pay at the California publics. IF you get a merit award, it will be a drop in the bucket
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"If you are from a family with a total income that is at or below 200% of the poverty guideline, you may qualify for the Carolina Covenant, an aid program that provides an opportunity to attend and graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill debt-free. Your eligibility is automatically assessed when you complete your financial aid applications.
Covenant covers full financial need through grants, scholarships and work-study ā no loans. The program also offers academic and personal support to help you get the most out of UNC and graduate on time.
If you are a dependent student, in-state and out-of-state, you will be considered."
from Carolina Covenant - Office of Scholarships and Student Aid
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QB deadline is today, so unfortunately that wonāt work for OP
https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/how-to-apply
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@Mea2 - you are a smart, sharp kid with a great future ahead!
Donāt let all of these posts overwhelm you. The people posting here are from throughout the nation, are very savvy with college admissions, and volunteering their time and experiences. We are all interested in your journey and can see you have great potential.
if you were my kid (who studies architecture) - Iād first look at the instate colorado special scholarships offered like @twoinanddone mentioned for Colorado schools.
Then, iād target some national private schools mentioned above that give great financial aid, but are very hard to get into. (like rice, wustl, cornell to name a few)
then iād look at the less selective schools that might offer great merit aid like @AustenNut mentions, then at public schools with special scholarship competitions.
The last thing iād do would have my kid look at top state public schools that give very little aid (universities of California).
architecture - especially a B.Arch is very demanding time-wise. Not as much studying/mentally taxing from what weāve seen - just time wise. Kids almost live in the studios. To add in another major might mean adding another year; and oftentimes scholarships wonāt pay for that.
keep coming back with questions and get some great essays rolling!
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Does the net price calculator at Wooster yield an affordable result for you? Or at least in the ballpark enough to request an individual estimate?
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- Undergrad BArch is the gold standard for architects (I also did a MArch II and out of the entire MArchI program at Yale/Harvard I felt like there was only one student who not only had better skills than MArch II students, but also was as creative and spatially conversant. Urban planning can be picked up at the grad level so that should not factor in. If you are as dedicated as you sound, you will probably end up going to grad school, but the BArch is still the way that will give you the best foundation, assuming you go to a rigorous program.
- Apply to wealthy schools such as Rice, Cornell, USC, WashU if you need financial/merit aid. Some, like Rice, have the Kinder Institute, so you can do some urban studies while you are there. Look for that.
- Arch schools wonāt care as much about all the volunteering. Itās all about your portfolio. Do work that stands out in that aspect.
- good luck. The field does not pay well, but itās an amazing and fulfilling love affair.
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This is what I was going to say. I am a mom of a BS Architecture student. It would be near impossible to double and very difficult to minor in a B.Arch program. I honestly could not see a double in my DDās BS arch. major. She is taking 15 plus credits a semester in Architecture related classes. She was able to minor in construction management, however. She is in the process of applying to M.Arch programs. As mentioned above, a BS Arch program needs Graduate school for Licensing, but it is a 2-year degree, as opposed to a 3 yr, for a non-architecture bachelorās.
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This is interesting because the accelerated M. Arch Program requires a BS in architecture (many times from NAAB accredited program) with 6-8 studios, physics, calculus, architecture history, etc. You can use any bachelorās degree when applying to a 3 yr M.Arch. There is no benefit to attending this program.
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Yes, my neighborās daughter attended USCās School of Architecture (at full pay) and had a very difficult time finding a job placement. Maybe itās just the SoCal area? She is working in another field, using her design talents for other products, but she had a very difficult time finding work.
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Havenāt read all the replies but SUNY ESF has urban planning. I know a few v happy and successful grads. No architecture though.
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What about Cooper Union?
Their financial aid page still lists half tuition for all students, but according to College Navigator the average net price for families with income under $30,000 was $33 in 20-21. I wonder if that was due to covid and no on campus option? The prior years are also under $10,000 and if stacking of outside aid is allowed then it has a very good chance of being in budget.
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Cooper+union&s=all&id=190372#netprc
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We still havenāt gotten feedback from OP about whether they want the professional BArch. (Of their two possible ED schools, CMU and UPenn, one is a BArch program and the other is not - and the rest of the list is very mixed as well.) The thing with Cooper Union is that thereās no in-house off-ramp if the student has second thoughts about the BArch. Itās an excellent program for those who are truly committed to the major, though.
Re: SUNY ESF - they do have Landscape Architecture, which can be great to combine with Urban Planning because of the emphasis on designing public spaces. The pre-professional BLA program at Northeastern (previously called āUrban Landscapeā) is a great blend of urban planning with studio-based landscape architecture - it was modeled after the MLA program at Harvard, from whence the founding director was hired. First year students at NU take the same studios, whether theyāre in architecture or landscape architecture; the curriculum splits off after that - just as it does in ENVD at Boulder.
If OP is interested in LACās (like Wooster), Connecticut College (which meets documented need) would be a good one to look at; it has a stronger studio component than most LAC arch studies majors. Itās not an urban setting, but there are cities nearby - itās about halfway between Providence and New Haven (about an hour from each), with NYC and Boston accessible for more ambitious outings.
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If Penn is your first choice, definitely apply ED, since they fill a lot of their class that way.
Your safeties and likelies arenātā¦ either because they donāt provide FA for OOS students (in particular, the UCs but also UIUC for instance) or because their acceptance rate is too low, even if your stats match theirs (keeping in mind there are different criteria for instate and out of state applicants, since the public universityās mission is to serve its state residents).
You need actual likelies and matches, ie. universities with a 30-40% acceptance rate that the NPC shows as affordable for your family.
Send apps to the Colorado universities with a B.Arch ASAP.
Run the Net Price Calculator for EACH college before you apply.
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There are no BArch programs in the state of Colorado. But the Bachelor of Environmental Design at U of Colorado Boulder is a terrific conduit to prestigious MArch programs all over the country. They also offer a minor in Environmental Planning.
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If you are low income, I would apply UPenn ED 1, I think you have a competitive application if you can write a killer essay.
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You have a fantastic profile and, if Penn is your first choice, you should apply ED. For students at your income level, tuition, housing, and fees would be covered by institutional grants.
In your bio, you say that you are an immigrant. Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident? Please clarify. Penn is need-aware for non-citizens/non-permanent residents. Nevertheless, my advice is still to apply ED as you have the best chance of admittance in the early round.
If you donāt have citizenship or permanent residency, you should explore the impact your status could have on your applications to other colleges on your list.
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Many competitive colleges will meet āfull needā - so it may be wise to include those in your consideration and not assume that the ālist priceā is what your actual cost would be.
Mentioned already to you - in a prior response:
https://urban.barnard.edu/requirements-urban-studies-major
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Portland State would be a safety, admissions-wise. Itās an easy application and admissions are rolling, so you could have an early acceptance in your pocket. If your outside scholarships (plus Pell and guaranteed loans) would cover the WUE reciprocity rate, it could be a good one to nail down. Portland is a great city for students, and PSU has a BA/BS program that is strongly oriented toward urban planning and public benefit design. The program has very strong connections with the city, and students participate in a lot of interesting community initiatives.
https://www.pdx.edu/architecture/undergraduate
http://www.centerforpublicinterestdesign.org/
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