High school senior applying to NYU CAS [NJ resident, 3.97, 1530, parents require pre-med or pharmacy, and commuting from home]

[thumper1]

Manhattan College and Sarah Lawrence are private universities. There is no difference in cost for in or out of state students.

[JayLab]

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I understand now. I’ll still apply for NYU, but I’ll accept it if it’s too expensive or impractical, and just take another path. Guess that’s life, huh?

[JayLab]

@thumper1

@JayLab does your high school have a newspaper, literary magazine or something like that? If so, are you doing that? If not, why not?

Yes, I do both.

@thumper1

ALL of these people did this type of work for their high school and college papers, radio and TV stations, literary magazines etc. AND in college, a lot of that work happened late at night. Very late. How will your parents feel if you need to do these types of things at your college and it happens at night…after classes end.

I don’t know… I mean, I think I can convince them if it’s really, really rewarding, but I’ll have to do several presentations and give up other things to get them to agree, and even then it might not happen. Hopefully, though.

[JayLab]

@thumper1

I think getting involved on the high school level is where you need to start if you haven’t done so already. What IS your current journalism experience?

I’ve been writing for the school newspaper since freshman year. I became an editor in junior year, now I’m co-Chief Editor. I write for the annual Lit Mag, and for Yearbook, although I’m not really involved in those.

[DigitalDad]

@tsbna44

Would schools like Manhattan College or Sarah Lawrence be accessible by train within a similar commute??

I think that will push it close to a 4 hour daily commute. Connecting through Penn Station before you walk onto college will be around an extra hour.
Dito for Sarah Lawrence.

Frankly, colleges in Manhattan will already be a stretch, but I would draw the line there, as far as crossing (under) the Hudson. There are many excellent options in NJ within a 3 hour daily commute.

For that reason, I’m not even mentioning Ramapo College - because it’s on another local line on the “far end” of the state.

[JayLab]

@thumper1

So…you will commute 3 hours a day (round trip), take classes full time, be involved in journalism activities at your college and work part time?

You know…you need time to study, eat and sleep too.

I probably won’t have a social life at that point But I’ll do almost anything for my dreams!

[tsbna44]

I’m just trying to come up with other options.

Have you run the NPC for NYU - you’ll know whether even to apply.

It’s about $65K - without room and board.

They meet need but…it still might be more than you can afford.

There’s Fordham, Pace…I’d be worried about finding the right school for you vs. finding a journalism program.

If you want Journalism, look at Rutgers, Montclair State, or Rowan…not NYU.

Every school - whether having a major or not - will have journalism opportunities.

[JayLab]

Oh. In that case, I’ll apply.

[JayLab]

@DigitalDad

I think that will push it close to a 4 hour daily commute. Connecting through Penn Station before you walk onto college will be around an extra hour.

That’s unfortunate. I’ll look at the routes.

[JayLab]

@tsbna44

Have you run the NPC for NYU - you’ll know whether even to apply.

You can see above… I had an earlier conversation about it. It’d be about $17k after aid, according to my needs.

[DigitalDad]

#1 subway from 34th Street leaves every 10 minutes, plus 40 minute ride, plus walks on both ends.

[thumper1]

These two colleges (Manhattan College and Sarah Lawrence) are private universities and are expensive private universities. I would suggest you accurately run the Net price calculators for these schools to see what your possible net costs might be.

[tsbna44]

Yes - i’m throwing out names and you can search for more names in NJ, NY areas.

But absolutely, OP you need to see what they can offer you.

At this point, it’s like throwing out names of every school near by.

[DigitalDad]

@thumper1

…private universities. There is no difference in cost for in or out of state students

To expand on that good advice:

Many students (and parents) are surprised when private universities/colleges, where you might apply with grades that are well above their average, will offer substantial financial aid based on your needs and merit! That can bring the cost down to the point that they sometimes are more affordable than the in-state public!

One of our friends’ daughter had significant financial needs, but also had excellent academics - and the most affordable school ended up being one of the countries most highly regarded: Amherst College.

So don’t dismiss any colleges outright based on perception - since you are geographically so strictly limited.

[ucscuuw]

@JayLab

they’re old-fashioned and think being a doctor is the only path to success

Have they talked to doctors recently? There are so many more professions where you could make a lot more money without going to college for more than a decade.

[DigitalDad]

@JayLab

I probably won’t have a social life at that point

Yeah - but before you know it you’ll become a pro at commuting. Whipping out your laptop, putting in your airpods, tuning out the world, and starting banging out your assignments, papers, etc.

It’ll actually be productive time - just like the many business commuters who’ll be on the same trains.

It’ll become second nature. My daughter was/is doing that, no matter if on a commuter train, in an airline lounge, or during a flight. Just local bus/subway is pretty much unproductive time.

[ucbalumnus]

@JayLab

I want to write about international topics, be a foreign correspondent. That’s what I want to do most, but I also want to have a backup plan if things go wrong money-wise. The Data Science and Statistics is to mollify my parents, who need to see some STEM in their kids’ studies or else they think it’s useless.

Knowledge of data science / statistics will generally be useful.

A journalist on international topics may also want to learn relevant foreign languages, histories, and cultures, in addition to general political science and international relations matters.

[AustenNut]

For the purposes of helping people who don’t understand northern NJ geography well, here are the public transportation times from Middletown, NJ (a place in OP’s county that has good transportation connects…seemingly) to various colleges, using Monday, September 11 at 7:00AM as a departure time. I’ve bolded the ones that were less than 1h30m (though there are several colleges in the 1h30-1h40m zone). Schools are in alphabetical order.

• Barnard: 1h48m

• Bloomfield: 1h33m

• Brookdale Community College: 40m

• Columbia: 1h47m

• Drew: 2h10m

• Fairleigh-Dickinson: 2h15m

• Felician: 2h2m

• Fordham (Lincoln Center): 1h34m

• Kean: 1h42m

• Manhattan College: 2h5m

• Monmouth: 59m

• Montclair State: 1h54m

• New Jersey Institute of Technology: 1h7m

• NYU: 1h34m

• Pace: 1h34m

• Princeton: 2h9m

• Ramapo: 3h45m

• Rider: 2h42m

• Rutgers-New Brunswick: 2h25m

• Rutgers-Newark: 1h9m

• Saint Peter’s: 1h25m

• Sarah Lawrence: 2h40m

• Seton Hall: 1h42m

• Stevens Institute of Technology: 1h31m

• The College of New Jersey: 2h44m

• The New School: 1h39m

• Wagner: 2h12m

• William Paterson: 2h9m

In looking at the times, I would focus my attentions on Monmouth, Rutgers-Newark, and NJIT, with Saint Peter’s, NYU, Pace, Fordham, New School, Stevens, Seton Hall, and Columbia & Barnard bringing up the other possibilities. Lastly, I’d include Brookdale Community College (or whatever your local community college is) to see if your family would let you live your last two years on-campus if you spent your first two years at cc.

[thumper1]

@JayLab

So, it’s not “NYU or bust,” I just really want to go to NYU because they have such great academics. My parents don’t even want me to go to NYU because they think it’s too expensive.

They are right.

@JayLab

we are currently having to pay for med school, graduate school, and undergraduate school at the same time.

On $140,000 income? How?

@JayLab

My siblings who are attending received FAFSA aid, and our income was the same

“FAFSA aid” is the Pell grant and Direct Loan…for freshman year, the total added together would be about $12,000 which would not fund anyone’s medical school, and or undergrad at most places.

@JayLab

Personally, I think I could save more if I take the Humanities path, and it’s more in my area of interest than STEM.

It doesn’t matter what you major in at most colleges. The cost is the same per semester for tuition.

@JayLab

I’d like to attend a famous university, one that has lots of funding and can grant me really good positions in the future and has lots of resources and connections.

Your university isn’t going to grant you really good positions on the future. What you do is what matters in this regard.

@JayLab

I mentioned before that I don’t mind going full ride at a smaller college, as long as I can choose my major

At most colleges you can double major. Doing this should satisfy both you and your parents.

@JayLab

Recently, they enrolled my younger siblings in a private school and paid a lot of money for it.

This in addition to medical school costs, grad school costs…and now you? How?

I will add…I understand that there can be cultural reasons for families that make living at home as long as possible the norm.

[twogirls]

OP my daughter’s friend in college majored in journalism and political science. The school has a very strong journalism program and she had many really good internships (with politicians, national news organizations etc).

She always worked but is not making anywhere near 6 figures, and she’s been out of school a few years. She also hustles…
a lot…and accepts positions wherever they are, all over the country. She’s always moving. Always. And despite being from the northeast, she’s not working in the northeast.

While NYU is a good school, do not go into this thinking it will open doors for you. That’s on you, not the school. My friends son graduated NYU with a major that is very hard to break into, and he doesn’t have steady work. There were no NYU “connections” etc, and he’s still struggling to find his place many years after graduating. He’s working, but struggling to break into his line of work.

I hope you are able to major in something that interests you, and I hope you get a lot of money from a school to do it.