What schools should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

ACT: 32
SAT II US History: 720
SAT II Lit: 740
Unweighted GPA: 3.43 (my school doesn’t have weighted GPAs, Honors, or APs)
Sex: Female
Race: White
Grades: B+/A- range
Potential Major: History and Art

Home: New York City (OOS)
Private School

Junior Classes: Art History, Modern World History, Shakespeare, African Lit, Advanced Statistics, Biology, and Latin

Senior Classes: European History, Global Politics, Creative Writing, Historical Lit, Macroeconomics, Latin, and Advanced Art

Awards:
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (painting)
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (drawing)

ECs: Newspaper cartoonist
Yearbook - President
Leadership Club - Vice President
Feminist Club
Community Service Club
Varsity Track
Varsity Lacrosse - defender, not many at my school

Volunteering: Working with children with autism
Work Experience: Internship at an art gallery, working at a investment advising company

I will not be seeking a sports scholarship and will need financial aid. Anywhere I should look?

2

To be clear, do you mean a combination of history and studio art, or art history?

3

Do you have any geographic or financial limitations (that is, how much financial aid are you likely to require)? Any preferences on size or location of school?

4

A combination of history and studio art

5

I would like to stay on the East Coast and would require some amount of financial aid (a little less than half). Size is less of a variable but I would prefer a small/medium school

6

One state over from Pennsylvania is Ohio where there is College of Wooster and Denison You might also like Hobart and William Smith or St. Lawrence in upstate NY.

7

You have terrific and affordable options within the SUNY system. Binghamton has BA and minor programs in studio art and history programs including an accelerated BA/MA. In the smaller SUNY’s that have BFA programs, look at Oswego.
https://www.oswego.edu/art/art-department
https://www.oswego.edu/history/programs-new
Purchase also has a BFA program, as well as a BSVA program that might be a good way to combine your interests: https://www.purchase.edu/academics/visual-arts/about-the-program/

Of those three, only Oswego has women’s lacrosse. http://www.sunyacsports.com/sports/wlax/2018-19/standings

8

I think that you may find that some of the best schools to consider with anything under a 3.5 GPA, that will offer you the best education, and best experiences, and still offer you an affordable cost are going to be in the midwest.
If you are totally opposed to that, then maybe you could look at maybe Bard, Endicott, or Guilford? I am not sure they are super-well-known for financial support, but if they are schools you like, I would say you definitely should still apply, and see what you are offered.

If you were my advisee, I would strongly recommend that you at least consider expanding your search to the Midwest.

Considering together your academic interests, and your stats, with a 3.43, but also a resume such as you have, and a need for some money … I would tell you to take the time to look into (and, if you think they are a fit, give serious consideration to) Earlham, Otterbein, and Knox, and maybe Wooster, Kalamazoo, or Beloit? Your GPA is close to their average GPAs and these schools take a truly holistic approach to admissions, so your resume will really matter.

I just recently toured Earlham’s new Art building. (Phenomenal!!) And their Integrated Pathways program allows for pursuing Art in the context of other subject matter. (It is such an innovative approach… you really should look into it.) They even have multiple art-based and integrated-model Off-Campus Study programs. (And the OffCampus Study programs are included in the cost of tuition, study abroada are not separately billed!!) And, they have a Museum Studies department.
I have recently advised two top-level award-winning art students, who are currently attending Earlham College and pursuing their multiple interests and just thrilled with their choice. And they both got reasonable money to attend.

Knox and Otterbein both have superb art facilities, and also offer innovative, cross-curricular ways to explore art across the curriculum. Otterbein has an art museum on campus.

I realize that I am only speaking only to the Art side of it. (These three schools also have great history programs, but that might be easier to find…)

And for the best possibilities for aid, try to up your GPA to at least a 3.5 this year, if you can.

9

Wheaton (MA).