<p>I'm a rather quirky girl (on the inside and out), and I want to go to a school that is relatively artistic in its atmosphere with a good liberal arts program. </p>
<p>I really would like to move in to a large city; preferably no where in the midwest. </p>
<p>Also, I plan on going into publishing when I graduate, so good opportunities to intern with the 'Big Six' publishers is important to me also. </p>
<p>Anyone have any suggestions?</p>
<p>What does affordable mean to you? To many it’s good need based aid if they qualify, to others generous merit aid for which we’d need to know your stats, and to full pay candidates it’s a number.</p>
<p>I would say a balanced mix of need and merit based aid. I’m not expecting to go for free, but I don’t want to be paying for student loans into my 30’s and 40’s. I’m pretty sure I’d qualify for both because I’m an above average student, but I mean, I’m not rich.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about a top college or university, most of them don’t give merit scholarships, but they do give financial aid. NYU would provide the internship opportunities, however, they are known for their crappy financial aid. You might want to check out some of the Boston schools, like BU, Northeastern, etc. They might be a bit more generous.</p>
<p>Emerson, while I don’t know much about their aid, has a program in writing, literature and publishing too. It’s in Boston. Might want to look into that as well. I’m interested in the same thing as you, NYU’s my top choice (Gallatin).</p>
<p>Can you give us an idea of your stats? That would help people recommend schools where you might be awarded merit money.</p>
<p>And do you know how much your family can afford to chip in?</p>
<p>Many think they will be qualified for need-based but have a reality check sometime during senior year, when they discover their parents’ income is too high to qualify for much/any need-based aid, and that their parent’s idea of ‘affordable’ is entirely different than what college really costs.</p>
<p>It’s better to sort the money thing out sooner rather than after you are accepted to your dream school and find your parents are unable to pay $50k/year, and they’ve offered you only loans as financial aid…</p>
<p>ugh. typing out stats takes way too long. I’m above average (I take all the rigorous courses and do pretty well in them), and pretty sure I’ll do good (27 or above) when I take the ACT. My dad makes around 60k a year, but my mom doesn’t have a job, and they are paying for a house and living expenses (my brother, and twin sister, who will go into college the same time I do).</p>
<p>NYU has a wonderful liberal arts program, and the atmoshphere is great. But it is the top 10 expensive schools, so you have to cut that out of your list. You would probably get most at least a 20k in financial aid from them, and the rest you would have to probably work a side job to get the other 15-30k.</p>
<p>^^Yea. NYU is my top choice. I was hoping to get about that much in financial aid, get about 5k in scholarships a year, and then use my dad’s benefits as a veteran to cover the rest. The closer I look, the more I think I’d probably have to get a job, too, if I got in.</p>
<p>Macalester is a good liberal arts college, with a kind of “quirky” feel, and it’s in minneapolis.
Smith College (It’s an hour and half from boston and about 40 minutes from springfield). , Wesleyan, Bard and Sarah Lawrence sound like good fits too.
Barnard is NYC and it has a very good dance and theater program, so there are sure to be artsy people there.
The women’s colleges (Smith and Barnard) are extremely generous with financial aid.</p>
<p>5k in scholarships wont do good. NYU costs about around 50k, and unless you have 45k to spend from your father, then it would be best if you got a job.</p>
<p>@nothingto, I’m not just looking at NYU. And don’t be so quick to discount how much aid I will get. I like to be optimistic 
@missninx3, I sort of was staying away from Women’s Colleges because I’ve sort of been given the impression that they are filled with lesbians and feminists (I know, judgemental). Not to mention on top of that most of my friends are guys, so I don’t know how I would do if I didn’t go to school with any. Not that I’m totally, eliminating them; I guess I’ll just look with more caution.</p>
<p>Well Barnard is right next to Columbia and you could take classes there as well so theri will be guys, and Smith is in the 5 college consortium (UMass, Amherst, Hampshire, Smith and Mt. Holyoke) so you can also meet guys through that. As I said they give good financial aid and a few of them have that artsy and quirky vibe you are looking for, so you might want to check them out, and I know from experience they are not all filled with lesbians lol.
But women’s colleges are not for everyone. So i’m sure you can find a co-ed LAC you like , by the way you might also be interested in Vassar, but its like an hour and a half from NYC.</p>
<p>Remember that you can intern in the summer in a completely different city than the location of your college.</p>
<p>@siliconvalleymom, I understand that, but I want the city around where I actually attend college to be nice also.
:D</p>
<p>A side job to make $30K???</p>
<p>Please search NYU financial aid on this site and understand how unlikely it is NYU will be affordable for you. Do this now so you won’t be one of the many horrifying stories in April written by students who got into NYU and want to borrow huge sums to attend.</p>
<p>There was a story posted recently about a recent NYU grad saying she wanted to give her degree back because she had not understood what all the debt would mean when she graduated.</p>
<p>With a $60K household income and 2 in colllege, comb the lists of schools that meet need. They will by far be the best deal for you, better even than your state school. With a good GPA and say a 28 plus ACT, you should be able to get into several.</p>
<p>If you have great stats, look into Emory… it’s in ATL (large city)… the university leans to the left and is very respected academically. Emory also has the Emory Scholars program which helps low income students (I don’t know if that applies to you or not).</p>
<p>How about Goucher, Clark, American, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Trinity. All have good financial aid and merit and near/or in cities.</p>
<p>What do you mean by good aid? Those are not schools that meet need for all.</p>
<p>I know of students who received their best financial packages from these schools. They were students who got into more competitive schools but ended up as the above schools because of the financial packages.</p>