By any measure, Tahseen Chowdhury is no ordinary 17-year-old. He is president of the student government at Stuyvesant High School, among New York City’s most selective public schools, and leads the student advisory council for the borough of Manhattan. He even helped found two companies: an event photography business and a firm that teaches students computer programming and engineering.

It stands to reason that Mr. Chowdhury, a senior, would cast the widest possible net when applying to college. But he is confining his search to New York — and not because he needs to stay close to family in East Elmhurst, Queens.

Rather, Mr. Chowdhury, a Democrat, is mounting a campaign for the State Senate, and wants to be within striking distance of the State Capitol in Albany.

With the State Legislature in session from January to June, Mr. Chowdhury envisions an unusual schedule of alternating semesters, one that would spread his college career over eight years. “If I win, I would take the spring semesters off to be in Albany and then go to college in the fall,” he said. “I will have to choose a college that will work with that schedule.”