<p>@MYOS1634 alright then, English and Spanish it is. Do you only need to submit one college essay or two?</p>
<p>CommonApp has one common essay where you speak about your experience* (start looking at “Essay hell”) the each college requires one or two short essays that are college-specific. Typically one of these will be “why do you want to attend our college?” and the other one can be anything they want to ask you.</p>
<p>*in your case, it’d probably be topic 1 “an experience that is so central to your identity”… and you’d speak about your sophomore year, its impact, and how you overcame that.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I see. So then, two to three essays? Not bad. I can definitely handle it.</p>
<p>How long are college-specific essays?</p>
<p>no, 1 common essay (500-600 words) + 1-2 essays PER COLLEGE you apply to (150-250 words each).
However once you’ve worked out the basic structure of “why I like college X”, you can just keep it and change according to what you like about each college (you read the website up and down and accross, and you take notes about <em>everything</em> you like. Then you decide what will go into your essay, especially the elements that match your academic background, personal experience, character, or professional plans, best.)</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 ah, that seems good. You said Quinnipiac, as it currently stands, is a low reach, right?</p>
<p>Yes. With a 1700 SAT, grades all at A-B level, and a good essay, Quinnipiac becomes a match. :)</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 that’s great to know, and I’ll do all I possibly can to obtain that goal. As a New Jerseyan, I’m only open to staying in the Northeast. Quinnipiac is the one school that I really want to get into. I am attracted by the view of Sleeping Giant Park right above the campus, the strength of its business program, the bustling nightlife of nearby New Haven, and its proximity to Boston (about 1.5 hours away). I have yet to visit QU, but I just know that I’ll fall in love whenever I do. Best part is, my parents also seem to be fond of it, and they want to visit as well!</p>
<p>Save that little paragraph and use it for next year (along with more precise elements like programs that impress you, specific classes you’d like to take, etc). For your visit: see if there are visit days and sign up for them (this way they’ll know you’re interested - bonus for you), try to spend a whole day or a half day there, including sitting in on a class, eating in the cafeteria, and taking a tour. If that’s not possible, do fill out the “request info” form no matter what (you may get a free app out of it) and when you take the tour, stop by the admissions office long enough to sign your name so that someone can record your visit. Every little bit helps. 
However, I would caution you against “falling in love” with a school. Set up a list and find other colleges that you like just as much, visit them too, etc. You always want to be in a position of having a choice rather than feeling like you’re “settling”.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I did fill out the “request info” form for QU, even though they had been sending me emails already. And of course, I have interests in other schools. Monmouth (sent me an info package; no request form on their website), Hofstra (filled out the form despite emails), Scranton, Bentley and SUNY New Paltz are on my list of schools as well. Those are all schools where I’d be happy to spend all four years of my undergraduate career. :)</p>
<p>You did well: emails and brochures are generated by a contracted private comparny that is not related to admissions (typically, Collegeboard sells your address for a fee when you take the SAT and if you reach a certain threshold you start getting mail, but the admissions office never heard about you in that whole process). If you want Admissions to know you, you must fill out that form. It won’t matter for SUNY New PAltz because they receive thousands and thousands of applications, but for other universities on your list, especially smaller ones (more personalized process) and those for which you are borderline, expressing that interest early on will be a slight nudge in your favor.
What you need to do now is run the Net Price Calculator for EACH and every school* then discuss the results with your parents.
*= because each school calculates differently!!</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I’d hope that becomes a nudge in my favor. Without official test scores, I’ll take any little advantage I can obtain. And I’m guessing the “Contact Us” form is another way to request info?</p>
<p>How does the Net Price Calculator work?</p>
<p>Yes it’d be a nudge in your favor, of course! Depending on the school, it can be a tiny nudge or a pretty big one :)</p>
<p>Net Price Calculator: you need to know how much your parents make, the value of your family’s assets/house (if you own one). You enter the numbers and, as long as your parents’ income doesn’t primarily come from a small business they own, you should have a good idea of how much you’d be expected to pay at each school. Some schools factor in merit, others don’t. Look at the cost BEFORE any loans. Then talk with your parents. Many simply don’t know how much college costs. Some are unwilling to pay, many simply can’t pay as much as they’re expected to pay. None of the colleges on your list “meet need”, so they can elect to “gap” you, ie., to let you fend for yourself financially. The stronger an applicant you are, the better you make out for the financial aid package.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I unfortunately don’t know exactly how much my parents make (they wouldn’t tell me when I asked), but I do know that we’re upper middle class.</p>
<p>BTW, I also filled out a Request Info form for Fordham. I personally don’t feel it’s attainable for undergraduate studies, but my parents want to visit. I would love to go there for grad studies, though :)</p>
<p>Enter 120,000 then. Then bring the results to them to see what they think, and when they ask what numbers you plugged in, say 120,000 and watch their reaction (it should give you a cue as to whether it’s higher, lower, or a pretty good guess).
Good job on the “request info”.
More accessible for you than Fordham: Manhattanville. You’re already applying to Hofstra and hopefully discarded Pace. A reach but if you’re full pay (ie., if your parents make 200K or more) it may help you get into Marist, Ithaca, Hobart&William Smirth, and St Lawrence.
Matches, if you get that 1700-1800: Elmira, Colby-Sawyer, Hartwick, Washington&Jefferson, Marymount Manhattan.
Not sure they have your major though.
You already have SUNY New Paltz but you can look into the other SUNYs and, if you want an easier school near NYC, you have CSI (and they have new dorms).</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 thanks, but I’m not really interested in the schools you listed. But what does CSI stand for?</p>
<p>College of Staten Island (it’s a public New York City school,I think accross from Manhattan). They have scholarships and they just finished a new dorm. Your odds are pretty good you’d get in.
Then you have the other CUNY’s, some of which have housing (I think: Lehman, Hunter, and CCNY, but you’d have to check.) Obviously, housing in NYC is super expensive.
A safety near NYC for you would be Old Westbury - and if you stay in the dorms you may get a scholarship to help you defray cost.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the schools you’re looking at, so I can’t necessarily chance you, but your ECs are impressive and if you can get a good SAT score, you are on track. I would agree that your GPA is low, but I would suggest using it in your essays to eloquently explain what was learned from the experience of being evicted. I can’t stress enough striving to receive a great score on the SAT though. The College Board Prep book is all I used and I would highly recommend it. Hope I helped. </p>
<p>@MYOS1634 Thank you very much for the recommendations, but I’m not very impressed with the educational standards of those institutions. Their four and six year graduation rates are low, despite their (unreasonably) low admission rates. Lehman’s average age is 27. @-) And none of them have my major. So once again, thanks for having me search, but I’ll pass on those schools. I did officially discard Pace, though, and my list is now down to six schools. :)</p>
<p>@livy5loo thank you for the advice! I expect to use the book in conjunction with the prep courses!</p>
<p>Is your planned major sports management, or would that only be a minor?</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 my planned major is International Business. I have no plans on being a double major, so anything involving sports would be a minor.</p>