<p>You want diversity and you're looking into Rhode Island? Good luck. I could be wrong, but all the school I was into had no diversity. It was a sad day.</p>
<p>Virginia...ah. I can help you there. I can only really tell you about James Madison, George Mason, Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth. </p>
<p>OH! Check livejournal. Click "interest" and type in the school's name. You get an inside view of what people really think about the school, and you can ask anything you want and get an inside answer. It helped me LOADS. Especially with the James Madison kids. Really nice people.</p>
<p>The reason I said Florida is because Ive been studyin in the carribean for the past 2 years and Florida is very similar to it. The weather, the nightlife (miami) and such. I DONT know though, wether its worth heading down to FL though to study, being that Ive noticed that most of the colleges down there have extremely low instate tuition and very high out of state tuitions...But FL is extremely diverse which is a big plus for me.</p>
<p>I browsed through the site and read some of the comments folks had on the universities...and they're all good. Wasn't able to find anything on the Jersey City University though.</p>
<p>Anymore reccomendations? Anyone know of Florida International University? How about colleges in Houston, Chicago, Detroit?</p>
<p>Hi Santo- You, Sweetsaz and my d are looking at some of the same schools- so I'll add my 2 cents. D is also considering GMU-VCU in Va. She didn't like Old Dominion, (no real reason why but it is off her list). We're also looking at U. of Tampa. (private U but tuition isn't too bad). They do have a communication dept. so you may want to check it out to see if it meets your needs. And Sweetsaz, I don't know what you will be majoring in, but one of the posters mentioned Eastern Connec. State U. (It's about 10 minutes from U Conn and 1/2 hour from Hartford). We saw the campus last week. It was truly lovely. One of the nicest campuses we saw. So we will be shlepping our d up there in October for their Open House. More of a liberal arts sort of school, but it may be something to consider. I wasn't impressed with their website, but we checked the campus out as we were going to be nearby and I really did like what I saw. I am sure we'll be communicating with one another over the next few months as we are sort of looking at the same schools. I think my d's top contenders today is GMU and Temple but that could all change by October. --Good luck.</p>
<p>Me too. I am still concerned that schools like Temple and GMU may empty out on week-ends. The good thing about being in a city, is that there will always be things to do even if everyone else goes home on the week-end. We got the brochure and applic. from Tampa and it looks pretty good. I think we will visit Tampa in February during President's week break. She will apply first and see school later. We've already seen most of the other NE campuses that my kid is considering.</p>
<p>Santo, If you're willing to consider the midwest, check out DePaul University in Chicago. They have a very good journalism program. You might also take a look at St. Louis University. Both are urban campuses with a lot of student body diversity. They would also be within reach with your stats. Finally, since you're open to HBCU's, if it hasn't been mentioned yet, Howard U in D.C. has a superb communications program.</p>
<p>FINANCIAL AID 101
American is the same as Fordham & Syracuse, and with the quality of American's financial aid, yo will actually graduate with more debt from University of Tampa and Syracuse than you would at American. </p>
<p>Just note, the tag price may be cheaper, but b/c Tampa is a relatively new school with an endowment 1/10 of American's and 1/40 of Fordham, financial aid packages will most likely will be worse unless you are a merit scholar.</p>
<p>Average debt that students graduate with from your schools:
William Paterson - $10,868
Rutgers - $15,018
Northwestern - $15,136 ;)
Fordham - $16,590 American - $19,046
Syracuse - $19,200
Emerson - $19,647
Temple - $23,772 (underfunded school)
University of Tampa - $24,402 ($20.2 million endowement)</p>
<p>If you go to a well funded school with good endowment, then pricing will not be an issue. You can see that while evaluating schools w/ your method, you ended up with two of top debt causing schools in country.</p>
<p>Thanks once again Cre8tive. You've allowed me to look into some colleges I wouldnt have never looked at.</p>
<p>That said...any info on any of the following colleges (as far as social life and their academic programs):</p>
<p>American University
Montclair University
Boston University
Northeastern University
The College Of New Jersey
University Of Maryland: College Park</p>
<p>You mean Montclair State? I know people who have gone there/are going there, and they're really nice people. Very intelligent, very clever people. But again, it's a commuter campus. I know a teacher who went there and commuted from Bloomfield (where I'm from). He still met lots of people, but then again he's gregarious.</p>
<p>And Montclair is nice :). Where exactly do you come from?</p>
<p>TCNJ is becoming increasingly selective. I only know of 2 people that are going there, and they're quite studious. But you should apply anyways.</p>
<p>One girl from my school turned down PRINCETON for American. I guess that means something.</p>
<p>OH! On livejournal, there's a great community on college and whatnot. It's called College<em>Help. All you have to do is click "Interest" and type in "college". Scroll down to College</em>Help and voila! </p>
<p>It's helped me alot. :) And the people are beaucoup helpful.</p>
<p>Montclair is relatively cheap. Back when I was a freshman, Montclair was all the fuzz. I guess its buzz died down or maybe its Journalism program isn't worth raving about? But im looking into it, because it might be a good safety for me.</p>