Hi, everyone! I’m a community college student who is beginning to explore making a list of colleges to apply to this fall. I would love some feedback from you guys as I get into this!
My basic info:
New York state resident. 20 years old, female. 3.4 GPA/1360 SAT. First gen. Sketch of ECs: I work full-time on organic farms through WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). I write poetry. Involved with Catholic Worker (left-leaning Catholic charity movement) volunteerism, attend church. Have traveled to 28 states in the last 2 years and lived out of a backpack during most of that time. I’m no longer doing the “living out of a backpack” thing. It was not voluntary. I made the best of it. I am still working on an organic farm. Have been taking community college classes online while doing all of this. Financially independent on the FAFSA — I was in foster care and do not have biological or adoptive family.
Cost constraints:
I have no expected family contribution. My work situation is a “boarder” (I am not paid for my work, just given somewhere to sleep and meals.) This is what I found myself doing to avoid being street-homeless (instead of just technically homeless) after aging out of foster care. My income is actually zero. I have no assets. EFC=0. I would strongly prefer to only take out federal student loans, and not private loans. I have a co-signer but it seems unwise financially. My long term romantic partner is willing to pay for transportation costs, application fees, and incidentals. If I attend a college in the NYC area, (>15 miles from Manhattan), we have discussed it and I am able to live with him, rather than living in a dorm with a meal plan.
Intended majors & professional goals:
I want to be a teacher. I’m strongly interested in Montessori and Catholic schools. I love poetry and literature. I have taken three years of high school French and spent early childhood before entering the foster care system in a bilingual French-English home. I am interested in education, English, and French majors. I’d like to teach in a Montessori or Catholic school after college. I think Teach for America and teaching in underserved areas sounds amazing. I’m also interested in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) overseas. I have some interest in pre-law but I’m not sure about that one. Oh, also. This is kind of a weird one, but I’ve always kind of wanted to be a nun. I’m a practicing Catholic and I love that many orders of nuns are so involved in humanitarian work and caring for others, and that it is a lifestyle in which you can have spiritual community, meaningful professional work, and live your faith. I only expect to explore the idea of becoming a religious sister after I’ve finished college and paid down any student debt I may have, though. I have talked extensively to a Loretto sister, a Sister of St. Joseph, and a Canossian Sister of Charity about vocational discernment and all three women advised me to go to college and then pursue it with a degree.
Non-academic preferences:
I’d most like to go to school in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic. After that, the Midwest or South. But for the right school, I’d be fine with going west. I would prefer a smaller school. I think I’d do better in a school with small classes sizes. No preference about weather. Honestly, I’m also fine with anything from an isolated rural campus to a school in the heart of a metropolis. I’ve lived in both kinds of places and do fine in either.
My GPA is unweighted. I’ve just taken the liberal arts/gen ed classes required for a generic A.A. degree. My SAT score is 1360. I actually am studying to take the ACT in September, though, because I think I will do better on it— I score fine on reading/writing/science questions, but am very weak on math— especially the kind of math in the SAT; better on geometry. I’m focusing on studying ACT math and will see what happens in September! 
My list of prospective schools I’m looking at to apply to this fall mostly consists of SUNY and CUNY schools. I would really, really, really appreciate any kind of ideas about schools I should apply to in addition to state schools— or even ideas about what state schools might be good fits. (There are just so many in New York!!) I’m really attracted to Catholic colleges, smaller liberal arts colleges, and women’s colleges. So far, though, the only school I know for sure that I am definitely applying to is CUNY—Hunter College… the rest is in flux. Thanks in advance guys!