Update 4/9: The Semifinals

So since my last update, I got my final two rejections from NYU (3/27) and Webster (4/1)...which means all the results are in and I can start deciding! Unfortunately, I also got my financial aid package from Brandeis, and although they gave me over $20,000 in scholarship (the most of any school), it is still 15k more than UArts and Ithaca. Sarah Lawrence is the only school more expensive. Surprise! I've actually pretty much narrowed it to Brandeis and UArts. DePaul and Ithaca don't really allow for performance training, and I'm honestly not ready to give that up. It has to be a combination. Cornish is far away and small. Sarah Lawrence is also small, and very project-based. I don't think I'm self-directed enough to take that on at this point in my life. I need more structure. So that's why I have narrowed it to two WILDLY different schools, one of which we can't afford and one of which my father has deemed worthless. You guess which is which! I made some pro-con lists, off the top of my head, without doing any research. I'll be visiting both schools in a couple of weeks, and supposedly won't be able to know which is right for me until then. Honestly I think they're both right for me. I could go either way. It's just the money and the parental disapproval. UArts just called and told me they're giving me another $3000 and that they want me. That makes them cheaper than all the other schools. My parents are doing some rethinking of the way they handle money (they have separate accounts and may combine) and my dad is sill being stubborn about the value of an education or whatever. To be honest, he's having a lot of trouble right now and although I know it's not my fault, it is sort of about me. He is away on business right now, and when he comes back I think we might FINALLY discuss it rationally. He might be mad that my mom and I didn't involve him in the process more. It's so weird that I haven't dealt with the unsupportive parent thing until now. I'm feeling relatively chill about where I end up—I don't think I'll be unhappy at either place. I'm going to end up doing the same thing regardless. Undergrad is not a huge deal. It just kind of stinks that I have to choose either academic or artistic connections/prestige. UArts is what I had in mind at the beginning; Brandeis is what I had in mind at the very beginning. It's just so weird that it's come down to the schools that are the very extremes of my list! I feel like I can't go wrong but I also can't totally go right.