Sorry if this is the wrong category to post this. I’m just looking for some much needed help. I’m a sophomore who has yet to take my first PSAT. The school year has just started and I’m already anxious.
Here’s some stuff about me:
- Don’t know what my GPA is yet but last year my weighted average was above a 100 and my unweighted would be about 95-97.
- In an honors program specific to my school so schools outside my state probably won’t know what it is.
- I live in the NE but I’m more than willing to go out of state (or out of country?).
- No service hours yet. I joined a bunch of service clubs last year but depression hit hard so I gave up. I’m planning to go to a hospital or something over the summer though to get hours (100+ over summer perhaps).
- Taking one AP class (global history) out of the two AP classes I can take this year.
- I have done very well on regents exams but that’s only specific to NY so idk if that matters.
- I’m poor (less than 60k a year). Parents could pay $3-4k a year max probably.
- No idea what I want to study. Maybe psychology? Something in the humanities?
Sorry if this is unhelpful. I have been ignorant to a lot of college stuff my whole life and now in HS it’s really hitting me hard. Advice is welcome. If there’s anything I should clarify please tell me. Thanks.
With your grades, you can get into many SUNY schools. If you are poor, you might qualify for scholarships based on your regents scores and/or you might qualify for need based grants.
As for what to study - you are young. Many kids have no clue what they want to study. My D didn’t decide until senior year that she wanted to study education (it was marine biology before that) and my S17 didn’t decide until junior year that he wanted to study psych. He has now decided that he wants to study theater tech and those are the programs he is applying for.
My kids took career assessment evaluations on line as part of their health curriculum. I don’t know if that was specific to my district or if all NY students take something similar in the 11th grade health course. If you still don’t know what you want when you are graduating, enter college undeclared and concentrate on your gen eds. Take courses that might interest you and that you haven’t been exposed to in HS, like anthropology, astronomy or other courses that might want to pursue in more depth.
Don’t stress, enjoy HS. It’s not a way station, it’s an important part of your life.
You’re a sophomore. I’d suggest not worrying about exactly where you want to go to school.
I’d suggest:
- Practicing an SAT section every week and reviewing your mistakes and developing heuristics avoid making the same class of mistakes. A high SAT score will help you get into a full need met school or to get a merit scholarship at a good tier-2 school.
- Finding something outside of school that you enjoy and demonstrating leadership in the area. Depth is preferred over breadth, and aim for a letter of recommendation from a teacher or a coach in this area.
- Spend extra effort to really ace (do the most outstanding work you are capable of) in two of your classes junior year. Ask these teachers for letters of recommendation