<p>I am an English major with a 3.6 GPA (3.9 in my major classes) who graduated with an associate degree from a community college in Oregon. I was going to transfer to the University of Oregon (which has a great English program, location lottery!) but my parents decided to move to West Virginia. Because I cannot afford to live here, and the school is VERY expensive, I decided to delay my education by a year or two. This will allow me to save up money and become an independent.</p>
<p>Now I have a few options. After saving up I could go back and finish my last four terms at the UO, but I absolutely HATE Oregon. My god do I hate Oregon. I hate Oregon. I don’t want to come back ever again in my life. As much as it sucks to delay my education, I REALLY hate Oregon. It’s also rather expensive for a place I don’t want to be. So it seems natural for me to attend school in West Virginia.</p>
<p>But the English programs in West Virginia are not that great. My career goal is really just any $40K a year, decent employment prospect job, maybe with the government, so I don’t have to leave the state if I prefer to save money. I really just picked English because I excel in the major. I even love the research and essays. But I don’t have to become an editor or writer, I just wanted a major that reflects my abilities and interest to a future employer.</p>
<p>Still, if I am going to move, do I really have to “trade down” on the reputation of my school? I know it is going to be strong enough in-state, which is where I would like to stay with my family, but I don’t see the harm in investigating other opportunities.</p>
<p>Could I get into a top 100 school with a 3.6 GPA? Could it even be affordable? I can’t afford UO due to the 13K a year tuition, which is why the 8K tuition for WV universities looks so good despite the drop in reputation. But is financial aid really out there for a student like me? If it is a toss-up, are there universities that are worth looking into and applying to for the chance because of generous financial aid? I just need about some aid to defray expenses and put it at even with West Virginia colleges in cost after loans.</p>
<p>As far as I know WVU has an overall good reputation. I don’t know specifically about the english program but what about virginia tech and UVA? UVA might be a far shot with a 3.6 (rediculous huh?) but maybe try and get some work experience/extracurriculars and I think you have a fine chance at being accepted to a good university in virginia. Maybe try some universities in North Carolina? You MAY be competitive at UNC with a 3.6. I could let you know about that in a few weeks haha.</p>
<p>Seafood, Virginia and W. Virginia are two different states!</p>
<p>Financial aid is much harder to come by for transfers. If you can qualify for schools that meet need for all (mostly highly ranked privates for which you’d also need high SATs), they’re your best bet for aid. That’s as long as you’re determined to have need.</p>
<p>If UO is too expensive, how could OP possibly afford UVA at 36k or even UNC at 24k? As a transfer, I know personally that financial aid really sucks as when I transferred to Michigan, all I received was $2,500 in unsubsidized loans. </p>
<p>The problem with WV is that there really are no prestigious schools in the state at all and although I know next to nothing about English departments at all, I can judge based on all of the WVU jokes, such as the “If you can read this, don’t go to WVU” shirts, I heard when I was at Pitt that WVU really is not well regarded. A 3.6 is definitely good enough to get you into a top 100 school, probably even a top 50 but I really don’t know how you’re going to afford those schools. Maybe a top liberal arts college might be able to give you enough scholarships to attend but besides that, you are probably stuck with WVU.</p>
<p>If state schools in your area are out of the question I’d suggest, like someone mentioned earlier, top liberal arts colleges. Also, I’d make sure to set aside some money for a LARGE amount of applications. As financial aid can be such a guessing game, ESPECIALLY for transfers, it’s best to apply to a verrrrrry wide range of schools. (Think, as many as you can reasonably handle without hurting your focus on individual applications).</p>
<p>Ps, you mentioned you’d be taking time off to qualify as an independent. I’m not sure if you took it already, but if you haven’t have you thought of pinpointing a particular state system you’d like to apply to and taking your time off in that state? Helping you qualify for in-state and also allowing you to visit the schools etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions everyone! WVU has some good programs, but English is not among them so it cannot mediate the reputation. My loan threshold is 31K, and right now I am at about 15K, thus the reason why I am seeking cheap schools. Otherwise my loans will be out of control, and as an English major I could not afford it. But I do have about 8K I can take out in loans for each of the two years from stafford. I am not sure how much I could save up in that time in my savings though.</p>
<p>It seems that yes, I could get into a fairly known school with my grades and the only problem is financial aid. Transfer aid seems to be absent or very small at most schools. So it seems that I need to target schools known being generous with need aid, which I would have to target. I always hear privates and liberal arts colleges offer generous financial aid, but if they cost 40K a year I have no idea how that could be the case.</p>