I messed up my freshman and sophomore years... what are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I hope I’m posting in the right forum- I sincerely apologize if I’m not, and I’ll move this post right away. I’ve never been on CC before, but I suppose I’ll just get to my point (there will be a TLDR at the bottom):

I’m going to be a junior for the 2018-19 school year and I am currently enrolled in a nice public school in California. I’ve been placed in (and have done well in) honors/advanced classes all my school life.
However, right before I entered high school (sometime around 8th grade), I experienced a jarring family incident that sincerely shook me. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still feeling emotional repercussions of the said event, but I’ve never spoken to my parents about it for fear of increasing financial strain (for therapy and medication and such) and/or making them more stressed than they already are.
But that’s not particularly important-- my personal circumstances aside, I began to slack off in school and earned a 3.68 (4.18 weighted) and 3.38 (4.04 weighted) in my freshman and sophomore years, respectively (assuming I did the math right). I’m concerned because not only do my grades show a downward trend, but my GPA itself is nothing to write home about.
Is it too late for me to turn my grades around? I can’t bear this feeling of regret and even if it’s too late, I want to put forth my best effort into my remaining years.
My parents are immigrants who received their degrees in their home country, so I have no connections to any U.S. schools. My dream school is Columbia (which is genuinely a dream…) but I would generally like to apply to schools that are good for psychology majors (e.g. Queens College, St. Johns-- though if I’m honest, I really don’t know much about colleges).

TLDR: I messed up 9th and 10th grade (unweighted 3.68 and 3.38 respectively) but plan to do my best in 11th and 12th. Would I still have a chance for Columbia, Queens College, or St. Johns? Do I have any chance for a “good” school?

2

A great school for Psychology would be Clark university and as long as you have sufficient rigor with A’s and B’s it’s within reach.
Based on the difference between unweighted and weighted it looks like you have good course rigor.

As the child of immigrants, you’d qualify for special consideration at the very good SUNY Geneseo. (Oops, just realized that despite listing NYS schools you are not a NYS resident. SUNY Geneseo is still a good pick but a definite reach without the special consideration).

Do you know your EFC?

You may want to go to your public library and borrow “Admission possible”, “The college solution”, and “Princeton Review’s best colleges”.

3

You will have many great options if you make a strong showing this coming year.

If you don’t want to broach the subject with your parents, of the emotional setback caused by the family incident, it would be a good idea to meet with the college counselor at your school at the beginning of this year. Give him/her the background, express your intention to do well this year, and discuss any supports that you might be able to put in place.

This would serve two purposes.

  1. It may actually help you to be more successful this year, because there may be resources available to support you… and even if it only comes down to confiding in this one person, it might make more of a difference than you think to break your silence with even that one person, and just know that somebody knows what you’ve been going through. And…
  2. This is the person who is going to have to write your counselor recommendation. (S)he will be the one to speak to any extenuating circumstances around your earlier grades. It is 1000% better for this person to be “in the loop” now - get on their radar so that they can see your efforts this year in context, as the year unfolds. (S)he will be able to write a vastly better recommendation a year from now, having observed you all year from that perspective, than if you come in after the fact and try to back-fill that perspective when the recommendation-writing is imminent.

Vis-a-vis Columbia - are you female? If so, have a look at Barnard, which is part of Columbia and still a very competitive admit but not quite as steep as Columbia College… and in many ways a best-of-both-worlds education. Also, if you really want to be in NYC specifically, look at Fordham.

But it’s hard to make well-chosen recommendations without knowing more about your financial situation as well as a rough idea about test scores. For starters, run the Net Price Calculator for Columbia (it’s as good an example as any of what a school with great need-based aid will offer you) https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/columbia and see what your out-of-pocket costs there would be and whether that cost would be realistic for your family. That will be a good data point to start with.

You have time - there’s no need to panic about any of this. Focus on your own well-being and being set up for success in the coming year, and you’ll have plenty of time to figure out what your best options will be for college.

4

It’s definitely not too late. As said above, you have lots of options on the table. Focus on working hard your junior year and being well!

5

Just focus on doing your best in the coming year. It’s too early to know what your “trend” is – 11th grade counts for a lot. And don’t worry about your ideal or dream schools yet – better to narrow down your list in the spring after you have a better picture of your GPA & test scores.

And start thinking about finances. Will you qualify for a lot of need-based aid? or will it be the other way around, where you may qualify for very little, but your parents won’t be able to pay full cost? One way or another, you can only attend a school that you can afford, and it’s better to think about that first, before targeting specific schools.

Also, there are several different colleges named “St Johns” – I’m guessing you mean the Queens campus of St. Johns University, given your other 2 choices – but many people on CC would think you mean the Maryland-based St. Johns College with the “Great Books” curriculum.

Any particular reason you are prioritizing NY schools?

6

@MYOS1634
I see, thank you very much! I’ll be sure to look into both Clark University and SUNY Geneseo. I’ll try to check out the books you mentioned as well. I don’t know my EFC but I’ll try to find out. While I’m not sure exactly what it is, I’ve been told that my family is upper-middle class (~$150K annual income) but we apparently also have a lot of debt (especially since my sister is beginning college in the 2018-19 school year).

Again, thank you very much for your help. I hope you have a great day : )

7

It is certainly not to late for you to have a fantastic college experience and accomplish all that you want to. Whether or not you get into a specific elite school like Columbia is a different matter. With its single digit admit rate, Columbia is out of reach of most people, even those with nearly perfect grades and scores. Also, if you are dealing with emotional issues, I personally wouldn’t even consider Columbia. It is not a “touchy feely” place. There is no hand holding, little support and a fairly brutal academic atmosphere. There are hundreds of schools that will not only give you a great education but provide some support as you adjust to college and deal with whatever issues you are grappling with.

Use Junior year to get your grades up, not just to get into college, but because you will need those skills at whichever college you eventually attend.

Give us some information about what you are looking for, major, location, size, financial requirements etc. and we can help you generate a good list of excellent schools for your stats.

8

Your family’s debt is not factored in for determining EFC – but having a sibling in college at the same time will reduce EFC.

Also – EFC does not mean “how much you will pay.” It is just a number used to calculate eligibility for federal aid such as subsidized loans and work study. (Also Pell grants, but that would not apply to an upper middle class family).

Not all colleges promise to meet need, and almost all that do will use their own need-formulas and take into account more information than is included in the FAFSA. In most (but not all) cases, the colleges calculation of need will lead to a higher expected family contribution than EFC.

Find out if your parents have any money in specific college savings accounts for you – as that might be a starting point to know how much you can count on for college In most cases, students from upper middle class families need to look for merit aid – but of course to get merit aid, you also need to qualify for it with strong grades & test scores. So one more reason to simply focus on doing your best in the coming year.

9

@aquapt
Thank you for your reply!
I see-- I’ll try to have a talk with my school counselor once school starts. I didn’t reach out to any of the school faculty in my time at high school because I was afraid that they would be allowed to contact my parents if they found any “concerning” signs in me (if that makes sense). My school has an on-campus therapist as well, but I’m fairly certain that they are allowed to contact parents so I’ve never attempted to meet them. That aside, I’ll still make sure to speak with my counselor about my academics (I’ll also provide a bit of background, as you said). I wasn’t aware about the details of the counselor recommendations-- thank you very much for your advice. I’ll make sure to act upon it once the new school year starts.

Regarding Banard: Yes, I’m a female. I’ve had a small glance around Barnard’s campus when I was visiting NY and it seems like a wonderful school. I’ll make sure to consider it as well! Also, I hadn’t heard of Fordham previously; I looked it up and just based on surface information, it seems like an amazing school. I’ll look more into both of these schools-- thank you for letting me know about them. (Also, while I can’t use the Net Price Calculator at this exact moment, I’ll try to use it as soon as I can get all the necessary information; it seems like a great resource).

Thank you so, so much for your help. Your reply helped me calm down a lot and reevaluate my future. I’ll do my best this school year and put my best foot forward. Again, thank you very very much!

10

@momofsenior1
Thank you for replying! I’ll look into every option listed above (all the replies have been so kind and helpful!) and make sure not to lose my cool. I’ll make sure to work hard for junior and senior year. Thank you and I hope you have a fantastic day : )

11

Just to reduce the stress level, I’d also suggest that you think about schools that don’t have crazy-small acceptance rates for now. The schools you listed like Queens or St. John’s U would qualify – if your grades and test scores are at or above their range, your chances of acceptance will be high.

Columbia is a near-impossible reach for everyone these days – and Barnard is not much easier, as the acceptance rate numbers get smaller and smaller each year. It is an excellent school, but pretty much a reach for everyone. Also, Barnard is excellent for psychology, but also has restrictions on course enrollment, with mandatory waitlists for most intermediate and advanced level psych courses. So that means psych majors may have a tougher time with scheduling or getting the classes they want than other students. If Barnard is on your list next spring, then you might definitely want to talk with some current psych majors to get a sense of whether they view the scheduling issue as a significant problem.

But again, for now focus on learning about colleges that will be matches or safeties for you – that way you will be able to develop a list of schools that are pretty sure to accept you. The problem with “dream” colleges is simply that most students are turned away – and too often those students are left without alternatives they are happy with, because they had a reach-heavy application list.

12

@calmom
Thank you for your help. I was worried that I had started thinking about college far too late and that my trend had already been permanently established. I’m glad to know that I still have hope and I’ll make sure to work as hard as I can for my remaining years.

In regards to finances: I think that I’m more aligned to the latter. My family’s annual income isn’t particularly low (~$150K, I believe), but our current circumstances make it so that it would certainly be impossible for my parents to fully support my education. My parents and I have spoken about college tuition some time ago, and I believe the plan was for my parents to pay for the first year of college only. I’ve also been looking into any scholarship opportunities, though that’s something far less set in stone. That aside, your advice about prioritizing finances over specific schools is very helpful; I’ll be sure to consider my finances alongside any of my hopes for college.

Also, you’re right about “St. John’s” referring to the Queens College in New York. I apologize for not clarifying (I hope I didn’t cause too much confusion). If I’m honest, I don’t really have a “legitimate” reason for prioritizing NY schools (that is to say, a reason that isn’t very superficial). Like I mentioned above, I don’t know much about colleges. I visited NY earlier this year to scope out the city with my older sister (who will be attending Parson’s this upcoming school year). It’s silly, but a large part of my hopes for a NY-based school lies in my ideal living environment, which would be urban/metropolitan area with colder weather. I became attached to the idea of living in New York very quickly after my visit (particularly after finding out that Columbia has a women’s archery team, since archery is a sport that I hope to continue in college). That said, I’m not at all opposed to schools in other regions-- especially if the said schools are a better fit for me.

Thank you so much for your help : ) I’ll take all your advice into consideration and do my best in my upcoming school year!

13

@gallentjill
I see-- thank you for your reply. Also, thank you for the advice regarding Columbia-- I hadn’t especially considered the emotional support aspect of college. It’s definitely solid advice to steer clear from colleges with more brutal atmospheres and I’m very glad you brought that to my attention.

I hope to major in Psychology (I’m not sure about any specific psychology majors though). This is the only major that I’ve had a particular passion for so I would like to pursue it wholeheartedly. The location and size are elements that aren’t very important to me (although I have a preference for NY schools). In regards to finances, I can’t say for sure what my range is but I’ll be sure to speak with my parents about that (and also update this thread once I do). I don’t think my current standards provide much help regarding recommendations ^^;; However, thank you for bringing up all the different aspects of college life that I should consider along with my major. I’ll look into both colleges and my standards/stats more!

Thank you, and have a nice day!

14

@calmom
I’m sorry, I spent too long writing replies without refreshing the page so I didn’t see your posts after your first one ^^;;
Thank you again for all your help and advice. I’ll look into my financial situation and find out what kind of match/safety colleges best suit me. I’ll make sure to compose an application list that includes a good number of these colleges.

Again, thank you for your help. I hope you have a spectacular day!

15

Barnard & Columbia women’s athletic teams are shared – so archery at Columbia = archery at Barnard.

But if your parents are thinking of paying for the first year of college and then passing responsibility onto you, you will absolutely need merit money. Because no need-aid-only school is going to let parents off the hook after the first year, and the maximum you can borrow on your own is between $5500-$7500 depending on year in school. So that’s not a realistic plan. (And I hope your parents aren’t thinking that your sister is going to be able to finance years 2-4 at Parsons on her own).

So definitely that needs to be clarified & you will probably need to focus on schools where you can get a substantial amount of merit aid.

I understand the desire for an urban campus, but keep in mind that you are more likely to find schools that will be affordable in more suburban or rural locations, and college is only 4 years. You have the whole rest of your life to live in cities. .

16

OP, I don’t want to be cavalier about assuring you that adults at your school will respect your confidentiality - I definitely understand your caution. The other thing to have on your radar is that any teacher, counselor, etc. that you talk to is legally a Mandatory Reporter, which is to say that if you disclose that you have been abused, they are legally required to report this to the Department of Social Services - failure to do so is a crime. (If this is something that might apply, and you want to understand their obligation in detail, their required training is here http://mandatedreporterca.com/training/educators.htm )

Obviously I don’t know whether the issue in your family falls into the category of abuse, nor could I even begin to form an opinion as to whether having a report filed would be, in the long run, a good or bad thing for you. I certainly don’t want to sway you away from talking to your guidance counselor, because I really feel it’s important to have that person in your corner over the coming year and going into college admissions. But I also don’t want you to be blindsided by their obligation to report if you disclose something that crosses that line, so, FYI.

All that said, hopefully you’ll be able to give your counselor an idea of the emotional setbacks you have had, even if you don’t feel comfortable going into detail. If this person understands to some degree what you’ve been dealing with and sees your efforts over the next year, they’ll be able to give you a strong endorsement come application time.

ANYWAY, college-wise… given the financial uncertainty, you’re definitely going to want to look at a range of affordability. I feel like it would be helpful for you to think about what feels ideal about New York, and give some other cities a chance to impress you as well. If your general goal is to be in a major city with the freedom of good public transportation and a real winter season… that opens up a lot of options.

If there’s a real risk of your parents withdrawing or scaling back their support after the first year, that’s a huge consideration. You really need to look at financial safeties.

One place to get a true bargain on an urban-with-a-winter college experience is through the WUE program, which will offer you reduced tuition at OOS public U’s as a CA student. Major cities where it gets cold, that WUE could take you, would include Salt Lake City, Reno, Portland (semi-cold, but it does snow once in a while!), and Denver.

IMHO, U of Utah could be a major contender for a whole list of reasons.

  1. SLC is a wonderful major city with not only winter, but actual skiing and other phenomenal outdoor recreation within half an hour of The U’s campus. (Looks like their archery program is based at a private facility in SLC, but students at the U can take classes there through the PE program and there’s a club.) (The U, btw, is far more liberal/progressive than most Californians anticipate; and in some ways SLC is ahead of the major CA cities in terms of progressive social programs like initiatives to reduce homelessness. )
  2. U of U is a highly-regarded flagship U that has an innovative Honors College (with year-long Praxis Lab projects as well as honors housing and etc.) https://honors.utah.edu/
    3 There are special Honors tracks (only for Honors College students) of a number of majors including psychology https://psych.utah.edu/undergraduate/honors/index.php
  3. The WUE price for The U is less than the in-state cost of UC - less than $28K/year.
  4. Utah is the only state I know of that offers a path to residency for OOS students after the first year. So your costs could go down to more like $24K/year after the first year if you follow that process. (Of course, $24Kx3 is still more than you can realistically finance on your own; but if you had the cost of one year at Columbia to work with, you could probably finance the difference between that and the four-year cost of UofU.)
  5. U of Utah participates in the National Student Exchange https://www.nse.org/exchange/find-campus/ … so you could potentially spend a semester in New York (Queens College CUNY, SUNY Stony Brook, and several more options in the nearby NJ burbs) while paying your home campus’s bargain price. https://www.nse.org/exchange/find-campus/

So, that’s one high-quality financial safety that’s very much worthy of consideration. Other financial and academic safeties in the WUE program include Portland State, U of Nevada Reno, and U of Colorado Denver. All have Honors programs and great urban locations.