What about Vandy and Rhodes college? I know Rhodes provides great scholarships. I understand it is not Yale but it has very strong writing program. I would aplly to Rhodes now. It is free app and you need EA for scholarships.
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I’ll add this simply as a formal note. “Level of applicant’s interest” is “not considered” by Yale in admission decisions according to its CDS.
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You seem like a great candidate and should have lots of choices. As stated by many Yale Princeton Williams etc are all lottery ticket applications as most applying have similar exemplary applications.
My question, and not trying to pry too much but I think it is important as it relates to cost, is whether the 15K is parental self imposed budget, or is it based on EFC calculation from FASFA. Those are two different animals when it comes to need. It it is a self imposed budget you need to looking at schools that are going to give merit money.
Also understand that at some of the top private schools your parents are going to have to submit a CSS which will include things like equity your parents have in your house etc that are not included in FASFA so the calculation of need can be very different.
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Yes, this student should run the NPC for any school they apply to. That is especially true of the schools like Emory, Denison and Kenyon that have high price tags but may not be as generous as a Harvard or Yale.
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Your record is impressive and your creative writing skills are going to help you stand out.
Bennington and Lee are polar opposites, and they don’t meet need. Does the NPC indicate enough merit for you to be around 15K a year?
I assume 15K is your EFC not a self imposed amount.
You definitely have a shot at Yale and your match/reach list is good. I’d add 1-2 more matches and 1 more safety.
Is Iowa affordable? It’d mean getting a full tuition scholarship. Do apply to all possible scholarships (also, check out what the Honors College offers - I assume you’ve applied and been admitted).
Look into Macalester, Brandeis, Hamilton?
Wondering if Wooster would be a good safety, with the senior individual project being in your case a piece of writing.
Another possible safety: Ursinus (with the “Salinger” scholarship).
Or
https://www.davidson.edu/academic-departments/english-department/major-and-minor/abbott-english-honors-program
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I do not think that the University of Washington is a safety for an out of state student requiring a very large amount of financial aid. Given how much aid you will need, I would have guessed that it was a reach (particularly with regard to affordability). Bennington College is not need blind, which again makes me think that it is not a safety.
Did your acceptance to the U. of Iowa come with sufficient financial aid? I thought that I read above that you are not sure yet.
Unless you already are looking at an affordable amount of financial aid from Iowa, I am not sure that you have any school on your list that is a safety both in terms of admissions and in terms of affordability.
I think that you should get an application in to a safety, which might be UTK in-state.
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Congratulations on your achievements, you will be a competitive applicant at any school. I can’t chance you but you have a long list of reaches that will require significant time to complete strong applications. You have to be working on these apps (and should have a number of them completed) before you hear from Yale SCEA. Both Emory and Michigan are reaches.
Another plea to please apply to UTK. I can appreciate that many from your HS will attend, but you won’t see them at UTK. What do you see as the differences between Iowa and UTK, for example? You need to have an affordable safety. Let me ask another way…if things came down to just UTK and Lee in terms of affordable acceptances, are you going to choose Lee? Have you considered U Memphis?
For Iowa (and Bennington), you need basically a full tuition award, I am not sure that will happen. Like others have said, U Washington and U Mich will not be affordable…I would not even apply.
It’s not clear that you have run NPCs on all the schools on your list…make sure to do that.
Regarding outside scholarships, thumper is right that some schools will reduce your need based aid dollar for dollar for any of these scholarships. It is very difficult to win outside scholarships of a meaningful amount that are also renewable for 4 years…the big scholarships like these are highly competitive and tend to have burdensome, involved applications.
Good luck.
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Utk: apply on time for the big Honors programs and scholarships. Then focus on the rest.
What’s your EFC ?
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You might want to consider adding a school from this group: Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Bard, Skidmore.
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Congratulations on all of your accomplishments in high school! You definitely should not denigrate your involvement in literary fields and community service; those are wonderful activities!
I believe that you are a strong applicant and have a definite shot at any school on your list. As others have mentioned, however, your reach schools have far too many strong applicants apply than they can accept. Thus, regardless of your own merits as a candidate (and you have many!), the odds are not in your favor.
I have to agree with this. A safety should meet three criteria:
- You are extremely likely to be accepted
- It is extremely likely to be affordable for your family
- You would be happy to enroll and attend for four years
U. of Washington is not a safety for admissions, and it definitely won’t come within a $15k budget. Nor will U. of Michigan. If your family qualifies for need-based aid and you want to consider other top-notch publics, UNC-Chapel Hill and U. of Virginia are the only two publics in the country I’m aware of that provide need-based aid to out-of-state students.
For all schools, though, you need to run the Net Price Calculator. If a school does not offer merit aid, and the Net Price Calculator comes out more than $5k over budget, eliminate it. Virtually none of your reaches offer merit, which is why it’s especially crucial to look at this.
Then, look at your schools where the Net Price Calculator spits out a price that’s too high but ALSO offers merit aid. Find out
- Do they stack merit aid on top of need-based aid, or do they just swap out a scholarship for a need-based grant, or…?
- What is their max merit aid award? If it’s less than full tuition, and the school doesn’t stack merit aid with need-based aid, then eliminate it, because it won’t come within budget.
Essentially, you will probably need to look for schools that are extremely financially generous (Yale, Princeton), have merit aid awards of tuition or more, or will stack merit & need-based aid to provide an award of tuition or more.
Even with that, you need to take a careful look at the costs for room & board, both on-campus and off-campus. You’ll need to be on-campus your freshman year, but then after that you may have to (or want to) move off-campus. Some places it’s more expensive than on-campus, others it’s less, and others about the same. Those are all considerations for someone on a tight budget. As an example, some schools have room & board costs of about $11k, which would be affordable. Others are about $18k, which would not be.
Have you considered The U. of the South in Sewanee? It has a very well-reputed creative writing program and it offers large scholarships.
If you let us know more about whether your family qualifies for need-based aid and which schools clear the cost filters mentioned above, that’d be great.
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delete - was trying to send a pm to someone (not merc81)
Deadline is Nov 1.
Even if you don’t really like it, few of your HS classmates will be selected to the Honors College and you really need an affordable safety.
Alternatively, this is a strong regional Honors College and the deadline is in January but the scholarship deadline is Dec1 so you really should apply by that date.
https://www.utc.edu/enrollment-management-and-student-affairs/financial-aid-and-scholarships/scholarships
https://www.utc.edu/honors-college/brock-scholars
BTW, seconding Sewanee. Run the NPC. 
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In looking at how many students graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing in 2022 (which I am using as one method for finding schools that likely have good creative writing programs, this is what the data looks like (source). If you look at the source, you can also continue to scroll through and see which schools were below the last-ones pictured, as there are more schools.
Most creative writing bachelor’s granted at institutions with undergraduate enrollment limited to below 5,796:
Most creative writing bachelor’s granted, regardless of the number of undergrads:
Some schools offer a degree in English with a concentration in creative writing, which might not be captured by the lists above, so to be fair, here are snips for them, too.
Any English major at schools with 5,796 undergrads or fewer:
Any English major at schools of any size
Just wanted to provide this (and its link above) as an additional resource when trying to find schools that might be a fit for you, including financially.
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I split this part off so all the info together wouldn’t be as overwhelming.
In looking at the charts from above, these are some schools that you may want to give additional thought to if the NPCs/finances at the schools on your current list are not coming out favorably.
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Oberlin (OH): About 3k undergrads, and it looks as though its financial policies will allow its scholarships to stack on top of its need-based aid, so long as it doesn’t exceed the billed costs of attendance (i.e. tuition, room & board).
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Knox (IL): About 1100 undergrads and your stats would get you $43-45k in scholarships and they also offer talent scholarships for writing, which you might be competitive. Tuition is a little over $53k, so you might get close on pure merit. Knox does limit scholarships and grants (including federal & state) to the costs of tuition. But its room & board costs a little over $10k, so this could still be a financially feasible option if everything worked out your way.
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Truman State (MO): There are about 3600 undergrads at this public liberal arts school that really punches above its weight. You’d automatically receive $9k in scholarships, which would help offset its $17k out-of-state tuition, and I think you’d be competitive for one of its full ride scholarships (i.e. free college).
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DePauw (IN): About 1800 undergrads here and I think you’d be competitive for one of its full tuition scholarships. Room & board is about $14,500, so you may also want to investigate whether the Rector scholarship can be combined with need-based aid or how that works there.
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Wellesley (MA): About 2400 undergrads at this women’s college that does not offer merit aid, so if the NPC does not come back affordable, eliminate it. It’s a top school academically, but because it’s only open to women, its acceptance rate is higher than at similarly competitive schools (i.e. 14% rather than 4%). So still a reach, but a likelier reach.
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Hollins (VA): There are about 700 undergrads at the second women’s college on the list. It offers scholarships of up to full tuition for which you’d likely be competitive, and there are also some talent scholarships for creative writing. Room & board would be right around $15k, so you’d want to look carefully at whether its scholarships would stack or how they’d combine with financial aid.
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Agnes Scott (GA): There are about 1k undergrads at the last women’s college on this list. It offers up to a full ride, and it also allows merit scholarships to stack. Additionally, it’s part of a consortium with other Atlanta schools so you can take classes at Emory, Spelman, or other area schools, too. Agnes Scott is also in Decatur which is one of Atlanta’s most attractive and walkable areas.
Wellesley would be a reach, you’d have a good shot at Oberlin, and the other schools would be likely or extremely likely admits.
Susquehanna, Ithaca, and Beloit do not offer scholarships large enough to get to full tuition. If you are interested in them, though, you may want to reach out to the financial aid office to see how merit aid interacts with need-based aid. These would all be likely admits for you.
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One note about Oberlin…creative writing is a competitive entry major. It’s also extremely competitive to get into the entry level classes. If an English major is an acceptable alternative, Oberlin could be a good choice. If you are set on Creative Writing, move on.
Introductory courses acquaint aspiring majors and non-majors with the craft of writing, focusing on the differences and commonalities between multiple genres. Mid-level courses narrow the focus to topics and questions that pertain to genres and forms. Once students have completed the prerequisite courses, they may apply for admission to the major. If accepted, they undertake a series of three intensive upper-level workshops: exacting, low-enrollment courses designed to test and refine the core skills and practices of maturing writers, writers committed to their own development and that of their peers, as well as to nurturing a vibrant, open-minded community of fellow craftspeople. In order to complete the major, students are required to have taken Creative Writing courses in at least two genres, preferably at the 200 level or above. Acknowledging that there is no good writing without good reading, a textual studies requirement cultivates the careful reading and interpretation of literature as central to any vital studio practice.
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… for one, in the context of “boosting” the odds of getting admitted to Columbia University on her list, but also because of its stronger creative writing program within the university:
https://english.barnard.edu/english/tradition-of-writers
Yes - here too it is “by application”:
https://english.barnard.edu/english/creative-writing-courses
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What do you intend to do with a degree in creative writing ?
This is your glaring weakness in the sense that your application to any most selective college or university will not stand out from other well qualified applicants.
Assess how you want to approach a career as a writer or editor. Is your primary goal to enroll in a creative writing major or do you want to surround yourself with the most intelligent peers as possible regardless of major ? Or, in the case of your reach schools, do both ? If you want to do both and fail to get admitted to any of your reach schools, are you willing to take a gap year ? If yes, what will you do during that year ?
Feel free to PM/DM me if uncomfortable sharing too much info publicly as I have some thoughts, but I need to understand more about you and your career goal or objectives.
P.S. I would also like to know what you think makes a great or successful writer.
Whether or not you respond to my post, just thinking about the questions posed should make you a much stronger candidate for admission to the most competitive schools.
The 15k is a parental guideline of how much they will be able to contribute, give or take a little. I will also be contributing some as I have a couple grand saved up and will work summers (most likely somewhat during the school year as well). When I run the NPC for schools like Yale and Princeton, I get 15k or lower. Obviously, I do get a higher number for schools who are less generous, but those schools do typically offer more merit aid.
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For those mainly concerned with finances (which is a valid concern, and thank you for all of the advice), I should mention that as a Tennessee resident I qualify for the Tennessee Promise, meaning that I could receive my first two years of schooling free at a community college and then transfer. I understand this is not most people’s ideal, but it is my back-up plan if financing does not come through. I do plan on applying to some universities that are less selective and more generous with scholarships (potentially including UTK), but chose to leave them off this thread as I’m not 100% sure and don’t necessarily need to know what my chances are of getting in there! But thank you for the advice and I will look at application deadlines more to try to secure those larger scholarships earlier.
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Hi, thank you for these questions! I do have an answer for you, but am having trouble PMing you. I’m not sure it’s because you don’t have a public profile, or if I am internet-challenged…but feel free to message me first if that’s easier.
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