Chance/Match Me: Unremarkable [current] Sophomore Photography Transfer From Art School to Academia, Religious Studies/English. [NH resident, low ~3.7 college GPA, <$40k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident): US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities) New Hampshire.
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Private 4-yr Design School. Top 10 US Art School.
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Transgender Male / White

Intended Major(s)

Religious Studies/Comparative Religion
Minor/Dual Degree English Literature.

Aiming to pursue graduate school: I’d like to write, highly interested in semiotics, cultural analysis, literary theory.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.17
  • Weighted HS GPA : 4.0
  • College GPA (for transfers): 3.61: PROJECTED ~3.7 by end of semester. [3.6 last year, 4.0 (UW) this semester, 15 credits.]
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1200 SAT: 710 EBRW, 490 Math. Likelihood of omission extremely high.

Coursework
Lv5 Japanese in HS.
4yrs Honors English.

College: Foundation year art classes completed.
In addition to required studio classes, (which obviously won’t transfer), Art History I & II, Literary/Critical Studies I & II, Econ 101, three assorted social science courses, (one of which is a Philosophy writing-intensive, the other two Middle Eastern politics and a sort of Western Canon 101), Vedic Religion 101.

Awards
Dean’s List
3 HS years of Honors/High Honors
Won a Boston-area JPL essay contest in HS, assuming this is irrelevant…

Was asked to submit writing pieces to a school-wide prize by head of Philosophy department, will be doing so shortly. Unsure if it will amount to anything, though.

Extracurriculars

  • Freelance Proofreading
  • Summer Internship w/ well-regarded photo gallery. Website blurbs, blogposts written and edited, site management and design, MailChimp, served hors d’oeuvres, you know the drill.
  • Worked consistently throughout all of HS, as well as this summer. (Assorted Foodservice, Barista, Retail, Seasonal Jobs…).
  • Russian Ballet, 5 or 6 years of MMA.

I’m taking a LOA second semester to work on this section: more freelance work, lock in internships, submit to journals. I figure I have until spring to submit for Fall.

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays anticipated to be extremely strong.

LOR from both Vedic Religion and Philosophy profs. Offered to me without asking, anticipated to be extremely strong.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Financial Aid a MUST. Qualify for need-based low-income aid which docks about half my ridiculous tuition atm. Single-parent household. <$40K after aid absolute most debt I’m willing to go into, but only if not accepted anywhere cheaper. NYU out due to price.

Schools
Nothing is cemented. Considering:
Boston University*
Hunter CUNY
Boston College
Wesleyan
SUNY Stonybrook
What-the-hell application to Columbia

Would prefer staying on East Coast, smaller schools, city or immediately close to one. I’m in NYC at current and enjoy it. Don’t care for Greek Life but if the programs are good enough it doesn’t matter. Cautious of Catholic universities such as Boston College because I haven’t heard good things about the dorm situations for transgender students.

I don’t know where to go from here. I went back to art school for a semester to try and fix my GPA, and I’ve worked my ass off in my classes. I have several grades above 100%, and my GPA has only minimally increased. Didn’t try in HS, went through a lot, can’t figure out how to come back from it. It’s like I didn’t apply myself at all until I woke up one day and randomly realized I have academic aspirations. Art school is an interesting angle, and I can write quite well, but I don’t have much else going for me.

No idea if I should aim higher or lower. Every one of these schools feels like a reach, but I really want to challenge myself academically and go somewhere competitive, as I know I am capable of excelling in such an environment.
Apologize for the novel-length post.
Any suggestions at all would be welcome. Totally lost.

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Art studio classes may transfer to a regular college or university that has similar course offerings, assuming that the art school has typical regional accreditation.

However, if the college you transfer to has extensive general education or core curriculum requirements that your transfer course work would not cover, check carefully whether those may delay graduation.

If your other parent is alive, be aware that some colleges require both parents’ financial information for financial aid purposes, even if they are divorced or never married. Check their web sites carefully for whether they require forms from the non-custodial parent (usually the CSS Noncustodial Profile form). In addition, public schools like SUNYs and CUNYs favor their in-state residents for financial aid, and commonly give little or none to non-residents.

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RISD and take classes at Brown?

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Oh, I didn’t think about the studio courses like that, you’re right. That’s comforting, thank you. If I can apply the foundation year credits then I’ve got 48 questionably transferable credits: much better than only 33 questionably transferable credits.

I’ll look into the financial aid/custody thing; I think both of their information is how it is set up for me now. Thanks for your help.

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Have you considered Sarah Lawrence?

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I would really prefer not to go to art school any longer. Unless you think it would then be possible to transfer again, maybe in another year, completely to Brown? But that seems a little convoluted to me

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I understand. Why not just try for Brown, might be impossible, but you never know.

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I considered it lightly when initially applying in HS, but I didn’t like it at all when I toured. It seemed a little unserious and unhelpful to me, like I’d be understimulated. I’ll look into it again, and maybe reach out to some of their professors. Do you think I should reconsider? Why do you reccomend?

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Sarah Lawrence’s course catalog indicates a large selection of literature, writing, and arts courses, but a significantly smaller selection of religious studies courses.

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Sarah Lawrence’s academic strengths — principally those in the humanities, and literature, specifically — seem to align well with your interests. Also, to the extent that you have retained an enthusiasm for photography, you might appreciate SLC’s excellent visual arts programs.

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However Sarah Lawrence isn’t very good with Financial aid for lower income students so run the NPC.
Kenyon and Denison – both come to mind immediately, as does Wesleyan. For Religion/Religious studies, why not Fordham, Holy Cross, St Olaf? All have excellent Religion Depts. Fordham may not be affordable.
As a sophomore transfer (?) Your college grades would be the primary factor, along with whatever you’ve done in terms of art production, clubs, etc.

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In general figures, Sarah Lawrence says this about its financial assistance programs:

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Okay, I’ll do some more reaching out and see what I can see regarding Sarah Lawrence. I think it might be a little too alternative and isolated for me- art school has so thoroughly exhausted me that I balk at the idea of a similar student body enclosed in itself- but, choosing beggars. I have heard very very good things about the faculty. Thanks for your help!

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Thanks for the recs. I hadn’t considered Holy Cross, but I know someone there so I’ll touch base with them.

I spoke to a professor who recommended Fordham for graduate school but not undergrad-- do you think there’s any merit to this? I’ll add it to the list though, price is steep but I’ll see what I can do. Thank you all!

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Fordham would be strong for religion and is in a city, the issue is their financial aid + probably their transfer policy.
Holy Cross meets need and is urban.

Wrt SUNYs, definitely look into Geneseo, Albany Honorsw and Binghamton.

Sarah Lawrence’s direct costs are abour 82k right now so 40k in scholarships wouldn’t cut it for many.
I also saw s.o referring to SLU so it’d be worth looking into since they meet need but they’re definitely rural.

St Olaf is not East Coast but has a very strong Religion department with many faiths and creeds represented +they meet need+in river/college town about 45mn from the Twin Cities (major metropolis).

Wondering whether Case Western Reserve could meet your need -urban, cool neighborhood with lots of art/concert opportunities&restaurants, medium sized, combination of artists and tech.

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You might be interested to see that this comports with information from survey responses:

With respect to social aspects such as this, you may be the best judge. Nonetheless, its good to see that you have maintained an open mind at this stage.

Sarah Lawrence appears to approach religious studies partly from an interdisciplinary perspective, such as through suggested courses in anthropology, art history, history, literature, music, philosophy and writing:

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Drew University in NJ could meet some of your requirements. It’s close to NYC and offers merit. It’s a much easier admit than the schools on your list. Montclair is another one but it’s public and might not get to your budget. Does your freelance work enough to offset the room and board costs?

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I don’t know if commenting this will bump the thread, so if I should make a seperate post, mods, please let me know or correct me.

I’m back with more or less a concrete list. My GPA for this past semester was a 3.72. Cumulative college GPA is a 3.65, President’s list twice, Dean’s list once. Lower than I anticipated and I’m spiralling over it. Just waiting for letters of rec and then sending apps to:

  • Boston University
  • Hunter CUNY
  • Boston College
  • Wesleyan
  • Fordham
  • UMass Amherst

A couple of these (UMass, BC) I’m applying as a Linguistics major instead. Gathered a couple more ECs but nothing I feel super confident about, some volunteer work for immigrant communities and local community bookstores. What are my chances? Online college calculators are giving me about a 9% for most schools. How badly does my HS GPA bring down my profile? Will I get in anywhere but Hunter? On the verge of hopeless.

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Why not apply to a few more?
Use your thread for a couple more colleges from all recommendations (Geneseo, Binghamton, Holy Cross, St Olaf, Sarah Lawrence, St Lawrence, Case Western Reserve, Kenyon, Denison, Drew)
3.65 college GPA is good but not sure it’ll be enough for your current reaches.
Hunter is a sure thing, any interest in other CUNYs
https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/academics/areas-of-study
https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/honors/honors-program
(Transfers need a 3.6)
https://enrollmentmanagement.baruch.cuny.edu/undergraduate-admissions/majors/

You’ll get into Fordham but how sure are you it’ll be affordable?

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Haha, I’m not. I panicked and started adding more safety schools regardless of price. I spoke to two Sarah Lawrence transfers I met and they both said that the school pulled a lot of financial aid recently so they could no longer afford attending. A couple of the schools in the thread sounded like good fits, but I’m a little anxious regarding small Christian schools that are isolated, so I nixed them, but you’re right, I might as well cover my bases. I forgot about Baruch, I’ll try there, too. Thanks for this honors program info!