I am currently looking and research different colleges. I am finishing the junior year. My GPA is about 90 which is 3.7. It is exactly the cut off grade for the arista which I will be in next year and probably be taking 2 or 3 APs by the time I graduate, and College Now Criminology. I have 2 job experience, little volunteer work, model UN, fencing team for 1 year, vice president of movie club for 1 year. Going out of the state of New York can also be a possibility. I currently attending Benjamin N. Cardozo high school. I’m planning to go to college with an undecided major. I also qualify for the EOP program which accepts students with lower grades. I am also open to private schools. Please let me know what colleges I should look into because I have no idea where to start. I also got a 1200 on the new SAT.
Your budget is a very important issue which you will need to take into consideration. In our experience we have seen costs ranging from less than $100,000 to nearly $300,000 for four years, and the high end of this is out of reach even for many relatively wealthy parents. At least in our experience there was almost no correlation at all between the academic strength of schools and what they would cost. Also be aware that the majority of students in the US take more than four years to graduate university, and as such in the event that university stretches to five years, or if you decide that you want to go to graduate school, it would be best if this is not a major financial problem. You need to find out what your budget is, and if it is anything less than full price (roughly half a million if you include a two year master’s degree and account for inflation) then you need to take cost into consideration and should run the NPC on schools that you are considering.
It would also help in the “picking colleges” effort to get a sense regarding what sort of school you would prefer. Are you STEM oriented or more liberal arts oriented? Do you want a large school or a small school? Would you prefer to be in a big city or a smaller town?
How far are you willing to go?
You probably should try to visit a few schools and see what you think of them. We took tours of many schools. A few schools (mostly small ones) allowed my daughters to meet with professors, and many allowed them to sit in on classes.
Finally, you are in the enviable position of having very good in-state public universities which are both academically very good, and relatively affordable. You should certainly take a look at the SUNY’s and CUNY’s.
Study for the August sat using khan academy - it’ll highlight the points you need to study and point you to lessons and exercises. Prepare seriously because a lot depends on it - scholarships often depend on test scores.
EOP and excelsior are one solution - Geneseo, Albany, Binghamton.
Plattsburgh, New Paltz, and Oneonta would be safeties and you could apply to the Honors college.
CUNY Baruch + Baruch Honors is another possibility.
Heop: Fordham, St Lawrence, Hobart&WilliamSmith. Hamilton for a super reach.
If you qualify for EOP it means you need close to “meet need” colleges - look into Wheaton MA, Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, Elizabethtown. Run the NPC.
If you don’t mind going further away, you have Cornell college Illinois, Augustana, Concordia Moorhead, Gustavus Adolphus, Beloit, Lawrence, Earlham.