<p>I am a rising senior and an aspiring film major. I have my list of schools completed, but now I'm starting to worry about the financial aspect. My parents tell me I can go wherever i want, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if they had to work the rest of their lives to pay for my college education. My number one choice is Northwestern, and I think the only way I can get in is if I apply ED, but unfortunately Northwestern doesn't give merit aid, so my worries about my parents working forever might actually happen if I choose Northwestern. The rest of the schools I'm applying to could possibly give me merit aid, and I wouldn't mind going to those schools, they just aren't Northwestern. </p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>White female from California</p>
<p>Nationally awarded public arts based school.
SAT: projected to be about 2000
SAT 2: Math I- 670, Literature- 630, US History- 630
Rank: HS does not rank</p>
<p>GPA: 3.8 unweighted 4.0 weighted</p>
<p>Volunteer:
Videographer for the school's Interact Club
200+ hours of work in Mexican Orphanages
100+ hours of volunteer work around San Diego (beach cleanups etc)</p>
<p>ECs:
Part of an after school video film program where I work with professionals and create my own production company. 10+ hours per week, audition only program
Production Assistant for a 35mm music video aired on MTV2 and the front page of AOL music (Senses Fail)
Production Assistant for several other professional shorts
Production Assistant for the Collegiate Nationals Film Championship, the team I was working for won first in both audience choice and critics choice
10 Years of competitive soccer
1 year of JV soccer (quit after a year to join the video film program)
13 years of Catholic Church Education</p>
<p>Awards:
Winner- Honorable Mention- Victory Dance Film Festival
Winner- Audience Choice- The Expose
Winner- Best of Fest- The Expose
Winner- Best Drama- The Expose
Winner- Honorable Mention- Best Fest America
Winner- Best Experimental- The Expose
Finalist- Flint Film Festival
Finalist- Delta Moon Film Festival
Finalist- Reel Teens Film Festival
Finalist- Zaki Gordon Film Festival
Finalist- Best Fest America
Finalist- Surrey High School Film Festival</p>
<p>Work/Internship:
1. Freshman summer I worked at a Dry Cleaners
2. Sophomore year-Junior year I independently ran my own Bar Mitzvah Videography company
3. Currently work for a wedding videography company </p>
<p>SO my question is:
Can I get into Northwestern RD? Is it possible to turn down an ED acceptance to Northwestern if the financial aid is not enough? Do you think I can get merit aid at other schools like NYU Boston University and Emerson?</p>
<p>Take a look at USC. They have one of the highest rated film schools in the country. they also have merit programs, but you probably would have to retake your SAT's and score higher to be eligible. Northwestern is highly selective and a big reach for you. I think you need to find some safeties and some much lower ranked colleges to have any chance at merit $$.</p>
<p>Emerson would be a safety for you, so I guess you'd have a better shot at merit aid there.</p>
<p>But I also second looking at private scholarships. If they don't end up being enough and you feel guilty - compromise. Have your parents cover the first year or two, then cover the last two yourself, via loans.</p>
<p>yeah Emerson is high on my list...the others I am considering are NYU Columbia Chicago, Syracuse and Boston University</p>
<p>I toured USC and hated it, our tour guide for the film department was on her phone the whole time. I want to stay in the east coast or the midwest, so that takes chapman out of the picture as well.</p>
<p>"Is it possible to turn down an ED acceptance to Northwestern if the financial aid is not enough?" - yes. Northwestern's admissions office says: "Students admitted under Early Decision may be released from the commitment to enroll at Northwestern only for financial reasons." in practice, very few students actually do this, though...</p>
<p>my family has an upper middle-class income and we got around 1/3 of our total costs taken away by need-based aid in scholarships (and more in loans). most private schools are quite fair about this.</p>
<p>I have no right to make any recommendations, but think about it this way - in 20 years, if your child said "I want to go to Northwestern", wouldn't you want them to go, regardless of the cost to you? :)</p>
<p>"My parents tell me I can go wherever i want, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if they had to work the rest of their lives to pay for my college education."</p>
<p>Nothing prevents your taking out loans or simply voluntarily paying back from your post college income some of what your parents paid for your education.</p>
<p>"if your child said "I want to go to Northwestern", wouldn't you want them to go, regardless of the cost to you? "</p>
<p>No. I would not be willing to take on what I believed was unreasonable debt or costs to send my kid to the college of their choice. </p>
<p>If my kid wanted to go to their dream school and I felt I couldn't afford it, I would be willing to help my student take out the loans and find jobs to help them make up the difference between my contribution and the college's costs.</p>
<p>That is, after all, the way that people have to achieve their dreams during their lives; by their own sacrifice and hard work.</p>
<p>If you were studying Engineering you could go for Olin College and Cooper Union (Super elite colleges that cost 0$ to attend, they give all students a full scholarship no matter what if they're admitted) or US Service Academies (They pay you to go there, but u go to iraq for 4 years after it =), but looking at your EC's it seems you arent interested in engineering.</p>