<p>I agree not so much with the income statement of this thread, but rather with the idea that high school seniors cannot afford to be alone in the college process. This, I feel, actually has little to do with money at all. My family lives comfortably and I go to a well supported public school. However, my parents had little to no role in my college application besides the check they had to write and tho my guidance counselor was very supportive, i did all my research on colleges, arranged all sats and sat prep, planned my junior and senior year courses, arranged classes at a community college and even mailed each single envelope (for the very specific stanford app) on my own. I even faxed them and called them when necessary. But I got in, and I have so much pride in my self for doing it on my own...and because i did the research without the influence of others i know exactly where i want to go...the consequence of this, however, was the drop in my grades as well as little to no time to sleep or work on scholarship type stuff.</p>
<p>I have read most of this thread and I thought I would add in my experience. My son attends a public school that has an IB program as a school within a school. This is an urban school in the downtown area in a Title I district (now on probation for failing to meet goals) and more than 50% of the kids are on free or reduced price lunch. this is a middle school -- but the high school has similiar characteristics.</p>
<p>my son's school just got a large grant to fund after school tutoring sessions -- they received this grant because more than 1/3 of the school (not just his class -- the whole school) is on "retention watch" meaning that unless things improve, they will not pass to the next grade. These kids have 2 or more d's or f's in core courses. This includes quite a few IB kids -- there are about 400 kids total in the school.</p>
<p>the tutoring sessions are offered at two times after school, taught by certified and paid teachers, snacks are offered and the bus will take the students home. guess how many kids signed up -- about 5, my son and several friends. none of the kids who signed up have GPA's lower than 3.0. This is indicative of opportunities that are offered in our area -- very few kids take advantage of the opportunities.</p>
<p>I think it has to do with what is important to the student and the family -- at my son's school, the emphasis is on social contacts, video games, money and not getting caught smoking weed. He is constantly teased for focusing on grades -- even the teachers tell him to stop worrying and he just needs to pass.</p>
<p>the school is struggling to provide this tutoring to the kids that need it. they held info sessions where noone showed up. they have called the parents of student on retention watch and have been told "he doesn't want to do it', "school already lasts too long", "he has to watch his siblings/make dinner/do chores", " I don't want to fight with him".</p>
<p>I don't know the answer -- but I think that "mindset" issue is important. except for a small group of kids, the majority of families think that it is more important to work right after high school than go to college and that is clearly communicated to the kids</p>
<p>I did not read all of the posts, but students who are at a financial/ socioeconomic disadvantage might actually have an edge. If they take the initiative to take their education and the college admissions process into their own hands and they are able to effectively communicate that they have done so to their GC and Admissions Officer, wouldn't those students seem more impressive? If they took the initiative to ask and to research, if they took the initiative to communicate well with guidance counselors and teachers, if they were able to learn about the college admissions process on their own . . . wouldn't those students look more impressive because they were from a disadvantaged financial/ socioeconomic background? (esp. if they were able to do well academically and on standardized tests)</p>
<p>I guess it comes down to perspective and the individual student. Some edges that students from higher financial/ socioeconomic backgrounds have in the college admissions process seem to be greater confidence and familiarity. </p>
<p>and confidence and familiarity might be key.</p>
<p>We're low-income. We scraped up money, asked a few friends who've gone through the process, and found a private college counselor. She's now done applying to her colleges. And we'll see what happens.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lost.eu/1f919%5B/url%5D">www.lost.eu/1f919</a></p>
<p>In 2003, 30 (33?) freshman male Cleveland high school students were identified, The Barbara Byrd-Bennett Scholars program, a program partnered with Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.</p>
<p>There was a great grant and the boys were nurtured through high school and Baldwin Wallace college offered to meet full tuition if they were accepted. The problem (not immediately noticed) was that their city Cleveland high school only offered three years of science and BW required four years of HS science. Last summer, with help from the grant, BW provided a residential college physics class for the boys so they could make this requirement.</p>
<p>Here's a great Margaret Bernstein Plain Dealer article about the program. The director of the program LaDonna Harris really gave and continues to give her all to supporting the boys, including making sure that extra science class was offered. She is clearly a very special person and the nurturing needed was was very expensive. How often does something like this happen? The article shows how much support a city school kid might need to apply and be accepted to a four-year college. This Scholars Program is called a pilot study; it is amazing and was so successful.</p>
<p>There is a nice radio interview with LaDonna Norris talking about the Barbara Byrd-Bennett Scholars program on the Cleveland public radio site too, wcpn</p>
<p>===========
A free ride for college
PLAIN DEALER Sunday, February 11, 2007
Story by Margaret Bernstein</p>
<p>LaDonna Norris couldn't help but whisper in her date's ear as they sat in the theater, watching Will Smith quickly solve a Rubik's Cube in "The Pursuit of Happyness." "My boys can do that," she bragged. </p>
<p>And in that darkened instant, another love interest threatened to bite the dust. "I'm so tired of hearing about these kids," he groaned. </p>
<p>Thirty-year-old Norris doesn't have much of a personal life. </p>
<p>Her workdays, and most of her evenings and weekends as well, are devoted to "her boys," the young men she supervises as director of the Barbara Byrd-Bennett Scholars program. </p>
<p>It's not exactly a job. More like a mission. And by graduation time, the final results of her effort will be known, and heavily scrutinized. </p>
<p>The program, designed to encourage at-risk male students in the Cleveland school system to stay in school and succeed in college, is named for the former superintendent who helped hatch the idea in 2003. At the time, the district's black male graduation rate was only 36.5 percent. Byrd-Bennett earmarked $150,000 in district money to wrap a select group of students in a blanket of academic and personal support. </p>
<p>Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea eagerly partnered with her. </p>
<p>A pilot project was born. </p>
<p>The 33 scholars were selected from Martin Luther King School of Law and Municipal Careers, all ninth-graders with average grades. Suddenly, they had the promise of a full scholarship to Baldwin-Wallace if they completed high school and met admission requirements. </p>
<p>Deant'e Lavender felt honored to be chosen. "Nobody in my family ever went to college," he said. "I was happy. I went and told everybody." </p>
<p>But being singled out had its downside. Deant'e and the others lived with the pressure of spectators monitoring their grades, their decisions, their private lives. They had to cope with the "haters" - peers and sometimes even teachers who seemed openly jealous of the free opportunities handed to the scholars - who often teased or criticized them. </p>
<p>For the next four years, Norris prodded, consoled, motivated and, at times, rescued them. But she couldn't force success on them. They would have to reach for it. </p>
<p>Now, as the scholars complete 12th grade and the program winds toward its end, encouraging results are emerging. But so is a troubling last-minute behavior pattern that Norris and others are calling "fear of success." </p>
<p>Numbers dwindle,
but organizers pleased </p>
<p>The number of scholars has dwindled from the original 33 to 24. Seven young men failed to maintain the academic, behavior and attendance standards of the program, and two students moved outside the school district. </p>
<p>A half-dozen or so of the remaining scholars will collect the free ride at Baldwin-Wallace. </p>
<p>Still, framers of the program say they're delighted with the results. In fact, school officials seem to have learned as much as the scholars during the four-year experiment. </p>
<p>They admit they should have anticipated from the start that Baldwin-Wallace wouldn't be the ideal school for all the young men. Some scholars are opting for historically black colleges, and others are athletes who want to be at schools with higher-profile sports programs. Still others don't have the grades to be accepted to Baldwin-Wallace but are hoping to end up at Cuyahoga Community College or Cleveland State University. </p>
<p>To those running the program, the true measure of its success is that all 33 of the original scholars are still enrolled in school and are on schedule to graduate before September. That is, with the exception of one former scholar who already has earned his GED. </p>
<p>The pilot project has impressed new Cleveland schools chief Eugene Sanders. Its comprehensive web of support is admirable and may be worth replicating, he said. "I talk a lot about becoming a premier school district in the nation. This is the kind of program that will make us premier," Sanders said. </p>
<p>The program is designed to address, not ignore, problems going on inside the scholars' homes that can become obstacles to learning. Norris has helped needy families get food, temporary housing, dental care and other necessities. She's found summer jobs to keep the scholars busy, and pays them for earning good grades. For De'Maris Stevenson, the $40 he pockets for A's and $20 for B's have been a blessing. Since his mom is out of work, he spends the money on shoes and clothes for himself and his three younger siblings. </p>
<p>"I had to grow up early," said De'Maris, who bounces between several households. Although he finds his father's house a more-stable environment for studying, he stops by his mom's regularly to lend her money and help clean up. </p>
<p>De'Maris said it feels as if the scholars program airlifted him away from the problems plaguing his peers. "Young men, they're not really focused on school. They're in the streets," he said. "I wish everybody could have this opportunity. This program challenges us. It feels like they know that deep down inside us, we got a whole lot of drive, and they're bringing it out of us." </p>
<p>He has applied to Baldwin-Wallace and to several state schools. </p>
<p>There is talk of expanding the program in coming years. Baldwin-Wallace President Richard Durst said his "dream of all dreams" is to partner with other colleges and launch a new class of scholars every two years, at Martin Luther King and several more Cleveland schools. </p>
<p>The price of putting on the program is nearing $800,000. Baldwin-Wallace has provided in-kind support such as summer housing and instruction for the scholars and office space for Norris. Working with the college's development department and the school district, Norris raised $548,000 from private and public sources. </p>
<p>Director, scholars
provide needed support </p>
<p>The cohort approach - making the young men part of a tightly knit group whose members are accountable to each other - appears to be a crucial part of the scholars' success. These young men have heard themselves called "nerds," "lames" or even gay by peers as they stuck together and pursued their education. But they never felt alone. They had each other. </p>
<p>"It's like the reverse of gangs," said Byrd-Bennett. "It's the positive group influence. They're so supportive of each other." </p>
<p>And perhaps no factor is more responsible for the program's head-turning retention rate than Norris' "never give up, always find another way" attitude, said Denise Reading, a former Baldwin-Wallace official who helped launch the pilot program. Reading now heads Cuyahoga Community College's Corporate College. </p>
<p>Norris, she said, built a seamless program by identifying the hurdles faced by the scholars and their families. She whizzes here and there, meeting with parents and teachers, arranging field trips to hear speakers like Bill Cosby and Julian Bond, and taking busloads of scholars to visit local colleges. She stays in touch with all 33 and keeps their ever-changing phone numbers stored in her cell phone. </p>
<p>Acting on a hunch, Norris once trailed a scholar home and learned that he'd been sleeping in the streets for weeks. "She is without fear," Reading said, "because she's so committed to making this impossible thing a reality." </p>
<p>In 2004, when city budget cuts closed the doors at neighborhood recreation centers on Saturdays, Norris realized her scholars were getting into some trouble because they didn't have anywhere to hang out and play basketball all day. "OK, we're going to go do community service," she announced, borrowing a Baldwin-Wallace van and picking the boys up for a day of volunteering topped off by a visit to McDonald's. </p>
<p>That was how her Saturdays disappeared. Slowly, the program has swallowed up nearly all her free time. </p>
<p>Every time a pitfall appeared, she found a way to dance around it. She pleaded three scholars' cases during juvenile court proceedings - two for drugs and one for fighting at school - and hastily arranged a summer physics class at Baldwin-Wallace when it became apparent that Martin Luther King school didn't offer the fourth-year science course needed to meet college admission requirements. </p>
<p>Most parents have only one or two teenagers at a time to motivate. Norris has dozens. Could there be a more thankless job? Nearly every day she fusses at those who try to slip out without going to study hall or who get sent to the principal's office for talking back to the teacher. </p>
<p>"Is your essay done for English?" she quizzes scholars she finds loitering in the hallways. "Are you up to chapter four in your book?" </p>
<p>"I care about your future more than you do. And that's the problem!" she has shrieked at them. </p>
<p>"God, they're so sick of me," she said with a laugh. </p>
<p>But teens, Norris knows, are wired for short-term thinking. She's not surprised that the scholars would rather concentrate on girls, friends, sports and the neighborhood rivalries and fights they seem to witness every day. "College seems so far away for them," she said. </p>
<p>Norris, a 1994 graduate of Lakewood High, believes wholeheartedly in the power of support programs for at-risk students. Her parents didn't go to college, and she wouldn't have gone if it weren't for the Cleveland Scholarship Program, which helped her unravel the mysteries of applications, exams and financial aid. "There are all these barriers that intimidate kids," she said. </p>
<p>After graduating from Baldwin-Wallace in 1998, she earned a master's degree at Kent State University while working for Cleveland Scholarship Program. She was a college adviser at Shaw High School in East Cleveland when she saw the posting for the scholars job. </p>
<p>Her work stood out, Reading said. "I knew she had a track record of success." </p>
<p>Program needs more
like 'Miss Norris' </p>
<p>If the program is to be replicated, more LaDonna Norrises will have to be found. </p>
<p>And they will have to realize that part of their mandate is to counsel parents as well as teens. Norris occasionally has had to criticize some of the scholars' parents, some of whom are nearly as young as she is. But getting moms and dads to be better parents is an important part of the program's success, Reading said. </p>
<p>To assess how much Norris has accomplished, you can't just look at the scholars. </p>
<p>"Isn't it too late for me to go to college?" Rachelle Spencer, a mother of seven - including scholar Joseph Spencer - once asked Norris. "No, it's not," Norris replied emphatically, and then took her along on a University of Toledo visit so Spencer could talk to officials there about getting a pharmacy degree. </p>
<p>Not long ago, Norris helped Spencer fill out her financial aid form. Spencer, a day-care worker, plans to take her first college courses this fall. "I'm so appreciative the Lord put her in our path," Spencer said of Norris. </p>
<p>She's glad Norris hasn't quit, considering how many problems the scholars have heaped on her. </p>
<p>Calvin Hulittle Jr., a scholar with a high grade-point average, recently got into a fight at school and feared Norris' wrath. Instead, she hugged him and said he was allowed to make a mistake. </p>
<p>"Miss Norris measures our success on a different scale than most teachers," he said. "She's seen where we started off and what we've become. She's trying to make us see that we can actually go higher than what we see." </p>
<p>They are tantalizingly close to the finish line. Yet, Norris worries that some might still give up. Seven scholars have yet to pass the state proficiency exam; others seem to have caught a bad case of senioritis. </p>
<p>"I see their focus falling off. It's easier to throw up your hands and act like you don't care than it is to say, 'I'm scared that I won't pass English,' " she said. "I know that's bravado." </p>
<p>Fear of success is a familiar pattern to educators who say it happens among all races. "Education changes where you live, where you work, who your friends are," Reading said. "The students who succeed are the ones who can figure out how to live among two worlds." </p>
<p>Norris isn't giving up on anyone, not even the borderline cases. And she often checks on the youths who dropped out of the program. They need an advocate, too, she knows. </p>
<p>"This group of young men, they could change the world if they got themselves together," she said passionately. "They could change the city."</p>
<p>I don't have the time to read all input to this thread...only the first few entries but had to speak out. </p>
<p>Why is this board so opposed to children from low income backgrounds NOT applying to elite schools? If they have the grades, the test scores, the willingness and desire, why not? My daughter attends school in the second poorest school district in Virginia. Yet she has maintained 4.0 in all her classes, taking the most rigorous courses available. Her summers are spent in camps at some of the best colleges in the state. Yes, she needs some financial assistance to attend, but the fact is, she qualifies on her own right. </p>
<p>Her school feels the same as so many on this board....so many good community colleges in the area and that's their focus. Fortunately my daughter and many of her friends have higher aspirations and have applied to some of the most well known colleges in the country. Her support during this? Her family!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't have the time to read all input to this thread...only the first few entries but had to speak out. </p>
<p>Why is this board so opposed to children from low income backgrounds NOT applying to elite schools? If they have the grades, the test scores, the willingness and desire, why not? My daughter attends school in the second poorest school district in Virginia.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is where the problem is, you did not read all of the postings or you would have seen that a number of posters, my self included work with low income students and have given a list of resources for low income students. </p>
<p>However, one must also keep in mind that are not enough seats at the elite colleges for all who want to attend regardless of income.</p>
<p>You state that your
[quote]
daughter attends school in the second poorest school district in Virginia. Yet she has maintained 4.0 in all her classes, taking the most rigorous courses available. Her summers are spent in camps at some of the best colleges in the state. Yes, she needs some financial assistance to attend, but the fact is, she qualifies on her own right.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>off the bat, your D would most likely be eligible to get in to UVA one of the best schools in the country, instate tuition possible merit too boot (depending on how the rest of her numbers and things flesh out), which is not exactly a fate worse than death.</p>
<p>Unless I am taking things out of context, what kind of support are you looking for?</p>
<p>If the support you are looking for is financial, then you must remain cognizant that the schools which offer the most in financial support are also amongst the most competitive as far as gaining admission. If she does nto apply she has a 100% chance of not being admitted. If she has tossed her hat in the ring, all she can do right now is wait and let the process play it self out. When decisions come.</p>
<p>you state that the support comes from you and your family. That is great and already puts your daughter ahead of many other people in the process. One of the reasons that so many of us who even after our kids have gone through the process, remain here on CC, is because we knwo every student doesn't have a support system in place, so anything we can do, from giving advice, to reading essays, to explaining the FA process, to helping formulate a reasonable list of reach match and safety schools (including a financial safety) we try to do that.</p>
<p>Hi, Momray,
The board is not monolithic on this topic, as this entire thread shows!
I hope you can read through the entire thread, not just the first several response-posts which did in fact react against the idea shared by the OP, but then a range of opinions came in.
Also, many authors, young and old(ish).</p>
<p>Your daughter's experience is EXTREMELY relevant to this discussion. </p>
<p>If, after reading more, you want to post again (or have your daughter do same), we'd welcome it.</p>
<p>Thanks for participating!</p>
<p>*I agree not so much with the income statement of this thread, but rather with the idea that high school seniors cannot afford to be alone in the college process. This, I feel, actually has little to do with money at all. *</p>
<p>spartanspirit428 </p>
<p>Congrats on taking the initiative. It seems odd that you are an exception, rather than the norm. Whose college experience/education is it anyway?</p>
<p>This takes me back... I was a working class girl whose parents thought college was for other people. I took AP classes, was identified as 'gifted' and my homeroom teacher convinced me to take the psat's (paid for them with my own money). I scored in the commended range.</p>
<p>I applied to secretarial schools, because that's where my parents said I should be. My mother called the secy school one day, worried I wouldn't be accepted. The admissions secretary told her girls like me generally went to college and we would qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>I attended a small, lowish-caliber, women's college, which was absolutely the perfect place for me as it was nurturing, caring and not at all elitist. I would have perished in a more elitist, competitive environment. </p>
<p>So... point is, sometimes a less threatening environment will be best.</p>
<p>The story of LaDonna Norris is inspiring and points out the struggles of some to fight their prevailing culture. For some low-income kids, even finishing HS is a triumph that separates them from their cohort.</p>
<p>Many immigrant groups have succeeded in this country within one generation, going from extremely low income and little education (no English) to children graduating from college. Why? Because they valued education and knew that was the ticket to upward mobility. Didn't really matter which college their children went to, as long as they went.</p>
<p>Maybe someone should do a rap song on education? Alas, they would have to do a LOT of rap songs on education to counteract the prevailing culture.</p>
<p>Yes, Mommusic, but wasn't part of the reason for that one-generation immigrant jump the GI Bill? That paid full tuition for all returning soldiers from World WaR II, a lot of whom were the first-born American generation with immigrant parents. That transformed a lot of American family histories, mine included.
What do we have on our landscape today that compares for the children of immigrants?</p>
<p>Well, if anyone in interested...this is kind of what my supplementary essay was about for the Ivies I applied to. So if you want to read, PM me, and I'll send it to you...</p>
<p>Yes, I'm a middle class parent who will be stuck paying two full tuitions next year, but it could be much worse. This is a heartwarming story about some kids from a very poor district who wouldn't have had an opportunity to go to college. The graduation rate in their district is at about 40% and very few students go on to 4 year colleges (community college is their best hope). But some kids from an affluent district changed that for them: <a href="http://www.savingtheirseason.blogspot.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.savingtheirseason.blogspot.com/</a></p>
<p>From personal expierience: my dad went to 2-year school when he was 35 for retraining and my mom went to a local nursing school (having had parents who didn't graduate from high school). One older brother didn't go to college, and another went to the closet 4-year school and commutes. We're middle income I'd imagine, we're not poor by any reasonable standard.</p>
<p>I barely got my applications in on time and we really stressed. My guidance counselor is really helpful when she finds the time because she thinks I have a chance to get into an out of state school. But there is still a two-day or three-day or more turn-around between requesting help and her finding time because of the number of students. My parents try to help, but they have no expierience with all of these things, aren't great writers so can't proofread, and aren't financial people so financial aid forms are a pain to say the least.</p>
<p>But I'd consider myself organized. Other friends who are more or less just as smart, go the same school, have parents with the same amount of education, and are in the same grade I think did miss deadlines and give up to an extent.</p>
<p>This is quite an interesting thread, but one that saddens me because it only reminds me of how much more work the federal government and colleges and universities need to do to bridge the information gap between low- and middle-income families and institutions. This has been something that has been studied recently and it is disconcerting and demoralizing to see how many students and parents are grossly misinformed about not only admissions and financial aid stuff, but also about what they need to do to prepare themselves academically for the rigors of college. Many low-income students are only being told the basics by their high schools - often times they take only the classes they need to to graduate and do not challenge themselves by taking higher level courses that many competitive colleges look for. Even if they are savvy enough to do this, however, there still is a lack of information getting to these students which details for them how to apply to selective colleges, how to present themselves to selective colleges, and how to apply for financial aid. </p>
<p>However, I'd like to assure a lot of you guys that there are folks working in admissions who actually do give a damn about low income students - this is actually the group of students I try to serve most in my work...sort of a "been there, done that" kind of attitude I have I guess, but I know it ain't easy being poor or middle class and trying to figure all this stuff out. Many colleges have started wonderful outreach programs to help them identify talented lower-income students <em>early on</em> to help them prepare for applying to college. AVID, Kids to College, Prep for Prep, ABC, Boston COACH and similar programs are helping students figure out early what they need to do to prepare themselves for the competitive admissions market. </p>
<p>If any of you live in a metropolitan area, I would suggest calling your local libraries to see if any of them have resources available. In Boston, for example, the public library houses the TERI College Access Center, which is open to all students and provides college counseling on an individual level for low-income kids...I know similar programs exist in other metropolitan areas. </p>
<p>Many colleges also have summer enrichment programs geared towards lower income students...they give the students a little introduction to what life in college is like and then provides them with a long counseling session to help them plan out their next few years of high school to better prepare for college. </p>
<p>I love my work because I meet and counsel a lot of wonderful kids every year - kids who have no one else helping them out. I don't get paid necessarily to do outreach to low-income communities, but I am lucky that I have a boss who supports me in this and allows me access to part of our travel budget each year to go to places like Appalachia, West Philadelphia, South Chicago, and different communities in LA, San Diego, New York, and the South to do outreach work. Many of us in admissions do care - if any of you need some help figuring things out, call us!</p>
<p>If low and middle income students can't get through the admissions process without help, then neither can any student. Help is help regardless of your income. Admissions departments say they want students to do it all themselves. Then, its the students who DO NOT do it all themselves who are favored in the admissions process. My son is doing everything himself -- with some occasional "helpful" reminders from Mom and Dad. It will be interesting to see where that will get him, despite his excellent credentials on every single measure.
The system is terrible and unfair to high achieving, capable, students. Better to learn how to "market" yourself -- or how to "outsmart" the admissions departments. I wonder how much the admissions people value true intellect. I believe the process strongly favor form over substance.
Thank you for listening!!!!</p>
<p>Financial aid forms and everything financial aid is pretty much the hardest part of the process.
especially if you have parents that are inexperienced in these things or don't know how to use the computer.</p>
<p>In general, the guidance counselors and teachers tend to identify the gifted ones (very few) and give them more help, encouragement in the application process. for the most part, they're on their own</p>
<p>usually though, most students apply to state schools that are easy to get into. and some go to community colleges which is pretty much automatic just fill out forms and you're in.
a few others take a year out to work or never attend college.</p>
<p>and the more affluent kids stress out over getting into ivy leagues. and whose rank is higher.</p>
<p>yeah, there's a disparity. lol
but it's stressful for everyone.</p>
<p>the immigrant kids have it worse. especially the hispanic ones at my school whose parents don't speak any english. I commend them</p>
<p>True, stargazer...the student should complete the application process with little input from anyone. But applying to college is way more important than just the application. Financial aid must have assistance, even if just with family's income. Also, what college to apply, early decision, regular, scholarship programs. Those are the other areas of assistance that most students need and it's not always available.</p>
<p>my parents make like 17k a year, but the major problem is if all ur parents are uneducated (as in my case). u can get fee waivers and stuff for tests/apps if ur low-income. thing is, as the first in my fam to go through high school, i didn't even know what an SAT was until 11th grade. cant do anything about that, since my school tends to discourage students from taking too many honors/ap classes and doesnt give all the info needed to compete for top notch colleges. however, i was influenced by my friends, who are ranked from 1-30 in a class of 700 students, so i improved dramatically. my cumulative gpa jumped from 3.8 from 10th grade to 4.25 now, though i think it would have been higher if counselors encouraged me to take more APs during 10th grade instead of discouraging... of course, i didn't get much planning for SATs so i didn't do all too well. there's not much help you can get so you have to figure things out urself and use all the resources available (friends, teachers, counselors etc). i ended up with 2060 on SAT (not as well i wanted), 800 sat ii math, 710 us history, 760 bio, with the help from my friends' advice. it does suck not knowing what's going to happen with college app/financial aid/scholarships since u got no one in ur fam to turn to, but i somehow got everything straight by never giving up. ive applied to mit, caltech, uc berk, ucla, ucsd, cornell, northwestern, johns hop, and other schools, financial aid, and over 10 scholarships. just shows that its possible despite all the disadvantages. i want to make my parents proud (they fled from communist china in the 80s). that goal is enough to motivate me. </p>
<p>"He who has a why can bear with any how" -Nietzsche</p>