Know My Major, Don't Know Where To Apply/Look

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm a rising senior and started the college search. Lord have mercy. </p>

<p>I know I want to be a Art History major with a career as a teacher/professor, or museum worker. With that said I also have very strong interests in English and Social Sciences (less history per se, more cultural anthropology, and social linguistics). In short I want to study people and how they express themselves. I'm looking for a college that has a strong art history department, but is also broad enough for me to change majors if the feeling strikes me. </p>

<p>My stats are decent but nothing to boast about. </p>

<p>SAT: -
ACT: 29 (took cold, will retake)</p>

<p>GPA
Weighted: 4.511
Unweighted: 3.841</p>

<p>Rank: 14 out of 498 (top 5%)</p>

<p>By the time I apply I will have taken the following APs
Art History (self studied)
Calc AB & BC
English Lang & Lit
European History
Government US & Comparative (self studied comparative)
Human Geography (self studied)
Latin
Economics Macro & Micro
Physics B and both C's
Psychology
Studio (3-D)
and US History </p>

<p>I will be captain of Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate, Vice president of Latin Club, Co-direct a one-act play, have a job at my parents restaurant, and be on varsity volleyball senior year. </p>

<p>I'm a guy in Colorado
Household income ~$200,000, but both parents work at the restaurant 7 days a week for 11 hours a day.
Chinese/Vietnamese
First generation college student
I can get get some stellar recommendations done, and I've been told I interview well. </p>

<p>This is my first time using CC for anything like this, I'm willing to help others find schools (even thought I don't know much), and would be very grateful for any help.</p>

2

<p>Jacky, I think you will have a lot of good options, but first, could you please clarify your financial situation? Do you need financial aid? </p>

<p>Your parents’ income puts you on the outside range of need based aid. Depending on other factors – such as other children in college, assets – you may get some need based aid, but I wouldn’t count on it. That leaves merit aid. There are many fine colleges that offer merit aid, but as a general statement they are different colleges from those that offer only need.</p>

<p>So, before you start on your list, ask your parents to use an on line calculator to get an idea of how much your family would be expected to contribute to your education. If that is workable for you, then you’ll have an open list. If it’s not, then you’ll have to start researching merit-aid schools.</p>

<p>Art history and the corollaries of literature, anthropology etc. are strong departments at most academically rigorous universities. Once you settle your financials you won’t have any problem finding appealing programs.</p>

<p>My son was an art studio/art history major at Williams College which has one of the best departments in the country. Others on his list were Wesleyan, Hamilton, Skidmore, Conn College, Kenyon, Brown and Yale. I would also add Vassar. I must warn you, however, that all of these are need-only so it all starts with the money!</p>

<p>Do some prep and get your ACT up a bit. You might also take the SAT. You may need a couple of SATIIs as well. Your scores are not as critical as other factors. Your grades and rank are excellent. Your essays, recommendations, ECs and family background will get you over the top.</p>

<p>You might also look into Questbridge (though your family’s income may be outside their range).</p>

3

<p>I’m a guy in Colorado
Household income ~$200,000, but both parents work at the restaurant 7 days a week for 11 hours a day.
Chinese/Vietnamese
First generation college student</p>

<p>Well, income is too high for FA. And the restaurant may count as an asset. Likely, your parents also have good savings. </p>

<p>Ask your parents how much they’ll pay for your college costs.</p>

<p>Take both the ACT and SAT…you may do better on the other.</p>

4

<p>Your problem is going to be money. The kinds of places that are really good at Art History are now in the $55,000+ each year range, and don’t give merit-based aid. This means that you absolutely need talk with your parents about how much they can afford to pay each year, and you need a guesstimate for your potential for need-based aid. Print out the FAFSA formula and have them work through it on paper. That way, all of you can see which factors most affect your FAFSA EFC. For an estimate of your CSS Profile results, run the calculator at the College Board website: [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_status.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_status.jsp) Be sure to ask it to calculate “Institutional Methodology”. The results of the FAFSA calculator and the CSS Profile calculator should be considered to be the minimum amount that your family will be expected to pay. Most places will want you to pay more than that.</p>

<p>As an affordable back-up plan, check out all of the public universities in your state. It looks like both Colorado State and U of CO at Boulder offer your major. You can make an appointment with the departments at these universities, and talk with them about your specific interests. They will have ideas for you.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

5

<p>Jackyt, review SAT/ACT and take it again. Taking cold or not, nobody cares. Your score seems to be low for your GPA/AP combo. I’d think you have a decent shot at Williams if your ACT is 32 or above. Williams is a school that produces more museum curators than any other four year college in this country. Other than that, look at the USNWR list of top liberal art colleges to get some idea. You have a slight advantage with LACs in that you’re an Asian American male (I personally don’t think so but it’s what people keep saying; I figure there must be some true to it.) Also, look at Naviance if your school does have it.</p>

6

<p>I keep trying to use calculators, but my parents keep horrible records >.<. gah. My guess is that I won’t get much, and I talked to my parents, they’re scrooges. I’m going to have to have some loans. Oh well.</p>

7

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<p>Do not borrow too much. Those graduating with a bachelor’s degree in History of Art from UC Berkeley, one of the top schools for that major (but too expensive if you are out of state and unable to pay $55,000 per year), do not get paid all that well, according to the [career</a> survey](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/HistArt.stm]career”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/HistArt.stm). Funding (fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships) for graduate study (as would be needed if you wanted to become a professor at a university) in History of Art may not be as common as in some other majors, so having a lot of undergraduate debt would not be desirable to start graduate study with.</p>

8

<p>Dad to the rescue. He changed my mom’s mind. The main point they agreed upon was don’t worry about money. Get in some schools and decided from there. They are willing to pay for a good chunk of what what financial aid won’t cover. Talked to them further about $55000 schools, they were hesitant but agreed they if they were good schools and not CRAZY CRAZY expensive they were ok. The Ivys and similar (if I can even get in) are a go. Now what?</p>

9

<p>It sounds like you will do well at an elite liberal arts or liberal arts type schools. Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Chicago all come to mind. That said, what type of both academic and social atmosphere are you looking for? If you can boost the ACT a bit or do well on the SAT the top schools become within reach.</p>

10

<p>Jacky, I’d suggest you take a two prong approach. First, try to pin your parents down on how much they are willing to pay and for what. Believe me, you don’t want to start a career in museum work with $70,000 to 100,000 in loans! You also don’t want to get accepted at an elite college and find out you don’t have the money to attend. </p>

<p>It sounds like you’ve started the conversation which is good. Now take it to the next level.</p>

<p>At the same time, you should look at some colleges that offer merit. I’m not really an expert here, but if you do some research you’ll find some. </p>

<p>Good Art history departments are not all that rare. If you find an academically strong college or university that offers merit money most likely they will have an acceptable art history department. The important edge is to secure internships during your summer holidays and to take advantage of summer abroad opportunities.</p>

<p>As an Asian male I would suggest you look at the Midwest and the South. I’d suggest Carleton, Grinnell, Emory to start. I believe that Skidmore may also offer money in some cases, but again, you need to do some research.</p>

11

<p>11 hours a day 7 days a week? are your parents god?</p>

12

<p>I don’t know the OP or his parents, but I doubt his parents are god. They sound instead like very hard working (probably immigrant) parents who are determined to provide a good life for their children. Unlike the typical suburban example, the parents with six figure incomes who think it’s most important to drive fancy cars, keep up payments on their underwater McMansions, and retire in luxury, while managing to
scrape up $3-4,000 a year for their kid’s college education. </p>

<p>Now that I’ve offended 3/4 of the frequent parent posters on CC… </p>

<p>OP, you can safely ignore the nonsense about good art history programs costing $55,000. There are hundreds of good LACs that cost far less than $55,000. Many of them, I’m sure, have both good art history programs and the flexibility to let you explore options before you lock into a major. And I’m also sure that someone with your outstanding record would qualify for substantial merit aid at some of them. </p>

<p>Oh - and for your college essay topics, consider writing about how proud you are of your hard-working, successful mom and dad.</p>

13

<p>“my parents keep horrible records”</p>

<p>Then you may need to bring your parents’ tax advisor or accountant into the mix. If they don’t have either of those, one good project for you this year would be to help your parents up-date their record system. If they’ve been avoiding this because they don’t want to have to use English, Quickbooks has a Chinese version. I’m sure that other business software comes in other languages as well.</p>

14

<p>Vietnamese != Chinese!</p>