But isn’t questbridge a full ride for the prestigous schools only? All I care about is public state schools so I’m from Texas.
I know, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me after high school. I know I’m not the only one who’s afraid every one in my class should be.
Well it’s his first time teaching AVID. He has no experience with AVID but my last year teacher did. She knew that I was getting out but she told me to give it a chance. And I told myself if things are not going well with me and avid, then I switch to newspaper instead. This isn’t the first time I had a teacher who was inexperienced with the AVID Program. And besides, AVID has taught me to take C Notes, ask good questions, and have Socrative Seminars.
With a class rank of 16 out of 515 (top 4%), you have automatic admission to any Texas public university, assuming that you meet other requirements (such as completing the specified high school course work). But note that automatic admission to the university does not necessarily mean admission to a selective/impacted/competitive major at the university (examples include CS, engineering majors, and business at UT Austin).
However, you should check the net price calculator on each university’s web site to see what the cost and financial aid look like, to see if each is affordable.
You’re in at UT, TAMU, Texas Tech, UTD. The issue is that depending on the major you’re hoping for, you may not get it. In addition, have you calculated your EFC? Texas isn’t very good for EFC 0 students, most Texas private
If you haven’t calculated your EFC, do it here and report back:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator
So you need to think a bit out of the box and apply widely. It just means you use ApplyTexas and your fee waivers, and through CommonApp (which is like ApplyTexas but it works outside of Texas.)
Avid is invaluable in keeping kids on track and applying to college.
How is the new Avid teacher doing in regards to deadlines, essays and college applications in general? I know he isn’t the same as your former Avid teacher, but is he at least keeping you all on track for those things?
Go with the flow of all this. It IS stressful…but your stress stems from feeling like you have to get it all done at once and do really well. You’ve worked SO hard so far. Don’t give up on it now. You have a whole class time devoted to college apps and staying on track…I would keep it.
Is your Apply Texas application completed?
You’re in at UT, TAMU, Texas Tech, UTD. The issue is that depending on the major you’re hoping for, you may not get it. In addition, have you calculated your EFC? Texas isn’t very good for EFC 0 students, most Texas private colleges don’t meet need and/or aren’t test-optional. So you need to think a bit out of the box and apply widely - that means looking beyond Texas publics.
If you haven’t calculated your EFC, do it here and report back:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator
If you feel AVID doesn’t help and taking Newspaper instead would relieve some stress, take Newspaper. One class isn’t going to make a lot of difference for College Admissions but may well make your quality of life better. Also, you now all the CollegeCOnfidential veterans ready to help you and act as your private college counselors to make sure all goes well.
However, if the class helps you staying on track, even if you’re not learning new skills - just to keep up with paperwork, deadlines, etc, consider keeping it.
@fredjan : suggestions? advice? Experiences to share?
What is your ACT?
ACT is 13
SAT 930 and 950
Use Khan Academy every day. Register with Word of the Day. Work with the Erica Melzer English books, and one of the prep books you’ll find in the library.
Are you African-American, Asian, Hispanic/Latino/a, Native American?
Hispanic
How long does your son study in college? 3-4 hours a day?
In college, 1 credit hour is supposed to correspond to 3 hours per week of work, including both in-class and out-of-class time. For most courses, the in-class time is about as many hours per week as the credit hours. I.e. a 4 credit hour course is usually supposed to be 4 hours of in-class time and 8 hours of out-of-class work per week (total 12 hours per week).
A normal course load in college is 15 or 16 credit hours for a student on track to graduate in four academic years (eight semesters of school). This corresponds to 45 to 48 hours of work per week, including both in-class and out-of-class time. I.e. basically equivalent to a full time job.
In actual practice, it is often the case that some courses have lesser or greater workloads than this correspondence. Courses with labs, art studio, music performance, large term projects, and the like are often the greater workload courses.
Why do most people believe top students shouldn’t go to community college? Shouldn’t I do what my heart tells me to do? I mean I want to go to a real university if I have enough money to go. My sister tells me that. She’s not mean or anything. I have to do what’s best between me and my family. (Both financially and emotionally)
Have you checked the net price calculators at the various Texas public universities and nearby community colleges (and any others of interest) so that you can have actual financial numbers to compare between your various options?
Top students may have large merit scholarships available to them as frosh, but would not be able to find them later as transfers, so going to a four year school on a big scholarship may be less expensive than starting at a community college and then transferring. However, large merit scholarships tend to need higher test scores than the ones you currently have.
http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/apps/CollegeMoney/ allows you to get cost and financial aid estimates for up to three Texas schools at a time, including public universities, some private universities, and community colleges.
A reason why people tell you to look at 4-year universities before community college is that it increases your odds of actually graduating, and students who start at a 4-year university have more scholarships available than students who transfer from a community college, meaning that sometimes cc is not cheaper (look for a thread titled something like 'did I really cost myself thousands of dollars?")
Apply to different types of colleges, and decide in the Spring. That’s what most students do. You don’t have to decide *now * - no wonder you’re stressed out. First, apply to lots of different universities and colleges that the NPC tells oyu are affordable. That’s between now and February. And in the Spring, look a your acceptances and decide. You have till May first, which is the official national deadline.
Investigate if the nearby community college has an honors program and if it has a guaranteed transfer agreement with 4-year universities.
OP, you have had some really fantastic and useful advice here. @MYOS1634 and @ucbalumnus are probably two of the most knowledgable people on CC. You won’t go wrong listening to their advice. Good luck to you.