What schools should I look at?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

*I am a junior in high school at a prestigious public school in Long Island, New York. I have no idea what colleges to look at. This may sound premature because my SAT scores are up in the air, but I could really use the help.
(GPA is declining because I take significantly more difficult classes)
Freshman year: 3.95
Sophomore year: 3.9 (1 AP: World History (4))
Junior year: 3.85-3.9 (year has not ended so I am not certain yet) (3 AP: Language and Composition, Human Geography, American History)
Senior year schedule: (4 APs: Psychology, Government, Macroeconomics, Literature
SAT: 2000-ish/2400
M low-600s (I’m terrible at math, it is doubtful this score will change)
CR high-700s
W mid-700s (looking to raise this)
*At my school we are not given our rankings. I’d guess I’m in the top 10%???
ECs:
-Lead in all school musicals, I do theatre outside of school as well
-Vocal lessons, dance lessons
-Writer for school newspaper
-Honors School Choir
-National History Day Participant

-Women’s Choir
-Feminist Club
-Animal Welfare Club
-Tri-M (Music Association) Member
-International Thespian (actor) Society member (will probably be on board next year)
-National Honor Society Member (I meet all requirements, will be inducted soon probably
-NYSSMA (music, vocal) All County Choir singer since freshman year
-Mentor at middle school
-Summer mentoring programs at local library
-Published poetry
-Lots of volunteer hours singing at charity events/arranging charity events
Recommendation letters (in the future):
AP Lang teacher who really seems to like my writing
AP American History teacher who also likes my writing lol

I would like to stay on the East Coast… My parents would like a lower-cost school, and I am interested in financial aid.
Major: Education/English (general)/Social Studies (general)
Thank you so much, any help is appreciated.

Schools I am looking at currently (would like to expand this list)
-Hunter College
-Fordham University
-Vassar College (too much of a reach with my low SAT score? let me know!)
-Binghamton University
-New Paltz University
-Boston College (Reach? I don’t know)
-Boston University
-Northwestern (Low test scores again… I don’t know. Honest opinions?)
-Northeastern
-Colgate (reach again)

2

Just because you are “interested in financial aid” does not mean you will get it. Have you run any net price calculators on the schools on your list? They are on the financial aid webpage of each school. Get your parents to help you so you can decide if these schools even make sense to consider given the finances. Or maybe you mean you are interested in merit aid (not need based)? In that case, you will want to review the financial aid page for each college, and see if they offer merit aid. Typically merit aid goes to the top of the applicant pool for a given college. If you want to know how you stack up against accepted applicants in the past (and interesting info on stuff like merit aid awarded, too), Google “ Common Data Set” and look at the most recent one.

Since you are a junior, there is something to be said for studying just math and taking the SAT again to try to raise it. Get a tutor or take a prep class to work on it. Even getting into the high 600s can improve your chances quite a bit.

3

Thank you for the guidance. Sorry for not clarifying, I am interested in merit based aid.