First, I just want to emphasize that the college learning experience is often less about the college and more about the learner.
The school my own child is attending is not “known for” or highly ranked in her majors, but it is still the best school for her. She has leadership positions and an on-campus job related to her major and an internship with a prestigious employer. That’s because of what she made of it.
There are excellent professors and mentors at many schools, even if they aren’t in a department with a recognized reputation. And some of the most well-regarded professors are not accessible to or interested in mentoring undergraduate students.
So. No school is “perfect” and it is a huge mistake to believe that a higher rank means better for YOU. Better for you might mean more affordable, or within two hour’s drive of the doctor you’ve been seeing for five years, or the school where you easily can be the chief editor of the creative writing journal instead of competing tooth and nail just to be allowed to serve on staff.
Writers come from everywhere. Cormac McCarthy went to University of Tennessee, I note. His talent is not cheapened or tarnished because he did not attend Yale.
You have a list of awesome schools suggested here. They are as unique as humans and all have something to offer. Focus on that when making your choice, rather than the designer labels they are wearing or type of car they are driving, if you know what I mean. You don’t need a BMW when a trusty Subaru will get you there — and you might like the color of the Subaru and location of the Subaru’s cup holders better anyway.
Yes, for sure. Your thinking is close to Wes’s, I believe: they’d rather offer great aid for all admitted (and have to consider need in their very final admissions decisions) than be need-blind and offer sub-par financial aid awards. At some point they’ll be able to do what they’ve been doing and be fully need-blind as well, but for now they’ve struck the right balance, I think.
We will agree to disagree. JHU is an amazing school, but I wouldn’t consider it to have anything in common with Brown, Kenyon, or most others mentioned in these posts.
There are a lot of great suggestions for more reaches. I’d say OP needs some better bets and if she isn’t sold on Iowa, another safety. I second Clark.
Have you considered applying ED2? Some of the colleges mentioned on this thread have ED2, which greatly increases your chances: JHU, WashU, Kenyon, etc. Obvious downside of ED2 is the inability to compare financial aid offers.
Also consider UChicago for ED2 which has a strong writing program and fits the bill for “love of learning”.
I’m not currently considering ED2 as I don’t want to be “bound” to a particular school just yet; I’d prefer to compare financial aid offers, as well as potentially visit some more schools.
If interested in Penn as an option, Al Filreis is a dedicated and strong mentor as Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House and Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. The Kelly Writers House provides a great community for students within the university and sponsors many literary events.
His ModPo (Modern Poetry) is one of the most popular MOOCs on Coursera. It is well organized, collaborative, and creative…and he actively seeks to expand Penn’s development of creative writers and poets.
It might be useful to reach out to him to learn more about Penn’s English major and creative writing program in particular—if you have any questions after researching what is on offer there.
Unless you can actually afford $80k a year, stop looking at the unrealistic. Michigan is likely with no aid and that’s the cost - $76k first two years and then $80k and only going up. It and the UCs - just not worth it - especially for English and especially if you can’t afford full pay.
You were $15k. I don’t know where now.
SUNY Geneseo is the SUNY LAC and many on here boast of the cute town and it could get to $30k or so with merit. It has creative writing.
Is that within budget ?
If you like Ann Arbor, then find another similar public that’s cheaper but if you can afford Iowa, then use it as the baseline - and apply nowhere that wouldn’t be as good.
Do you want a big school or LAC ? Seemed like you wanted an LAC but now there are some possible contradictions.
Occidental is another meets need school, in civilization, and has creative writing.
I’m going to have to agree with you on Michigan and the UCs - unless that $15k budget has quadrupled+, they aren’t worth applying to because they don’t offer FA to OOS students. The OP could take a look at UVA as, I believe, they offer need-based aid to OOS students; although I can’t comment on their writing program. Charlottesville is a great town, though, with lots to do so it fits in that regard.
Yeah, my admittedly hazy crystal ball suggests you might get some really great combinations of college-you-like and net cost of attendance (possibly including because of merit) by the time all your RD decisions have rolled in . . . but I can’t tell you which exactly will end up your best combination. And for that matter, if Iowa ends up your best combination, you still won! All this is really about seeing if you can win even more on one or both of those dimensions.
So while I think ED 2 can make sense in some circumstances, in yours, I think you are likely playing it correctly.
It is a little late, but Pitt is a college with a strong English department in a nice location in a decent-sized city which offers merit aid to OOS students.
But they are rolling admission, and actually the honors college deadline is already past, so . . . not so sure that makes sense any more.
And it ends up being affordable. Remember…Michigan does not guarantee to meet full need for those who are not residents of Michigan.
You need a guaranteed affordable school you like where you are very likely to gain acceptance. If Iowa isn’t affordable…what IS that sure thing college. I think you need to find that next…first and foremost.
Clarification. UVA and UNC-CH are the only publics that guarantee to meet full need for all accepted U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen students. Neither awards need based aid to international students.
There are public universities where you might have all of your financial need met…but not a guarantee this will happen.
