@Dragonsgo, a think a good compromise for you would be to start taking Dual Enrollment (DE) Classes at one of your local Community College or 4-year Institutions. It is best that you take these classes at the Institution and not at your High School. Additionally, try to focus on courses that do not go towards your High School Graduation Requirements. Most top-tier Private/Public Universities (Duke, Tufts, WUSTL, UMich, UMiami, UTexas, etc.) WILL accept Dual Enrollment College Credits and/or allow you to place out of certain introductory College Courses. In New Jersey, the courses and books are paid for by the State/Local School Board. Essentially, you could get your first 2 years of College paid for, while still a HS student. Some Schools place a cap on the amount of Dual Enrollment Credits they will allow, but for the most part, you could potentially transfer up to 60 DE Credits. Depending on the 4-year University you eventually attend, you could enter as a Junior and Complete your Undergraduate Degree in 2-years.
You have excellent PSAT/SAT scores for a Sophomore, so the DE route could provide more challenging courses (along with AP Courses) for you going forward. Hopefully, you will have settled on a College Major by the end of your Junior/Senior Year of High School, making your College selection process a lot easier than not knowing what you want to do come HS graduation.
@Psata82 Dual enrollment sounds awesome but unfortunately it doesn’t exist here; I took two community college classes a year ago and paid full tuition and fees by myself (parents paid for books). There is career prep, which I believe is like a tech school program, at the community college, but last I checked I wasn’t really interested in the programs they offered. You can’t do any degree program offered by the college, it’s more limited.
There is another option since Dual Enrollment is not possible, that I think is perfect for you- Stanford University’s Online courses for gifted students- The general admissions deadline for next year has passed but you can still apply to take individual classes, though that deadline is June 16. https://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/enrollment_options.html
“Dual Enrollment doesn’t exist” doesn’t sound right; is there no university nearby (doesn’t sound like it)? It may be called something else (PSEO is another name for it) but before you’re sure DE doesnt exist, check with your guidance counselor. If you go through your high school, you should be able to take your morning classes at university or community college, and your afternoon classes + clubs at the high school.
This would be especially important if you’ve exhausted all your high school’s math offerings.
High income + no savings is a bad combination for college - you may get into Top 25 universities and not be able to afford them.
You’ll need to look into colleges that offer major merit. Beside USC (California), there’s USC (Carolina), UAlabama, Northeastern, Tulane, Emory, WashU; NYU has been known to love math prodigies (AIME-level) as well as Northwestern, not sure how HarveyMudd or Scripps would treat you (I think Scripps has merit aid) but the consortium garantees you never run out of math classes. Wellesley might be a possibility since they have merit aid and cross registration with MIT. https://www.math.hmc.edu/program/department/facts/
@MYOS1634 thanks for all the resources and names of different schools that have merit aid! I’ll be sure to check it out. Dual enrollment does not exist in my county. Some places just don’t have it; it’s not universal! I could take classes at my cc or maybe even at Rutgers (for Rutgers I would probably have to participate in their summer session first to be eligible for school year classes) but I wouldn’t have transportation (Rutgers is 40 minutes away by bus but my CC is like two or three hours even though it’s a fifteen minute drive because the bus service is so indirect) and I would be paying full freight (which I might be able to just barely afford at CC but not at Rutgers). I might do career prep senior year because that’s free (12 CC credits). I am in the high school program at Princeton U, which is really cool because I can take one class (math) at Princeton for free :).
For the $7,000 to $10,000 per year on your own, is this what you can expect from part time work earnings and federal direct student loans?
If so, then your net price limit appears to be between $12,000 and $25,000. See if you can get enough financial information from your parents to try the net price calculators on some colleges of interest, or get your parents to do that. If the net prices are too high, then you know that you need to build a merit-scholarship-seeking application list. This should be an easier task of you have high GPA and test scores, especially if you get National Merit Finalist. Here is a thread with links to lists http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html .
If need-based financial aid based on the net price calculator indicates that a college is likely to be affordable, then you can apply there with the aim of admission (rather than scholarship).
there are 2 other Stanford Math options-
Sumac which is a prestigious Math camp open only to exceptionally talent HS math students- https://sumac.stanford.edu/
The Stanford University Mathematics Camp [SUMaC] welcomes an elite group of talented rising high school juniors and seniors from around the world for intensive study in advanced mathematics.
Financial aid is available for Sumac.
. this could be a great summer 2016 opportunity for you ! Registration begins in early 2016.
And- Stanford’s college level online math and Physics classes, which are different from their online HS.
this is the online program you really should investigate as it is more appropriate to someone with your level of ability . https://ohsx.stanford.edu/
Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics courses bring motivated and academically-talented high school students together to allow them to explore their intellectual passions, develop analytic reasoning and creative thinking, and study directly with expert instructors. These online courses are offered throughout the year and give students the opportunity to take a broad offering of math and physics courses not typically offered in secondary schools.
Applications for the Summer session of Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics courses are due June 5!!!
here is a link to the courses offered https://ohsx.stanford.edu/university-math
Just checked and indeed, NJ HS’s can “opt out” of dual enrollment. :s I suppose they did it because you have the option of taking a class at Princeton… Can you petition to take more than one class at Princeton?
@MYOS1634 I’m not eligible for more than one, but I might be senior year. I don’t get credit from the university but it’s a great opportunity!
@menloparkmom Thanks; I’ll definitely check those out and try if I can afford them.
@ucbalumnus Thanks for the advice; I’ll try the npcs for a bunch of schools to get an idea. The 7-10k is from working but that might be a little optimistic, especially if wages are lower wherever I go to school or if I can’t work full time over the summer.
Eve if you’re not eligible for more than one can you petition to become eligible, considering your advanced status?
You can reasonably hope to earn 3-4K if you work full time over te summer in a high-wage area; you can then try to earn 3K over the course of the year. So 7K, not 10K, would be your work earnings. (Note that as far as I know, they’d be taxed if you earn more than 6K)
You’d also get 5.5K in loans for freshman year.
It means you need to get full tuition and full ride scholarships.
@MYOS1634 Thanks; I made just under the standard deduction last year (so no income tax) and I only worked for about two weeks during the summer, so if I work during the summer I might be able to make 9-10k before taxes.
@MYOS1634 The admissions process for Princeton U courses is already super strict; you have to have exhausted all courses in the subject at your hs with no grades below A-. It’s already only for the most advanced (70 students from surrounding towns in central NJ), and all the deadlines passed a long time ago unfortunately.
if i were you – a girl with an exceptional math skill…and a very good overall story – I would go for the big big scholarships – like the Morehead at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Robertson at Duke, and the Corneilus Vanderbilt as well as BU’s Trustee. And there are others. In general, these are $240,000+ scholarships over 4 years…and in some cases, even better than that. Our valedictorian won all 4 of those awards this year…plus, two at west coast schools…and you have a similar energy.
doesn’t work with any of these: Princeton, Rutgers, MIT, Penn, NJIT, Wash. U
For being part of a community, you might be able to do some part-time volunteering/working at some of them during term. If you want to be a real member of the local community you need a college in which you live off-campus- in a neighborhood, not college housing. In other words, a college with a large commuter contingent. Even then, the local community may not see you as being as much of a ‘local’ as you would like them to. Drexel is making a big effort to link town & gown, but it is a ‘help the poor’ initiative.
@collegemom3717 Interesting; I thought what I wanted was compatible with living on campus. I don’t want to avoid dorms and student life entirely or at all, but I do want to be living as more of an adult and have a life off-campus during college, with both college students and non-college students. Is that unrealistic for a student living in school housing?