<p>You are qualified; put some time into preparing for your SAT (or ACT). Having a good score would open lots of doors. </p>
<p>You should start thinking about what schools you are interested in: big, school, big sports, no sports, etc. This will help you narrow down the list of schools to apply to. </p>
<p>There are a lot of parents here who would be glad to help go over your essays; don’t hesitate to ask for help.</p>
<p>This is the time to start: putting together your list of schools, to think about your essays, etc.</p>
<p>No specific undergraduate major is required to go to law school, but high college grades and high LSAT scores are needed to go to a top 14 law school (see [Welcome</a> to LawSchoolNumbers.com | Law School Numbers](<a href=“http://lawschoolnumbers.com%5DWelcome”>http://lawschoolnumbers.com) ). Note that the need to score highly on the LSAT means practicing standardized test taking skills, which will be useful on the LSAT as well as the SAT or ACT. Be aware that the law job market is very competitive, and very school-prestige-conscious with respect to one’s law school (i.e. it is unlikely to be worth it to attend a lower ranked law school).</p>
<p>For policy making, you may want to consider studying in the area of policy you are interested in. Of course, it may be helpful to supplement that with courses in the various social studies, like political science, economics, sociology, and psychology.</p>
<p>Realistically, Berkeley and UCLA are probably a reach now (but several other UCs are quite likely), but you have the opportunity to significantly raise your SAT or ACT through standardized test preparation, which can make your chances more likely (UCs do favor GPA over test scores, but Berkeley and UCLA are selective enough that chances probably are not great at SAT scores under 1800). Doing both the SAT and ACT can give you another chance, since some students do better on the ACT than the SAT (or vice-versa).</p>
<p>Beside what has been said above: work very hard on your essays for UC Berkeley. It counts a lot and may offset your SAT score. Other UC’s are definitely within reach.
Questbridge garantees that you’ll get a full scholarship at an elite school. From there, there’s no telling what you can do.
Lots of TOP private colleges would be interested in you - look at Macalester, Bates, Grinnell, Vassar, Trinity (CT), Dickinson, St Lawrence, St Olaf, Holy Cross, Union, Lafayette, Lehigh - they’re very different from one another, but some must be to your liking… not to mention Occidental, Pitzer, Pomona, USC, all in California. :)</p>
<p>With your class rank, you should be a guaranteed admit to a few UCs. I can’t remember if UCLA or Cal consider rank, but if so, your rank and your location (from a low income area) may help you with admissions.</p>
<p>UCs do not consider rank per se. However, “achievement in context with available opportunities” probably does correlate to rank.</p>
<p>Rank against previous classes at your high school using UC admissions GPA is also used to determine Eligibility in Local Context. If your UC admissions GPA is in the top 9% of previous classes at your high school, then this assures you admission to a UC “if space is available”. However, it does not assure you admission to the campus of your choice! This typically means that if you do not get into a UC you explicitly apply to, you are likely to get an admission offer from UC Merced (where space appears to be generally available). However, if UC Merced is not high on your list of choices of UCs, it would be best to explicitly apply to all campuses you prefer over UC Merced.</p>
<p>Just adding on to what others have said–you would be a strong candidate for many good schools. </p>
<p>And definitely try the ACT as well. My son has a significant difference between his ACT and SAT–in his case the SAT is much better. But I have friend whose daughter is the opposite. With some study your SAT should come up but it’s definitely worth it to try both.</p>
<p>CC has lots of experienced and helpful people, so feel free to ask questions as you navigate the process.</p>
<p>Note that the list is limited to the subset of schools that admit >= 49% of applicants and have >= 49% four year (private schools) or five year (public schools) graduation rates. Also, the public school list probably assumes in-state students, since very few public schools give good financial aid to out-of-state students (although, as the article notes, Pennsylvania public schools give poor financial aid even to in-state students).</p>
<p>The OP would be better served by running net price calculators on each possible college’s web site to get an estimate appropriate for the OP’s situation.</p>
<p>Hi, Malik, I used to work in your citymore in Lynwood and Watts though. </p>
<p>Want to address the point that your parents have not been to college. What is more important is if they are supportive of you going.</p>
<p>Would suggest to you that you begin by getting online and picking at least 2 of the following nearby campuses and sign up on their website for a tour: USC, Occidental, UCLA, Loyola Marymount. Also pick one of the nearby CSU campuses if you have not been (Dominguez Hills or Long Beach I guess). I suggest these because they are close enough that they are do-able. Besides learning about these particular colleges, think about whether you like large or small, urban feeling or more secluded campus. Hopefully with enough notice one of your parents can take a vacation day and come with you. If not, can you drive or take public transit? If driving, you should be able to do two campuses in a day. </p>
<p>Note that USC prides itself on helping the neighborhoods nearby. Hopefully that proves true for you and their counselors will take some extra time with you on the college process generally. Call ahead and ask whats available. They also might have workshops. </p>
<p>Would love to see you build a support network of friends who are college bound. If you dont know anyone in your own school willing to talk about college plans, do you participate in activities with kids from other schools? Band, model UN, city youth commission? If so, break the ice and get chatting. Yes, they could be wrong in some details about a particular college, but they will bring up ideas you havent thought of and generally help boost your morale during an exciting but stressful time. </p>
<p>You need to study the FAFSAFree Application for Federal Student Aid and submit it online after Jan 1 (the sooner after Jan 1 the better). Submitting the FAFSA will help you at any college you attend, including nearby community colleges or CSU. For example, you might qualify for a work study job based on the FAFSA. Hopefully you have a computer at home to do these apps, because that’s a lot of personal data.</p>
<p>Rather than ‘study’ the FAFSA, you should get familiar with this form. You must fill it out to get financial aid. You can’t open the form until Jan 1, 2014. For private colleges, you will also have to do an additional financial form. The info on what forms you need to fill out will be on the website in the financial aid area.
[Home</a> - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/]Home”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/)</p>
