<p>Hello everyone! I'm a long-time lurker on this site and have finally concluded that this place would provide the most helpful and honest advice. I am a high school senior looking at colleges to apply to but unlike my friends I have not a clue where I want to go to college. Money is the biggest deciding factor in where I can attend (and to where I will even bother sending an application). I have good grades, good SAT scores, and have taken quite a few AP courses so I am not worried about being accepted to general schools. The issue? I want to shoot for a BFA at a university but it can only be in certain states on the east coast. The reason I want it to be at a university is so I can apply for merit scholarships and I know that art colleges are extremely stingy.
Attending a high school that does not offer art classes has left me with no idea what to expect should I be accepted to such a program but I am certain that I want to obtain a rigorous education in visual arts, preferably drawing or painting. I am attempting to put together a decent portfolio in my free time. My desire is to develop the technical skills and creativity needed to produce detailed works from observation and my mind (that is, I know I would be unhappy in a program whose idea of taking risks is to throw paint on canvas and assign meaning to it). Money issues and parental worries have confined me to the states of NC and NJ, with some exceptions inbetween should I find a cheap enough school.</p>
<p>So! I have a small list of schools, only one of which I am impressed with:
UNC Charlotte
UNC Asheville
Appalachian State
Western Carolina
Syracuse - not too sure about this one
and Slippery Rock.</p>
<p>Slippery Rock is a cheap school that offers BFAs, but it would be 8 hour flight back to NC where my parents live. My parents really don't want me going far away; they worry about my safety most of all since we know NO ONE who lives in PN and I, who have never lived out of state alone, worry too. I don't even know what's so great about it, but since I first set eyes on it I've liked it very much.
I abhor the idea of "settling" but circumstances and my choice of major have greatly narrowed down the list of eligible colleges. Though, my lack of attachment to these schools will make attending a community college much easier to swallow should I have to.
I'm coming to you to ask for suggestions on possible colleges (I'm aiming to make a list of at least 9 that I will apply to) and any advice you may have for applying to these schools. </p>
<p>Thank you for you time! :]</p>
<p>((Sorry about the language and length of this post, I've recently begun reading Jane Austen. xD))</p>
<p>Welcome to CC as a poster. We all lurked for ages but once you post you are officially in the club.</p>
<p>It would be helpful to know a bit more about your background–school type, GPA (range if not detailed), type of courses you are taking now. If you have an ACT or SAT score, you should also consider sharing this info. PSAT can give you some idea of how you may do on the SAT. This is because you will be applying to colleges not just for art school and stats do matter.</p>
<p>If finances are very restrictive, you should be able to get application fee waivers. Talk to your guidance counselor about this now. Once you get t hat paperwork out of hte way you can feel more confident about applying to some long shots (financially or academic).</p>
<p>About limiting geographic area…actually could be a good thing…I grew up in florida and the pressure was on to apply to schools south of the mason dixon line…I concentrated on NC to be as far away from home as possible. There are great schools there but you may be able to persuade your parents to do some investigation into neighboring states. OOS fees can be prohibitive, but depending on your stats you may be able to wrangle some scholarship or fee waivers. You actually didn’t mention any NJ schools just NY so perhaps you had a typo. </p>
<p>Tell us a little more about the type of art you enjoy, artists you admire, etc. too so we could suggest places you may want to look at.</p>
<p>Yep, Syracuse would be in NY. It is a fine university with an excellent ID program – but it is not inexpensive and I’m not sure how great the scholarship help would be. My kid was accepted there and got scholarships that would have covered about half the cost – but we didn’t qualify for any financial aid. If you want to consider someplace in NY less expensive with a decent art program and still in a university vs. art school type setting, then you might want to consider SUNY Purchase or SUNY New Paltz. I have no idea what the out of state costs are for these schools though, since we’re in NY.</p>
<p>Tell us more about your specific interest in art. What do you envision yourself doing? Designing cars? Doing artwork for video games? Illustrating books? Creating fine art? Film? Set design? What are you passionate about?</p>
<p>You mention looking for a merit scholarship. I’m not sure about the schools you listed (except for Syracuse) but I would be surprised if they gave out Merit Scholarships. Financial Aid, yes, but I would check with each school on their merit scholarship policies. If you wouldn’t mind letting us know your yearly budget for tuition and room and board, we could give you even more info about what possibilities are open to you. </p>
<p>Sounds like you might be in-state for North Carolina. Do you know about the University of North Carolina School of the Arts?
[University</a> of North Carolina School of the Arts](<a href=“http://www.uncsa.edu/]University”>http://www.uncsa.edu/)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies! I did not expect such quick responses.</p>
<p>@fineartsmajormom - Thanks for the kind welcome. My unweighted GPA is a 4.0 and my SAT is a 1960. My schedule for this semester consists of AP Physics, Algebra through the community college, French I, and a couple electives. My high school is private and does not have a variety of classes to offer so my senior year is quite laid-back. I know I will not qualify for any need-based aid but I also know that my parents are not willing to shell out money to a university considering both my siblings attended/are attending a community college.
I mentioned NJ because that is the only other state that my parents would be comfortable having me in, though I am pushing for neighboring states as well. I was wondering if I had missed a good school in NJ that someone might inform me of. As for art, to be honest, I have very little experience with anything other than the creation of it. Impressionism and surrealism are the two types that I enjoy most, but I do not know any specific artists’ names of whom I admire except Monet.</p>
<p>@Glutenmom - My mistake, I don’t know where I got the idea that Syracuse was cheap but a second look at their prices has shown me that you are correct. I will definitely look into those two SUNY schools more closely when I get the chance, but from a glance they seem nice. I have not yet chosen a career or even a direction to move in with my interests but K-12 art education (while selling my own works on the side) sounds very appealing. I presume that digital artists are doing better when it comes to finding jobs but my preference is traditional media, especially drawing.</p>
<p>@drae27 - You’re right, I live in NC so the majority of my choices will have to stay with it (and it’s lovely in-state tuitions~). I do know a couple of NC schools which will give money based on high SAT scores and essays, one of them being UNC Charlotte. It is my vain hope that SOME school will offer me a full ride as that seems to be the only way to avoid community college (not that I dislike the college itself, but it IS a last resort). I cannot nor would I take out a student loan so basically my college education will rely on scholarships and at most $4,000 a year from my parents.
Thank you for recommending that school of the arts, it looks promising. The students’ works are all extremely good! A question about the recommendations- do you know whether they would consider two teacher recommendations if I explain that I do not know any art instructors? Their requirements were one from a teacher and one from an art instructor. :/</p>
<p>You know, you could find some art classes near you to take; though I suppose you are in a hurry for the letters of recommendation… but you may not need those until closer to January, so you may still have time. You said you are taking community college based algebra class – why not an art class? Maybe in the evening? Also there are often very good community art centers that offer classes – so that would help you out as well. Look in the parks and recreation guide for your area to find out if they’re offering art classes.</p>
<p>vcu- with your grades you may get an academic scholarship. It is relatively inexpensive to start and its in the south.VCUArts is the only public school in the top 10 rankings of usnews and world report. My son was accepted there, and ultimately offered 11K in scholarship money which brought it to in school tuition rates for him. He would have been an out of state student. His scholarship offering from them was entirely academic.</p>
<p>tomfoolery
Can you live at home and commute to one of your state schools? If you add up tuition plus room and board you get a figure of $18,000 for UNC Charlotte, for example. If you don’t live on campus it is about $9,500 for tuition and fees. Most likely you will get some merit $ but you need to have a plan to make up the difference after your parents contribution. I suggest that even though you think that you will not get any financial aid, you have your parents fill out the form anyway. With two other dependents you might be surprised at what they qualify for. Do you know your siblings are at Community College because your parents wouldn’t pay for something else or is it just what your siblings chose for themselves? Could it be they just didn’t try for something else? It is all worth exploring: FAFSA, Merit, etc. Just make sure you know it is not all guaranteed and have a back up plan so you won’t be heartbroken.
If the money doesn’t come through, you could go to Community College for two years and then transfer. But at some point you may need to take out loans. Students are guaranteed loans up to a total of about $25,000 ($5000 - 7,000 per year) for their undergraduate education. I hear you when you say you don’t want to take out loans and I do recommend you be very careful. But I also suggest you weigh the benefit of some educational debt against not being educated at all. If taking out some loans gets you through it might be worth it.
I don’t want to be a bummer. You have good stats and a school would be lucky to have you. But a full ride is extremely rare. You need to be as creative about this as you are when it comes to making your art. Keep your goals in mind. You may not know exactly what you want to do as a career but it is clear you want a chance to study art and to get a college education. How can you make that a reality?</p>
<p>Regarding VCU - it does sound like a good option but the OP should know that even with a $11k scholarship the tuition, room and board would be about $20k/year.
Would you be able to have a heart to heart with your parents and tell them you dreams?</p>
<p>tomfoolery, you might also look into Kutztown University. Like Slippery Rock, it is one of the PA State Universities (comparable price). It is located in SE PA, 1.5 hour from Philadelphia and 1 hr from NJ. Their BFA art program has a good reputation.
If you live near Charlotte check flights into nearby Lehigh Valley Airport (1/2 from Kutztown)
[Lehigh</a> Valley International Airport : Info Booth](<a href=“Web Page Under Construction”>Web Page Under Construction)</p>
<p>@tomfoolery: I love the Jane Austen ref. You might want to switch to Hemingway, though.
I agree with the schools that have been mentioned as possibilities: SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Purchase (went there), VCU (fantastic offerings), NC School of the Arts (a friend’s son goes there for film and loves it) and the UNCs. Also, it’s a little far for you, but UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth are state schools with great art programs. You’d be a shoo-in. Also, SCAD (went there for MFA) - they give $$, but it’s still costly. Have you looked in Maryland, Delaware? Their publics are excellent too. You do have choices- hope this helps.</p>
My unweighted GPA is a 4.0 and my SAT is a 1960. My schedule for this semester consists of AP Physics, Algebra through the community college, French I, and a couple electives. My high school is private and does not have a variety of classes to offer so my senior year is quite laid-back. I know I will not qualify for any need-based aid but I also know that my parents are not willing to shell out money to a university considering both my siblings attended/are attending a community college.