So I read this article on College Greenlight on University fly-in programs, but the featured list only had a couple of the schools I want to go to.
http://blog.collegegreenlight.com/blog/college-fly-in-diversity-programs/
Does anybody know of fly-in programs at schools in New York besides Columbia and University of Rochester? (those are the two mentioned)
A lot of the small liberal arts colleges have fly-in programs.
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I’m in ninth grade and I get straight A’s, I do several extracurriculars and sports, I am scheduled to take the most rigorous classes my school has to offer, I will start volunteering at a hospital soon. I don’t know my SAT/ACT score yet but that’s because I haven’t taken them. I really want to go to Columbia to study pre-med to eventually become an anesthesiologist. I know that Columbia is super competitive, so I want to know what kind of stuff I can do to really stand out to the AO’s. I’m also planning to do some kind of medical research internship my junior or senior year. Please offer any advice you think would be useful!!!
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You’re in the 9th grade? Why are you worrying about this now?
And why are you focused on Columbia if you want to go to med school?
Why not? And plus, med school is the end goal; the current challenge is getting into Columbia as an undergraduate. Also I finished ninth grade and I’m on summer break.
I didn’t realize you were in 9th grade when I replied to your other post. It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You just have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend 1) that you change the avatar from the Columbia logo (don’t reinforce the idea that it all about getting into one speciifc college because it isn’t) and 2) that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Get involved in activities you care about in your school and/or community and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. As I noted on the other post, you will need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
I haven’t read your other posts – are you low income or a URM? That is mostly who gets accepted to those programs. Agree that a lot of LACs have fly-ins. I suppose there is no harm in starting a list and applying to a few when the time comes. But your biggest focus right now should be on academics, test scores, and doing ECs that are meaningful to you. Maybe do a few college visits next summer near where you live, just to get a feeling for the different types of schools.
Also, don’t get laser focused on one school. It is counterproductive – but depending on what you like about Columbia, it could help you find other schools with some similarities. If it is intellectual rigor, then UChicago or Swarthmore might appeal. If it is location, then look at NYU. If you want strong pre-med, you can go lots of places – JHU is an example, although it is very competitive as a premed. Med school is wildly expensive – if you still want to be premed by the time you are applying to college, you may want to go with a lower cost option for that reason.
Also, your major choice/career goals may change. I had a kid who was really interested in bio research as a career until she took physics in her senior year of HS. She ended up majoring in it, and is headed to a PhD program in it this fall. Be open to the fact that what you map out at age 14 might not be what you want 5 years from now. It can be comforting to have a long term plan laid out, but it is okay to be flexible enough to rechart your path if it makes sense.
@intparent Yes, I’m like, very low income. I’m a white female, and I go to an itty-bitty non-competitive public school in Nopestown, New York that literally never sends kids to Ivies or equivalent. If that helps.
You should check out Questbridge: https://www.questbridge.org/
Yeah, I have. Thanks. Too bad that Columbia is the only school on my shortlist that is partnered with them 
If you’re a rising 10th grader, it’s still too early to have a short list. Keep exploring at this point.
If you are a candidate for Questbridge, you should be open to as many of the participating schools as possible.
I am open to those schools, but the ones on my very age appropriate shortlist are there because I’ve done my research and they are good fits.
Agree completely with @Hanna I don’t think you can know a “good fit” school after ninth grade. You don’t have your academic stats (including standardized test scores) and over the next few years your interests may evolve and your ideas of what you want in a college may change. And when the time comes, finances should also play a factor in determining an appropriate college list. If you create a “short list” now then you might find yourself feeling boxed in by schools you targeted and decided were right way too early on in the process.
I’m worried that if I don’t start prepping now that I’ll never get to college and I’ll end up being a hog farmer in North Carolina or something.
How do you explain the many people who started investigating colleges the summer before senior year and still managed to go?
I’m not saying that’s anyone else’s situation. I have really bad anxiety, though so I tend to catastrophize.
I do that too. However, it does tend to be frustrating for people who are giving practical advice to be countered with unlikely doomsday scenarios. If every suggestion is met with the equivalent of “I can’t do that because then I’ll die broke and alone,” suggestions are probably going to start petering out.
You will almost certainly be able to go to college if you continue working hard like you have been. You might have to make some concessions due to budget limitations or low acceptance rates, but it’s silly to suggest that fourteen/fifteen-year-old kids have to be frantically preparing for college as if it was just around the corner.
ok, yeah. All of the colleges that I’m looking at have amazing financial aid, though
IMO right now you are just spinning your wheels. You simply don’t have enough information about your own academics to do constructive research. There are many more constructive things you could be doing with your time at this point.
that’s exactly how i feel
So go do those more constructive things! Go find things you enjoy doing and do them. Make yourself so busy that you don’t have time to obsess about events 2-3 years in the future.