<p>Okay, so I live in New York. Took Honors English both freshman and sophomore year. Now, as a junior, I'm taking IB (AP but worldwide known) History, AP English, and Child Psychology which is college level. My overall gpa so far in high school is probably a 96? </p>
<p>Clubs I'm involved in:
Future Educators of America, Interact, Project Tolerance, Girl Scouts, Newspaper, National Honor Society, and Students Against Destructive Decisions.</p>
<p>I want a small school with a really lively college town. I wanna major in Special Education so I want the school to be well known for their education program!</p>
<p>Have you looked at the SUNYs yet. They are a bargain, especially for in-state students. [SUNY:</a> Academics](<a href=“http://www.suny.edu/student/academic_degree_certs.cfm]SUNY:”>http://www.suny.edu/student/academic_degree_certs.cfm)</p>
<p>I agree with Erin’s Dad. Unless your family is very well off or you have the rank and scores for top schools and qualify for need based aid, it would probably not be a great idea to spend a lot on college when you’ll graduate to a modest salary. You could also look for merit aid, but the big merit aid schools are often large. Focusing on keeping any loans low seems wise.</p>
<p>Thank you guys! The only issue is SUNY’s don’t have much money to give. My family is in bit of a financial problem so I don’t have much money to spend so I was looking more towards close private schools since a) they have more money go to give b) I don’t have to pay for room and board! I live on the island fyi :)</p>
<p>Few private schools will meet financial need. In NY, the only ones I can think of are Columbia and Barnard.</p>
<p>I’m not understanding how you can commute to many small schools in lively college towns unfortunately.</p>
<p>Do you have any SAT/ACT/PSAT scores yet? That might help to look at some merit aid schools. How about your class rank?</p>
<p>I guess I might have to sacrifice the small school with a college town then. My class rank so far, it will go up, is about the top 35%. No PSAT, SAT, or ACT scores yet. (Didn’t take SAT and ACT yet!)</p>
<p>For education, I agree, I’d pick a SUNY. There are several SUNY’s in college towns that have good education programs.</p>
<p>I think that even if you received much aid from a private college, it would still cost much more than instate SUNY. Remember, there is also a $2,500 a year Federal tax credit (most of which you can get even if your family pays less than $2,500 in tax).</p>