Design/Art Student with interests in Urban Planning....What skill has the best of both worlds?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone. First time posting on here. Im basically looking for a good school that has a really good urban planning/design program for undergraduate as well as an excellent arts program for graphic/visual communication design. These are my two passions and I would preferably love to double major in both. As well the school doesn't have to exactly have a major that says "urban design" because I know that at most art schools they have "environmental design" which is pretty close and at universities they have "geography" which is also pretty close. I really want to go to art school (attended MICA & am finishing up Corcoran Pre College this week!!) but Im also open to colleges/university options and do not have a probably doing so as there are several universities that interest me such as Depaul; Northeastern... </p>

<p>For some background I am an urm (black), have a slight disability (crohns disease) and my family is in the middle class and I currently have two sibling in college. </p>

<p>Also my mom just got remarried but she encourages me to not include that info on my fasfa when I apply for schools for fall 2015 because she feels as though due to her income and her husbands combined, it will push me out of the scholarship applicable zone and I really need financial aid. So if anyone could comment with some helpful info about a school that I could get a really good financial pack at and a really good education that has the things above I would appreciate it.</p>

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<p>My son just finished frosh year as an urban planning major. He briefly considered graphic design. A few things…</p>

<p>The better graphic design programs are BFA programs. Because of the massive amount of studio time required for a BFA degree, it is generally impossible to do a BFA with a double major and complete both in 4 years. You will likely need 5 years, possibly more.</p>

<p>You might consider architecture. You really need an architecture degree to do true urban design as opposed to urban planning. Architects can also focus on graphic design, way finding (sign and direction design) is a possibility.</p>

3

<p>I’m not a FAFSA expert, but I would encourage you to be transparent and factual. Any discrepancies could come back and bite you later. </p>

<p>Divorce can complicate financial aid, but it’s hardly an uncommon situation. To start, ask your mom to use an online net price calculator to get an idea of how much need based aid you would be eligible for.</p>

<p>Merit aid is different from need based aid and isn’t dependent on family income. Often the schools that are the most generous with need based aid don’t offer merit aid, though, so you have to do some research.</p>

<p>For either art schools or “full service” colleges, I’d look at schools that have undergraduate architecture programs with urban planning subsets. Interdisciplinary programs that merge art/design/architecture/urban planning/sustainability are quite common these days. For example the program at the University of Colorado in Boulder is good.</p>

<p>RISD and Pratt would be options in the art school group. Art schools are notoriously tight with aid, so you may have to apply to several to get to where you need to be financially.</p>

<p>Northeastern is a good choice. I don’t know much about DePauw. Is there a reason that it interests you?</p>

<p>In order to recommend other colleges and universities, I’d have to know about your grades, scores and extracurriculars.</p>

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<p>Additional Details…</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>-Cross Country (two years only. Got really sick with crohns and had to stop)</p>

<p>-Indoor Track (two years and same as above + state champs)</p>

<p>-Modeling Team (fashion shows, team building, school pride, was apart of this big county high school modeling show)</p>

<p>-CCFA (Crohns Colitis Foundation of America) Washington D.C. chapter member</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>-1st Place Senior Documentary Category @ National History Day for my county</p>

<p>-Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Honorable Mention in Digital art for the NE Region at Large</p>

<ul>
<li>Varsity Letter (for track and cross country)</li>
</ul>

<p>-Ap Allstars (club & awards my school for passing any Ap exam)</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<ul>
<li>Ap since 9th grade (world history, government, us history, English language and comp.) but only passed English exam</li>
</ul>

<p>-Honors Track</p>

<ul>
<li>GPA Overall: 2.75</li>
</ul>

<p>-SAT (all 3 categories) : 1275 :(</p>

<p>-ACT : Planning to take and should do much better because of science portion</p>

<ul>
<li>3 College credits and 4.0 from MICA pre college</li>
</ul>

<p>-2 college credits pending from Corcoran Pre College</p>

<p>-MICA Early Admissions Decision granted from Pre College</p>

<ul>
<li>3 years foreign language (French)</li>
</ul>

<p>Maths so far:</p>

<p>-Algebra 1 &2, Geometry, Trig</p>

<p>Sciences so far:</p>

<p>Biology, physics, chemistry</p>

<p>Additional Info :</p>

<p>I know that maybe my grades seem average however I’m a very strong and well going student especially in the English arts and sciences department and always have been. Mostly the reason why I got a low score on my Sat is due to me having been really sick my junior year (this past year) and missing most of the school year. Also when I took my Sat at school I just got out the hospital one week prior…and went back to the hospital the following week. To sum it up my 10th and 11th grade year were basically filled with me getting endless surgeries and I know the tthis will hurt my chances because I won’t look good on paper but I still consider my self a strong student (honors snide elementary, former child prodigy) and I take the most rigorours course load possible at my school. And will continue to in my senior year.</p>