Is NCSSM worth it for me?

I’m currently a sophomore in a rural area in NC in a low income high school and town with not many opportunities EC wise and
academic wise such as that of which they don’t offer many AP classes (<6). I came from Los Angeles 3 years ago, which was where I was born and grew up and while living there I was more used to a more qualitive and plentiful number of opportunities. I’ve noticed some of the other “smarts” of my grade are prepping in applications to submit to have a chance of admission to NCSSM, which made me think if going to this school is worth the opportunity for me. The conflict with this is that I really want to have the best chance at HYPS and most of the students (at my school atleast) don’t even consider applying to any of those schools and mainly are just bent on going to UNC, Duke (great schools I’m also applying to.), and other in state schools. I’ve also heard NCSSM also puts in a ton of unnecessary workloads on teenagers that are even greater than college work from what I’ve heard. I’m in the top 5-6% of my class (only person of minority, first gen and low income at this level) at my local school and I feel as if I won’t stand out at all at NCSSM because of all the extreme competitiveness and all those gifted students. Since I am also a URM, first gen, and a low income student, I feel as if by staying here it fits in this narative a bit more and adds an extra hook. Besides I feel as if I have to stay here anways to help support my parents as they’re getting older and have no one else to help them (I’m an only child) and I probably am not ready yet to move on my own, but if the opportunity requires it I feel as if I would make the sacrafice along with my parents. What do you guys thnk? Should I stay at my home school and really stand out academically and EC wise? Should I move to NCSSM to have a better amount of opportunities and a shot at HYPS, Duke or UNC? (Don’t know how much going to NCSSM affects chances at these schools so please let me know)

So I don’t know anything about NCSSM, at all. But I do know that you have a good number of hooks, and if you have a combination of very good grades and very good test scores you will get accepted to a lot of colleges.

No one can guarantee you a HYP or Duke, but as an in-state student you have a good shot an UNC and the Carolina Promise.

We have gone through a similar thought process with my son. I think his chances at a tippy-top college would probably be better if he stayed at his public high school. Ultimately he decided to apply to NCSSM. His thoughts were that he has no idea if he will get into a top 20 university no matter where he completes HS as admission chances are quite low for everyone so he wants to take the highest challenge. He is also not challenged at his home HS and has run out of courses so NCSSM is the best opportunity for him.

Re your chances, the narrative of being a URM and continually identifying the best opportunities is a good one and from what I have heard, URMs from NCSSM do quite well in college admissions. Also, I guarantee that if you get into a top notch school, you will be better prepared having gone through NCSSM.

The only thing that concerns me is you indicated you are probably not ready to move out on your own. NCSSM requires a lot of independence and if you are not ready then do not go. Nothing to be ashamed of for not being ready yet.