Hello, I am currently a senior, and I am in a dilemma because I cannot seem to add more colleges to my list. I only have 4 far far far reaches, (Northwestern, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, UMichigan) and I could use some help.
Me:
- 3.56 GPA (It has suffered considerably as I was just recently diagnosed with ADHD and I have never been able to concentrate very well)
- SAT: 730M, 750W, 720CR
- ACT: Took on Sept 12, aiming for 35 or 36.
- APs: 4 on APUSH, 5 on English Language, 3 on Phys1.
- Currently taking 4 APs.
Major:
I would like to study Communications, but my parents are forcing me to widen my search because they claim that Communications doesn’t pay well. I would enjoy something that is practical but still gives me room to move around and explore. Something similar to film, journalism, broadcast, advertising, etc.
Area:
I would prefer to stay around the East Coast, and the farthest I would be willing to go is the Midwest, around Northwestern. If I had the luxury (and audacity) to choose where ever I wanted to go, I really love modern architecture, and if I could I would avoid square brick buildings everywhere. Not a city-type of person.
Misc:
I really need financial aid.
I am still very inexperienced in my college searching so if you had any other tips just for searching for colleges in general I would be very grateful!
What is your home state? Penn State has awful FA for both in and out of state students. Is your family low income or middle class with too many bills? There are some options here where you might get full tuition scholarship - http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
@“Erin’s Dad” Oh yes, I am currently in New Jersey. We are upper-middle class with a lot of bills.
In that case you need to look for merit aid rather than Financial Aid. FA is designed to help lower income families. Look at the link I provided. Also look at your in-state options (Rutgers, TCNJ)
if you can look past your self imposed boundaries a school you may thrive at would be hendrix college ( but they do have brick buildings)
https://www.hendrix.edu/FutureStudents/
some other schools I would look at are drake university
http://drake.edu/about/drakeataglance/
and butler university
https://www.butler.edu/
Marist College, Ithaca College, Earlham College
Elon would be in your wheelhouse. More rural setting, great merit aid, and very strong in Communications and Business. They have a fantastic set of TV studios on campus.
To be honest, merit aid is not realistic for your 4 “reaches”. If your family cannot afford to pay $60 to $70K a year for tuition and room & board, don’t torture yourself applying to schools you can’t afford to attend. The applications and the essays are a ton of work, and if you can’t afford to attend, don’t do it to yourself.
You are obviously bright, but your grades perhaps don’t parallel your test scores. You have a reason for that apparently, with your ADHD diagnosis. Get your help for that, try and improve your senior grades, and buckle down.
There are ton of schools that offer merit aid, but the first thing is to have “the talk”. Find out what your family can afford to spend on school for you, and then work backwards to apply only to schools which you can realistically afford.
Good luck!