Do I have a chance of getting into any college :(

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I’m new to this website and I just found out about it this morning. I am currently a HS senior starting in 6 days. I’m curious about my chances, college searching is so stressful if you know that you’re not going to really have a good chance at any… The way my mom and I have been searching is not really by SAT, ACT, or GPA scores, she wants to go for how cheap the college is. The tuition can’t be more than 25-35k… so that makes it really hard. The colleges that I was looking at aren’t really selective and they don’t focus on the SAT or GPA really… Those are the expensive ones. Note that my SAT was 900. I bombed the math section (The reason why it’s so low is because in 8th grade I took a math final exam THAT WAS TOTALLY OPTIONAL which put me in Slow Algebra 1 for 9th and 10th grade. In 11th grade I took extended geometry, and I don’t even know anything about algebra 2… This year I’m taking Intermediate Algebra… whatever that is) , and my ACT was 18. I’m retaking the SAT for the third time in 2 months in hope for a higher score… If I could even get 1000 I would be very happy. I’m currently taking 3-4 practice SATs a week and I’m still scoring 870-940. :frowning: I really do try hard in school, I try harder than most people, I study really hard, and I still get crap grades, all I want to do is make my parents proud and go into college and study kinesiology, exercise science, or Pre-Physical therapy. I also want to challenge myself, I don’t want to get into a school that is very easy, but if I have to I will.

I went up to level 5 in Piano NYSMA (New York State Music Assosiation) I mastered the guitar, ukulele, saxophone, clarinet, and drums also. I’m trying to master the bass right now
I’m very religious and I’ve been in my church’s ministry for nearly 12 years helping out and teaching kids camping skills. (Its sort of like Boy Scouts. It’s called Pathfinder Ministry)
I’ve been singing in my church’s choir for 5 years
I ran track and cross country all through 9th-11th grade. Team captain also in 11th grade. I’m still doing track this year, but not cross country. I’m injured (parents don’t want me to get a running scholarship even tho I can apply for many because I meet the standards for D2 in the 400m)
I’m multiracial being Scottish, Chinese, and Jamaican (lol this isn’t everything though I figured that this is going to be very long)
I have 4 years in English
4 years in history
1 year in music
4 years in gym
4 years in science
2 years of lab
4 years in math

Schools we’ve looked at… that I don’t even know if I have a chance at any :frowning: my scores are so low T_T. Below are the listed averages of the schools I’ve looked at so far
Me (GPA 3.5 / SAT 900 / ACT 18)

University at Buffalo (GPA 3.6 / SAT 1230 / ACT 22)
Mercy College (GPA 3 / SAT NA / ACT NA)
SUNY Potsdam (GPA 3.2 / SAT 1090 / ACT 25)
SUNY Brockport (GPA 2.9 / SAT 1100 / ACT NA) <- This school sent me letters for track
SUNY Oswego (GPA 3.5 / SAT 1160 / ACT NA)
SUNY Geneseo (GPA 3.6 / SAT 1280 / ACT NA)
SUNY Cortland (GPA 3.3 / SAT 1110 / ACT 23) <- This school sent me letters for track
CUNY Queens College (GPA 3.5 / SAT 1180 / ACT NA)

I’m just so discouraged because my SAT and ACT scores are ridiculously low with little time to improve them, and my choices are so narrow because of tuition, but I really want to go to college. Do colleges just solely focus on these standardized tests? I’m still going to apply to all of these no matter how much it all comes up to, better knowing than not. Right?

2

Anyone??

3

Just nudging up your SAT will help quite a bit. Some libraries offer free tutoring and the satpractice.org website by Khan Academy is free. You need to use the website at least 20 hours for best results, but that’s only an hour a day for three weeks. Hour and a bit more if you take weekends off.

Don’t just take practice tests, study your mistakes and make sure you know why your answer was wrong and why the right answer was right.

4

You’ve left quite a few SUNY schools off your list.

Take a look at SUNY Delhi, Morrissville, Cobleskill, Fredonia,. Alfred State, Old Westbury, Buffalo State…

Alternately, you could do 2 years at a Community College, then transfer. I didn’t know until fairly recently that there are CC’s in NY State that have dorms.
Take a look at Sullivan CC, Herkimer, Adirondack, and Tomkins.

5

If the maximum your parents are willing to pay for your annual college costs is $35k (which is quite a lot by the way, so that shouldn’t be a factor in you being able to attend college) then I believe you have have a good chance of finding a college that fits your academic potential and your financial constraints. You most likely will have to consider some less selective colleges, but some of the ones on your list look like they could be a good fit for your academic stats.

I would advise you to do some research on some private colleges that may offer more financial aid than public’s, and then stick to your plan of applying to those schools on your list plus any other privates that seem like a good fit for you. I think you will get some acceptances. You have a nice set of EC’s that will work in your favor.

BTW, what colleges were you looking at that you consider to be too expensive? Like I mentioned earlier, most students do not pay the “sticker” price listed for private colleges unless their parent’s income is very high. In my daughter’s experience, she was offered a lot of financial aid that reduced the cost to at least equal to public’s in our state. That seems to be common for less selective privates. Also why don’t your parents want you to participate in a sport in college? That might help you in the admissions process with your low test scores and you might be able to get some athletic scholarships.

6

Are you eligible for the NYS Excelsior scholarship? Have you looked into EOP programs?

7

I’d start with community colllege. It seems like a you need some remedial level work. There is no shame in that.