But, you do already have a community college class on your schedule, intro to mass media? It will be a big commitment.
And you have Avid and college applications, and test prep, which take time, too.
I don’t see the UMBC program for concurrent hs enrollment as a good fit for your schedule.
It may be better to focus on quality and mastering the required classes that your high school has already approved…
And allow time for fun and relaxation this summer, too. Peace be with you.
I don’t think the Secretary in your high school guidance office should be providing you with course guidance.
I don’t think you need any more college courses at all. What you need are courses where you will do well. These should be available at YOUR high school.
Maybe no one agrees with me…but I think you have an issue with the level of foreign language in ONE language. You just don’t have level 3. You need to get this figured out.
The amount of aid YOU receive will be based on the financials your family has now…for the 2025-2026 academic year, the financials from 2023 tax year will be used. If those are the same as when your sibling attended college, you could get the same aid. When your sibling was in college, was he the ONLY sibling attending college at the same time?
The universities where OP will apply will only require/expect 2 years, however @resplendissant will need to take further classes (2 semesters of Chinese or 3 semesters of Korean/another language.)
OP is missing at least 1 semester of social science/History.
@resplendissant
How did you choose DE Media Studies? Is that supposed to be a 1-semester social science course?
SAI -1500 means you will receive the maximum Pell grant.
What net price do you see from UMBC? Towson? Goucher ? mcDaniel?
Okay, so your college list for now includes
UMBC
Towson
Perhaps UBaltimore?
UMBC is definitely a good target.
But you need more possibilities.
Have you started practicing the SAT with Khan Academy? You need to set 1hour aside just for that every day, even if it’s tedious.
Have you been able to find a job within commutable (bus or walking…) distance?
Here is a list of companies that help pay for college, including Starbucks (my nephew’s girlfriend recently got her college degree that way), Chipotle, UPS, Chick-Fil-A, Papa John’s, etc.
Also, if you happen to get the 1500 you’re projecting on the SAT, you may want to take a look at U. of Louisiana - Lafayette. If you score 1420+ on the SAT and have a GPA of at least a 3.0 you would qualify for its Live Oak Scholarship. It would cover room and board, a waiver for out-of-state fees, plus an additional $3k towards in-state tuition. I believe that @2plustrio’s kid was offered the scholarship last year as an out-of-state student and that costs would have been around $8k/year. If you qualify for a Pell grant (and with an SAI of $1500, I think you would), then that leaves about $1500/year which could be paid for via summer job or a loan.
The OP said his SAI is -1500, the lowest possible SAI. This negative SAI correlates with a full Pell grant and eligibility for additional financial aid (I’m not sure if it’s still called SEOG).
SEOG program still exists…the max is $4K per year (min $100) and unlike Pell grants it’s not guaranteed. Each school gets a certain amount from the Feds and when it runs out each year, no more students can get any. So, OP could get SEOG from some schools in varying amounts, and none from some schools as well.
Yes, but having completed 1 college course and the one I am doing now, the course work has not been difficult for me. I know doing both alongside high school could add some difficulty, but I do not believe much at all.
Although, I am unsure if my counselor will even allow me to… so there’s that. I realized the person I was talking to WAS a counselor, and very well might be mine. I do not know if they would be receptive to the idea?
I think school will be okay, especially if I finish my application by the middle of August, and will have to look more into financial aid information, just be waiting on my LORs, and studying for the SAT towards the end of August.
I actually found out that they are a counselor… and will likely be mine.
In terms of college courses, I only have one in the fall currently. Outside of my classes required for graduation, I really would prefer to not do anymore than I need to.
This is because I do see it as unneeded work that would only marginally help my GPA, and that I do not need for admissions requirements, as I will have completed all of them by the time my senior year is over with my current schedule.
If I have the ability to get more course work, I would want it to directly contribute to my college credits.
When I start going back to my high school, I will inquire with the counselor if I would be able to move to Chinese 3, since I have technically finished Chinese 2.
I could also try calling my 10th grade school to see if they would be able to revise my transcript or anything like that, because they had changed Chinese 2 to Chinese 1.
Though at my prior school, my counselor told me that it could not be done because of the way the other schools had formatted it on my transcript, and that they could not change it.
I do believe that my family’s financials are the same with very slight changes. My sibling originally attended community college in 2022, but dropped out. This year, they started technical school, like last month.
They are the only sibling/other person in the household who was attending, and is now as well. I was also not on the parent I am living with now’s taxes for 2023, but there has been a recent custody change, so I am unsure if it would cause any issue with the FAFSA.
I will be contacting my 10th grade school to see if they can correct the mistake of changing Chinese 2 to Chinese 1, so I can instead take Chinese 3 in 12th. I would assume that they would contact my current school or something along the lines of that, if it is possible. This is weird to me, as the school I will be attending now is the school I started Chinese 2 at in the first place.
For social sciences and history, I have:
US Government - 1 Semester
Sociology - 1 Semester
US History - 1 Year
AP World History - 1 Year
I just have to complete the 1st semester of US Government here because in the other state I was in, Government and Economics (I took it first) were required and separated into 1 semester each, but Government is the only required one here, for a full year.
I hope that explaining this in additional information will clear up some confusion about my HS transcript, as it is somewhat unorganized.
I just chose that course because there was a limited to list of courses that the school was covering, and I wanted a GE done.
Another issue I have run into is that I will likely be considered out of state, because I have only been in Maryland since April 2024, and was (likely) claimed on my other parent’s taxes, from another state. I talked to a person from UMBC and this seems to be the case, since it has also not been a year that I have lived here.
UMBC: $31,765 ($22,725, if I remove the “estimated other expenses”, as that does seem to be a loose figure that is not yet concrete.)
Towson: $23,054 (Again removing estimated other expenses: $19,704)
I will not be considering Goucher or McDaniel because of distance/general disinterest.
I will be applying to Stevenson as well.
This is theirs: $33,681 ($24,603 amount only calculating tuition and books, not miscellaneous personal expenses.)
Quite honestly, if I do not get into any of these schools, I will just go to community college then transfer, because I do not want to go anywhere else.
I am also going to look further into non loan payment options.
I have been practicing for the SAT.
I have gotten an interview and I will be hearing from them later today.
Depending on whether or not I get a second interview on a job I have just interviewed for, I might apply for companies that have these type of programs specifically, as I have applied many places, but not with this in mind.
That sounds like a great opportunity, and thank you for notifying me of it. However, I am staying away from far away out of state options for now, not only due to the cost of schooling, but also because of other personal reasons.
If you were in MD from April 2024 it will be a full year and more by the time you start college in August 2025. Therefore you will be considered instate.
Good job wrt the Chinese mix up. If you’re eligible for Chinese 3 and your school offers it, definitely take it - since UMBC uses level reached in HS to determine you would only need to take 1 semester of foreign language.
Minimum college entrance or HS graduation requirements are just the minimum. It’s good to be a bit above that minimum because rigor, especially senior year rigor, is factored into the decision. Typically, only senior rigor is factored into the decision since grades aren’t available yet, and all you need is grades of C or above in the most demanding courses, though of course the goal would be to get As. It’s better to get B’s in DE/AP classes than As in all-regular classes, but in your case you’re taking 1 AP and 1 DE class already, so hopefully you can add a couple Honors classes to prepare for college. A college schedule is like taking 5 AP courses together so you need to build up the skills to be ready.
Goucher is 1 mile from Towson.
McDaniel is, indeed, 30 miles from where Towson is. So, indeed, impractical for a commute.
Compared to Stevenson, Goucher has a better student:faculty ratio, better graduation rates, better financial aid, higher rates of loan repayment (meaning more students fins jobs and/or get higher paying jobs), for similar selectivity (they are both good choices for B students, though Goucher is a bit more prestigious/well-known).
(You can type in “CollegeSimply compare”… and the name of 2 or 3 colleges to see the difference).
Both would likely be more expensive than UMBC but could offer significant scholarships so you have to take a shot and see whether one might turn out to be the better deal.
It’s good you have CCs as safeties. 
If several community colleges are nearby, compare their rate of transfer to a 4-year college. Some CCs have abysmal rates so you can increase your odds by choosing the one with the better cc->UMBC or other 4-year experience.
@kelsmom can verify this…but I believe you will use the custodial parent that is in place as of your FAFSA filing and will use their 2023 financials.
Agree. You need to find the ones with the best articulation agreements…meaning that you have a full chance of acceptance and your courses will transfer.
I’m not sure taking college courses now is necessary. I would suggest taking some elective of interest at your school. That could be interesting and fun. For example, my own kids took culinary arts their senior year…and loved it.
One of my kids had exactly ZERO ECs related to their eventual college majors, but they had very strong commitment to the ECs they did (both in and outside of their high school). Their EC wasn’t remotely related to their STEM major (EC was music).
Do you have any arts courses in your list of high school courses. Maybe I missed it, but could you please list the courses you took listing them by the year in high school in which you took them?
Culinary Arts is Very useful because knowing nutrition and how to cook for yourself or others is a vital skill.
The new rule is that financial information is reported for the parent who provided the most financial support over the past 12 months (it no longer matters if you lived with that parent). If they each provided the exact same amount of financial support, the parent who earned more is used.
And they will use the 2023 tax year info for the 2025-2026 academic year financial aid forms. This is true for both the FAFSA and Profile.
I think they said that it has to be a year before your semester begins or something? I forgot the exact phrasing, but then again, I was mostly talking about concurrent enrollment with them. For that specifically, I would not be eligible. However, I should receive clarification.
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I am really hoping that something comes from this. I have all transcripts for each of my schools, and I am hoping that at least they can fix the whole thing and that I can get ahead. Though since I am no longer a student there… I don’t know.
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Maybe I would be able to change at least some of my current courses to honors, but I don’t know how realistic that is.
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Okay honestly, I can’t see myself going to UMBC or Towson. So I probably should not waste my time applying to Stevenson. For both Goucher and McDaniel, it’s lack of interest and less so the distance. When I was mentioning distance, I was thinking of Salisbury, as I had been looking at it earlier.
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Many CCs are partnered with USM schools, so I think that would make things easier.
I have taken:
Creative Writing (10th, 1 Semester)
Culinary Arts (11th, Semester 1)
3D Art (11th, Semester 2)
Theatre Arts (11th, Semester 2)
If you are opposed to body fluids, smells and dealing with hygiene issues, perhaps an advanced degree (non-MD) in virology, epidemiology, genetics or genomics would be more suited to the kind of “medicine” you want to practice.
UMBC and Towson are very good 4-year universities that you’re fully qualified for. Don’t doubt yourself. 
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