Help with college list conundrum. evaluations/suggestions welcomed!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I'm a hs senior trying to finalize my college list and get some more safeties/matches with aid. My parents aren't too willing to pay for my choices unless they are a) very very prestigious schools regardless of cost b) schools with very very good financial aid. Ideally, these would overlap. (Big surprise. am Asian.) Result: having a hard time finding good matches</p>

<p>Planning on majoring in fine arts with a double major or minor in English lit. looking for schools that aren't too huge with an intelligent/creative student body, preferably near a metropolitan area. all signs point to LACs, but cost is an issue. Am applying to some art schools but I think I prefer regular colleges.</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>Asian female,</p>

<p>GPA: ~95 (we don't use the 4.0 scale at my school and am honestly not sure how it works. embarrassing.) we don't rank, but top 10% of class at least.
SATs: 800 CR, 800 W, 740 M
SAT IIs: 780 Lit, 750 USH
APs: AP Lang & Comp 4, AP USH 4, AP Studio Art (2D design) 5
This year: AP Lit, AP Statistics, AP French, AP Studio Art (Drawing)
Honors/awards: National Merit Finalist, National Honor Society, French NHS (why does this even exist), 1st Place World Journal Fine Arts Competition (2006, 2007), couple other random art awards
ECs: extensive time spent doing art /taking art classes, editor-in-chief of school newspaper, set design/construction/props for school plays/musicals, chinese school
work experience: teacher's assistant for art classes, (1.5 yrs) teacher's assistant for summer program for autistic kids (1 summer)</p>

<p>essays/recs should be quite good. am also going to have a strong portfolio as visual arts supplement</p>

<p>CURRENT LIST:</p>

<p>High Reaches (ie no chance):
Yale
Brown (/RISD dual degree program)
Wash U in St. Louis</p>

<p>Low Reaches/High Matches?:
Carnegie Mellon
Wesleyan
RISD</p>

<p>Safeties:
MICA (had a very good portfolio review)
Rutgers</p>

<p>Disturbingly reach-heavy right now... Any suggestions? I'm mostly looking for matches with strong art/english programs and good financial aid/ merit scholarships that I have a good chance at. As much as I love these schools, I've got to be realistic, most are very competitive and I don't have too great of a shot.</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

2

<p>NYU, Boston U, Cornell, Penn State (Schreyer Honors), and Vassar may all make good options.</p>

3

<p>CMU is also a VERY VERY VERY high reach if applying for fine arts. Their acceptance rates for places like that are normally around 3%</p>

4

<p>Holy Cross-near Boston- has a solid English major and offers some merit aid.</p>

5

<p>rocket6louise, I went by the admissions statistics page at CMU ([Admission</a> > Admission Statistics](<a href=“Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University”>Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University)) which said the College of Fine Arts admissions rate last year was ~21%. seems low but not totally impossible</p>

6

<p>When you say you need do you mean financial aid (ie. your parents make little money and have few assets)? Or do you mean merit aid because your parents are unwilling to contribute unless it is a top school? Some of the schools mentioned (like NYU) are well known to offer little FA. It makes a difference in the recommendations.</p>

7

<p>The following schools state they are need-blind and full-need:</p>

<p>[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission]Need-blind”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>

8

<p>Erin’s Dad, it’s sort of a combination of things. </p>

<p>My parents’ yearly income is too high to qualify for financial aid at most schools. They have a massive debt issue and can’t pay as much as they’d like to. However, even if the financial aid isn’t spectacular, they’d be more willing to find ways to contribute for a top school (especially since with larger endowment—> more FA).</p>

<p>My parents are less willing to pay for lower ranked schools (especially since they have less FA to offer), so schools that I consider matches in terms of academics (was thinking of BU) aren’t really feasible unless they have unusually good FA or merit aid/scholarships. </p>

<p>thanks to everyone for all the suggestions so far, i really appreciate it.</p>

9

<p>P. Blue, My son was also interested in finding a small to medium sized school with good studio art plus good humanities like English and Art History. His short list was as follows: Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Skidmore, Conn College, Yale, Brown. Since you are female, add Smith.</p>

<p>Many of these may be less urban than you’d prefer; however, on the plus side, the more remotely located schools often view Chinese-Americans as URMs.</p>

<p>My son graduated from Williams with a dual degree in studio art and art history. Williams’ distribution requirements are fairly loose and its quite easy and common to double or even triple major. Both the English and Art departments are very strong and well supported. Even though its located in an insular rural environment the focus on the arts – both at the college and in the greater Berkshires community – is intense and broad based, encompassing art, music, theater, dance. There are three worldclass museums on or near campus. I believe that Williams would find you a person of interest and perhaps its ranking would convince your parents that its worth the money.</p>

<p>I think you need to come to a better understanding of your parents’ financial restrictions . Most Eastcoast selective schools offer need based aid, but very few offer merit aid. If your family qualifies for need based aid, then you can put together a fairly open ended list. Their debt situation is most likely not so unusual these days; they should be talking to the colleges’ financial aid offices to find out how debt affects need.</p>

<p>However if, ultimately, you have to rely on merit aid then your list will look very, very different. There’s no point in applying to a bunch of need-only schools then not be able to attend if you are accepted because you don’t have the funds. Sit down and talk to your parents before you go any further.</p>

<p>I’m not an expert at merit aid – but there are many who are on this board. You might ask the question another way: Art/English + merit aid? Smith would be a good starting place.</p>

10

<p>If you lean toward LACs, and you want merit aid, you should check out some of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Most of these schools do offer merit scholarships, which most of the New England and Mid-Atlantic colleges do not. Typical merit offers seem to run ~$5K-$10K, but with the OP’s stats might be higher. Still, it’s unlikely to cover nearly all costs (though it may at least make them competitive with in-state publics). </p>

<p>USNWR’s top-ranked Midwestern LACs include Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Colorado College, and Macalester (in that order). There are other good ones but selling them to the OP’s parents may be hard. I cannot say too much about the quality of studio arts in specific media at any of them. Macalester is in the Twin Cities, which should be a pretty good place for the arts in general; Colorado College recently opened a beautiful new fine arts building designed to encourage collaboration across media, and their “block plan” offers a lot of flexibility to schedule special projects. Oberlin has a well-respected music conservatory.</p>

<p>Personally, I think Brown/RISD would be ideal. With a couple of perfect test scores, decent grades and a strong portfolio, the OP might have a shot. If that does not work out, some of the Midwestern LACs might make good back-ups in the match to low reach range.</p>

<p>By the way, phthaloblue, have you considered architecture as a field? Good interdisciplinary field (studio art + Math + art history, public policy, etc.) though it can be a challenge to find a money-making niche. Scientific illustration is another interdisciplinary area.</p>

11

<p>I kind of think of Columbia, NYU, UChicago, and USC… you would likely get at least half-tuition at USC, but I have heard its art school is very small. You might want to be wary about fin aid at the reaches though, when I applied to reaches I thought huge endowments would work in my favor and they gave me all loans to cover tuition.</p>

<p>Also, I have heard Temple U is very strong in the arts, they could be very friendly with fin aid.</p>

12

<p>I would take a look at Bryn Mawr and Scripps (if you don’t mind all female schools) and Vassar, Connecticut College, Oberlin and maybe University of Rochester (supposedly has good studio art program). Also, what about University of Michigan? You probably wouldn’t get much aid, but your parents might consider it reasonably prestigious.</p>

13

<p>You would be a very strong candidate for a full ride at Temple.</p>

14

<p>thanks everyone so far… I will definitely look into these schools. any other suggestions</p>

15

<p>Your SATs are amazing. I don’t understand your grade system. What is that equivalent to on a 4.0 scale?</p>

16

<p>If you are a NMSF then there is an excellent thread in the FA forum listing schools with good scholarships.</p>

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<p>boomie, my school just uses percentages and adds on extra points to each AP/honors class (adds 5 for honors, 8 for AP). so my weighted GPA is pretty unimpressive.</p>

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<p>What is your unweighted GPA? Without extensive context, weighted GPA is pretty much useless in determining what “range” your grades fall in.</p>

19

<p>Unweighted GPA is about a 91-92. nothing too special, pretty low for a lot of these schools so that’s why i wanted some more realistic options. the NMSF thread has been very helpful</p>

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<p>can i get into baruch or hunter cuny
gpa :2.7 tutoring in math 4 years
sat: 530 410 500 with tutoring
pres and founder of amnest international
member of international club
soccer 4 years
SO MUCH community service
i am out of state</p>