This is such a good coming of age YA tale of - student trying to get into Columbia. He attends a private school under scholarship and his parents are first generation immigrants and want him to get into Columbia. 

He is a charming kid and for the first time his goal may not be possible. He becomes friends with the intense FMC character who also lives in his building and they join forces after she blackmails him. 

The pressures of being a teen, trying to get into IVY league school, figuring out your life plan vs your parents and realizing that some of the systems are rigged against Black and Brown kids that come from 
 poorer communities.