<p>I'm currently a rising junior at an NYC college prep religious school. I live in the NY suburbs (NYS, not Long Island) about half an hour from NYC and about ten seconds from the NJ border (in other words, Rockland, if you live in the area). I currently have a 3.9/4.0 GPA (it's kinda complicated in my school), a 210 on my PSAT (haven't taken SAT yet), 28 on PLAN (again, no ACT yet), 4 on the only AP I've taken so far (Euro, with a really cruddy teacher), and I'm on the high honor roll at my school. Annoyingly enough, there are enough geniuses in my grade that I'm not that high in the rankings, but I do okay. I've been featured in the school literary journal, have been featured in and head of the poetry journal, have been on debate team, and have been featured multiple times in the student magazine. I'm taking 2 foreign languages, including one at an honors level, and about sixteen subjects, including numerous religious subjects in a different language. I'm interested in becoming a psychologist, but am also interested in writing and history.
So here's my thingie. Due to a bunch of random reasons, I will either be living at home or in close proximity to it (except for certain possible circumstances) during college. Therefore, my college list needs to consist pretty much solely of colleges within home-for-the-weekend distance or closer. Does anyone know of any good colleges which would be a good fit? I'd love to go to Columbia or Barnard, but I probably couldn't get in and I'd need financial aid. Another idea is Macaulay Honors College at Hunter or Brooklyn, for which I'm intending to jack up my GPA and SAT score. I haven't really explored the idea of NJ colleges yet.
Does anyone have any suggestions of a good fit and excellent academics? I am working on my grades and I am expecting a better score on the PSAT this year and the SAT.
Thanks!</p>
<p>What about Fordham?</p>
<p>What do you want to major in?</p>
<p>What can you afford to pay, and will you qualify for need-based aid?</p>
<p>I’d like to major in psychology, probably, but if I can get into a good grad program in psychology with a different major, then I’ll probably do something in the history or English range.
Fordham. Okay. I’ll put it on my list. Thanks, timetodecide12!
What do you think my chances of getting into Macaulay (any campus, really) are? I’d love to do that, if only because it’s free 
but for other reasons too.
People, please help! Thanks timetodecide12 and barrk123 for starting! You’re awesome!</p>
<p>I’m honestly not sure. While my parents would help somewhat, in the long run I’ll be paying for my college, so obviously I’d like to keep costs down. Unless they’re just talking about me and not my family because I’m paying (can you tell I don’t know much about this yet? I’m only a rising junior!) my family will probably not qualify for need-based aid. I’d love to get some kind of merit scholarship if I can (which would obviously depend on the level of the college) but I’d say that otherwise I’d need loans, and I’d prefer to reduce the number of loans, go cheaper and focus more on grad school (because grad school is more important when it comes to getting a psychology degree/job). But I don’t want to rule anything out.
Sorry about that bit of mush, BobWallace, but I hope it is somewhat comprehensible!</p>
<p>Bump! Bumpitty-bump bump!</p>
<p>The CUNYs are certainly bargains.</p>
<p>Any of the CUNY schools, especially if you can get into Macaulay</p>
<p>Fordham, as mentioned before</p>
<p>NYU, although a lot of people are turned off by the size and lack of campus, and they’re bad at giving out aid.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence College, extremely expensive but isn’t too bad with aid.</p>
<p>Hofstra can be a safety, as well as potentially Iona College in New Rochelle. (I love New Rochelle, if I could afford to go that far away for school…)</p>
<p>The Cooper Union gives a full tuition scholarship for all of their accepted students. The acceptance rate is very low, and they only offer a few programs, but give it a shot.</p>
<p>Cooper Union is an art and engineering school. I don’t think it’s for you. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that living in the city is very expensive. With little help from your parents, I’d highly suggest spending a year or 2 at your local community college.</p>
<p>If you expect to receive little help from your family, and don’t expect to receive need-based aid, then you will need to either look at the least expensive possible schools and/or schools where you can get big merit aid. Macaulay Honors is a great idea financially - you are on the right track there.</p>
<p>If you can get your PSAT up a bit this year, you will make the cutoff for NMSF/NMF (NY cutoff ranges from 216-219). This is a very big deal for merit aid. For instance, one school that has been mentioned - Fordham - gives full tuition scholarships for NMF.</p>
<p>Good scores on the ACT and SAT can also lead to big merit aid awards. You seem to be on the right path academically, so keep the good work and it can pay off for you.</p>
<p>At some point during this year you should have a serious discussion with your parents about college and how much they can contribute, and fill out an EFC calculator together. This will give you and your parents a realistic idea of which schools you should target.</p>
<p>One of the CUNYs probably given your geographic and financial constraints. Or the honors program at RCC and reassess your situation after the two years there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the answers!
I’m considering just living at home and driving to save costs, or I know people who board, so I’m not really worrying about that yet. Given the dearth of dorm spaces in many NYC area colleges, I have kept the fact that I may not get one in mind.
My parents told me that they’ll help me somewhat, and they will be supportive, but I have no illusions that they’re going to pay for everything. If I need to, I will take out loans or try to get aid. I tried the calculator, but realized that I needed a lot of info I didn’t have, and I forgot to mention it to my parents :). I’ll bring it up again soon.
Really, their thing is that they paid their own college, and really college means that I’m pretty much an adult, so I should be preparing to make it on my own. They’re not inflexible, they would just like me to be more financially independent (besides the fact that they’ve been paying my private school tuition my whole life). I’m really going to try for high scores and try to get scholarships or some sort of aid. My PSAT was taken in 10th, before I really took a lot of the included math, which brought down my grade, so I’m kind of counting on improving it.
Macaulay is like my dream now, and it has a good acceptance rate with my school, but I obviously can’t count on it, as this past year they only accepted 19% of applicants :). Otherwise, I will probably go somewhere where I can get a scholarship or otherwise to a CUNY. I will also be applying to other CUNY honors programs in individual colleges. RCC is an option if I decide to take courses in high school, but it’s not really an option for college. My friend is DYING to go to Cooper Union though. I thought about NYU but the lack of aid is an issue. I will also be looking into the colleges in Westchester, like Iona and Hofstra, and try to get merit scholarships.
I’m going to look into the whole parent question again, though I know that their involvement will be loving but limited. (Though honestly, I don’t think ANYONE in my extended family was helped by their parents through college, so I don’t feel like I’m deprived or anything.)
Thanks for your help, guys! If you know of naything else I should know, let me know!</p>
<p>Come back when you have your test scores (PSAT/SAT/ACT) and we’ll be able to give more specific advice on schools to target for merit aid.</p>
<p>Yeah, I probably will, I was just reviewing for my PSAT and decided to do a bit of advance worrying :).
I’ll be taking PSAT in October and probably SAT in May. I don’t know when the ACT is.</p>
<p>
Honestly I hadn’t heard of it until earlier this year when a friend of mine got into the engineering program. It seems like an excellent choice if it happens to have a program you want.</p>
<p>^ Maybe it was this quote from the OP that brought the comment about Cooper Union not being for her.
</p>
<p>Is Stern even an option? I know nothing about quality but it could let you continue some of your high school learning.</p>
<p>Ooh, perceptive, Wordworker! Only slightly stalkerish, but that’s okay :).
The problem is that a) they are very pricey, b) they take almost zero outside credits, c) the fact that there are religious studies means that you’re pretty much guaranteed to be stuck there all four years, and d) there are random forces which don’t want me to go… whatever. I’d think about it, though. The quality is actually pretty good. I do know people who have gotten in for free or somewhat discounted with similar grades to mine. It is on my list. Touro, on the other hand, isn’t really so much.</p>
<p>Meant with best intentions. Your name, location, and references to school made it obvious to a member of the tribe. (Someone who reads Faye Kellerman also would have no trouble.)</p>
<p>My best friend in college went to such a high school. She knew she didn’t want that experience any more. I just didn’t know whether you’d even considered a place like Stern.</p>