Your independent guide to NYC public schools

Q: My son applied to 7 colleges and was accepted at 3, waitlisted at one. He is now in a dilemma because he can't decide where to enroll, and he has to commit himself by May 1. Naturally, the school he likes best is the one where he is on the waiting list! We have visited only one of the other colleges, and he is not crazy about it. What should he do?

A: It actually sounds like your son has some good options! He has been accepted to two colleges he has not seen yet, and now is the time he ought to visit, if the distance and cost of travel are not too great.

Students who are lucky enough to have actual high school choices can attend open houses this week, where they’ll have a chance to weigh commutes, clubs, classes, homework and social life. Students who haven’t been matched, will be concentrating on where they might get accepted in Round 2.

Others will be thinking about college. Or perhaps they should be.

Wait, Already? After all, most of us who have gone through that second full-time job also known as the hunt for middle and high school may feel entitled to a recovery process, as I noted in my last post.

No such luck. I got another reminder of why living in the moment is not going to fly in today’s crazed admissions landscape when I attended a breakfast last week for a hilarious new book, entitled “The Neurotic Parent’s Guide to College Admissions,” by J.D. Rothman, who provides a tongue-in-cheek look at what she calls “the most difficult time to get into college in the history of the world.”

Boys and Girls High School is a failing school by many standards. The New York City Department of Education gave it a grade of “F” on its 2011 Progress Report. Only 45.7% of students graduate in four years and just 19.7% of them enroll in college. Out of those, 4.2% of students are considered ready for college. On any given day, a quarter of students are missing from school. Those that show up pass through a metal detector so sensitive, a shoelace grommet can set it off. Once inside, they are met by a small army of uniformed security guards before heading to class. But, do grades, data and scanners tell the real story? Is the “Pride and Joy of Bed Stuy” really failing?

Just last week the Panel on Education Policy voted to close 18 schools they deemed to be failing. Boys and Girls was not on that list. I sat down with Principal Bernard Gassaway to get an update on Boys and Girls High School, and to get his thoughts about school closures.

Gassaway came to Boys and Girls in 2009 and found a school he says was populated with incompetent teachers and staff, where cheating was commonplace and violence and gang activity were rampant. He has an uphill battle. Here's a condensed version of our conversation.

Q: My niece is a US citizen by birth, but grew up and attended school outside the country. Now she is graduating from high school and wants to go to college in the U.S. I need to know how to fill out the financial aid forms, using whose income and tax returns – or does she apply on her own? Please, we need some help!

A: As a U.S. citizen, your niece is entitled to apply for government student aid, and she can also be considered for other scholarships that are for U.S. citizens or green cardholders only. The process may seem daunting to you, but there is lots of assistance available.

Your first step is to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) online. This document must be filed before most aid offers can be processed. Each state has a different deadline; in New York it is June 30. However, it is advisable to submit the completed application as soon as possible. Please remember that the first word in the FAFSA title is "Free"; that means there is no processing fee. You should not pay anyone to help you complete this form, nor should you pay anyone who "guarantees" that he or she can obtains scholarships for your niece.

After decades of focusing on Regents exams and graduation rates, in 2011 for the first time the Education Department evaluated each high school on "college readiness" - that is, how many of its graduates were actually prepared to do college work. The score on each school's Progress Report didn't carry any weight this year but the numbers are depressing: fewer than half of the 2011 public high school graduates reported that they planned to enter college in the fall. And only one in four 2011 grads were deemed "college ready" — not in need of remedial college courses after four years of high school. The numbers are even lower for black and Latino students.

The City Council is pressing DOE officials to explain what they are doing to improve college-readiness. In turn, the DOE will hold school's accountable: high schools will be docked points for poor college readiness scores on the 2012 Progress Reports.

High schools already struggle to meet other accountability requirements. Some schools, like It Takes A Village Academy in East Flatbush, have a high Regents pass rate (90% graduate in 4 years) and an abysmal college readiness rate (9%).

Should high schools take more initiative to guide students through test prep, college vists and the application process? Whose responsibility is it to prepare kids for college? Take our poll and share your ideas!