<p>My friend has a 3.2 unweighted, top 14% of class (weighted), 28 ACT. He has two D's and three C's (in science classes) on his transcript, mostly B's, a few A's in all AP/Honors classes. He is a very talented artist. His family lives below the poverty line, and they have five kids, so he is in desperate need of financial aid. He's white and first-generation (immigrant parents from Romania) and his little brother has Down Syndrome. I have suggested a few small liberal arts colleges to him, as I believe they will provide him with decent need-based aid (unlike our state schools in Illinois) as his stats are not very good. He will certainly be studying art (so a strong, intimate art dept. is important) and probably double majoring in something in the humanities/social sciences (I assume). </p>
<p>So far I've suggested:
Beloit
Earlham
Knox
Wooster
Lake Forest
Cornell College
Kalamazoo
Ohio Wesleyan</p>
<p>He asked me about Grinnell and Oberlin because he knows they are two of my own top choices, but I told him that I thought these two would be enormous reaches for him.</p>
<p>Could a strong art supplement positively affect his admissions chances? Thanks for your help.</p>