fashion/undergrad business? please help!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out what to do about college. I have a really unusual situation and I'd like some advice/comments/love...</p>

<p>-I'm a hs senior, but my senior year consisted of a semester at a community college/teaching English in Colombia.</p>

<p>-SAT 2100, perfect/almost perfect reading and writing, but a little low on the math. ACT 32, again same situation. I didn't take calc or physics in high school.</p>

<p>-AP scores: four 5's and a 4.</p>

<p>-GPA, not sure yet but probably 3.7 or 3.8 unweighted.</p>

<p>-National Merit Finalist.</p>

<p>-Fluent in 3 languages.</p>

<p>Ok, the unusual part. I had a very abusive home life until the end of my junior year. I was kicked out when I was 17 (this was in Kentucky), and when I came to New York I was registered as a homeless youth and consequently have no efc on the fafsa.</p>

<p>Because of the abusive situation, I had no extracurriculars until this year...and I got two B's junior year because my situation made focusing on school next to impossible (I got mostly B's at the CC too, I absolutely hated it and spent my time doing non-academic activities).</p>

<p>Since then, however, I've interned at a city court, taken bellydance and flamenco guitar classes, taught myself French, joined the International Travel Organization and worked worked as a model for the art students at the CC. Also, I moved to Bogota in January and worked full time as an English teacher and as a singer. As soon as I get into a big enough city I'm looking to get into graffiti writing/DJing, and I'm currently setting up my own clothing business.</p>

<p>This summer I'll probably be taking art/fashion classes in San Francisco, and I'm taking a gap year and going either to Africa or South America.</p>

<p>Sooo...I'll be applying to college in the fall. The love of my life is fashion, but virtually no fashion schools offer the aid that I'll be needing, most seem to be pretty sketchy and I have other interests including business that I'd like to focus on. My idea is to go to business school as an undergrad and simultaneously pursue international fashion/business internships. Paying for this is a serious consideration for me, as is living in a large city.</p>

<p>Ok, I know this is the longest post ever, thanks for bearing with. My question would be which schools should I be looking at, and will my lack of higher math affect me (should I maybe take online calc this summer?). Also, I like the idea of going into more of a management area as opposed to financial as I'm not looking to work on Wall Street, although who knows, maybe I'll get more into that...</p>

<p>Wharton was looking pretty awesome, but I love NYC. NYU as a school seemed like a better fit for me than Columbia when I toured them, but how does Stern compare to Columbia, especially for what I'm looking to do? And of course, please keep in mind that financial aid is a huge consideration for me.</p>

<p>Also, which is the best school in terms of study abroad opportunities and global/international considerations within the curriculum? </p>

<p>Thank you all so much in advance for your help!</p>

2

<p>Oh, and I don’t know if this changes anything, but I’m a female. I consider myself white, but my older brother was telling me that we qualify as Hispanic because of our Spanish heritage.</p>

3

<p>You sound like a person who likes a lot of variety and has a lot of interests. I’m a 40 year veteran of the fashion industry myself and I mean this kindly when I say, you’ll fit right in! As an industry it’s full of smart, energetic, creative and well paid people from all sorts of backgrounds.</p>

<p>My advice to you would be to delay the business degree for a bit and get a liberal arts degree. You can decide what to major in later, right now, get yourself accepted to the best school you can. Since you seem to want urban I’d apply to Columbia and NYU and also add Barnard and Wesleyan. Look at the schools in Boston and Washington too. </p>

<p>Not urban, but I strongly recommend Smith. They like unusual.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about extracurriculars. Your life experience is your extracurricular. I’m sure you’ll write a great essay. Line up some good recommenders. Consider submitting an arts portfolio.</p>

<p>I believe you would qualify for need based financial aid. Start with Smith and Barnard and talk to the financial aid department. Schools calculate differently but one or two examples would give you an idea what to expect.</p>

<p>Take a look at Questbridge. This is a *wonderful *resource!</p>

<p>Most large retailers and brands offer summer internships. Of course, many have headquarters in New York City, but you will also find opportunities in other parts of the country. The best leadup is retail experience even if it’s just folding t-shirts at The Gap. A business degree is always helpful in business, but in fashion, the store is your college and the consumer your professor.</p>

4

<p>Wisconsin Madison offers retailing, fashion design and business degrees that can be combined into a dual major and can include a year in NYC at the Fashion Institute. Flexible and focused. </p>

<p>[Retail</a> & Related Majors - University of Wisconsin-Madison Kohl’s Center for Retailing Excellence](<a href=“http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/centers/cre/students/majors.html]Retail”>http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/centers/cre/students/majors.html)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/etd/undergrads/TAD.html[/url]”>http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/etd/undergrads/TAD.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Thank you for all your suggestions! You’ve all been really helpful :)</p>