<p>Seconding Emerson. Also, a friend’s son with similar interests and personality is at Hampshire.</p>
<p>Northwestern has a number of excellent programs that can appeal to her:
[Radio</a>, Television + Film - Programs of Study, School of Communication, Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/rtf/programs.php]Radio”>http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/rtf/programs.php)
[Medill</a> - IMC Programs: Undergraduate](<a href=“http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/imc/undergrad.aspx]Medill”>http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/imc/undergrad.aspx)</p>
<p>It also has a thriving theater scene which would give her plenty of opportunities to get involved. Northwestern can be very nerdy but in an endearing way. She could fit in well among the various “types” represented on campus.</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you for the response, everyone.</p>
<p>My daughter has a 3.8 GPA, 2290 SAT. She’s taking four APs and two college-level courses this year; last year, she took four community college classes. Fluent in sign language, tutors a deaf child once a week and interprets for a church’s nonhearing community every Sunday. Works 10 hours a week. Has won a few writing competitions. She and her friends developed a small indie game. Highly involved in drama - has acted, designed lights and sound, built sets, acted as dramaturg, but for the play they’re putting on in the next few weeks, she’s assistant director for the teacher (director). She and her theater people have won competitions.</p>
<p>We’re in NC. Finances are a major concern, so there’s why we aren’t considering NYU seriously at all. We’re low income (<$50k).</p>
<p>Her main reasons for wanting urban are:
- availability of shows and shopping (her major vices! certainly the shallowest reason)
- ability to leave the college bubble
- ability to “become anonymous” when she needs a break
- staying connected to the noncollege world, which seems to be very important to her
- high likelihood of being able to do an internship and being involved in the media world during the school year</p>
<p>Lots of schools to consider. Thank you all again for your help.</p>
<p>Given your criteria, Northwestern seems to be a near-perfect fit. Northwestern has excellent partnerships with community orgs and companies in a wide variety of fields, including theater/dance/music/performing arts. It’s definitely very realistic to take on an internship during the schoolyear. I did it, and the experience helped me break into a field I had no experience in before. The fact that Northwestern has internships set up with their established partners is extremely beneficial especially in this economy where it’s hard to enter fields unless you already have experience in that area. These partner orgs are more than happy to take on Northwestern students who have no experience knowing that the professors (or whoever recommended the students) have a stake in how students do in the internship. Historically, Northwestern students have proven themselves to be highly beneficial to these orgs time and again, so much so that a lot of them get hired to work full-time after graduation. These trust partnerships are crucial to leverage especially if a student intends to enter a non-lucrative field like theater.</p>
<p>Chicago has amazing entertainment options. The free intercampus shuttle will take her right to Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s main shopping district. On the weekends, there’s also a shuttle to all of Chicago’s main attractions, including the theater district in the Loop and shopping areas in the North Shore (e.g. Old Orchard). Alternatively, there are 3 CTA stops on campus (Davis, Foster, Noyes) and 24-hour CTA buses running through the campus. Northwestern is suburban but has a uniquely urban feel. Downtown Evanston offers all the amenities a college student could ever need (coffeeshops, bookstores, a really nice movie theater, bars, restaurants) and is a frequent dining destination for residents of the North Shore.</p>
<p>Your daughter might be interested in this interdisciplinary creative writing program:
[Certificate</a> in Creative Writing for the Media - About the Program, School of Communication, Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/programs/certificate_creative_writing_media/]Certificate”>http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/programs/certificate_creative_writing_media/). The alumni of the program are nothing short of exceptional.</p>
<p>Remember that NYU gives preferential aid packaging. She could end up with a nice scholarship there. Of course she shouldn’t go if she doesn’t get a lot of money, but I wouldn’t cross it off the list of applications solely for financial purposes.</p>
<p>I would still recommend that she applies to NYU. I might sound pushy but she just sounds like the absolute perfect fit for this school! Given her great stats and the fact that you’re low-income you might be surprised by the financial aid package (my family is low income too and we got about 50K in scholarships!).</p>
<p>I would give Macalaster serious consideration then. Minneapolis has the most theater seats behind New York to handle her “show” fix and well, the Mall of America-shopping is pretty much taken care of there :D. Financial Aid will be generous for your income level. I would consider Carleton as well but that is not urban–but not that far from Minneapolis either. They guarentee to meet 100% of demonstrated need and you probably won’t have to pay much, if anything to attend there.</p>
<p>Depending on what area of “media” she wants, she has many options in the Twin Cities with Ad agencies, television and radio, etc.</p>
<p>If she is fluent in sign language you might consider Univ of Rochester. They just started a new media studies program and one can also study American sign language. Eastman school of music is in Rochester so there is a lot of musical performances going on. I believe they give decent FA packages. </p>
<p>[Film</a> & Media Studies : University of Rochester](<a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/College/FMS/]Film”>Film and Media Studies : University of Rochester)</p>
<p>[American</a> Sign Language Program || University of Rochester](<a href=“http://www.asl.rochester.edu/]American”>http://www.asl.rochester.edu/)</p>
<p>notshalimar
Did your D take the PSAT and score above the NC cutoff for NMSF status?
If so, she has a much higher chance of acceptance at USC than than the overall acceptance rate implies. And IF she were accepted, she WOULD receive an AUTOMATIC 1/2 Tuition NMF scholarship which USC sponsors AND probably a lot of FA in addition [ cant guarantee that but USC has a very generous FA program] . She SHOULD apply to USC before their Dec 1 deadline in order to be considered for one of the 150 FULL TUITION scholarships they offer.</p>
<p>How about the New School?</p>
<p>have you looked into Questbridge? questbridge.org and there is a subforum on it under the Financial Aid and Scholarships forum.</p>
<p>Macalester came to my mind, too. (but it’s not a Questbridge partner and I’m not sure how good – or not – their FA is). </p>
<p>agree also not to write off NYU because of aid because in some cases they really do come through.</p>
<p>My son’s college would be a safety for your daughter but would fit the rest of your Criteria. [Division</a> of Communication and Creative Media | Champlain College](<a href=“http://www.champlain.edu/undergraduate-studies/majors-and-programs/academic-divisions/division-of-communication-and-creative-media-x14424.html]Division”>Division of Communication & Creative Media | Academics) And because she’s has higher stats then the avg. student, her chance of merit aid is very good.</p>
<p>Have you checked the film program at the NC School of the Arts, which would be in-state for you? The draw back is that it might be too focused on film making as opposed to critical studies. Also look in-state at UNC-W and UNC-G. FSU, has an outstanding film program (probably second best in the east) although again it maybe too focused on film making as opposed to media studies and insufficiently urban as would be locations in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Wilmington. Take a close look at the University of Toronto, which seems to meet lots of your criteria.</p>
<p>Still think the USC would be your best bet.</p>
<p>Wesleyan. It’s not urban, but the town is not tiny and has a gritty, urban feel. It is within easy day trip distance from NYC, and I think the kids might be her tribe. Film studies there is amazing.</p>
<p>I think they are a Questbridge partner and are need-blind.</p>
<p>As someone above noted, look at Emerson. It’s in the middle of downtown Boston. I mean literally: it’s at the corner of Boston Common. Emerson is essentially a media & theater school. She would be surrounded by those kids. Note that Boston is strong in this kind of thing. There are music conservatories, notably NEC (New England Conservatory), Berklee, Longy (Harvard) and BU. There is also Boston Conservatory, which is more oriented toward musical theater and dance. They are all, with the exception of Longy, located near each other in the city.</p>
<p>A lot depends on what she wants to do in life or at least what path she wants to start on. If it’s film/tv and she’s interested in being in the industry, outside of NYU and USC, the programs I’d look at would be Northwestern & BU for traditional universities with large programs and Emerson as a specialty. Many schools have film/tv, but these are good programs. Take Bard, for example. They have a nice program but it’s oriented more toward personal filmmaking and that artistic path than toward a job in the business. NYU’s program, while obviously the most known, is also the most trade-school like; you can learn how to be a sound technician. (As a note, one of my kids works in TV and went to BU for film. As a further note, it doesn’t matter much in the creative world where you go to undergrad.) </p>
<p>If it’s an interest in media plus technology, then you’re looking more at schools like Carnegie-Mellon or University of Rochester (where one of my kids goes). There are others but these pop to mind. UR, for example, has a program for generating research into the combination of music, science and engineering and are going to build a 7/24 hour collaborative work building with a floor devoted to media creation. (Note that UR includes Eastman School of Music.) In other words, if your kid is part media, part engineering, part scientist and wants to put those together, then you should think more about schools that are strong in these and not film/tv production.</p>
<p>Take a serious look at DePaul. Make a Chicago trip and visit Northwestern, U Chicago, DePaul and Columbia.</p>
<p>I would not necessarily sell your D short on MIT. With your family income, MIT would essentially be free.</p>
<p>If MIT is her dream school and she is attracted to the Media Lab and the Comparative Media Program she should not give up on it because of the math/science requirements. She has a high enough SAT and GPA to be qualified. MIT has a very innovative program called the Experimental Study Group (ESG) for students who want to avoid large mainstream classes with recitations. During freshman year students in ESG take their math/science in small groups of 5 or 6 students with a professor.
[Academic</a> Philosophy — Experimental Study Group](<a href=“http://esg.mit.edu/about-esg/academic-philosophy]Academic”>Academic Philosophy | ESG)</p>
<p>In addition to the science and architecture programs, the humanities programs are also world class. Philosphy, economics, political science are tops. The creative writing program is also ranked among the best in the country. Whatever she can’t find at MIT she can freely cross-register for at Harvard. </p>
<p>In general, work at MIT is highly collaborative and all math/science psets are worked on in groups. First semester grades are pass/fail and second semester is A/B/C/NR. There is no competition for grades and classes are generally not graded on a curve. There are also no Latin honors or rankings. </p>
<p>Obviously, the admit rate is low, so there is no guarantee your D would be admitted. On the other hand if she is accepted, I am sure that she could do the work. Nobody flunks out of MIT. Everybody works hard in part because there are no easy majors, but mostly because students are highly driven. </p>
<p>Our D just graduated from MIT last spring and although she worked very hard, it was truly a life-changing experience. She truly feels much more self-confident and that she can tackle any problem going forward. She did research all years after freshman year and even got her name on a major paper.</p>