Is he only west coast focused ?
No—he likes Chicago, Boston (loves BU, but, boy is that a reach), NYC. He’s never been to Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, and others that are a little smaller in scale. He likes cold weather and rain, doesn’t seem keen on southern cities, even cool ones like Austin or New Orleans 
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Maybe look into Rochester Inst of Technology. RIT has some really interesting STEM stuff and art stuff going on. Not that Rochester is the most exciting city, but it’s not the middle of nowhere either.
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Weighted 3.5 - accepted at Pitt and UNC Charlotte. Received Guaranteed Sophomore Transfer to Boston Univ (one of his top choices)! Very excited and surprised by that considering all the rejections before it. Was totally ready to hit accept to Pitt until BU came in a week ago. Now Leaning toward end goal of BU thru UNC Charlotte (instate) or travel abroad for both semesters. Lots to think about!
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Wow! Mine would totally be down for a gap/travel/abroad year and transfer to BU. Congrats to your kid!
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A big second on RIT. If someone says they’re into STEM and art, that’s the first place my brain goes.
But some other possibilities might be:
- U. of Minnesota - Twin Cities
- U. of Wisconsin - Madison
- Lawrence (if small city works)
- Drexel
- U. of Cincinnati
- U. of Denver
- College of the Holy Cross (Worcester’s a city, but it’s not Boston)
- Brandeis
- Occidental (is L.A. too warm?)
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In addition..If looking at Seattle U (religious), then U of Portland, Providence, Loyola Chicago and Maryland, Fordham, Saint Louis U. GW, Pitt, Case Western, U Wash, American, Northeastern, Ohio State, ASU and Arizona. For STEM, school of mines. Maybe too far South ? College of Charleston is urban. Smack in the tourist zone.
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So many Jesuit schools in urban areas. There’s USF here in the Bay Area too. S26 is a very committed atheist but likes to learn about philosophy and religion from a historical perspective, and he loves to discuss history. So, assuming there’s diversity of thought and the religion is open—he’s not forced into a class with a clearly Catholic perspective—and he’s not required to go to mass, he should be ok and even excited to learn about different faiths.
Also, a colleague of mine went to CoC and loved it so much. I think it would be great. But I think he’s quite set on some gloomy weather and maybe even snow!
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Love U Minnesota, Wisconsin, and U Denver. Will add them. I don’t know if Madison is a big enough city for him but he should see it if he gets in.
With RIT, we have to research. So far he has stayed away from a tech focused choice—he’s very noncommittal on his major and wants all the options. I could see him choosing a number of humanities topics, too.
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I can send you a pic of snow. Might have been 2x in four years. UVM not a big enough town - but snow. Maybe DU and School of Mines, or Drexel, Loyola Chicago as the most recent posts from myself and @AustenNut offered up. SLU. Creighton. Providence. St Joes. Jesuit/Catholic and snow :).
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Love a lot of yours and @AustenNut’s suggestions! Thank you!
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RIT has surprisingly robust humanities offerings and includes majors in English, Museum Studies, Philosophy, Communications (with a possible concentration in Journalism), Political Science, History, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Plus RIT is part of the Rochester Area Consortium that allows students to take classes at other area colleges that aren’t offered by RIT.
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My D26 is 3.7UW, 6AP and 34ACT is interested in art and considering: RIT, Syracuse, Skidmore, Michigan Stamps, UT Austin (in-state, college of fine arts) and some straight art schools (SAIC, SVA, RIngling). I think Connecticut College is a great target for her academically and has a really strong art program, but she didn’t like the insular/isolated campus.
Her sister (class of 2024) had 3.73, 11 AP, 32 ACT and undecided major. She was admitted to Loyola Chicago ($30K/year merit) , Santa Clara, Providence, Elon, JMU, USD, GWU ($ 13K/year merit) and Villanova. She was deferred from LMU and received guaranteed sophomore offer transfer to BU. Also applied to a a number of other reaches but withdrew those apps before getting a decision.
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Thank you. Our 26s seem similar, though I’m not sure mine will consider a straight up art school. I wanted him to look at Conn College too but once he became excited about urban environments I figured it would be too isolated.
Where did your D24 choose to go? Loyola is a school we want to explore—S26 loves Chicago.
She’s at Villanova. She liked Loyola but didn’t love it. Considered it to be one of her safeties and probably not her first choice safety (that was probably Elon). But Loyola does give great merit! Most of her friends who applied had similar merit offers at Loyola. TBH if you are looking for urban in Chicago, DePaul felt like a much more walkable urban neighborhood. Good luck to your son!
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I was thinking Villanova - but is it close enough to the city given the burbs - but you can get to the city.
DePaul - good call - safety.
I’d also add - and I don’t know how many APs (vs. the AP/Honors you noted) - but with a 3.7-8, you’re not getting into Northwestern - but I wouldn’t be offended if you applied. Same with WUSTL…especially if you get to Calc AB A U Denver is a very “safe” school in that same regard. But those, if you have time, are worth a flyer…whereas a CWRU, U Rochester, Brandeis would be hard gets but more attainable.
Could an RPI be in the mix - they do have some art offerings - and outcomes in general are fantastic. Big city - ehhhhhh - Albany area.
Arts | The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
I really think like Pitt does sound like a winner - but for “creativity” if it’s there and it’s a safety, maybe VCU is worth a look. - they are a very creative school and urban.
Frankly, I’m less concerned with finding targets - and I’d be more concerned with finding the right school. Not all but most mentioned have been safeties. But that’s ok.
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Another thought and not a safety…Northeastern. They offer top notch art classes through Tufts SMFA which is down the street. Hard to get in to NEU but if you ED and say you are willing to start abroad you have a decent shot.
There is also Tufts/SMFA dual degree. The Tufts admission would be a big reach…the SMFA admission rate is higher (but requires portfolio).
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So interesting you mention Tufts/SMFA—when my S26 was at BU, we went to their College of Fine Arts breakout session on Junior Preview Day. He loved their flexibility… you could do a BFA or a double major with a BA in Art and another discipline, etc. He liked how they made it seem easy to do this.
We then spent half the day at the MFA and walked by the SMFA afterwards. I knew it was tied to Tufts, but the fact that tufts is kind of a schlep away from SFMA made it feel much less integrated into the university experience than BU. But, if Northeastern offers the same opportunity and it’s right down the street, that is more compelling.
He does have a portfolio and he’s going to portfolio review day on May 3. So he could be prepared for applying as a studio art major if he decides to do that.
My D26 felt the same way about SMFA being isolated from Tufts.
I know NEU offers art classes through SMFA but have not investigated the specifics. Truthfully my D26 didn’t really like the SMFA facilities regardless. Do t get me wrong…some of it is good like their on campus art store.
But a lot of the classrooms seemed cramped and a lot were even in the basement with no natural light. But they do have a lot of offerings. And if NEU is a good fit for your other interests then worth exploring the relationship with SMFA and what you can take there.
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He’s got 6 AP classes and 4 honors—AP World History, APUSH, AP Chem, AP Lang/Comp, AP Calc BC, AP 2D Art. Honors—Advanced Algebra, Pre-Calc, Physics and Art —drawing and painting. He is taking the AP Pre Calc exam even tho the class he’s taking is honors (there is no AP Pre Calc on offer at his high school but the curriculum tracks).
He is a jack of many trades/interests. English is probably his least favorite, but even then, he can get very interested in themes and critical analysis of books he’s reading.
I agree Northwestern or WashU are long shots at best. BU with an ED, full pay and a lot of demonstrated interest might get lucky.