First post.. and a few questions too

Paying for College
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Hello people of College Confidential! This is my first post so I might as well introduce myself.

I’m Latino and I’m about to start my senior year of HS. I have three older siblings, one of whom is currently in college and two more who both earned their degrees several years ago. Additionally, I have been procrastinating HARD and was recently smacked in the face with the realization that the college admissions process is long and difficult. So, with not much time left before school starts, I’m trying to accomplish as many visits as I can and trying to work as much as I can on applications while also balancing my jobs and my AP summer work. All of this is occurring while I simultaneously have no idea what I want to major in when I actually get accepted somewhere. LOL.

That last sentence is a little misleading-- I’m interested in majoring in either Broadcast Journalism or Musical Theater. While booking a college tour for BU, they asked me which college I wanted to tour and I couldn’t choose between their College of Communication and their College of Fine Arts. Needless to say, I haven’t booked my visit yet; I love television and the stage so much and I’m torn when it comes to choosing either one or the other to study. Additionally, I’m scared of the amount of work and the cost of double-majoring, especially with two unreliable career paths that, more often than not, lead to very competitive job markets where the chances of getting work are slim. Don’t ask me how, but this all leads to my first question: is it possible, when one applies, to apply to a school for one major and then apply to that school again for another major? For instance, could I apply to BU’s College of Communication, submit that application, then apply to their College of Fine Arts and submit that one as well?

Even though I’ve procrastinated on this-- and, as a result, I’m stressed-- I am not a complete f**kup! I’ve put up a list of schools that I consider substantial, with stats that I really love and in places in which I would enjoy living. There are, however, problems that I need tons of help solving, mainly on the specific schools that I chose. I think it’s in bad taste to list them all here, but generally my college list is comprised of schools that have both really good Broadcast Journalism AND Musical Theater programs, and not just one or the other. Since I’m pretty sure the answer to my first question is, “No, you can’t do that,” this is a major stress factor for me, especially when considering that my top choice, BU, is one of those specific schools. Should I scrap schools where I know I’m going to have to choose between two majors? Should there be more schools on my list with only one spectacular B.J./M.T. program and not both?

My original plan when choosing a school is to pick the school, no matter what major, that offers me the most money, with priority going to BU. But I have come to notice that this is a vague strategy. Thus, my final question is what are financial aid options that I, as an incoming college Freshman, should be aware of? And additionally, where can I find information about scholarships catered toward Latino-Americans, and to high school students in general? I realize that those questions–all of my questions, really-- could be answered with a simple Google search, but I figured that I would receive more valuable answers on here.

Sorry if this is really long, but thank you to whoever answers this in advance!

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Hola hombre - Keep in mind that there are @ 350 colleges/Universities that begin with B… and your “BU” = ? Start with that, and you might get a better response. Other wise, your Google idea, along with visiting and/or calling your BU might work.

http://www.collegeview.com/collegesearch/alpha/b.jsp

Buena Suerte

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By “BU” I mean Boston University

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Op - I STRONGLY suggest you repost your first post on the Financial Aid. Scholarship forum.
There are a lot of very knowledgeable posters there that can offer advise.

They will need your stats- GPA, SAT or ACT scores, classes taken [ especially AP] ,SR year schedule, etc,etc. And have you had the $$ talk with your parents??
Do you know what they can afford to spend to send you to college?

Have you run your financial #s through any individual college calculators?

Colleges that offer merit scholarships [ fyi-most merit $$ is offered by colleges- not by outside organizations] usually award them to students with tip- top stats- i.e students they really want .
And Private colleges, such as BU, also require applicants to fill out the Profile FA form, which means they also look at your parents assets- home, etc.

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The school that offers the “most money” may not offer enough. What then?

How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess.

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You do know that BU does not offer a degree in musical theatre correct? They have acting and theatre arts along with some others like a stage management MFA, etc. They are all audition based BFA’s and while BU makes double majoring in the BFA program more do-able than most programs, if you aren’t accepted into the competitive program out right, it won’t be an option for you. If you want to audition, you need to jump on this immediately. Performing arts kids often start prepping a year in advance and audition slots fill fast!

In general, it’s very difficult to get a BFA in musical theatre and double major in something like broadcast journalism. In many cases it’s just impossible. Don’t just look for strong programs… look for programs that double majoring is even a viable option in 4 years (as the last thing you need on a budget is having to take a 5th year to complete your degrees.) In most cases, for musical theatre BFA’s, if you aren’t accepted into the BFA program, you are put into the general academic admissions pool. So, you can get rejected from the program but still offered a spot in the school. There are schools like UCLA where if you aren’t accepted into theatre BFA you are not accepted into the school period even if you have the stats. Keep this in mind during your research as well.

If you really aren’t sure what you want, I don’t encourage the BFA audition route at all. Find an affordable school that offers your communications and a regular theatre BA. You’ll be able to participate in both and in many cases, minor, just take classes and work on shows, or double major (which many schools make pretty easy at the BA level.)