Would love some ideas on building a list for D23 (junior)!
She is an exceptional visual artist who currently attends a magnet arts high school. She is typically the only junior in her class of 250+ whose art is selected to be displayed in on-and-off campus exhibitions. We are hopeful that she will be a contender for recognition in several national art awards, but we won’t know until after she submits her portfolio this upcoming spring. Her concentration is figure painting and sculpture.
Academically, she is a science and math kid. In particular, she loves physics. She is currently ranked first in her class, with a 4.0 uw GPA. First SAT score was 1460, but she has been practice testing in the 1500-1530 range. Waiting to hear about PSAT scores, but we expect her to qualify for National Hispanic Recognition.
Her HS counselors have been clear that she will likely be bored with an art major at a liberal arts college, because her current program teaches classes at a college level. She can’t imagine not continuing to improve her art skills, but she is also a very practical kid and doesn’t want to be a starving artist after college. RISD/Brown looks interesting, but of course merit doesn’t appear to be a thing there.
It would be very difficult to qualify for need-based aid (divorced parents who have remarried), so merit will be important … particularly since during her freshmen year in college we will have (gulp) 3 kids in college at the same time. We will apply, but need to be realistic that it likely won’t happen, and we can’t pay full private school freight without some kind of aid. We can probably pay up to $55K/year … not shabby, but not $80K+.
Her list of wants include diversity, a not-urban campus, a campus with at least 3000 students, and an equestrian team (club is fine). I feel like diversity will be easier to find in an urban campus, so this list feels a bit like a unicorn. She sings in a national audition-based choir as well as a local audition-based choir with a well-known name, participates in school clubs, and has had a year-round part-time job since she was 15. She has also logged over 400 volunteer hours, mostly helping an equestrian non-profit.
UMD is our state school, and they appear to have a pretty cool blended major in art and technology. Marist has a campus in Florence, but I don’t know the quality of their art instruction. UMich Stamps School of Art looks interesting, as does WashU, but those certainly aren’t safeties for admission or merit.
Would love to hear your ideas!