<p>DS1 is an English major. Based on our experience, with such a wide-open major, it is important for your daughter to have a goal in mind and work backward. DS1’s goal is to become a college English professor. This means getting into a fully funded PhD program. He contacted 20 of the top rated programs and “interviewed” the Admissions Counselors to come up with a list of the most important factors they consider when evaluating potential candidates. He then applied to undergraduate programs that would give him the ability to craft the best possible candidate profile. </p>
<p>Had he wanted to go into journalism or publishing, internships in those fields would have been important. He would have spoken to people in those fields to determine what schools produce the greatest number of candidates for those jobs. He would have also looked at placement rates for internships and work experience while in school.</p>
<p>He has had to take math and science classes, as the school he attends requires those classes for graduation. Should your daughter really not want to take any math or science, she will have to cross off a good number of schools. That may be one way to shorten her list considerably.</p>
<p>Most schools with good English programs also have quality History, Classics, and Comparative Literature programs, so this should not be an issue for her. </p>
<p>Lastly, given that jobs with an English degree may be more difficult to get, it is good to 1) graduate with no debt; and 2) have a back-up plan. To achieve the no debt route, this might mean that your daughter gets a merit scholarship or attends a public university as an OOS student that will allow her to graduate without loans. University of Indiana at Bloomington has a well-regarded English program that might fit the bill. As for back-up plan, we discovered that many admissions counselors have English degrees, so DS1 interned for the Admissions Department of his college, contributing to their Twitter feed, touring prospective students and making presentations to the college’s Board of Trustees. </p>
<p>Good luck with your search. Great idea to start early. </p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence. Not that competitive in terms of admission, and writing isn’t just a major or whatever at SLC: it is central to every class. There aren’t even any exams; you write papers instead. Its curriculum, however, is not that limited, and for writing they have over 20 profs, which is a lot for a small LAC. I think one of their profs recently won a Pulitzer?</p>
<p>jkeil911–missed your longer post from yesterday, very helpful. Yes, we’re looking at net price calculators, and affordability is definitely going to come into play. I’m going to have to do more research on merit aid, I was surprised how many of the elite schools don’t offer any–only need-based aid, which I don’t think she’ll qualify for.</p>
<p>albclemom–your post was very informative, thanks! DD doesn’t want to avoid taking math/science, she just knew she wasn’t going to go into anything like that (finance, engineering, etc.) for a career. But, hopefully doing well on her AP tests will get her out of some of those freshman requirements. Will your son be able to go straight into teaching college? My daughter would probably do well as a History professor, but if she would have to put in her dues by teaching jr high or high school that might not be ideal. Of course, maybe she will enjoy those age groups better when she’s not in them herself. LOL And again, yes, graduating with little-no debt will be important. And it looks like at least some of her OOS options would be willing to throw a decent chunk of change her way. I can’t believe how much more expensive college is than when I went to school. But that’s probably a rant for another time or place. :D</p>
<p>My recommendation to students who want to be professors in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts, is not to do it. But if you absolutely have to do it, do it only if you can attend a top-ranked department that will pay almost all of your costs of attendance and provide you with grants to travel to conferences and libraries (and thereby avoid having to teach an age-group you don’t want to teach or to drive a taxi when you should be studying for your cumulatives). That is, departments in some very prestigious schools. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time AND accruing enormous debt. There are no jobs out there now, but when there is a job there are so many applicants that the non-prestigious schools get put to the side until the prestigious schools are read. Then if there is a candidate from a non-prestigious school who makes the final three for a position, you’ll have to make a very hard case to the extra-departmental administrators that they should hire the non-prestigious school candidate over the prestigious school candidate. Otherwise, they are likely to go with brand recognition when they recommend an applicant to their bosses. Most Phds in these fields do not get to a tenured position, and if they remain in academia are likely to spend a significant amount of time in one to three-year appts and a lot of time relocating. It is a nerve-wracking way to support oneself and hell on relationships and family.</p>
<p>I agree with some of the others. Below would be my suggestions in the major metro areas:</p>
<p>Washington, D.C.
-George Washington University
-Georgetown
-American University</p>
<p>Boston
-Tufts
-Boston College
-Northeastern University</p>
<p>San Fran:
-Berkeley</p>
<p>New York
-Columbia
-NYU
-Fordham
-Barnard</p>
<p>Los Angeles
-UCLA
-USC
-Loyola Marymount
-Occidental
-Claremont </p>
<p>Chicago
-University of Chicago
-Depaul
-Northwestern
-Loyola</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What is the objective of being in a “bigger metro area”?<br>
Access to major airport?
Social activities?<br>
Internship opportunities? </p>
<p>If the reason is social activities, then it may be better to be in a lively college town than in some dull suburb of a big metro area.</p>
<p>GMTplus7–I think it’s a little bit of all of those. Of the schools we’ve seen, she’s liked the ones right in the thick of things rather than an hour or more out. Though, I’m having a bit of sticker shock with all the schools. (Even with the lower prices found on the net price calculators.) I guess my next search will have to be ‘Affordable schools in higher populated areas.’ LOL</p>
<p>Yeah, OP, you’re going to need to think outside the name schools in each town. How about UMaryland-CP, UMAss Amherst, San Francisco State, Hunter College, CSU-LA, or UIllinois Chicago? I’m following the list of cities in @informative’s post. We could choose any other cities and do the same thing. The schools with good English are there. English is not so rare a discipline as computational biology–most anywhere will do that you can afford.</p>
<p>Pitt and Temple are both relatively affordable, and are large enough universities to allow her plenty of options for switching majors. If she’s a strong student, she might qualify for a nice merit scholarship at Tulane. I think that McGill is relatively affordable for US students (as compared to private colleges here). </p>
<p>don’t think too much of the grad school rankings when considering u/g English. I’d much rather my child be at Tufts or BC or Brandeis than BU for English. </p>
<p>The main argument is would you rather have them at NEU, a school largely known for its co-op.</p>
<p>Interesting track for a kid who didn’t know what they wanted to do at 18 (friend’s daughter): Colgate undergrad, Montana Masters, Nebraska PhD. Now an English professor at an ACC school. </p>