As far as SAT prep goes, here’s what I always suggest:
The Barron’s books have a great feature: a grid at the end of each practice test that classifies the questions by topic. You can highlight the questions you’re getting wrong. After a few practice exams, you’ll probably start to see some patterns…l you’re always missing the proportion problems or the area ones. It will give you a direction in your prep. Maybe not as much the June exam, since it’s close, but absolutely for the fall
I echo the Khan Academy for practice. With daily practice on Khan Academy I’ve seen some students raise their scores far higher than they ever imagined they could. Daily practice.
If you want to go south and if you’re female, look at Hollins University (I can’t remember if I mentioned that one earlier).
Also look into Agnes Scott. That’s an excellent school that offers cross registration at Emory, a top university.
Also, look at Mills near San Francisco. It offers cross registration at Berkeley and is in the Bay Area with lots of job opportunities.
St. Olaf is a great coed school with lots of FA and has lots of heart and good internship opportunities.
Beloit in Wisconsin is another great coed school with lots of heart, CHEAP compared with many others. You get there by flying to Chicago and then they have a bus that takes you to Beloit. It’s in a small town, has fun quirky smart kids who go there.
if you want to be sure to climb out of poverty, see if you can choose some computer, quantitative, or business skills in addition to your major. So for example, if you are an art history major, you’ll have better luck finding work if you also have bookkeeping or accounting skills or development skills (raising money). Art museums and other art venues would be glad to find someone with your skill set. If you’re an English major and have marketing skills, you can go into advertising more easily or the business side of a publishing organization. If you have statistics or data crunching skills plus a liberal arts degree, you can use those skills doing analysis for businesses, non-profit organizations, and arts institutions. That sort of thing. Basically choose your major and then find some other hard skill set to accompany that. If you don’t pick up those skills immediately in college, you can always pick up a certificate course in, say, bookkeeping at community college for a fraction of the price of college. Like get some coding classes in on Coursera online for free. Add that to your skill set while in college (like during summers you can do this). That plus a nice liberal arts degree would help a lot. In the end it will be a matter of your go-forward qualities and how you market yourself with your skill set. You will need to invent yourself and then reinvent yourself every step of the way and compete compete compete. Because that’s what everyone else around you is doing.
My problem with the Khan Academy videos is that Sal Khan is not a math teacher.
He’s brilliant. But he doesn’t teach math. And his explanations tend to drone on and on and on, sometimes to an extent where he makes an easy concept sound incredibly complicated.
I totally hear you about wanting to move out of NY but don’t do it at the expense of your education or amassing debt. I know it doesn’t feel like it when you are young but your 4 years at a university will fly by and then you’ll have a degree and ability to get a job wherever you want. Just because you go to school in NY doesn’t limit your job search after graduation.
Your comments about illegal aliens is what caused my comment about public service.
One would hope those going into public service have a different view of fellow human beings.
If you share that in your essay for a school of public affairs you wont get in.
Also note that NY has absolutely the best value in college education out there.
There are no states where the public universities are equipped to help so many get educated at so relatively reasonable a cost. In fact there is another thread now where someone complained about Univ of California and the difficulty of getting CA residents into any campus. Most states have raised costs to ridiculous levels.
You are benefitting from the taxes those wealthy NYers pay if you take advantage of SUNY or Cuny.
That said, if you have good grades and a high SAT, there are many private rural colleges that can be affordable, and they all teach Poly Sci. Problem is that such aid is unpredictable, have cuny or suny as a backup plan.
Finally note that I grew up in NY, wanted to get out, and did.
But I came back…the grass was not greener, just different.
You can achieve but running away or blaming on others is not the way to do it.
@blevine Please allow me to identify three of your comments that I believe are both wrong and condescending.
First, wanting to leave NY is not “running away”. It is realizing that I find the cost of living to be absurd and the quality of life to be poor. Am I not allowed to move?
Second, NY has absolutely the best value in education. Relatives in other states down south can go to college virtually for free if they hit minimum targets. FL and GA have great incentives and many public colleges. I am no expert here, but their support seems more comprehensive.
Third, you are flat out wrong to accuse me of blaming anyone for anything. I do not choose to dwell on the past and whine about jim crow or slavery or any other past injustice. It is in the past and can’t be fixed. My comments about illegal aliens is legitimate and more importantly - addressable and fixable. Do you go to public school in ny? Do you see the money wasted on kids from families that have not paid taxes and contributed? I do. It’s a frustrating situation. There is a finite amount of funding for schools and as such, I believe it is unfair to allocate funds to students from families here illegally and not contributing. This is my opinion which I am entitled to. And I find it arrogant of you to accuse me of blaming others. We, as Americans have a right to question our government.
I respect your right to disagree. Please respect my opinion.
And … lastly, I may be just like you someday. I might venture out if NY and find myself wanting to return. I may leave and never look back. But, only time will tell.
Ironically I see posts here all the time from kids in FL who have hit those minimum targets and want to leave the state for college anyway. NY public schools in general are much stronger than FL public school (elementary and secondary).
The grass is always greener - NJ kids usually want to leave NJ, VA kids want to leave VA, etc… I’m from Brooklyn; I have family in Brooklyn and a niece in a public school in NYC. The cost of living is crazy (as it is in NJ). Wages are also hirer. I think what you’ll find is moving anywhere will have it’s trade offs - lower cost of living usually equates to lower wages.
And that’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you need to plan it out. I went to a SUNY because it was the only thing I could afford (turning down Villanova still stings, 30 years later!). But I got my degree, and I never lived in NY after graduating.
Just realize 4 more years, in the scheme of your entire life, isn’t much. If you can get through college debt free by staying 4 more years, it will open up so much more opportunity for the rest of your life. Good luck!
Illegal aliens pay taxes BTW.
Here is how they pay taxes – https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/17/15290950/undocumented-immigrants-file-tax-returns
Here are estimates for how much they pay – http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/19/news/economy/undocumented-immigrant-taxes/index.html
They also pay FICA and will never receive these benefits, hence benefitting older Americans.
Basically, your status doesn’t affect the fact you pay taxes or not, you must pay taxes regardless.
Basically, being poor sucks.
You may want to read The case for restitution, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
@MYOS1634 and @Dustyfeathers It’s ironic that you bring up the illegal aliens and taxes issue. In fact, we had a teacher who brought this up this year and made it a class discussion.
One of our classmates brought inresearch from this think tank called fairus and they showed that yes, illegal immigrants directly and indirectly pay all sorts of taxes. But, the amounts they pay are trivial. I was totally pro immigration - legal or illegal until this classmate made me think how they robbing us blind to take care of the illegal aliens. He totally changed my point of view. Probably got half the class to change.
Some facts - they pay about $19 billion in state and local tax and yet the NYC school budget (littered with illegal aliens or kids of illegals) is $24 billion a year and the California state budget (illegals everywhere) is $182 billion a year. In other words, $19 billion ain’t much when you look at what they take in services. The think tank says illegals are a net $100 billion plus loss to the country. If you compare what they contribute to what they take. Facts are facts.
In other words, yeah they pay but they take much more. And - depress the wages for kids and entry level workers big time.
Nothing I can do about it today. I have to get a 1300 and get a scholarship. Just couldn’t let that stuff go unanswered.
FWIW, if the think tank was FAIR, the Southern Poverty Law Center considers them to be a hate group. See https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2012/08/10/how-do-we-know-fair-hate-group
As Disraeli said, there are lies, [redacted] lies, and statistics. And as the SPLC says, “Sometimes FAIR’s “facts” are true. More often, they’re debatable, culled as they are from dubious sources like FAIR’s sister organization, the Center for Immigration Studies.”
You say that the NYC DOE budget is $24B a year. And according to you the system is “littered” with undocumented students. You also claim that they contribute $19Billion to the overall budget.
In 2013 according to the NYC DOE the number of undocumented students cost the NYC public system about $48million. (That’s million with an m not billion with a b.)
it looks like the amount of taxes that they contributed was far more than they received.
@allyphoe Actually, we discussed that part about the SPLC and them labeling fairus as a hate group. Props to my classmate because he was able to show that they were not able to repudiate any of the numbers put forth by fairus.
The worst they did was associate them with people like pat Buchanan.
So, they recommended some books by people who want to curtail immigration. Hardly a crime.
And, nobody was able to dispute the facts.
@Dustyfeathers
You seem pretty smart but:
The $19 billion is the total national number of state and local taxes. NY and CA alone spend close to $300 billion. 19 is peanuts.
As for NYC - I call bs on whoever offered that stat. $48 mm out of 24 billion. Naw. Oh heck naw. That would mean .2% or 1 out of every 500 students. I can tell you from first hand experience the number is far greater than one out of 500.
Tyquan: that’s called propaganda - using numbers in such a way that they transform and contort truth for an ulterior motive, keeping an appearance of truth but really manipulating the audience (without them realizing it, of course). FAIR is very good at what it does. It’s very good at soundinghconvincing. They produce excellent propaganda for a hate group by making their hatred look “rational”. They also have tons of numbers “proving” Black people are “inferior”, “lazier”, “more prone to crime”, for instance. They’re NOT a reliable source and I’m surprised your teacher didn’t point that out.
Also, experience isn’t statistics. Anecdotes aren’t the plural for data.
In college, you’ll learn about these tactics and if you really want to go into politics you’ll learn applied statistics. All that stuff will become clear but right now you need to get to college so you can discover all this for yourself.
These tactics are used by white supremacist groups but have been used by fascists, stalinists, etc., for a long time. If you’re interested, you can read 1984 or if you want something short, Animal Farm. I have lots of references if it’s a subject you want to learn about. You’ll learn all about it in college, or in your APUSH class if you can take that. I you’re interested in numbers and statistics that are presented in a clear, easy-to-read manner, and are thoroughly recognized for their validity, read fivethrityeight. All these readings will be helpful for college anyway.
How is this NOT now a plotical thread.?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The question originally asked was:
Please focus on that
Let’s move on from illegal aliens, taxes, Pat Buchanan, the DoE budget, etc. Thank you.
Options like QuestBridge, Posse Foundation, and schools that meet full demonstrated need are good options for low income/high stat students
My kids wanted to get out of their provincial midwestern city. Fortunately they had high grades and test scores, and could offer geographic diversity, because we live in a flyover state not well represented at colleges on either coast.
Our home state doesn’t offer free tuition. I worked at a university and got a 50% tuition benefit for my dependents. Had they not been admitted to their “meets full need” schools, they would have lived at home and attended the local public university (not a school anyone outside our state has heard of) because it was our only sort-of affordable option. Had I not worked at the university, I’m not sure what (if any) option they would have had.
Focus your energy into studying for your next round of testing. If you can get your test scores up, apply to fall fly-in programs at elite, meets full need schools who want to increase diversity. Do an internet search for “fly-in programs 2018” to see some of the programs out there and their application deadlines.
If you want to get out of NYC, then work hard to make it happen. If you can’t get into any affordable out-of-state schools, then see if you can move somewhere, start working, and then work on your college degree. At the university where I worked, one of our employee benefits was a free class every semester, and half-off tuition after that. I had co-workers who started out in very low-level positions who took the one free class each semester; sometimes adding another they paid 50% for, and eventually earned a degree.
Good luck!
To recap: currently, B average, 1000 SAT.
Tyquan will work daily + practice test each weekend to bring that up (1200 target score).
Very low EFC - you need to calculate it precisely. Use FAFSA Forecaster. Please report the information.
Can you add up all honors/accelerated/AP/CollegeNow! classes that you took? What’s the result?
What are the most advanced classes you’ve taken in math and foreign language?
Have you taken each of bio, chem, physics?
What’s your senior schedule (if necessary, can you still change it)?
Assuming a total of about 12 honors/acc/AP/CollegeNow! classes through senior year and a 1200 SAT:
Muhlenberg => match
Gettysburg => reach
Juniata => match
Ursinus => safety
Lebanon valley.=> safety; similar: Lycoming
Penn state => won’t be affordable
McDaniel => match; add Loyola Maryland? however run the NPC as neither may be affordable
U of MD => won’t be affordable
Washington=> Washington College? Academic match but may be unaffordable.
Randolph Macon => Safety
Hampden Sydney => for White scions of wealth, so, not for you - however if you want a “traditional gentlemen” college open to young Black men, look into Morehouse (match), Hampton (match), and Howard (high match but may be financial reach).
Longwood=> match but unlikely to be affordable
Add Dickinson (reach), Ohio Wesleyan (match), Earlham (match), Hobart&WilliamSmith (match with HEOP), St Lawrence (reach), CSI (safety/Honors:low reach), SUNY Oswego (match), Ithaca (high match for political science, use HEOP?), SUNY Cortland (match), tC3 (safety), St Bonaventure’s (match), Sewanee (reach), UNC Asheville (match academically but you’ll need a merit scholarship so financial reach).
RUN THE NPC on each of them.
If your scores don’t reach 1200, apply test optional to the colleges that allow it; everywhere else, a match becomes a reach and a safety becomes a match. Reaches become basically out of reach.
@skieurope I apologize for veering off course. My debate team experience sometimes makes me prone to argue incessantly. I will refrain.
It is a distraction to argue this stuff. I know I am just focused on sat and will spend Sunday’s killing practice tests. Too busy during the week completing coursework for regents.
And thanks to @college_query Great insights.