good colleges for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>i'm a sophomore at a magnet public high school right now, majoring in visual art. i live in new jersey but out-of-state schools are pretty okay with me. i'd prefer to be on the east coast because of family but i'm open to pretty much anywhere. </p>

<p>i'm hoping to go into something involving visual communications or graphic design because i've had some experience using adobe illustrator/photoshop/indesign to make posters, ads, etc. and i've enjoyed it very much.
however, i'd also like a school where it'd be possible for me to double major or at least have a minor in something else like english. for example, i hear at RISD they have minors in english and they also have a dual degree program with brown university. (plus, it'd make my parents really happy haha).</p>

<p>as a freshman, i had a 3.963 gpa and, for sophomore year, i think i'm capable of keeping it above 3.8, 3.75 at the very very least. on my psats, i got a 190 but i think i'll do better on the sats. i'm pretty strong in writing/literature but my math/science skills are only average, hence the interest in english. over the next two years, i'm hoping to take IB literature, IB history, AP psychology, and AP calculus AB. as for sat subject tests, i'm thinking about taking math level 2, literature, one of the history tests, and possibly french. i'm also wondering if it would be worth it to do the korean test since i speak/write korean a lot at home. </p>

<p>as for extracurriculars, i do taekwondo outside of school, i'm in the national art honor society at school as well as the korean club. i was in student council freshmen year and i occasionally volunteer at a local art program office when they need some extra hands. i'm not really active outside of school because i stay at home a lot watching my little brother & i'm wondering if this will hurt me a lot when i apply. </p>

<p>another note, my family is lower middle class and i don't really have a college fund or any real college savings. i'm going to need a lot of financial aid and/or scholarships..i also understand that i'll probably be paying for college for awhile after i graduate but i'd like to get as much aid as possible. </p>

<p>so,
what would be some good recommendations for colleges to look into, as far as all of that is concerned?
and what should i do to make sure i'm prepared for college applications over the next two years?</p>

<p>i appreciate any help i can get, thank you!</p>

2

<p>*
i’m hoping to go into something involving visual communications or graphic design because i’ve had some experience using adobe illustrator/photoshop/indesign to make posters, ads, etc. and i’ve enjoyed it very much.</p>

<p>another note, my family is lower middle class and i don’t really have a college fund or any real college savings. i’m going to need a lot of financial aid and/or scholarships…i also understand that i’ll probably be paying for college for awhile after i graduate but i’d like to get as much aid as possible.*</p>

<p>For you to get great aid, you may need to have strong stats so that you can get accepted to a school that meets need. Typically, only the better/best schools can give great aid packages to lowish income people.</p>

<p>Most schools cannot meet need, so you’d be left with a big gap in coverage.</p>

<p>Students cannot take out large loans. You’re limited to Stafford loans…
$5500 for freshman year, $6500 for soph year, $7500 for jr and sr years. </p>

<p>To borrow more requires parents to co-sign. Since you’re lower middle class, that probably can’t happen (either your parents will say “no” (unaffordable) or they might not qualify for loans for 4 years). </p>

<p>So…if you can have maintain high stats (GPA and SAT/ACT scores), you have a good chance of getting accepted to a school that can help you with your need. Either way, you’ll also need to apply to some inexpensive local state schools. Which state schools have your intended major?</p>

<p>Keep in mind…that many graduates in that major do not make a lot of money - at least for awhile - so you can’t borrow much money. It would be too difficult (if not impossible) to pay back while also supporting yourself.</p>

3

<p>With an eye to what Mom above just said re: your $, perhaps Temple would be a good fit for you. The Tyler school of art at Temple is now on main campus and has a fabulous new arts building. They’re spending gobs promoting themselves in the arts–new prestigious international prize, etc. Plus it’s not too far from home and you could minor in any number of other subjects (their creative writing program is particularly well regarded).</p>

4

<p>^^^^</p>

<p>Are you talking about Temple in PA? Since the OP would be OOS for Temple, wouldn’t that school be unaffordable? Do they give merit scholarships?</p>

<p>To the OP…Are you an American or green card resident?</p>

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<p>The golden ticket may be cooper union for free tuition but real tough to get in to. FIT is a state school so tuition is lower and has a wonderful graphics dept. Check out Virgina Commonwealth. Privates that have decent art/grahics depts and give generous merit and/or meet full need (not really an expert on this) for good academics - Wesleyan, RIT, Ithaca</p>

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<p>Temple is $28-30K per year out of state, but we have merit scholarships of 5K, 10K, and full scholarship. The OP is on a good track towards a full scholarship.</p>

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<p>I don’t see any full tuition merit scholarships for OOS students at Temple. I only see a max of $10k for OOS students - which is less than half the tuition for OOS students. </p>

<p>Am I missing something?</p>

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<p>thank you for all the help so far!
in response to mom2collegekids, i’m an american, yes. and thank you for the information on the loans, i wasn’t fully aware of all of that.
i’ll definitely be looking into the schools that you have all mentioned.</p>

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<p>After you take the SAT and ACT, come back and tell us your scores. We can give you better recommendations then. :)</p>

<p>BTW…if you’re low income, you might qualify for fee waivers for the SAT and ACT. Ask you guidance counselor about that (or maybe someone here can post about that.)</p>