I Have No Idea Where To Go!

College Search & Lists
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I will be graduated HS this year, so I am super anxious because I literally have no idea where to go. I’m a white female, oldest in a family of 4 kids, my mom was never married nor does she had a secure job she just dabbles in some business options, my dad doesn’t help us financially and my sister is a junior for whom we also need to think about college money. I was born in the Cali, but I we left when I was 4 years old, moved to Hungary (both my mom and dad are Hungarian), basically grew up there. Home-schooled through 9th and 10th grade, but retook 10th grade at a small Christian school in Hungary because I was switching from learning everything to Hungarian to English. Then moved to the Dominican Republic for 11th grade, now I’m at the same school for my senior year. I speak and write in Hungarian and English fluently, and I’ve been studying Spanish for 3 years. I intent to do Web Development as a career. I started learning code when I was 9 or 10 years old and progressed through several languages through the years. I know PHP, HTML (+CSS), Python, JavaScript, Flash (not that it matters), and a little bit of Java. Right now learning HTML5 and some CS stuff online by myself, but I managed to figure out a schedule with my counselor that allows me to take any programming online courses I want and I get credit for it. I also love Web Design and worked (sometimes paid) at a Hungarian company for 2 years. Now I create occasion websites for friends and family. Although I love programming I think I want to study Information Systems in college because I’m really interested in business and management as well and I feel I could gain some beneficial skills that I could apply for a programming career. Which brings my to my first question: should I take a gap year?

Right now I’m still considering a gap year in case I don’t get accepted to any of my top schools or if I don’t get enough financial aid. I feel like there is not much point for my mom to try to pay for a school that I don’t really want to to when I could just save the money for a year and work freelance or something. But … I have no idea where I want to go or where I could go. I know I am a good student, I’ve always gotten good grades. I have 3.9 GPA, although my school gives grades in percentages and we don’t have class ranks because we are such a small school. And I know that some students in my class get away with high grades, but I know personally that I work for my grades. I see no point in cheating myself of a learning experience by plagiarizing or example for copying someone’s work. I have two problems, however. One, I got a really low SAT score and two, I don’t have a lot of extracurricular activities. I got 1590 on my overall SAT score with 510 in Reading, 530 in Writing, and 550 in Math (I am retaking it). I only took the PSAT once because it wasn’t available to me in my previous years except for in 11th grade, but I do blame myself for not preparing myself more for the exam. However, I do have major test anxiety, and it has gotten better over the years, but it does still affect practically all my test scores. As for extracurriculars, I don’t have anything for 9th-grade homeschool except for “working” and learning code because I literally had no options. I have journalism, drama set crew, as well as coding for 10th grade in my Christian school. I played Ultimate, helped with renovations of a Jewish museum, made a website for them, and a couple smaller stuff in 11th grade. In 12th grade, I’m a part of the varsity volleyball team, yearbook, and I still code, but as you can see I have no leadership roles and I doubt I can get much if any for the rest of senior years because my school is rather “popularity” based when it comes to anything. So I’m really freaking out about where I could get accepted and still get aid. This brings me to my second question: Where should I go?

I love James Madison University, but I doubt with my application I can get enough aid. Does anyone have any suggestions for schools that offer Information Systems and are cheap or offer good scholarships? I really don’t have much of a preference state-wise, I just want small class sizes.

THANK YOU TO ANYONE TO ANSWERS!!! (and sorry for the length)

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How about start out at the community college? Are you US citizen?

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Born in California, so sounds like it. But not in-state anyplace, and sounds like she has a non-custodial parent that she is in contact with, but who isn’t going to help financially. And really low SAT scores, so automatic merit isn’t going to happen.

I think James Madison is a Virginia state college, right? You won’t get aid there. You need to look more to private schools, but you really need to get your test score up to have more choices.

Do you know anything about you dad’s income and assets? Has either parent remarried? Schools that give a lot of aid usually take income & assets from both parents and any new spouses into account.

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@4kidsdad Thank you for the suggestion! I started to look into community colleges and I feel like it could be good to go there and just transfer. And yes, I am a US citizen.

@intparent I know I need to boost my SAT scores. I’ve been studying for my next exam so hopefully I see a change. As for my dad, no, I don’t know how he is or where he is. My mom refuses to keep contact with him, so I don’t know if he’s remarried, although my mom is still single. Thank you for your feedback as well!

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Look into online programs. If you are planning to do web development, working and studying web development on your own might be best. Maybe make a website and strut your stuff.

I’ve taken community college courses in programming, and other than the pace being slower, you learn the same stuff. Community college is a very viable option for web design.

If you have major test anxiety and have not seen a professional about it, and don’t want to, college is NOT for you.

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You are going to be in a tough spot financially. You don’t get in-state tuition anyplace. For schools that require non-custodial parent information (you have to check the details on their financial aid pages – schools that require the CSS Profile form usually do, and some schools have their own forms for it). If the school requires it, you either need to get your dad to submit his info or get a waiver from the school. Waivers are not easy to get.

Even if you attend a CC, that may not give you in-state tuition at state schools when you transfer. And transfer students often don’t get good need based aid.

Higher test scores would open up some choices at schools that give aid for stats above a certain level.

Check out http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

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@sonnetfox With a high GPA, and an interesting background like yours, it seems to me you’re a prime candidate for a smaller, more individualized test-optional school. Would you consider a place like Bryn Mawr or Smith? They really like people who have been self-starters, and they meet 100% of need.

What a lot of people don’t know about these schools is that they’re part of local consortiums; if the class you want isn’t offered at that particular school you can take it at another school in the consortium. For example, at Bryn Mawr you can also pick from UPenn, Haverford, and Swarthmore, and at Smith you can pick from Amherst, Mount Holyoke, UMass Amherst, and Hampshire.

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got 1590 on my overall SAT score with 510 in Reading, 530 in Writing, and 550 in Math (I am retaking it).


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Although you’re a citizen, you live abroad, so it’s highly unlikely you’re going to get enough aid to live here and pay for your college costs…plus health insurance and int’l travel expenses.

Even if you were boost your scores a bit, it’s unlikely that the boost would be enough to get into the schools that give great aid.

Most schools give LOUSY aid. It is very likely all you’d get is a small Pell Grant and a small student loan…which isn’t enough to pay for college and living expenses.

What college choices do you have where you live?

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Another issue that you’ll have is that the schools that give the best aid will look at your dad’s income as well (and his new wife’s)

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If you can boost your standardized test scores (maybe try the ACT if you didn’t get any joy on the SAT) then you might have a shot at merit money somewhere. With a 3.9 GPA and decent test scores you might be eligible for places that award automatic merit beyond a certain threshold.

You might also look at Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives. It emphasizes LACs that do holistic admissions and offer merit aid. You don’t have to be perfect. You also have an interesting story to tell.

Good luck!

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I agree with Mount Holyoke in particular as a suggestion. Test optional, and they really value international diversity. It is a solid school academically, and has one of the loveliest campuses around. Plus the consortium adds academic and social options. They will want non-custodial parent info, though… you might ask for the waiver procedure and paperwork to see what is needed.

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Thank you all for your replies! I’m sorry I didn’t get back to anyone, I just got so overwelled in real life I completely forgot to check my account here, but again, I am so so so grateful for anyone who left a reply here.

UPDATE: I have since retaken the SAT twice, my highest score was 1720 which I reached the second time I took it. The third time I got 10 points lower. I didn’t end up taking the ACT, but I wish I would have now. I was able to apply to the University of Scranton, James Madison University, University of Denver, Murray State University, University of New Hampshire, University of Tulsa, Champlain College, Stetson University, and Stevens Institute of Technology with fee waivers. I got accepted all of the universities, except for Stetson Universtiy where I was waitlisted and Stevens Institute of Technology, though I haven’t heard anything from them at all since I applied. I only know my merit aid from the University of Scranton ($16,000) and I am still waiting on knowing any financial aid I receive from other schools based on my FAFSA that was also able to submit.

I think I ended up deciding that if I do not go to university this year because I can’t afford it I am going to take a gap year and study for the ACT really hard so I can get a really good score as well as contiue self-teaching myself towards my programming career until I go to university the next year.

@rhandco Do you think community college programming courses are worth it? I am still considering community college except I am scared of moving to a new country alone as my mom is only allowed to enter the U.S. for a limited amount of time. As for my test anxiety, I have since been told that my test anxiety is the result of my general anxiety and I am certainly not going to let it tell me if I can go to college or not because I know that who I am without my anxiety is a strong person who can adapt well to their environment. I have been working on my anxiety a lot lately and I feel like I’ve defiantly broken down several barriers and I will continue working on myself.

@intparent Thank you for the information! Luckily all my schools accept my mom being my only parent haven’t asked anything about my dad.

@Pheebers Thank you for your advice! Although I liked the schools, I didn’t apply to Bryn Mawr or Smith because they are all-girls schools and I feel like being around men would help me in my programming career as I have found that it is a more male dominated area.

@mom2collegekids As always, thank you for your reply! I live in the Dominican Republic and college choices here would really limit what I want to do because everything here lacks resources and I really did not like the atmosphere of any of the colleges that I visited. Also, I know several people who go different local colleges and they all suggest that I leave the country for academics if I have the chance. I could still potentially go back to Hungary, but the government is so horrible I do not want to live there. Practically everyone we know there tells us how lucky we are that we left and how they wish they could leave as well. As for aid, I’m still waiting on it. Also, none of my schools asked for anything from my dad.

@mamaedefamilia Thank you for your suggestion and kindness! I only got to look at Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives now, but while I was doing my college search I looked through many of the schools they mention, although I never ended up applying to any. It had a lot of good information nonetheless.

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The reason no one is asking about your dad is that the schools on your list do not meet need. So you are applying to schools that don’t give good FA to start with.

And regarding women’s colleges, all of those suggested are part of consortiums – there are men around. I work in the IT field, and trust me – you don’t have to go to college with men to learn CS and get a decent job in it. You need FA and have low test scores – you passed up some good options.

My guess is if you had applied to a couple of the test score optional schools listed. above, you would be going to college in the US this fall.

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@intparent And here I thought I spent enough time on research, I feel so stupid sometimes. Thank you for your help though.

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Sorry… not trying to make you feel that way. It is a complex process, and not easy for a HS student to navigate on their own.