@AustenNut thank you so much for your feedback! I think I definitely should talk with my parents more about finances since we’re at a tough spot. I have three other siblings who they’re also planning to help pay for college and since we likely won’t qualify for financial aid it’s kind of an awkward situation. however, like I said before, they’d be more willing to contribute more money to the more prestigious schools (since in their mind, it would be more worth it for the cost) so im a little more hopeful abt schools liked northwestern and duke. im also applying to as many scholarships, including external ones, as I can to try and cover the costs.
for uic, gppa is an application that will come separate after guaranteed admission into uic (which I categorized as a safety). sorry for the confusion, I didn’t mean to classify the gppa program as a safety.
while I think majoring in digital art would be nice, I don’t think it’s the best fit for me as a major (maybe as a minor)