CUNY’s College Now program prepared Marisa for college

To get an idea about college studies, Churchill senior Marisa McCaffery took advantage of College Now, a free college program for high school students run by the City University of New York (CUNY).  For a part of the summer between her junior and senior year, Marisa studied psychology at Baruch College with other NYC high school students. 

“I would recommend College Now to every high-schooler,” Marisa said in a recent interview over the phone. In the fall of 2012 Marisa will start at Hunter College with three college credits already under her belt. College Now gave her an opportunity to discover learning outside the Churchill environment at one of the top CUNY colleges.

Students attending state-funded schools such as Churchill are eligible to attend College Now, but the participating CUNY college program administrators don’t always realize that Churchill students are eligible, Pauline Ores, Marisa’s mother says. Applying can be a bit confusing as there is a central CUNY College Now program site and additional sites maintained by the participating CUNY colleges. 

Each college offers different College Now courses, mostly during the summer, but some also offer these courses during the school year. Students need to apply to each CUNY college program separately, but can apply to as many programs as they like. While Hunter College is mainly offering math and science classes, City College and Queensborough Community College have been offering an all-day theater course. Depending on funding, courses offered by CUNY College Now schools vary from year to year. Eligibility is determined by Regents exams and/or PSAT/SAT scores.

Since the 2008 recession, top CUNY schools such as Hunter College and Baruch College have become increasingly competitive and selective.  Last fall, 26 % of those who entered these CUNY schools had SAT scores at or above 1,200/1,600. With an annual in-state tuition of $5,430 for the 2012/2013 school year for New York State residents, CUNY is a bargain.

When Marisa’s turn to apply to college arrived, Pauline (a seasoned mother with an older daughter who is currently a college junior) focused on helping Marisa not only evaluating colleges where she would thrive, but also assessing post-graduation job placement support. Pauline stresses the importance of starting early to alleviate some of the inevitable stress during the student’s junior and senior years. Sports scholarships, for example, usually require game videos and may have earlier application deadlines. 

“I’d recommend downloading the common app in 9^th grade,” Pauline suggests. This creates an opportunity to get familiar with what type of information colleges look for and how to organize this data, for example number of hours per week for each community service program. Most of all, Pauline emphasizes the importance of supporting the student obtaining a strong GPA. “If you have limited resources, you’re far better off helping your child get good grades than spending money on SAT tutoring,” she says, pointing out that many colleges no longer require SAT scores.

 “Churchill really cares about the students,” Pauline says about the transition to life after Churchill. While other schools may try to push students to apply where they are 100% certain to become admitted, “Churchill is truly interested in finding the right fit.” The school also organized applications for the New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence, which Marisa was awarded based on her Regents scores.

Marisa was accepted by all seven of the colleges she applied to, mostly in the New York City region.  She selected to attend Hunter College, where she was awarded an academic scholarship, which requires maintaining specified grade point average. Her scholarship also includes a one-on-one adviser to help her select her classes, a dorm room and help with internships and job placement. “Hunter offered me really nice things,” Marisa says. She looks forward to studying math and statistics this fall.