Thanks, me too. Graduate school is a long way off, though, so I still have time.
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Iāll be candid. Please please drop the whole ādream collegeā idea. Itās fine to have a favorite college on your list, but elevating it to dream college status just isnāt necessary. You need to have a bunch of colleges you would be very happy to attend on your college list of applications.
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Fine, itās my top college choice. The wording doesnāt really matter, does it? Itās not like Iāll give up on my education or something if I attend a different university. NYU has everything I want, a top-notch education, resources, urban environment, plus itās great for Journalism, which is what I intend to pursue in the future. I have other colleges in mind, NYU is just the best fit for my interests.
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Sounds as if you will be living at home. If you are a nyc resident, make a cuny option, suny too. If NJ resident, rutgers. Nyu is a long shot. Have you considered Barnard? Also a long shot, but a very good option.
Forget medicine. Not possible unless you are really interested, motivated, and dedicated.
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Thanks for clarifying/qualifying what had sounded like some āabsoluteā statements.
So - I now understand that your parents would like you to pursue college with their hope that it might potentially lead to medical or law school down the road. That is a realistic future option for very many colleges, while completely compatible with your own liberal arts interests. You can cross that bridge once youāve enrolled in whichever college and started taking classes for a semester or two.
With your excellent academics and resume, I suspect youāll gain admission offers from a good number of colleges with great name recognition. So, if NYU is on top of your list, you have as good as odds as anyone, thus should be one of your applications.
Youāve already been advised about college finances. Once you and your family see what financial aid packages are available from which colleges you were accepted into, they can determine which ones are affordable given the number of siblings in colleges.
There is a concern, but not in THAT way:
Applying ED to your first-choice can often improve your odds substantially (because fewer people apply ED and acceptance rates are often by a factor higher than from RD). But, not to worry, if you should get accepted ED, but attendance is not feasible with the financial aid offered, you will not have to accept the package.
However, the is a different downside: If accepted ED, youāll have to make the enrollment decision based on that ONE offer, without your parents having had the benefit of waiting and seeing the cost (after aid / merit scholarships) from other (RD) colleges, and possibly choosing one more affordable to them (regardless of brand name).
So - if ED@NYU turns out too expensive, you donāt enroll. Done.
But if ED@NYU is affordable, you might end up enrolling and your family spending more, than they would have at a different RD school with a better offer.
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I really donāt want to go to Rutgers, nothing about it interests me even though itās supposedly a really good school. I am applying to Barnard, although itās even more selective than NYU.
I wish I could forget medicine. I try to communicate that to my parents but theyāre old schooled.
So do you think it is worth it to ED? If we can afford the package, even by a slight margin, Iāll have to enroll?
You knowā¦you can go to undergrad school and major in anything you want to as a āpremedā. You just need to take the required courses for medical school admissions. Ohā¦and do things like shadowing, significant volunteering with underserved populations, hands on patient contact. And take the MCAT with a great score.
You can choose a major to your liking and go from there. Itās very possible medical school wonāt work out anyway, regardless of how much your parents wish it will. So you are wise to have a career back up planā¦and that can be something you really really like.
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They donāt want premed either. They want pharmacy or something, so that I can be able to get a job when I graduate even if I donāt go to med school. Theyāre very demanding with the major, and I donāt think it will quite fit with the Humanities-oriented major I want to do- Journalism.
The choice to pay for grad and med school is your parent choice.
If you want to do what you want to doā¦I would suggest you look for colleges where your strong academic record could net you a full rideā¦including tuition, fees, room, board. Move awayā¦you wonāt need your parents support or permission if your funding is all taken care of.
And as I saidā¦your parents can wish all they want toā¦but fact isā¦more students get rejected from medical schools than get accepted. Wrap your head around that.
And regarding pharmacyā¦there is a huge over supply of pharmacists right now. Not like in years past when every grad was offered multiple jobs where they actually wanted to live and work.
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Everything you said makes sense. However, moving out isnāt really an option for me right now, but I am looking at colleges that could potentially offer me full ride. Iām not going to do med school anyway, whatever they think, but Iām concerned Iāll have to do a major Iām not really interested in.
Is there really? I didnāt know. I guess theyāre the most popular choice in medicine right now.
Thanks for your advice. I think the main concern of my parents is that Journalism wonāt give me a six figure salary 
Iām trying to tell them that double majoring or dual degree will get me there, especially since Iām really passionate about my major of interest. Weāll see how it goes.
There are āsomeā nuances, but basically - letās answer this with āYes!ā.
ED is a binding agreement with the school where you apply to - and they (and the rest of the college world) will absolutely expect you to actually honor your agreements, just as you expect that college to do. (If I were another college, would I really want to admit someone, who has already demonstrated a lack of ethics.)
Hypothetically, a high school could even get involved and refuse to send transcripts to other schools.
A college might decide to āreleaseā you from your agreement, if there are new/sudden/exceptional family circumstances, making it genuinely unaffordable/unfeasible.
Definitely do not apply ED anywhere unless you will (in good faith) actually attend.
As far as having better odds at admission - yes, it is āworthā it for many elite colleges.
There are significantly fewer ED applicants than RD applicants, and the college doesnāt have to worry if they are wasting an acceptance on a really great applicant who rather prefers one of the competitor colleges.
Okay, thank you for clarifying. Due to the high expenses involved and the uncertainty of the future, I think Iād better stay with Regular Decision. If I donāt get accepted, I can attend another college, rack up my savings, and then apply again for graduate school. Do you think that would be a good path? Iāll be much more certain of my prospects by then.
I would agree that the field of journalism is rapidly changing. Are you talking broadcast journalism or what? Are you interested in the production end? Or what?
What colleges are within commuting distance from your homeā¦beside NYU.
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Yes - for you (and the majority of college applicants), there seem to be too many variables that speak against making an absolute ED commitment.
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There are over 200 colleges in the NYC metro area (25 mile radius), and even more just outside of that radius. Thereās over a million college students in that circle. So if NYC is commutable, hundreds of schools are.
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Good journalists are something that the U.S. needs more of (though thereās not necessarily an increasing demand for it). That said, however, the majority of journalists are not pulling down 6-figure salaries, if that figures into your desire to be one: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/reporters-correspondents-and-broadcast-news-analysts.htm.
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Indeed it is. Thatās partly why I want to join it.
Iād like to do print journalism mostly, maybe foreign correspondence or investigative journalism. Hoping to work for a major newspaper agency or become a freelance journalist. Or, if thatās not stable enough, I could double major in Journalism and Data Science/Analytics and become a data journalist. Iām not opposed to broadcast, although thatās more like Plan D or E.
Hereās a list:
- Monmouth University
- Montclair State University
- Kean University
- Rutgers Piscataway/Newark
- Princeton University
- NJIT
- Farleigh Dickinson
- Seton Hall
- TCNJ
- Brookdale Community College
And thatās really all Iām considering in NJ.
In New York and Pennsylvania, Iām considering Columbia University, UPENN, Penn State, and Barnard.
I agreeā¦but the college also needs to be affordable. And that could be a challenge with some of these many many colleges. Plus, this is a NJ resident who would be paying OOS costs for the many publics in that groupā¦and there are tons of privates with very high price tags that donāt meet full need and have limited merit aid.
Iāll rephrase my question to the OP. What colleges within commuting distance of your home are affordable and are under consideration? Excluding NYU.
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I would suggest you look at this site. There might be some health related career that piques your interest and would also be OK with your parents.
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