Urgent Help for Starting College Applications

Applying to College
1

Dear everyone,

Right now is already December 3rd and regular decision apps are due in less than 1 month. I do not have a list of colleges at all, much less any personal or supplemental essays. I am really freaking out right now because I have how to start. Please give me some advice.

For reference, I would like to major in either CS or business. My dream school is MIT, but I would also like a healthy list of target and safety school.

Background information:

  1. Asian American household (first generation)
  2. Low-income family (qualify for food-stamps and other benefits)

Academic information:

  1. 10 APS: APHUG (9th), AP Literature & Composition (11th), AP Physics 1 (11th), AP Chemistry (11th), AP US History (11th), AP Biology (12th), AP CS (12th), AP AB Calculus (12th), AP Physics C: Mechanics (12th), AP Physics C: E&M (12th)

Confirmed 5 for all 9-11th grade: currently taking 5 AP’s as 12th grader

  1. About 93/100 GPA (our school use point system)

  2. SAT: 1550 (superscore)

Academic achievements

4X AIME Qualifier, 2X AMC12 DHR, Near Perfect Perfect AMC12

1X USACO Gold Qualifier

2X National Ethics Bowl Finalist, 1X Semifinalist, 1st in Tristate Area

2X USNCO Summer Coaching Program Qualifier

1X USABO Semifinal Qualifier

1X National Spanish Exam Gold: top 1% scorer in gold-division

Extracurricular
Math team
Ethics Bowl
ACS (chemistry Olympiad)
Basketball, Track & field (individual hobby: not part of school team)

Letter of Recommendation
I have 2 very well-written LOC from a science and history teacher. I still need to request a LOC from my guidance counselor.

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What state are you from?

What is your budget? Have you run the NPC for MIT?

Why is MIT your dream school? What do you like about it?

Have you applied anywhere yet? Are you are senior in high school?

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Agree we need the answers to the questions above. Is there a reason you haven’t applied anywhere yet?

You have to get with your GC ASAP and do everything your school needs to complete your apps before you go on holiday break, including giving your GC the info they need to write their LoR, requesting transcripts, linking Naviance (if your school uses that) to the common app, etc.

Have you started your common app? If not, complete that this weekend, including the personal statement. Is that doable?

As an NMSF, you would qualify for significant scholarships at U Alabama, which is an easy app (use their own app not the common app).

Have you started on any supplemental essays, like MIT’s (where you should apply)?

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The weekend, I would suggest you look at the essay on the Common application and at least start a word doc and write a draft of that essay.

In terms of colleges for CS, you don’t need to go to MIT to major in CS…plus the acceptance rate there is single digits.

Please answer the questions above. What can your family pay annually? What state do you reside in?

I have to ask…you posted something similar at the end of October about not having a list of colleges…is there some reason you didn’t start working on that at the very beginning of November?

Computer science can be studied at any number of places…but you need to have an affordable college. Please let us know your annual budget and I’m sure folks here can help you craft a list.

I will say…if your state has any aid programs for public universities and low income students…and you would qualify…start there. This weekend…figure that out.

Adding…as a NMF you would get a true full ride to University of New Mexico…check their website for accuracy of this and to see if you missed their deadline.

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Hey everyone, thanks for the reply. I’m from New York. I haven’t done the Net Price Calculator, but our annual income is < 60K. Our school uses Naviance, which I have linked to Common App.

The reason I haven’t started in November is pretty much because of my procrastination and now it’s coming back to bite me in the ass. I haven’t done any supplements, but the most important thing is I don’t have a list of colleges I want to apply to.

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Also, I am freaking out right now because I just realized RD decision for schools like UC Berkeley has already passed in November. I feel so completely ignorant of the whole college process because of my procrastination and now I feel so overwhelmed & don’t know want to do.

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In addition to what’s been explained above, I would make sure your counselor has a heads up of schools to send transcripts to, and counselor recommendation. My son’s school requires a minimum of 4 weeks. I also hope your reference letters are written as it’s a tough time of year to be asking last minute. Good luck!

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Fortunately, I have my 2 letter of recommendations already. I was originally go to do ED, but I had several classes with incorrect GPA that I needed to correct and it wasn’t in time for ED school. So we decided to do RD.

From there on out, I completely forgot about RD because I thought it was so far away and now I’m in this mess I created for myself.

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You could be in far worse messes! Outline a plan for tackling the various components and I agree with getting a solid draft of your Common App essay this weekend. You’ll want to spend some time researching your top schools so you can tailor supplemental essays to each school. I came on here several months ago looking for recommendations for my son who is interested in CS, strong stats, and I received incredible recommendations/detail. You can find a wealth of information here about different programs.

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It sounds like you need to sit down and make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish and simply begin. It’s great that your Common App and Naviance are linked. I would spend this weekend a) getting your CA essay in something close to final form, and b) researching other schools to apply to.

Re: the essay, now that you know what the prompts are, do you have any essays in your Google drive from HS classes that could serve as a jumping off point for this one? That would give you a real head start, and then you would only need to tweak and revise.

Re: schools, put MIT aside for a moment and use Naviance to your advantage. Fill in the questions for types of schools you could be interested in (location, size, public/private, programs, etc) and then explore the ones that are recommended for you. Watch the videos, do the virtual tours, look at the Scattergrams, etc. Try to find a couple of sure things, a couple of likelies, and you already have MIT as a reach, as it is a reach for most. Once you can answer some of those questions about the types of schools and geographic area of interest, we can give better advice about schools likely to give solid merit aid, etc.

If you can end the weekend with a completed essay/common app, as well as a few schools you are interested in, you will feel better and be in good shape. For many schools, as long as they have your common app by their deadline, there is leeway on arrival of supporting documents.

Then return to school Monday and make that appointment with your guidance counselor. You want to make sure you are fully apprised of what they still need from you, and what their procedures are for sending transcripts and counselors reports. Lastly, have you asked any teachers for a recommendation? You will want to make sure to do so ASAP if you have not.

So make a list, take some deep breaths, and rally. You can do this.

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If you are low income…take Berkeley off of your list. They give NO need based aid to OOS students. And the amount of merit is a drop in the bucket when compared to the $65,000 a year plus cost of attendance.

It sounds like you qualify for TAP or Excelsior awards in NY state. It’s also possible that you would qualify for other money…but deadlines….

Can you commute to any four year public university from your home?

@sybbie719 where can this NY resident apply instate for maximum financial aid?

To

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Thank you so much everyone for the list of advice. My anxiety is tuned down a notch, because of everyone’s actionable advices.

I am not sure if I can finish the personal statement this weekend, since I have about 3 different AP test on Monday and Tuesday.

I loved the advice given by @CTCape. I haven’t used Naviance in the past so I am bit unfamiliar with the user interface, but I will use your advice to leverage the resources to generate list of colleges.

As for past high school papers, I don’t have one in particular but I am a strong academic writer. Also, I’ve heard people “recycle” their papers since the prompts are often similar enough that only micro adjustments are needed.

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I am not sure. I currently don’t have an idea of the public colleges in NY, but the school I currently go to is in Manhattan. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

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Take a deep breath. You still have time - you just need to get started. The good news is that you are a very strong student so you will be an attractive candidate at quite a few schools. First, you need to go to your GC and get a LOR going (go Monday) and also get a transcript request form that you can fill out next week. This weekend you need to look at colleges that might work for you - including financially. If you haven’t started the common app, try and get that done this weekend too (minus the essay) - it is pretty straightforward and you will feel a lot better once it is complete.

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Besides MIT, look at Georgia Tech, Purdue, University of Illinois. Georgia Tech usually gives out great academic scholarships and will also accept your high school APs as long as they are 5s. Good luck.

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@Stressed_out_high you may want to add Rutgers to your list. I think you’re competitive there based on your stats and they have a good CS program. A lot of well known companies in the NY/NJ area recruit from there, so career prospects are good too.

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In terms of schools, it is tough to recommend because of your finances. A safety (admissions wise) would be RIT, some matches would include WPI, RPI, Purdue - but I don’t know how generous they are with financial aid and if they would be affordable for you. The most generous aid (where you would attend for free or nearly free) would be some of the top 20 schools , but the trick there is getting in.

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Your first step should be finding colleges that are financially fit. You should only consider colleges that meet full need (most of them are private but a few are public), or offer full tuition/ride merit scholarship for NMSF, or are in-state public’s (if in-state tuition is affordable).

BTW, most of the OOS publics and some of the privates mentioned above don’t meet full need.

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Don’t waste your time on Purdue. The EA and merit deadline has passed. CS is almost always totally filled in EA.

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Add Cornell to your list. With your income you will go for free.

Look at the SUNY/CUNY schools. Bing, Buffalo, SB.

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