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Well, let's see. I'm 22, married, and have a 5-year-old son. I screwed up pretty badly in high school, and if you've done the math you'll realize I was sixteen when I had my son. But I did indeed graduate, with a 2.1 GPA. My SAT score was 1350. And if you're wondering why the inconsistency, it might be enlightening to know that only a week ago I was finally officially diagnosed with ADD (doesn't life suck?) and started meds.

I got into photography when I was 19 and met my husband and his friends, who could be described as nyc greenwich village-style artsy 'hipsters' (fortunately mostly without the excessive pretentiousness). Alas, I was sadly uncultured before this. Maybe ignorance is bliss. Now I want to go to school for photography, of the artistic sort. Private school. Preferably in NYC or Boston (I'm in FL - ugh!). I am pretty set on the Art Institute of Boston at this point. I have a favorite alt-process book that was written by a professor there, and they don't require the multitude of drawing, painting, sculpture, etc classes that most art schools do in the first year or two. I'd like to be immediately involved in photography.

I'm pretty confident about my ability to write a good essay... english has always been one of my best subjects, even if my vocab generally sucks. But of course my high school performance was pretty sad, and I've been out of school for, what, 4 years or so. I feel fairly confident about my portfolio thus far, though I only have 5 or so strong peices that are complete. I've been meaning to work out some other peices that are complete only in my mind but I wonder if I should bother.

I'm not african- or native-american. I have a GPA below 2.5. I have no extra curricular activities or volunteer experiences under my belt. That pretty much rules out any chance of getting a scholarship. It's really quite amazing to me that there aren't any (significant) scholarships for single (I started that way anyhow) or young parents. $500 from some small local org won't help me much. It seems that financial aid is only going to cover a set amount, likely not even enough to cover tuition ($16,000 a year... not bad, really, for a very small private art school in Boston).

So, maybe I could cross my fingers and try for a full scholarship (one a year given out). It's an art school, so I think the 1350 SAT will be sufficient academically. I'll of course need a VERY strong portfolio and essay. But I still need to contribute at least $15,000 a year to support my family. Can you still get full fin aid if you're on full scholarship? Of course I could work in the summer but doubt I could be student/mother/wife and manage to fit a job in there during the school year.

I see it as absolutely hopeless but what the h*ll (is that allowed in here?), I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas I hadn't thought of. If you've managed to get this far, I thank you for tolerating my long-windedness. Any advice?

Aurore

BTW, if you're horribly interested, I do have some work posted online at : http://www.usefilm.com/photographer/11076.html
The first ten are fairly recent, the others from my first few months shooting.