<p>Hello, I'm a rising senior (class of '13) and I'm having trouble finding colleges for me, mainly colleges that are in a city and have strong design/advertising programs. </p>
<p>Stats:
Female, White, from Massachusetts
Weighted GPA is 3.61 (unsure of my unweighted)
Top 10% of my class (40/497)
SATs: 1240 CR+M - 1840 total (plan on retaking)
700 SAT Lit Subject Test
APs: Eng Language/Comp 3, Enviromental Science 3, Psychology 5 (taking 4 more this year)
Taken 4 College Courses in Art during the summer
ECs: Editor/Layout Manager of Newspaper, Editor of Lit Magazine, Drama Club (w/ some leadership positions),
Colleges:
Location: I really want to be in a major city/urban area (Boston, San Francisco, NYC, etc.)
Price: I most likely will not be getting financial aid so I need somewhere that is under $20k, will give me merit aid to get it under that price, or is on the Tuition Exchange List (Tuition</a> Exchange)
Major: I plan on majoring in graphic design/advertising/visual communications; however I'm leaning away from Art Schools (which is the difficult part)</p>
<p>Colleges that I've looked at and will be applying to:
Boston University
Emmanuel College (Boston)
American University</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your help!</p>
<p>Forgive me – what is Tuition Exchange? There are a lot of good schools on that list.</p>
<p>If you would consider Smith, you might find they are generous with aid.</p>
<p>Or if you prefer coed, my D got a lot of aid from Fairfield University (in Fairfield CT).</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Have you looked at UMass Amherst? Don’t know much about it, but I think it’s a cheap Massachusetts school. Don’t count on that though. For all I know it could be expensive.</p>
<p>From Tuition Exchange: Drexel, which also has a coop program. If you change your mind about art schools, Moore and U Arts are on here, too.</p>
<p>Temple has an art school, but students must meet Temple admission and general education requirements. Aid is both need and merit.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is expensive but excellent. I didn’t investigate aid.</p>
<p>Cooper Union may be the best of all. Admission is superselective (7%), but every student gets a full tuition scholarship. I don’t know how much general education is available, since the only programs are engineering, art, and architecture.</p>
<p>@Classof2015 Tuition Exchange is a scholarship program for students who are children of employees of a participating school. One of my parents works at a college, so I have the chance to get a large scholarship to another school instead of going to that college for the remission price. I’ll definitely give Smith and Fairfield a look though, thanks!</p>
<p>@KBronx17 I will definitely be looking at UMass schools, but I’m Amherst is a little too far from the city for me, and it’s a massive school. But thank you for the suggestion!</p>
<p>@Wordworker Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll definitely do some more research on the schools you suggested. This is all really helpful for me.</p>
<p>One super-selective option would be to apply to the Brown/RISD dual degree program. It would take five years to complete, but you get all the benefits of an art school education along with a traditional university, and graduate with two degrees and two majors. So you could get a degree in Graphic Design from RISD and one in a somewhat related field, like English, from Brown. Providence is a small, urban city located very close to both New York and Boston.</p>
<p>I know you don’t really want an art school… Parsons New School of Design is an art school that is part of the New School which also has a liberal arts school and other schools. You would need to do a little research as I honestly don’t know how similar the experience is to a university. In college guides the schools are listed separately which is different from universities.</p>
<p>UCLA probably wouldn’t give you much (if any) aid as an out of state student, but it might be worth a shot, you never know. Carnegie Mellon would be great, although Pittsburgh isn’t a huge urban center on par with New York or Boston. Emerson College is a smaller school, located in Boston, that specializes in communications and has majors including marketing, advertising, and public relations. Not sure if they have graphic design. Fordham is in New York. NYU is terrible for financial aid, but you might get lucky.</p>
<p>@mmmgirl Thank you so much for your suggestions, Brown/RISD dual degree wold be a dream but I don’t have the stats nor the talent to get me into the program. I will look into Parsons because I was unaware that they had a liberal arts school too. I appreciate all your suggestions though!</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about the University of San Francisco as far as their programs and just the academics in general?</p>
<p>USFCA 70% of students graduate within 6 years, which is good. 86% of students go back for their sophomore year. USFCA is quite expensive, $56,000 for everything.</p>
<p>[University</a> of San Francisco (USF) - Academics](<a href=“http://www.usfca.edu/about/academics/]University”>http://www.usfca.edu/about/academics/) talks about their academics and their programs.</p>
<p>I did the whole “Tuition Exchange thing” two years ago so if you have any specific questions about how it all works feel free to pm me. I would recommend Fordham for someone with your stats. Maybe Villanova, Lewis and Clark, or George Washington U.</p>
<p>@drysharpie Thank you for the information, very helpful. Definitely trying to explore all of my options.</p>
<p>@LilyEmery Thanks, if I have any questions I definitely will PM you, it seems like it can be confusing. And I looked into Fordham and I think I’m going to add it to my list. I appreciate the help!</p>
<p>Loyola Marymount offers the majors you are interested in and is located in LA. Chapman is located near Anaheim, not too far from LA. Both of these are on the Tuition Exchange list.</p>
<p>Although it is not located in one of the cities you’re interested in, the Newhouse School at Syracuse offers your majors, is on your list and is well respected.</p>
<p>Mass College of Art</p>
<p>Rochester Institute of Technology - they have 21 majors in their College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, including unusual things like glass, metalworking and jewelry etc. [College</a> of Imaging Arts and Sciences | RIT Overview](<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/overview/cias]College”>College of Art and Design | RIT)
You may not love the location, but they might be generous with merit aid since you are female?
Another slightly unusual suggestion - Case Western Reserve, they work in collaboration with the city’s art museums which are literally on the edge of the campus. [home|</a> Department of Art History and Art | Case Western Reserve University](<a href=“http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/arth/index.html]home|”>Department of Art History and Art – The Department of Art History and Art at Case Western Reserve University)</p>
<p>Any good suggestions from</p>