Pitt Bradford is not the best option since Pitt does not have a school of communication. Only pen state and Temple have a school of communication. Furthermore, the one major related to what you want at Pitt Bradford does not match the requirements at Pitt Main.
Therefore, check if there’s a commutable PSU branch and/or a commutable temple branch. Apply there to donate 2+2.
Next, don’t discount potentially affordable colleges based on location. Contacts in the industry aren’t related to location only. Not sure you know of Gambier but Selingsgrove is a positive metropolis compared to that. Yet Kenyon students have excellent connections to the industry. Program reputation, college connections, career center… All matter, in addition of course to your own diligence.
Finally, keep 10-12 common app slots open for the NACAC List in May.
no commutable temple branch. will probably switch to 2+2 at penn state, but havent called yet. i have plenty of common app spots. YSU is finished as is washington college in maryland, common app prepped for Ursinus college. not too sure about susquehanna but will continue to think about it.
Last fall, even in the early winter, there would have been more options.
But it is getting late in the application cycle and many schools have awarded their merit.
PA has lots of LACs, small catholic colleges, the PASSHE schools and a few state related unis.
Those are primarily in rural areas/near smaller towns. Except for Pitt and Temple.
And those are not affordable if living on campus (without enough merit).
The private schools are only affordable if they give merit and enough need based aid.
You have both good stats and high need, so you qualify for some merit, and federal/state aid, plus need based aid at schools that give it.
I would apply to a few that still accept applications and award merit, have good programs and where the NPC showed good aid.
Then possibly visit and see what they can offer you. There is study abroad, student exchange and internships that can enrich the opportunities of a school.
Lycoming, YSU and Susquehanna were at the lower net price end, I think Ursinius will be a bit higher, and I couldn’t get the net price calculator at Washington College to work.
If you don’t want to take a gap year, then your options are limited.
Hopefully you can visit Susquehanna and talk to someone in the department. I hear great things about the school.
Congratulations on being allowed to apply to Honors at YSU. (Your letter was very good. You may need to re use it for other honors colleges and ‘why us’ essays… )
Remember the current goal is to find a college that’ll be affordable enough for you to dorm do they you don’t have to commute. And YSU/Honors may well deliver on this!!!
So, keep your options open. 
washington college i just applied for the heck of it because it was free and there was nothing to lose. ursinius even if its a bit higher i might be willing to do just for its proximity to philly and the size. i dont think im losing anything besides 55 bucks by applying. i would rather attend pitt-bradford or YSU than take a gap year, i think it would be a loss of forward momentum and i would only be able to work a random job, and id have trouble convincing any college i applied to that the gap year was in any way meaningful. im thinking about susquehanna. not sure about lycoming either. i know this would have been a lot better in the fall but as i said in the original post i severely miscalculated and it is what it is at this point, i cant go back and change anything.
Yes, good outlook!
thanks @MYOS1634 if YSU honors is affordable or ursinius i think i might be able to offset the 10k or so by summer and schoolyear work. if neither of these are good options, i might suck it up and commute psu 2+2. it isnt ideal and id like to live off campus but the last two years would be good and id still be ahead of the game.
P.S. PMd the common app revision
In case you didn’t already know, applications are free for both Ursinus and Susquehanna. Not sure if you are interested at all, but West Chester University is in a larger town that is a lot less remote than some of the others. It’s not small and not selective, but their honors program is a great opportunity for future leaders. It’s just way too close to our home for the twins, who don’t really want to see everyone from high school for another four years (or maybe their parents).
i’ll run the NPC and see what it says, but it sounds like a pretty good option if deadlines haven’t passed! im liking ursinus the more i see about it though. less than an hour from center philly and a nice large campus.
Like others, I am just reading this thread and so impressed with the OP and the responders. @ACollegeHopeful3 , your subject line “I messed up” drew me in and many others too…and I honestly think that’s why you are getting amazing help here. You realized you made some mistakes, admitted it and took responsibility, reached out for help, and are taking initiative and doing the hard work to resolve the mistakes and make the best of it. Keep it up, and thanks to all those offering help here. Good luck and please follow up long term once you are settled…this is a great story.
@TS0104 thank you so much for your kindness! I will continue to follow up long-term and I think I definitely have good options available to me. I figured I could either ignore the issue until deadline day or see what was still available to me.
The West Chester NPC most likely won’t give you a merit estimate, you would need to take a chance on that, if they haven’t awarded all of it yet. But you can ask about merit and honors.
The only other aid would be your Pell and PHEAA grant, except for maybe work study, which you would earn with a work study job.
I’m really happy to see you getting good advice and acting on it. It’s so much easier to complain and feel sorry for yourself than it is to try to fix things. I know a couple of current students at Ursinus and they like it, so maybe that will work out.
Deadline March 23rd colleges that change lives scholarship http://ctcl.org/2018-scholarship-application/ Does not require letter of admission until April something.
if i go to ursinus that would help tremendously, thank you! i will fill it out. its worth trying.
@ACollegeHopeful3 If you are willing/able to travel for school, look at U of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Assuming your unweighted GPA is a 3.0 or higher, you would qualify for the Amigo scholarship (in state tuition). It is a research I university and is the state flagship.
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
Room, board and tuition is 17K per year. Add books and transportation on to that and it’s around 19,000 per year all in. With a Pell grant, federal student loan and work study, you could cover 10K of that, maybe more. It’s an urban campus. The airport is just a few miles away.
Admissions are rolling and you’d probably have an answer within a few weeks.
I didn’t read through the entire thread so sorry if this is redundant or not applicable due to need to stay close to home.
I Don’t care about moving away and wouls raster go a little far, however, ive seen a lot of negative things about UNM in terms of quality of education. Not sure if anyone can offer insight on that but it didn’t look incredibly promising.
UNM is better than Pitt Bradford academically, its campus is prettier and YSU’s, and its journalism program is pretty good. Email to ask if the Amigo scholarship still has funds (if not, it’s not within budget).
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
https://cjdept.unm.edu/undergraduate/ba-journalism-mass-comm.html
https://cjdept.unm.edu/undergraduate/ba-communication.html
http://honors.unm.edu/
https://cjdept.unm.edu/undergraduate/internship-program.html
https://cjdept.unm.edu/undergraduate/scholarships.html
I will look at it. Its a little further than I wanted to go but it might be worth it.
Not ideal but … At least look at it. If it’s too far, it’s too far. No biggie.