Building a College List for Creative Writing Major or Minor/pre-PT track [NY resident, 3.9 GPA, 1360+ SAT, large school/urban preference]]

College Search & Lists
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Hello!

My junior daughter is thinking about suitable colleges to research more deeply. She’s at a NYC SHSAT public school so her grades are actually on a 100 point scale at 96.73. 1360 SAT, but she sat for it again and is waiting/hoping for a higher score.

She’s mostly interested in creative writing programs (either major or minor), and NOT interested in heavily academic literary/English majors. After some visits, she said she’s only interested in large schools, preferably in large urban areas, so SLACs are out, especially if they’re in a rural area. Suburban or close proximity to a large city may suffice. Money is an object, but we’re casting a wide net for now so that we can do research.

Secondarily, it’d be nice if the school has strong options for a pre-health/pre-physical therapy track, as the girl is gifted with healing hands.

Would love to hear the community’s thoughts on strong-fit schools to target - thank you!

AustenNut and wesbound25 - tagging you for your thoughts on my list so far and any other additions you’d suggest!

SUNY Binghamton

Brown

CUNY Brooklyn

City College of NY

Stony Brook

University of Iowa

U Penn

UVA

U Pitt

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Budget considerations - that will drive a list. You can major in most anything to be pre-PT and many schools will have creative writing programs.

But what you can afford will be the driving factor.

I see you note it’s a factor but casting a wide net so here’s some - and many of the names are urban regular types or close - that might be of interest - either with a major or minor.

Obviously CCNY and not urban but not far from society, Oswego is the creative writing star of the SUNYs.

It’s hard to decipher the writing vs. heavily academic - most will be in English - but you can figure that out. All these have majors, minors or like New Mexico - access to advanced, intermediate and urban. There are different size schools and cities but this should bring a level of urbanness - and at various price points or aid possibilities.

Agnes Scott - small LAC but in Decature (Atlanta) GA. Most all get aid and can take classes at other Atla schools like Emory, Ga Tech

American

Arizona

Arizona State

Arkansas

BU

Case Western

College of Charleston

DePaul

Emerson

Emory

F&M - LAC but in town

George Mason

Georgetown

George Washington

Kentucky

Louisville

LSU

Mary Washington (small town)

Memphis

NEU

U New Mexico

Norhwestern

Ogelthorpe - small LAC in Atlanta - can take classes at other Atlanta schools. Likely to match SUNY tuition like Emory, Ga Tech

Pitt

U South Carolina

Suffolk

UAB

U Denver

UNCW

UTK

VCU

U Texas

U Washington

Wisconsin

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Loyola Maryland in Baltimore has a Writing major, which might be of interest. It’s both creative writing and professional writing, so maybe not exactly what your daughter is looking for, but it’s not literary analysis.

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Can you indicate her courses/highest level reached in the 5 cores and any VPAs?

Assume you are aware Penn and Brown are both test-required now, so possible higher SAT score will be an important factor here, given 1360 is well below the middle 50 for both of them.

You do have what looks to me like a number of good targets on the list.
Curious at the omission of NYU (urban, creative writing minor, good pre health) - is that an NPC issue? Or just too close to home?

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SJ2727 - sorry I don’t know your acronyms lol. What are VPAs and NPC?

By 5 cores, I’m assuming you mean the main core subjects: AP US History, AP Physics, AP Eng Lang, 3rd year Mandarin, Precalc.

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Thanks for your thoughts! Of your options, I’d say schools like Northwestern are definitely out of reach $-wise.

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Sorry - VPA are visual and performing arts

NPC is the net price calculator on each college website where you can estimate what your final cost will be after aid.

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Thanks for clarifying - VPA - orchestra.
As for NYU - yes, it’s both too close to home and out-of-reach financially.

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It depends. You’ve not shared anything about finances. Many may be out. And many, like Norteastern, offer need aid.

But if Northwestern is out, so are Brown, Penn and others.

You can cast a wide net but in reality it’s wasting time.

Step one is to have a budget - what can you afford.

Step 2 Then you run an NPC Or net price calculator to see if you qualify for aid and if so, how much. I put Brown’s below.

You should only research schools that will hit cost or can hit cost. Not schools that won’t. Example - I’m full pay but gave my student a $50k budget. So the Ivies, Northwestern, Georgetown - not even considered.

So I gave you a full list but truth is you are likely wasting time without doing steps one and two above.

Sarah Lawrence is an LAC not far from the city. Big merit. Lots of privates today are buyers. They need students badly so the ‘buy’ them in with big merit.

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The first thing you need is a budget. You should also use the NPCs for the schools on your list.

I am glad to see that Pitt is on the list. Have you considered Delaware?

I would also think about adding the University of Buffalo.

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I’d also note that she’s going to take heavy /riforous academics for pre-health no matter the major. And while you can’t always conflate rank/pedigree with rigor, certain schools you listed are likely to be highly rigorous/academic no matter the subject.

Not sure if that comment was solely related to English, where CW will most likely be housel - except a more focused school like Emerson. But on second thought, that’s not likely a school for pre - health - likely one of the few. The rest on my list will be.

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We’ve told each of our children that we parents will contribute $40K/year. Any amount beyond that is on them.

The reason to cast a wide net is based on our experience with an older child - who applied to at least 6 schools that were well over-budget according to each school’s NPC. She ended up attending one of those over-budget schools with a full-ride scholarship, which was unexpected.

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PT requires 3 years of grad school and there are changes coming to the student loan program.

I would try not to go above the cost of SUNY. This means using the NPC on schools like Brown, Penn, and UVA, and omitting them if they are not affordable. It also means adding schools where merit might bring the cost down. Right now we don’t have info about course rigor and there is not a final SAT score.

Have you looked at the University of Vermont?

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Was this need based ?

Or

Did the school have competitive full rides (my daughter had a full tuition) yours won ?

Or

Or was this auto merit ? Some schools, based on gpa/sat can get very close to eliminating tuition.

Please run the Brown NPC. They, Penn, Northwestern have no merit. So they’re not worth bothering with unless you qualify for need. An Emory, Vandy, Wash U - you’re unlikely to get merit aid but they have multiples - as in plenty of full tuition and full ride. So if the NPCs are over budget, schools like that are ok to include vs the Ivies which are time wasting etc.

all this can be researched up front, this way you might apply to schools that don’t hit cost but they have the potential to hit. But you don’t waste time on schools that can’t.

If you are paying $40k, you don’t want your kids taking loans. It’s not necessary. Schools out there will hit. Make sure you have a couple that assuredly will as your back stop.

PT school is pricey - and you can only borrow $100k, including undergrad, via federal loans.

But save time and long application cycles by figuring out your need for the no merit schools - brown, Penn are two you noted in the first post. UVA is highly unlikely unless you have need (they meet it, one of few OOS that do, UNC is the other), but you will not get merit unless you get the full ride. So that’s $80k today (not in two years) if you don’t win the Jefferson, which requires a ton of extra work.

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I’m glad I happened to click on your thread, because I didn’t receive a tag. I believe you need to add an @ in front of the username @ardub in order to be tagged. So @wesbound25 might not have received a notification until I just sent one.

Your D has some cool academic interests. With a $40k budget, it’s still possible to apply to schools with a high NPC, but they have to offer merit aid in order to get a big scholarship. Brown and UPenn do not, so you’ll probably want to eliminate those if the NPC does not come in under budget (they only offer need-based aid). I like the other schools on your list, though.

U. of Arizona used to give very generous merit aid, but I think that merit aid awards decreased and tuition increased, making it not nearly as awesome a financial deal. But I think it could still come in within your budget. Tucson is a good-sized city, it’s a big school with nearly 45k undergrads, and it has a relatively popular creative writing major. This would be an extremely likely admit for your D.

I’m going to mention another school that might make you go “huh?”, but I think it’s worth checking out: Ithaca College. Ithaca is not a big city, but it’s a definite college town. Ithaca College itself has about 4300 undergrads, so not a huge school, but I’d call it mid-sized. But the town of Ithaca is also home to Cornell which is about a mile away and hosts another 16k undergrads. Plus students at Ithaca & Cornell can cross-register for classes at the other school. It offers a BA in Writing with various concentrations, including creative writing. If she becomes super-intent on becoming a physical therapist, there’s an accelerated option with a DPT. And there may be additional moneys available for your D at colleges in NY (which obviously would apply to any in NY, not just Ithaca).

Another school she may want to check out is Chapman (CA). It has about 7700 undergrads and is in the L.A. metro area. If she really wants to dive hard core into creative writing it offers a BFA in the subject. A BFA will require significantly more coursework in the subject than a regular BA, so she’ll need to decide if that’s something she finds attractive or not.

UNC-WIlmington has about 15k undergrads and will come in (just) under budget without any merit aid at all. You can read more about the offerings in its department of creative writing. Although the city is not a major metropolis, it’s definitely a city and a growing metro right on the Atlantic.

U. of Cincinnati (OH) is another school I’d recommend checking out. Cincinnati is big enough to have a couple of major league sports teams, and UC offers both a concentration in creative writing as well as a certificate in creative writing (see more). And I believe all Ohio publics freeze tuition for four years so you don’t have to worry about increasing costs as she progresses through the degree.

ETA: And others were sharing some of the same info on pricing while I was writing!

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What are her professional goals? Sorry if it was already mentioned - I did not read the entire topic.

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U of VT and URI - not yet, but thanks for the steer!

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She wanted urban - so not URI and really not Iowa City although there’s stuff there. The airport is in Cedar Rapids, 30 minutes North. Nice airport - I flew Allegiant there for peanuts - if you have them and they fly from where you live. Not UDel either (urban).

Depends what you mean by urban. I used schools that are literally urban vs suburban or 30 mins from urban.

Kalamazoo is a small school, relatively open curriculum that’s a ‘buyer’ so big merit. Not sure if will get to $40k but close. It’s in a mid size city and it neighbors much larger Western Michigan U so young kids abound.

You can check its K Plan for its curriculum, and how they integrate study away and experiential learning.

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UMN should come in just under budget. Creative writing minor and great for health related fields. There are a million majors to pick from. It’s a beautiful land grant campus right in the city. Probably a better fit geographically than Iowa and much easier to get to from NYC. Flights are usually very cheap.

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No, not need-based; merit aid. Strangely, Penn’s NPC gives us a lot of aid (making it almost as affordable as UPitt), while Brown & Northwestern give nothing. Thanks for the nuance on places like Emory, Vandy.

PT is not a true passion of hers - she’d rather just get a massage therapy license if she goes that route and skip 3 years of grad school. (PT is just mom’s idea.)

A CUNY or SUNY will likely be her under-budget options.