There are some significant differences between the schools on your list. If you don’t yet know about it, I’d recommend familiarizing with the College Navigator website produced by the U.S. federal government that provides a lot of information on the colleges in the U.S. General Information indicates if there’s any religious affiliation or if it’s a women’s college, HBCU, etc. There’s also information about the costs, financial aid, enrollment (including demographics of the student body, what percentage attend part-time, etc), admissions rate, graduation rates, the number of people in the most recent graduating class who majored in a particular field, etc.
For the schools on your current list, I’ve provided the College Navigator link, the number of undergrads, and the admissions rate.
-
DePaul: College Navigator link…About 14k undergrads, 70% admissions rate
-
MCNY: College Navigator link…. 426 undergrads; no psychology or art programs appear to be offered here. 65% admission rate.
-
U. of Chicago: College Navigator link…about 7600 undergrads. 5% admission rate.
-
Parsons: College Navigator link…about 7200 undergrads, 57% admission rate for The New College, but I strongly suspect that depends on the program that you’re applying to, and Parsons’ rate is probably lower. I also don’t know how easy it is to mesh psychology with art here.
-
Fordham: College Naviagor link…about 10k undergrads, 54% admission rate
-
Berea: College Naviagor link…about 1400 undergrads, 25% admission rate
In looking at your list you seem to have a strong preference for urban cities, but the inclusion of Berea seems to indicate that you’re open to non-urban options as well. As you have schools ranging in size from 426 undergrads to more than 14k, it doesn’t seem as though size is a big consideration for you.
With that in mind, I’ve come up with a list that appear to have fairly strong/popular art programming as well as offering psychology, which in the U.S. tends to be a bread-and-butter department that tends to be fairly strong across a gamut of schools. Since budget is still a bit of a question mark, I focused on schools that might be less expensive than some other options (like U. of Chicago).
At most public schools, you should not expect to receive any need-based financial aid, and those make up the majority of this list. Private schools, however, will often offer need-based aid to international students. You could receive merit-based aid from any of the schools on this list, apart from Hamilton. The schools in bold are those that are in definite cities, whereas others are in smaller cities or more isolated. I’ve sorted them based on my guesses for your chance of admission.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
-
College of Charleston (SC): About 10k undergrads and about $49k before any aid.
-
Flagler (FL): About 2600 undergrads at this private school. About $38k before any aid.
-
George Mason (VA): About 27k undergrads and $52k before any aid. Virginia publics tend to be stingier with merit aid than other public schools.
-
Grand Valley State (MI): About 19k undergrads and about $30k before any aid.
-
James Madison (VA): About 20k undergrads and about $43k before any aid.
-
Salisbury (MD): About 6400 undergrads. About $34k before any aid.
-
Temple (PA ): About 24k undergrads. About $52k before any aid.
-
U. of Cincinnati (OH): About 30k undergrads and a co-op focused school. Students can also get a certificate in art therapy, should that be an interest. About $41k before any aid.
Likely (60-79%)
-
CUNY City College (NY): About 12k undergrads. About $33k before any aid.
-
Drake (IA): About 2800 undergrads at this private school. About $60k before any aid.
-
SUNY New Paltz (NY): About 6100 undergrads. About $34k before any aid.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
-
Binghamton (NY): About 14k undergrads and about $46k before any aid.
-
CUNY Hunter College (NY): About 17k undergrads and about $27k before any aid.
-
Mount Holyoke (MA): About 2200 undergrads at this private women’s college. Part of a consortium with Smith, Amherst, U. of Massachusetts, and Hampshire. About $76k before any aid.
Lower Probability (20-39%)
-
Macalester (MN): About 2200 undergrads at this private school. Can also take classes at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. About $77k before any aid.
-
Skidmore (NY): About 2800 undergrads at this private school. About $79k before any aid.
-
Smith (MA): About 2500 undergrads at this private women’s school. Part of a consortium with Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, U. of Massachusetts, and Hampshire. About $79k before any aid.
Low Probability (less than 20%)
- Hamilton (NY): About 2100 undergrads at this private school. About $79k before any aid.
ETA: Fixed a school that should not have been bolded and clarified that merit aid is possible at all of these schools apart from Hamilton.