<p>I’m split between my love for the arts and my love for the sciences. I’m also interested in education,film making, and print-making. I don’t really care about weather or location, but my ideal school would have not too difficult of grades, but a highly intellectual and cultural student body.</p>
<p>My funds are 25k a year, anything above is debt.</p>
<p>Sound like any colleges??</p>
<p>Are you a male or female?</p>
<p>That’s not enough information. Grades? ECs? Test scores? How about Vassar (not very good for physics though), with its new science center? </p>
<p>You sound perfect for New College of FL, where you can design your own curriculum. Without need-based aid, the cost of attendance for out-of-state students (it is part of Florida State system) is $25k next year. They boast that 70% of their students graduate with no debt. Look into it on your own, first, before others on this thread tell you it’s not right for you. You can send me a private message if you have more specific questions. If you’re a CA resident, you could look into the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. Otherwise, it is unlikely to meet your financial needs. Look at the Colleges That Change Lives site, also - they have some interesting places, and some are very generous financially. Maybe UNC-Asheville . . . Bridgewater State, in MA (traditional teachers’ college, but strong in arts education training) or Montclair State in NJ (very strong Music Therapy and other arts programs; not so sure about visual arts). If you have solid (not necessarily Ivy-level) academic credentials, I’d start with NCF.</p>
<p>Schools like Vassar, Hamilton, Brandeis, Williams, Bard etc. have strong science and arts. Vassar and Hamilton have just a few distribution requirements so it is easier to double major. There is an intellectual student atmosphere at all of these schools. </p>
<p>Adding Wesleyan to my list above…</p>
<p>Definitely look at Rochester Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>You mention film and printmaking, but what else? Which science and which arts field(s)?</p>
<p>RIT is know for being strong in engineering/tech/CS and in visual arts (very cool things happening with digital arts there). Depending on what you’re looking for, many of the small, liberal arts colleges have amazing research going on and also have great opportunities in the arts.</p>
<p>I think you have to clarify your finances first. Private colleges can cost up to $60K a year. $60K minus $25 x 4 = $140K, which is way too much debt for you personally. Whether it’s too much for your parents depends on their personal situation – age, income, assets etc. </p>
<p>First, ask your parents to use a few of the college’s net price calculators to determine if you would be eligible for need based aid. If that isn’t enough, then you’ll need to look at schools that offer merit aid. Many of the colleges suggested here do not offer merit aid, period.</p>
<p>In order to give you recommendations we’d have to know more specifics.</p>
<p>I don’t know where the “not too difficult of grades” figures into “the highly intellectual and cultural student body.” Students who really like ideas and culture, science and the arts, and whose school doesn’t make it too hard for them? What does this say about your devotion to ideas and culture if you’re worried about having to work hard? If you respect ideas and what it takes to acquire them, grades won’t stand in your way.</p>
<p>Woogzama, New College has a rep as being very difficult and perhaps this helps to explain their high dropout rate.</p>
<p>Lots of big universities have strong departments and good offerings in both arts and sciences.</p>
<p>New College of Florida is $30K for tuition alone. <a href=“http://www.ncf.edu/tuition-and-fee-schedule”>http://www.ncf.edu/tuition-and-fee-schedule</a></p>
<p>Check out your “flagship” state university. Chances are, it has all the programs you want (or at least something closely related in each of those fields). It probably won’t cost much more than (and may even be cheaper than) $25K/year at in-state rates. It won’t necessarily have a “a highly intellectual and cultural student body”, if you’re talking about what preoccupies the average undergraduate on a daily basis. Still, it will be large enough to have many students with strong intellectual and cultural interests. Grading in some science and engineering courses is likely to be very tough … but so many courses will be available that you should be able to find “physics for poets” courses, pass/fail courses, less math-intensive courses, as well as “gut” courses in many fields, to lighten your overall work load.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad - my son is entering NCF as an out-of-state student. They offered an automatic $15k merit scholarship to all accepted out-of-state students this year, bringing the basic costs down below $30k. Depending on how you calculate costs (ie. incidentals, materials, etc.), it will be $24-28k - about the same as our own state flagship. </p>
<p>^ That’s interesting. I wonder why they essentially negated the OOS premium? Maybe trying to drive their application numbers up?</p>
<p>@Erin’s Dad - I don’t know, but I ain’t complainin’. They used to have complicated formulae, whereby every accepted student was guaranteed something, but the award could be as small as just $1k. They based it on test scores, GPA, IB/AP, and it was impossible to forecast. </p>