<p>I live in MI and I want to major in either english or journalism or maybe something to do with fashion/writing or something like that.
GPA- freshman year- 2.6 (yeah there are reasons behind it but can't change it anyways)
sophomore year- 3.3
junior year 3.2
By the end of high school I've taken 7 AP's and the rest honors/accelerated blah blah but I guess my unweighted gpa is a 3.0</p>
<p>ACT is a 30 but I'm retaking it so who knows maybe it'll go up to a 31</p>
<p>EC not much because one of my parents can't drive and the other works all day 7 days a week so even if I wanted to join clubs or do other things I physically could't because I had no one to drive me or pick me up. I did do theatre and did some plays and I did newspaper.</p>
<p>I'm a first generation college student with foreign parents and their income is less than 20,000 so I need lots of aid because as much as I'd like to pay for a good college we literally cannot but my parents will do all they can because my education (first in the whole extended family to go to a university!!) is very important to them.</p>
<p>I just don't know where to look like where I would even get in, let alone get in and pay for it. My parents have expressed interest in moving back to new york (they lived there before I was born) so if I got in to any college there it would be great but college in MI is fine I just don't know any besides Michigan state or U of M ( which I know I would never get in)</p>
<p>Honestly, if your parents moved to New York, it would open up the whole SUNY system to you, which would be great. But the timing of their move (if they do it) affects whether you would pay in-state tuition or not. I am not familiar with the SUNY/New York rules on in-state tuition, you would need to check that out (easy to do via the internet).</p>
<p>Where do you live? Can you live at home and attend college (maybe U of M - Dearborn, for example?). You are correct that you don’t have to stats for U of Michigan. You could get into Michigan State, I think. </p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculator for any colleges yet? You should do that for MIchigan State to see what your likely cost of attendance would be. The net price calculator can be found on the college financial aid webpage.</p>
<p>You would also want to check the rules for paying in-state tuition at Michigan State, and see what happens if you parents move and when they move.</p>
<p>They would move after I finish college due to 3 younger siblings but its just an idea not concrete they will stay in michigan for at least 6 more years for sure but I live near detroit and michigan state is my number one right now but if I don’t get in then I’m clueless like I really don’t know because the only other schools like grand valley state university are more math science-y so I don’t know what would be good for english </p>
<p>So start by running the net price calculator on Michigan State. Ask your parents to help. Does the number that comes out seem affordable to you? If not, you need to consider whether you should live at home for a couple of years and attend community college, then transfer. Or if you could commute some place from home (saving room & board costs). </p>
<p>You can look these over as well and see if any of these colleges appeal to you where your stats are high enough for automatic scholarships. However, these are unweighted GPAs, so only a few would apply to you. And the ‘residual COA’ is what you would still have to figure out how to pay.</p>
<p>Okay, you have some things going for you. First, colleges are actively recruiting first-generation college applicant. Second, you need to apply to some need blind schools–schools that will pay the full cost and then some. Are you an under-represented minority by any chance? Your ACT score is quite respectable. I would take a look at Knox College in Illinois, Grinnell in Iowa. Any idea what you want to study? How are your teacher relationships? You’re grades aren’t great but they’re not awful; freshman year is not as highly scrutinized. It would be a good idea to address your home situation in your essay in terms of explaining some of the pressures on you, as a student.</p>