Greetings!
It would be really helpful if you helped me with a few questions I have.
- Should I take online courses for SAT prep or go to a summer program?
- How many AP classes should I take Junior year?
- Does volunteering matter in college admissions?
- I know 4 languages, will that help me get accepted into colleges I want?
- What extracurricular activities should I participate in this summer?
- Could I get into NYU?
- I am currently a sophomore in HS. My family is quite poor and we immigrated to America from Greece 2 years ago. My knowledge of the English language was extremely low but I worked hard to get out of ESL as soon as possible. I came here by the end of 8th grade so I did not have the chance to get in any honors classes freshman year. I am planning to take AP History, AP Literature, AP Psychology, Dual enrollment Chemistry and Honors German, Junior Year. Due to major differences between the two countries, thinking about college has been making me quite nervous. As for extracurricular activities, I made a non-profit school club which focuses on helping poor children from developing countries. I am planning on join Track and Field this spring and I am part of the German Club and the National Arts Honors Society club. I can speak English, Greek, Albanian, German fluently and I'm currently learning Italian. I fear that I do not stand out amongst other students. As of now, my rank in the school is 120 out 400 students. I've been looking at multiple schools like NYU, Schryers PennState, UCLA but they all seem so unreal. I am afraid that I will disappoint myself and my parents because they have worked so hard their whole lives.
Are your parents rich? UCLA gives no aid to out of state students. NYU and Penn State give limited aid.
Unfortunately, no. My family is having economic difficulties at the moment. Am I considered an out of state student if I’m a permanent US citizen?
If you do not live in California you are out of state.
What state do you live in?
I see. It’s all just hopes and dreams, it would be lovely to be accepted. Money is an important factor but getting in seems quite impossible.
There are many good schools in Pennsylvania, but, unfortunately, I think the state schools are still pretty expensive (for state schools.) Do you go to a very competitive high school? (Meaning, are your grades still good even though your class rank is not extremely high?) I think your language skills and ECs are compelling, and with an interesting life story might attract some merit aid and/or stacking need-based aid for a good school as long as you would accept a college that isn’t as prestigeous as those you mentioned. Are your parents pressuring you to get into an elite school? Do you know what they can pay? Can you give us your GPA? Do you know what you want to study?
@MYOS1634 are you around to give any advice?
@Ingriiid
What is your current GPA and have you taken the PSAT? That information will help us to help you.
Do you know what your parents will be able to afford? The first step in targeting colleges should be the financial one. Have them put their financial information into the Net Price Calculator (NPC) of some schools that interest you and you will get information about their expected family contribution (EFC). If your family has a lot of financial need, you will want to seek out schools that will meet that need in the form of grants, as opposed to loans, which would require repayment by you or them. Federal student loans amount to about 27K total over four years (5.5K freshman year, with small increases up to year 4). Anything beyond that would have to be cosigned by your parents. If they are struggling financially, it would be unwise to take on educational loans for you, assuming they qualify.
Here’s an example of how this might work: Penn State is relatively expensive, even at in state rates. It may be that a small private college like Dickinson, in Carlisle, PA, might cost less than your in-state flagship, depending on the calculation of your financial need. I mention Dickinson because for a school of its size, it offers a lot of variety in foreign languages. Or you might look at Colleges that Change Lives schools (ctcl.org) These are schools that are less competitive for admission but still very fine colleges. They often offer substantial merit scholarships for A-/B+ students. Ursinus, Susquehanna, and Allegheny are three examples.
Another possibility to save money would be to attend community college or a branch campus of the Penn State system for the first two years and then transfer to the flagship.
However, as @TomSrOfBoston says NYU is not particularly generous for financial aid and most public universities don’t provide aid for out of state students. So NYU and UCLA are not going to be affordable.
The good news is that there are 3,000 colleges and universities in the US and there are many options both financially and academically. It’s good you are beginning to think about this now so you can come up with a realistic plan.
As to your questions about curriculum and standardized tests - if you are disciplined, the free resources at Khan Academy plus a book of official SAT practice tests (available for about 20 bucks on line) may be sufficient for your needs. The number of APs should be based on your interest and ability level. You don’t want to overload yourself to the point of having your GPA suffer.
Good luck!
My school is considered an elite public school in Pennsylvania, I think it’s in the 20 top ones. My parents have always said that they can pay for whatever college I choose but I dislike the idea of causing them such an inconvenience. As of now, my unweighted GPA is a 3.7 while my weighted is a 4.0 or a 3.9. I am thinking of studying either law business or psychology. I’ve always wanted to help people in some kind of way so I think I’m choosing the right path. Because of culture, my parents have always pressured me to reach for the best options possible but due to my language struggle during freshman year, it has been hard. My father wants me to get into a good school, maybe not as prestigious as the ones I’ve mentioned but definitely a school that has 50% acceptance rate or lower.
Hello! Thank you very much for helping me. I truly appreciate it.
My unweighted GPA is a 3.7 while my weighted is a 3.9 or 4.0. I took the PSATs and my results were not very good but I’ll work very hard to improve. I got 1200 overall but I’ll definitely practice and work harder for a higher result. The colleges you mentioned seem very appealing and I will research more about them. I believe that if I work hard enough I can handle APUSH, AP Lit, and AP Psychology. Both three subjects interest me and I love learning about them. So hopefully I’ll do well. The information you provided has really enlightened and relaxed me. Sometimes, I get so paranoid that I start thinking “what if no college accepts me?”. Thank you so much!
@Ingriid, your English skills are very good for someone who has only been in the US for two years not knowing much English prior to coming. You write much better than some of the native English-speaking kids who post here! If you apply to a good mix of reach, match and safety school, I can’t imagine you not getting an acceptance you like. Also, colleges will evaluate you in context with your competitive high school and know you’re a good student.
I also think the colleges previously mentioned are good ones for you to look into. Dickinson is a very nice and well-regarded school that you may have a chance at, especially if you get your SATs up a bit. I have heard very good things about Susquehanna University, and even though it isn’t as difficult to get into as some, it seems to have solid academic value, a growing reputation, great professors who are enthused about teaching, friendly students and a beautiful campus. It has some business degrees, as well as psychology (Just about all schools will offer a psychology degree but not all will have business.) I think you would have a good chance for merit aid there. If you would like a small college in a city, you might like Duquesne University (it’s a Catholic school but you don’t have to be Catholic to go there…don’t know how you would feel about that.) Duquesne has a famous Eastern-European music and folk-dancing troupe that you might find personally interesting! All the students in the troupe (The Tambouritzans) are on full scholoarships for being in the group, and perform traditional dances from all over Eastern Europe (including Greece and Albania) wearing authentic embroidered clothing. I’ve seen them perform and they’re amazing! (You can find them on Youtube.)
There’s a thread from last year on College Confidential that you can look up called “Parents of the H.S. Class of 2017: 3.0-3.4 GPA,” I think you might find it reassuring to read. It’s a very long thread, but toward the end of it is a list of all the colleges and universities these parents’ children were admitted to, with their stats, ECs, etc. Some of the students had somewhat higher GPAs, but all were B to A- students. Many of them not only got into schools they were very excitied about, but were awarded significant merit aid. There’s a similar thread for this year, but all the college acceptances have not come out yet.
Good luck to you!
If you’re talking about private colleges/universities, there’s no reason to restrict yourself to schools in Pennsylvania, unless you want to be close to family. Being in-state only matters for public universities.
@ingriid For public institutions, in-state students will be given little aid while out-of-state students get money literally thown at them. For private institutions, it depends on how big their endowment is. The bigger the endowment, the more money you probably will get. Do some more research and keep up the good work! I’m really impressed from what I see here on this thread.
This is not true of Penn State and the UCs. Run the Net Price Calculators to see what aid schools predict for your financial situation.
@bodangles Those net price calculators are very far off from what they actually give.
@MrElonMusk Sources, please.
@bodangles Rutgers Net Price calculator estimated a full ride for me. In reality, I got only 13k, or about half. (I’m also in-state)
UPitt Net Price Calculator estimated for me about $7k in aid. In reality, I got a full ride.
@MrElonMusk : contact Rutgers. Their merit aid has been wonky this year.
if the NPC does not ask for GPA and test scores, it doesn’t evaluate what sort of merit scholarship you’d qualify for and no merit aid is included in the NPC results.
Most NPCs (such as the college board ‘institutional calculator’) will be accurate. Those that aren’t tend to ask very few questions (for instance, NYU’s) and tend to be linked to colleges that dont meet need.
That may be useful if the OP is intending to apply to those schools. Anecdotes can’t prove the original claim that all NPCs are inherently inaccurate, however. OP should still run them and see what they say.