Thanks…I assume then for merit too - which - since we don’t know the student’s need - and it’s too early since we don’t even know what he’s looking at - but once he has a budget, etc. we can work through ideas - but again, it’s early - but it’s not too early to know he/she is going to have many a home.
As has been mentioned above, for the purpose of applying to universities and attending and paying for universities in the US, “permanent resident” is the same as “citizen”. This is not an issue at all.
You should try to avoid taking on “big loans”. I would not take on a big loan even to attend MIT or Stanford or Harvard for a bachelor’s degree if you could attend a good SUNY without tanking on loans.
Fortunately you have really good options in-state. I do not know the New York state schools all that well, but I would expect that you can do well in admissions to many very good universities, including some very good in-state public universities, with a strong sophomore and junior year of high school.
Which gets back to what you should do for the upcoming academic year: Keep ahead in your classes. Strive for good grades. Treat people fairly. Participate in the ECs that are interesting for you. Know that you are doing fine.
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You’re doing fine. Lots of students had trouble with online learning. For you, it was the first year of high school at arguably the most competitive, demanding public high school in NY. Despite that bad grade in first semester AP Bio, you obviously learned the material - second semester grade was better, and you got a 4 on the AP exam. And your grades in 10th grade, in person, were wonderful. Lots of people don’t take APs until 11th or even 12th grade, and schools know that the academic level at your school is high, so non-AP classes should have been demanding, too.
Best thing that you can do is to keep on working hard in school, getting high grades. Speak up in classes, and try to get to know some of your teachers outside of class time, so that you’ll be able to ask for recommendations. Most teachers only have students for one year, so the “growth” issue is expected to be only over that one year. The summer research is great to put on an application.
Unless your family is low income, and hence you’d qualify for full fin aid at a prestigious school that meets full need, you will probably find your best bet as a NYC and NYS resident is going to be the CUNY and SUNY schools, because they’re affordable. If your grades continue on this trajectory, you should have no trouble getting into the most selective CUNY and SUNY schools.
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All colleges in the country know Stuy, so they’ll know that even a student ranking in the bottom half at Stuy is a great student.
Make sure you have an academically rigorous schedule (English, Math, Science, Foreign Language, Social Science/History+ 1 more), jump into activities you really like (take on a leadership role if you are really into an activity or create your own) because for selective universities showing your interests outside of school matters, and be a good person that teachers can write about with pleasure.
Run the NPC on SUNYs with your parents. Depending on your major, Bing or Stony Brook will be your targets, so it’s important you make sure they’re affordable for your parents. Round that out with a couple more SUNY’s - Geneseo if you’re into Liberal Arts subjects, Buffalo if you’re into Engineering, New Paltz if you want a pretty campus with a little bit of everything (likely a safety for you).
Check out the Honors Colleges as those can be useful to have more interactive classes and more personal contact with professors at large universities.
Then, run the NPC on University of Rochester, Vassar, and Hamilton. Are those affordable for your parents? If so, look into their curriculum. Those would be reaches (odds are low for all) but they meet 100% need.
If your parents can’t afford the net price at these universities, then you need “merit aid” and it’s a whole other search.
What are you interested in, academically?
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I think that may be my biggest issue, I’m not certain what I want to continue studying in college. I think for now I expect to aim towards biology/comp sci, but am not entirely sure. Should I already have figured this out by now, or do I still have time junior year to make a decision?
My family isn’t low income, we make around 150k a year but we do have a lot of debt to pay off from buying a house but they are willing to chip in quite a bit (up to around 30k max, that might be even too much, since I have siblings), so I will definitely look into in-state options!
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Oy. 150K in NYC is relatively low income (largely because of the incredibly high cost of housing), but doesn’t qualify you for questbridge or frankly even for fin aid at most schools. Most schools will not consider that your family has to pay off a big mortgage on your house, when awarding fin aid. They might look at the family’s monthly mortgage payment on the primary residence as something to factor in, but really, only certain schools that are extremely generous with fin aid would look at a family with an income of around 150K/yr and consider the fact that they have a very high cost of housing in NYC, and so have equivalent disposable income to a family living in, say, the rural MidWest who have a household income of 50K/yr. When you say 30K, do you mean that they can afford 30K in total, or 30K/yr, meaning 120K? Honestly, you should be looking into whether you can earn up to 2 years of transferable college credit while in 11th and 12th grades via AP or dual enrollment that will enable you to start at the SUNY or CUNY of your choice with 3-4 semesters of transferred in college credit, so that you can earn a good degree, while having a good college experience, at the lowest possible cost - maybe even with paying for only 2 years at a SUNY or CUNY.
Your academics will be fine, looking at how you did in-person in sophomore year. Your big issue is going to be how to pay for anything other than a CUNY. If your parents can kick in 30K/yr, that would cover a SUNY.
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OP-You sound like a terrific student. Covid stinks, but you’re going into Junior year so you’ve got plenty of time to focus and enjoy just being a HS student.
There are loads of options for NY residents. Ignore any college discussion for now and keep your eye on the ball- becoming the best version of yourself you can be.
And ignore anyone who tries to disparage the public U system in NY (a few posters have already implied that “only” being able to afford a CUNY is a problem). I know kids who have graduated from Baruch, Macauley, Stonybrook, Binghamton, Buffalo (and even some of the less famous options) and have knocked the cover off the ball- ending up with careers and lives just as fantastic- or more so- as their peers who went to the “big name” colleges.
So you do you…
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Which schools do that? And where do you indicate your monthly mortgage payment on any financial aid form?
@euphority you are doing well. Get the best grades you can get. Do activities you enjoy. When the time comes, make a varied list of colleges in terms of selectivity that you can likely afford to attend.
Do the best you can on the SAT or ACT…as for some schools, this will matter.
And the PSAT…you want to do the best you can on that one too…
I think you will have some good college choices when the time comes. Start researching your instate options.
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I don’t remember everything that was on the CSS form, but my sentiment after having finished completing it was that it had been an EXTREMELY thorough financial biopsy of our family’s finances. It asked about the market value of the home, and the mortgage on the home, and hence the equity in the home (and cars).
I assumed having a lot of equity in a home/homes didn’t help with FA because schools assume you can borrow against it for college.
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Which schools do that? And where do you indicate your monthly mortgage payment on any financial aid form? Some colleges do use primary home equity as part of their financial aid calculation…but I don’t know that the care if you have a high mortgage or not. That is a family financial choice.
@euphority you are doing well. Get the best grades you can get. Do activities you enjoy. When the time comes, make a varied list of colleges in terms of selectivity that you can likely afford to attend.
Do the best you can on the SAT or ACT…as for some schools, this will matter.
And the PSAT…you want to do the best you can on that one too…
I think you will have some good college choices when the time comes. Start researching your instate options.
Your high school seems to have a competitive atmosphere with hyperfocus on grades. Do the best you can and things will work out.
What are you actually interested in? Don’t worry about EC’s. But use your high school years to explore your interests and develop them in school or, if appropriate and possible, outside of school.
It sounds like writing is a strength, since you write for the paper and also tutor writing. Do you write creatively at all? Do you prefer reporting? What kinds of things do you write?
What other interests do you have? High school should not just be about college admissions, obviously, but some schools do have that vibe. Work reasonably hard, enjoy friends, and explore things you like to do and/or are good at. It will all be fine.
SUNY’s and CUNY’s are fine options by the way.
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First, breathe and relax. You still have significant time to raise your GPA. You should add a bit more in extracurriculars.
As to letters of recommendation, it’s common in many schools to only know teachers for one year. So just be active in class in your junior year. Participate in class discussions, engage with your teachers during extra help sessions, etc.
A great Junior year will show the schools that your Freshman slump was just Covid related. That will matter.
For now, take a step back… just do as well as you can this year. Then reassess. You’ll be fine, you’ll be competitive at lots of good schools and will find a school that’s right for you. Not everyone is going to be a Harvard candidate… and that’s just fine. Do as well as you can, and it will increase your options.