<p>After being rejected from Brown, my three best options for next year are UCLA, NYU, and Sarah Lawrence. I've lived in LA all my 18 years and always wanted to move to the east coast for university, but NYU offered me terrible financial aid and I'm not sure how UCLA and Sarah Lawrence stack up against one another (I know they are very, very, very different schools). I'm looking for a school with academics that are challenging and engaging and students that are passionate about learning. I want to double major in English and Art and eventually go into writing/editing for magazines.</p>
<p>These are my thoughts so far about each school:
UCLA - I know that academically it's good, but it was never my dream school because I never thought I would stay in Los Angeles for college. I always sort of thought about it as a "back up." That being said, they did offer me a substantial amount of gift aid and a Regents Scholarship which apparently is fairly prestigious. I was accepted to the School of Art and Architecture, and I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to pursue a double major. </p>
<p>NYU - Really wanted to go here originally, but was awarded a measly $12,000 in aid, which leaves about $40,000 to pay for in loans or directly. I know that if I apply for a ton of scholarships, work and take a little money out of my savings account, it might be feasible for me to attend, but I'm trying to gauge whether or not it's worth it to make all these sacrifices. I've heard that in terms of the quality of education, UCLA and NYU are pretty similar. </p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence - I've always liked the idea of Sarah Lawrence -- their curriculum/teaching methods sound really stimulating -- but I don't know how it will affect me in terms of placement at grad school and internships/job opportunities. I'm also curious as to how serious kids there are about their education. They offered $35,000 in gift aid, which is a definite plus. I also like that it has a real college campus but is 20 minutes away from New York. </p>
<p>So...thoughts? Basically, my main concerns are 1) the quality of the education and 2) the effect the school will have on my ability to score internships/job opportunities.</p>