<p>Hey guys,
I'm an English major at a local community college looking for schools to apply to. I come from the West Coast, so I'm mainly looking for a change of pace. Type of school (LAC, public etc) isn't too important. </p>
<p>Things I'm looking for in a college:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Size: Any, although I'm partial to medium-sized schools</p></li>
<li><p>Location: East coast, urban setting</p></li>
<li><p>Atmosphere: Creative/artsy, extremely liberal</p></li>
<li><p>Great English program</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What’s your GPA, what classes have you taken so far, how many college credits do you have, did you apply to any 4-year college right out of high school?</p>
<p>College GPA: 3.6
Major GPA: 4.0
HS GPA: 3.9 unweighted, 4.2 weighted
Lots of ECs, ample work experience (English tutor, behavior therapist, etc.)
Units/Credits (So far): 72</p>
<p>Courses:
Biology 1
Statistics 1
Spanish 1&2
Chicano History
Music Appreciation 1
Intro to Music Theory
History of the Motion Picture (Film 1)
Geography
Philosophy 1
Psychology 1
Sociology 1
Speech 1
Humanities 2
Humanities 30
College Composition 1&2
British Lit 1&2
American Lit II
World Lit
Creative Writing
Chicano Lit</p>
<p>Planned:
Shakespeare 1
Dramatic Literature
Spanish 3 </p>
<p>Only applied to one local state university out of high school. My parents are not able to pay anything out of pocket, so I’ll be taking out loans, unfortunately. </p>
<p>Each school offers a net price calculator on its financial aid webpage. Get your parents’ help to fill in the data the npc needs. It will crank out an Expected Family Contribution. That is the amount that the school expects your family to pay. Run the npc at each school.</p>
<p>As for loans, you can borrow only $5500/yr the first year (more since you’re a transfer) and 27K over your bachelor years. You cannot and should not try to borrow more. </p>
<p>Search for schools with this information in mind. Let us know if we can help.</p>
<p>If you are a California resident from a low income family, UCs and CSUs may be most of your financially doable options. Out-of-state public universities tend not to give good financial aid, some private schools offer less financial aid to transfers, many of the private schools with good financial aid admit few transfers, and merit scholarships are less available for transfers than frosh.</p>
<p>Well I won’t say impossible as it is possible if you get into a ‘super aid’ school of which there are only a handful and your parents make/have very low income/assets. </p>
<p>Did you apply for any transfer scholarship like Jack Cooke Kent (now closed)? Are you in the honor society, a school and/or community leader? Have some special talent/ability/accomplishment?</p>
<p>Most calculators that I’ve used have estimated anywhere from $9,000 to $16,000, which is close to the same amount I’ve gotten from in-state universities. </p>
<p>But at which schools? Most of the private schools with the best financial aid are very difficult to be admitted to, often even more so for transfers.</p>
<p>You can certainly apply to reach schools with good financial aid – but you should start off your list with affordable safeties that you know you will be admitted to and which you can afford.</p>
<p>9K is doable without any help from your parents, IF you don’t need 9K in addition to a loan.</p>
<p>assuming that’s the case, you’ll have to apply for a loan, probably, and earn the balance during the summer and school year. More than that and it gets sketchy. Look for merit scholarships within your department and college for senior year. Sometimes they amount to $500-1000/semester.</p>