<p>There’s no tuition. FSAs are free financially. You even get paid a stipend…vast majority of which goes towards expenses like books, uniforms, etc. </p>
<p>However, you do “pay” in the form of a 5 year active-duty, 3 year reserve obligation as a commissioned officer in the service branch the FSA serves(i.e. West Point - Army, Annapolis - Navy/Marines, USAFA - Air Force, Kings Point - Merchant Marine/other branches, Coast Guard - Coast Guard).</p>
<p>There is a “trial period” within the first two years at the FSAs so if you transfer out before the 2 year mark, you won’t incur a service obligation.</p>
<p>OP-- perhaps if you list your stats we can help you navigate the options of schools where you should be targeting your efforts (both in and outside NYC). Your list doesn’t offer up many clues about what you are looking for besides getting away from your family.</p>
<p>New York City has five boroughs. There are residential colleges in all five boroughs, some incredibly generous. CUNY Staten Island has brand new dorms and very affordable tuition. It also has a Macaulay honors college that is easier to get into than the others, and also has something called the Verrazano school, which offers a scholarship. You could dorm at a CUNY for not a lot of money above a direct loan, including tuition, and if you have a good record you could get some money.</p>
<p>I would also suggest looking into Barnard. I think it still has some single sex dorms. I know that some religious parents are willing to let their daughters attend it and live on campus because this is an option. </p>
<p>If you want to try to persuade your parents to let you live on campus somewhere, I would suggest searching for colleges that offer single sex housing. Catholic colleges like Catholic University, Providence College, or Notre Dame, have single sex dorms, as does Brigham Young, a Mormon school.I think your parents might be more willing to let you live on campus if there are single sex dorms.</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/152
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History (5), AP Psychology (5)
Current Year Course Load: APUSH, Honors English, Online Learn (an online class, I’m currently taking consumer math), Honors Environmental Science, Trig, Computer technology</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):</p>
<p>Student council (secretary - freshman year)
Muslim Student Association (co-founder & president - sophomore & junior year)
Community action team (secretary - sophomore year, vice president - junior year)
National Honor Society (president - junior year)
Book club (founding member - freshman, sophomore, junior years)
United Network of Student Leaders (UNSL - sophomore, junior years)
Borough Student Advisory Council (BSAC - freshman, sophomore, and junior year)</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: Total volunteer hours: 250+
Volunteered with virtual enterprise teacher (freshman year)
School representative at borough/city-wide high school fairs
Student assistant of guidance counselor and freshman year English teacher
Volunteer tutor in math, science, and writing</p>
<p>Summer Activities:
Summer 2011 (freshman year summer): Volunteered at local clinic in home country (Bangladesh) in July & August
Summer 2012 (sophomore year summer): Choate Rosemary Hall Summer Program
State (if domestic applicant): New York
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian (Bengali)
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Less than 15,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>You are a superstar. In your heart, do you think your parents are more concerned about budget, or do you think religious considerations are weighing more heavily on their preferences?</p>
<p>Choate gave you a full scholarship and your parents let you live there?
Agree, look at women’s colleges. You need either serious “meet full need” or some extraordinary merit money. And a fall back plan.</p>
<p>Please know that we do understand the cultural pressures. But sometimes on CC, we can only deal with things as they are presented.</p>
<p>Agree also with the advice to learn fast from the finaid forum and outside resources. Follow sybbie’s advice. These expenses and how aid works have to be understood and one must be aware of exceptions, the unexpected twists, and variations in how colleges implement.</p>
<p>(A) If they do not cooperate with financial aid forms, you get no need-based financial aid, until you are 24, married, or a military veteran.
(B) If you won’t be 18 when you matriculate to college, they can withhold their signature on forms to do so.</p>
<p>Thank you! Well, if you ask about what my heart thinks, then I would say it’s for multiple reasons relating to their trust issues with me because I’m a female in addition to cultural and religious reasons. However, they also can’t afford to pay for my college tuition so that’s another serious factor. I believe both reasons are stopping my parents from letting me pursue my dreams. If it came down to which I’d say is more of a concern to them, it’d be the financial reasons.</p>
<p>Something to consider – if you get a full ride to a non-NYC college, would your parents approve or disapprove? That answer will tell you whether it is really about money, or about control.</p>
<p>I was considering applying for Questionbridge but I’m not sure if I’m competent for it. It seems ridiculously competitive and only a handful of students out of NYC are chosen.</p>
<p>sadiaudden, I know several NYC high school grads attending college on full rides via Questbridge. It is certainly worth considering. I was with a friend this evening whose daughter, a graduate of a Brooklyn high school, will be a senior at Vassar as a Questbridge student. And likewise Posse.</p>
<p>I work with a Muslim professional group, so I can tell you that it is completely possible to be educated, successful and religiously observant. The group I currently work with is currently planning an awesome Iftar. Muslims are very supportive and inclusive. Smith and Bryn Mawr both have MUslim student associations which could be helpful in showing your parents that you will not lose sight of your religious values in college. Why not run a net price calculator at both colleges and see what the numbers look like?</p>
<p>Great thinking! I’ve thought about that before and I’m unsure of the answer myself. </p>
<p>Yes, they might approve and let me attend a college out of the city if it was a full ride but there might be lots of restrictions on me along with that. My brother would have to pitch in and persuade my parents to let the bird out of its nest. The problem here is, my brother isn’t exactly on my side. My family resents me so it’s all there in a pack against me almost all the time (I’m not saying this out of anger or frustration, it’s the actual situation). If I can convince him to let me go, then he can be the middleman and talk to my parents. My parents, as I have mentioned, disregard my opinions on everything and the only person’s opinion they are willing to listen and respect is my older brother. </p>
<p>No, they might disapprove because they are highly insecure individuals, particularly in matters of religion and cultural values. Once again, I’m not saying this to attack them I’m simply explaining the situation. They are very very uptight and conservative and fathom the idea of not having some form of control over my daily life. It’s hard to change my dad’s mind, my mom just tags along with whatever he says so she won’t get yelled or face more severe punishments.</p>
<p>I completely understand your desire to get away, but here are a couple of things to consider. You are a fantastic candidate, but your parents hold certain power, so you have to give them what they want and accept that you will probably have to make some compromises.</p>
<p>Next, please don’t lose sight of the fact that getting your degree is the most important thing. Once you have it, your whole life is open to you and nobody can take it away from you. You need to give it your best shot, but if there really is no path to an away school, then please go to a local school, follow their rules and do as well in college as you have in high school so you can go to the graduate school or career of your dreams. The one thing you don’t want to do is antagonize them to the point that they don’t let you go to college at all. You have clearly had your priorities in the right place, just hang on a little longer. College is short, life is long.</p>
<p>Some of the parents here are better suited to advise you on how to navigate the financial aid process.</p>
<p>My advice is to help you map a strategy to get your parents on board. </p>
<p>(1) Work on your older brother. Zoosermom suggested looking at Smith and Bryn Mawr; add Barnard and Wellesley. Sell him the girls schools first even though they might not be your first choice. Some of these schools have Muslim Students Association, contact them and ask about activities. Show all these to your brother.</p>
<p>(2) Do you have any female cousins who have gone away to college? Contact their parents and let them work on your parents. If not, then you brother is the most important person you have to convince.</p>
<p>(3) Let your brother know about all the wonderful opportunities at your disposal at these great universities. Tell him about your dreams and what you hope to become in future and how these schools could help you achieve your goals. He would want you to be as successful as you could possibly be. </p>
<p>Don’t work on your parents at this time; your father won’t budge. Just concentrate on your brother now.</p>
<p>Remind your brother that if you have a successful career you won’t be a burden on him or your parents and that he wouldn’t be responsible for your parents alone if you have a good job.</p>
<p>I understand that is the main goal but doesn’t the name of the school matter too? So I plan on being a neuroscience major and by the time I apply to grad school, I’m pretty sure they’ll give more consideration to the kid who studied neuroscience at Emory than the kid who studied it at a CUNY (hypothetically speaking since CUNY doesn’t offer neuroscience to begin with). I know it sounds kind of shallow, but the name of the school does matter. I’m not sure if the same “name matters” applies if I do a pre-med track for neuroscience but I bet my money that Johns Hopkins will consider an Emory student over a CUNY student. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’m always open to suggestions. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I’m going to miss out on so many different opportunities by not being part of the residential life. I’ll miss out on making lifelong friends, joining clubs/sports that are much more close knit at a residential college as opposed to a commuter school, study abroad, etc. I’m pretty much missing out on the college experience, what it actually means to grow as an individual and learn through other people. At a commuter school, I’ll only see students in class. I doubt I’d even get to know them well or even get to call them my “friend” at some point, they’ll always remain an acquaintance.</p>
<p>Medical school admissions is generally said to be much less concerned about undergraduate school name than, for example, Wall Street employment or PhD program admissions (although PhD programs’ undergraduate school preferences vary by subject and by each individual PhD program, and they do not necessary have much correlation to general popular prestige rankings).</p>
<p>You do need a very high GPA and a high MCAT score to have any reasonable chance at medical school admission in the US.</p>
Well, if you ask about what my heart thinks, then I would say it’s for multiple reasons relating to their trust issues with me because I’m a female in addition to cultural and religious reasons. However, they also can’t afford to pay for my college tuition so that’s another serious factor. I believe both reasons are stopping my parents from letting me pursue my dreams. If it came down to which I’d say is more of a concern to them, it’d be the financial reasons.</p>