What colleges should I look into

I’m a sophomore who messed up first semester of sophomore year with a 75 came back and got a 90 second semester. I’m a prospective geography major I’m a New York State resident but willing to go anywhere. I plan to get straight a’s junior year what colleges should be my target safety and reach schools.

My gpa will be around a 3.45 when finished with high school if my grades stay the same and I look to become a geography professor so what are some solid options that would be realistic for me

Am I screwed

Didn’t we have this conversation yesterday?

I thought you were looking at SUNYs-- specifically the ones your guidance counselor suggested, including Oneonta, I think you said Buffalo, I forget which others you mentioned yesterday.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2146459-is-this-enough-rigor-to-get-into-state-schools-p1.html

Oh I thought this was on a different forum I was checking for more out of state options on this one sorry for the confusion

You grades next year will matter a lot. If you have a weak junior year, it will look like you are a B/C student who had one strong semester. If you have a very strong junior year, then it will look like you are a student who got their act together and was able to string together three straight semesters of strong grades.

You should work very hard next year to do as well as you can. Pay attention. Keep well ahead in your homework. A year from now you will have a far better sense regarding what your chances are at various universities.

I don’t know what the SUNY’s do. I have seen a small number of other cases (not SUNY’s) where students had mixed results through the first three years of high school, and universities specifically asked for their first semester grades senior year. In most of these cases (all that I can remember right now) the student had a very strong first semester senior year, and did subsequently get accepted to the schools that had asked for their additional transcripts. If you can do very well next year, then you should try to continue this strong trend into your senior year of high school. This will also help you to be better prepared to do well when you get to university.

Where you can go depends primarily on your GPA, test scores, and how much your parents can pay. What’s your cumulative GPA and highest test score? How much can your parents contribute each year without borrowing?

You have a lot of similar/repetitive posts. The fact is it is too early to give you ideas of where to apply. Come back when you have actual (not projected):
– Final grades for this semester and first semester junior year grades. At that time please provide us with the rigor of your schedule.
–SAT scores (or at least PSAT scores)
–Any impactful extra-curricular activities
–An idea of how good your recommendations will be.
–And find out what is affordable for your family.

Until that time please stop asking the same question in slightly different forms. Remember that responders on CC are volunteers and so please show you value our time.

Suffice it to say that NYS has a great variety of public colleges with different levels of selectivity so that should provide some comfort for now.

Sorry I’m just stressed out about this whole situation I just want to advance my life the best way i can

I get that from an emotional standpoint, it’s important to have some idea what you’re working toward in addition to just knowing that you have to do the work.

But it’s also important to keep that balance in perspective and not just try to work backwards from the dream to the reality. You have to pay your dues with next year’s academics, EC’s, standardized tests, etc. before you’ll have anywhere near enough information to choose possible OOS “target” and “dream” schools.

I would suggest that you focus your “dreaming” energy right now on the SUNY’s. Take your counselor’s advice and really get to know some of those schools. Look at both academic programs, and campus life. Where would you live? How would you spend your time? What would you get involved in? Turn those in-state options from just names-on-a-list into places that you feel a personal connection with. Those are your default plans - identify at least two where you can really picture yourself. Get to know them well enough that if they do become the “road not taken,” you’ll feel at least a little sad to give them up.

Then go knock your junior year out of the park. And then reward yourself with the fun and interesting process of figuring out whether there are options further afield that beat the bar that your target SUNY’s have set. We’ll be here to help you with that when the time comes. Genuinely familiarizing yourself with your best SUNY options first will save you the trouble of sifting through a gazillion options that wouldn’t really be better than those, and waiting until you have actually earned the stats you’ll be applying with will spare you wasting energy schools that aren’t actually targets.

“Sorry I’m just stressed out about this whole situation”

I understand that this process is very stressful. The US puts way too much stress on our high school students.

I am confident that if you do well for your last two years of high school then you will find good universities to attend. Relax. Plan to keep ahead in your work when you start school again in September. Really, at this point the only thing that you need to be concerned about is keeping ahead in your school work, and taking it one day at a time.

You might however also want to talk to a counselor about stress. Is there anyone at your high school that you can talk to?

Well the truth is I’m a very obsessive person since I have hfa also known as aspergers I have been obsessed with maps since I was 3 and just want to find my best fit and when I obsess on something it usually warrants stress and I think talking to my psychotherapist will help matters

OK, I get it. Thanks for the explanation.

You have a list of schools to look at-- those SUNYs your guidance counselor suggested. Why don’t you turn your focus onto something else for the summer? Find something cool and really learn about it. The weather, baseball, military history, modern art, anything? But turn your focus on to something you can enjoy learning about?

How about this: start a thread on good coping mechanisms for high school/ college kids with HFA? I bet you’ll get some real concrete info that can help you navigate high school without unnecessary stress at this point about college.