Interesting situation... what colleges do you recommend?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am currently a freshman enrolled at a CC. When I tell people that, they usually assume that I'm some kind of slacker or burnout which is not the case at all. Last year I applied to six schools (some prestigious, others not so much) and did not expect to get in anywhere because of my grades (UW GPA was somewhere between 3.0-3.4, W was 3.9ish). However, I have high test scores, good ECs, and my essays were really good so I got into a lot of surprising places (New York University's film school, among others -- I'm not here to brag, but one of them was a top-tier school). </p>

<p>The problem was that none of these schools gave me adequate financial aid packages... I have a ridiculously low EFC (around $1300) so I need to go to a college that meets a large percentage of need. I also do not want to stay at my CC for more than a year, so I need a college that would potentially take me after my freshman year. Right now my list consists of University of Southern California and The University of Chicago. I know some of you may think that those are stupid choices given my GPA, but I'm not asking you to chance me (I'll decide for myself if I think I should apply there). I'm asking for suggestions on good schools that have reputations for being generous with financial aid and have a film program.</p>

<p>Right now my plan is to major in Film and minor or double major in Economics or Sociology (not sure which yet, Econ would be more practical but I like Soc a lot more).</p>

<p>Does anybody have any suggestions for me? ANY are appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Don’t major in Film.</p>

3

<p>Didn’t ask for advice on a major. ;)</p>

4

<p>Your instate school(s). Also, work your way through this list: [Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php). (Schools that are need blind/ meet full need for freshmen aren’t necessarily that way for transfers). </p>

<p>As a heads up, acceptance rates into most of the top schools are lower for transfers than they are for freshmen. The college board often has these numbers on its website.</p>

5

<p>My instate schools don’t have film as a major. I’m also from Illinois so our instate schools have terrible financial aid anyway.</p>

<p>I know, I’m double checking financial aid policies to make sure that they meet full need for transfers as well. And I know transfer rates vary for freshmen, so I’m not worried about that. I just need more suggestions. But thank you for the list. :smiley: The one thing I find weird is that the UCs and UIUC are on there… the UCs are doing pretty badly right now in terms of money and UIUC is also pretty known around here for giving out bad packages.</p>

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<p>Northwestern, Wesleyan, Oberlin, Chapman. Not sure about aid for the last, they claim to meet need but I think Parent Plus loans are usually involved.</p>

<p>Good chance you’ll need 2 good years at a CC. It’s unusual to get into a college as a soph transfer that you would not have gotten into as a freshmen. You say you got into a top college but what top college doesn’t meet need?</p>

<p>After 2 years you could also reapply to USC which takes lots of transfers. Forget the UCs, they have no money for OOS students.</p>

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<p>Redroses - Carnegie Mellon. New York University. Plenty. :p</p>

<p>Yeah, I’m definitely adding Northwestern. Considering Chapman but I’m not sure, I never wanted to apply there in the first place. I know I might need two years at a CC, but it would be dumb not to at least try after one year.</p>

<p>And I’m not even considering the UCs, trust me. :stuck_out_tongue: I stupidly applied to UCLA last year.</p>

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<p>Northwestern transfer aid leaves a lot to be desired.</p>

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<p>Those 2 don’t qualify as top in my book and a big reason is because they don’t meet need-hard to put together a strong class when money matters.</p>

<p>Does NU not meet need for transfers?</p>

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<p>@dreamupsided0wn</p>

<p>I remember you from the USC thread. I use to post on there quite a bit until my account was terminated because of spamming. Haha. But that’s a different story.</p>

<p>Anyways, I know you don’t want to be chanced but I’m just going to give you some advice. You can take it and run with it or chose not to. (You might even know what I’m about to tell you but I know you contributed a lot to that thread and definitely helped me out so I’m hoping to repay and give back).</p>

<p>I also a current Freshman enrolled in CC. My situation is quite similar to yours too. I had a 3.5 GPA. (This is out of a 4.0. It’s weird seeing all this 4.34 stuff. I guess my school just stuck to the 4.0 scale.) Ranked top 10%, Class President, etc, etc. I was accepted into some schools but I just couldn’t afford to pay. When my peers would asked me where I was going I would always answer them with “Uh. I’m still deciding.” Finally the May 1 deadline passed and I declined all my school acceptances. I knew I was going to CC but I couldn’t tell my classmates because of the social stigma surrounding CC. I told one person and I got the “But you’re smart. You were the Class President. How can you being going to CC?” It definitely depressed me a little bit but I moved on.</p>

<p>Now I know you said you don’t want to stay at CC for more than a year. This was my reasoning as well but I came to the realization that I might need to stay for 2 years. After some thought I decided I would stay for 2 years at CC. Why? Well because it’s definitely harder to be accepted as a transfer after only 1 semester worth of credits. When you apply as a transfer your first year you will only have 1 semester worth of grades for schools to look at. Therefore they’ll place a lot more emphasis on your HS grades, scores, ECs, and so on. My thought of reasoning was I could stay for 2 years and compile the best transfer application that would give me the greatest chance of being accepted.</p>

<p>The reason I mention this is because schools such as UChicago are no cake walks to get into. USC is a little bit less difficult since they’re more transfer friendly but there are no guarantees in the admissions game.</p>

<p>However, I’m pretty confident that in 2 years can craft the perfect transfer application. You might even apply to some schools you thought you’d never. </p>

<p>As far as the whole FA thing goes I know some schools are better than others. For example I know NYU is notorious for offering little FA to transfer students. I also do know that once you start tapping into the Tier 1 schools and even Ivy’s they will meet your needs. (Most of them). This is just an observation I’ve made through my time on the Transfer Forums. </p>

<p>I wish I could post a link with FA data but I haven’t come across any. The link below is to the schools that offer merit aid.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/983014-merit-scholarships-transfer-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/983014-merit-scholarships-transfer-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I wish you luck. I might even see you in SC one day.</p>

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<p>There was someone on this board who found that Northwestern didn’t give him/ her aid for the first year… but could “apply” for aid senior year. </p>

<p>I don’t think Oberlin is need blind, because it isn’t on this list: [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>

<p>The only state schools that at least attempt to meet need for freshmen OOS students are UVA/ UNC. UMICH is like 50k a year out of state for junior and senior years.</p>

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<p>I know someone who got a full ride to Syracuse. It wasn’t for film, tho.</p>

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<p>princeton review has a category of schools with the best financial aid. you can see it here:</p>

<p>[College</a> Rankings](<a href=“http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx]College”>Best Colleges 2023 | College Ranking List | The Princeton Review)</p>

<p>although you have to register an account with them to see it.</p>

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<p>In my experience, NU aid does not meet EFC, and that doesn’t include the loans that they give you.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of the input. </p>

<p>And MitchAPalooza - what was your username on the SC forum?? :o I know exactly where you’re coming from with the CC stuff, that’s what I went through too. The worst part was when my teachers (especially the ones who wrote my recs) asked where I was going and I just said “uhh I’m not sure yet.”</p>

<p>I know it’s better to apply after two years, but I don’t want to wait if there is a chance I can get in after one. I’m fine with them using my high school record - if it got me into top schools before, I don’t think it’ll hurt me. I know UChicago is hard to transfer into, so I might wait two years for that one. But I still want to give it a shot with USC and remind them that I want to go there.</p>