Male, Hispanic
Long Island high school
GPA: 4.25 (W), 3.85 (UW)
SAT: 1080
Varsity sport 4 years, JV 2 years
Light volunteer mostly around sports
Do music production on the side
No AP or Honors classes
Education Major
Very strong recommendations from teachers (3) who attended SUNY’s
What are odds at (in order of priority):
New Paltz
Cortland
Oneonta
Purchase
Where else should I be looking?
Can I squeak into Binghamton?
Any private I might squeeze into with the above for education?
Can you be recruited in your sport at the D3 level?
Does your HS offer AP/Honors classes?
Since you were getting A’s in regular classes, why didn’t you try to take Honors classes?
What classes are you currently taking?
Are SUNYs affordable for your family?
Elementary or Secondary education?
https://www.suny.edu/attend/find-a-suny-program/undergraduate/
Would you qualify for EOP or HEOP?
Apply to more than the 4 you listed.
Run the Net Price Calculator on St Bonaventure, Molloy, Canisius, Niagara, Hartwick, Ithaca.
There may be more if you’re willing to go further away or can explain why you have no honors/APs/dual enrollment classes despite straight As.
Probably not going to be recruited, but I am working that angle. I ma just not sure it will amount to anything.
My HS offers alot of H’s and AP’s. There are plenty of opportunities. I didn’t take them because I didn’t think I would do well in them, and also because I wasn’t shooting to attend ridiculously competitive colleges.
SUNY’s are perfectly affordable for my family- and probably preferrable, but I am not averse to private- and we could privately pay for them as well. But given what I want to major in, and the fact that I am not a superstar student, are privates worth the $$$?
I will likely do Elementary ED and I will not qualify for EOP or HEOP.
I will look at the other names you listed, and am open to applying to more, but does that mean you feel that the 4 I listed are reaches for me?
Sounds like SUNYs are your best bet.
4.0 with a minimal academic background will tell universities like Binghamton that you are afraid of academic challenges; in addition, it may make them worry you’re not well-enough prepared (since they expect some APs and some Honors).
Overall, the 4 you listed are good matches. A match is 50-50 odds though. You need to find 2 safeties, but that could a community college with dorms like TC3 and another SUNY (like Plattsburgh, or even Buffalo State or Old Westbury). Then you could add a couple reaches, affordable colleges you’d really like to attend but know they’re unlikely. Rather than Bing, I’d look into Geneseo and someof the privates in-state or nearby, especially if you can be recruited for D3 - btw, head to the “athletes” section of this website, tons of good advice. OOS is tricky for education, you need to make sure they have an agreement with NYS, but PA has tons of private colleges and you’d have a shot at Elizabethtown, Lycoming, Lebanon Valley, Juniata, Susquehanna…)
Where the $$ might be useful is in providing support: private colleges are smaller and therefore don’t see you as a “number”, a blurry face among hundreds in a big lecture hall. The faculty can follow you on your journey, guide you, etc. Since you arrive without having had to struggle before - and struggling happens to all in college, especially to those who didn’t take honors or AP classes but to those who took honors and AP’s too! - the extra guidance can make a big difference while you find your bearings and transition from a relatively low challenge HS education to a fast-paced college education.
You’re clearly smart so it could be really worth it for your first 2 years (and you can always transfer to a SUNY after the first 2 years). However, it really depends what the NPC says, because it’s not worth paying twice as much for that - but a little more that your parents can afford out of pocket? It’s worth discussing it with them.
So, run the NPCs.
WHAT INCREDIBLY WELL THOUGHT ADVICE!
I wish my counselors would give me 10% of the attention you just did.
They took one look at my college list and blew me off, to focus on the needier students applying to higher caliber schools. The squeakier wheels as they say.
I forgot to add- Oneonta and Temple are the others I am considering. Maybe not slam dunk safeties, but I think maybe moreso than the others.
You might want to look into the Binghampton Advantage program. You would attend a community college near Bing (Broome County CC) while living on Bing’s campus. If you get decent grades, you get admitted as a regular full time Bing student after a year or two.
Great catch, wow 
Yes this student sounds perfect for this program!!
I assume you want to teach somewhere in NY after you graduate. Keep the location in mind as you are looking at schools, states have different requirements for teachers and it is always a good idea to attend school in the state you want to teach in. The good news is NY teacher certification is considered one of the most rigorous and it’s ALOT easier to go from NY to some other state than it is the other way around.
As your looking at schools take a look at their passing rate for the Teaching Exam, it’s a good metric to see how well they are preparing their students. As a point of reference, last time I looked the average for NY across all test takers was 82%.
Just be aware when looking through the SUNY major finder is that the naming of programs within the different SUNY schools can vary and so some schools might be under Inclusive Childhood Education and others would be Childhood Inclusive Education!
Two other schools to consider with great teaching programs in the NYC area are St John’s and Manhattan college.
Make sure Temple is affordable. It’s a match, not a safety.
Oneonta is a low match because their admitted students are all in the B+/A- group and the middle group have 1070-1220 on the SAT so you’re below average for SAT, above average for GPA, and rigor is okay. For a college to be a safety, you have to be at or above 25% for stats.
See this matrix:
https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf
A college from above is a safety if its "bottom25% SAT is 1030 and below.
1030-1090, low match.
1100-1150, match
1150 : reach
If you can afford Temple, PSU would be a reach (Education is less competitive than other colleges and they weigh GPA a lot, even if rigor also counts a lot, ie., zero honors/AP won’t help but 4.25W will help). However it would be the opposite of nurturing so not sure it’s ideal for you. Not sure what good reaches would be, probably a more nurturing college.
If your GCs aren’t very attentive, that would explain why none of them thought “Ey, this kid is getting straight A’s in regular classes, he should stretch a bit, let’s see if he can get a B in Honors English, Honors Math, and Honors Spanish”.
All such great feedback. You guys clearly know what you are talking about and I do not. So this is invaluable.
Right now my plan is EA at New Paltz, Cortland, Oneonta, Purchase and Temple. If none of these work out, I will move onto some of the others mentioned during the RD cycle and see where things stand.
Not sure what their admittance stats are but for elementary education at a SUNY, it’s hard to beat SUNY Oswego. It was first and foremost a Teacher’s College. Most of my friends there were elementary ed majors.
Seconding!!!
@MrkInMerrick you’re getting awesome feedback (the Broome+Bing option, Oswego…)
The 25-75 spread at Oswego is 1050-1250 ST/ B±A so it’s a match.
Purchase is more of an Arts college, so you could apply to Oswego instead of Purchase.
Be careful, lots of Priority Deadlines at OOS publics are Nov 1, so you should try your best to send your apps there if you’re interested as it may be your only chance to get a scholarship.
Some private colleges have EA, early admission, where they admit you earlier (NOT “ED”, ie., early decision, where you must decide where to apply earlier…) so if they’re free to apply, it’s no-risk to apply EA to those.
Blockquote
All good except Bing isn’t really a teaching program. I think they have non-traditional route to getting certified.
@MrkInMerrick why Temple? The PA/Philadelphia certification for Childhood Education is PK-4, New York is Grades 1-6.
If you are interested in PA you may want to consider West Chester, PSU and St Joes along with Temple.
You guys are so generous with your knowledge. Thank you so much.
Definitely apply to Oswego. Bing does not have undergraduate education, but if you transfer in from a CC you can apply for the masters and stay. You will need to complete a masters within 5 years to teach in NYS.
You can also apply to Plattsburgh. It’s a nice school and you should get in. I also think you will be accepted to Oswego. The SUNY colleges have excellent teaching programs.
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