A little direction needed here, if possible

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm not entirely sure if this is the right area of the forum to be posting this in, but here goes.</p>

<p>I'm a junior in a private high school in the Midwest, and I have very little direction as far as picking colleges to apply to goes. I'm not even sure what "tier" I should be looking at.
My stats are as follows:
Multiracial (asian and white, so no minority help here)
SAT: 2300 (800 verbal, 790 writing, 710 math)
GPA: 3.8ish weighted, not entirely sure what it'd be unweighted since they don't tell us.
Class Rank: My school doesn't officially rank since we have 30-40 kids per grade, but my counselor told me I'm third in my class.
APs: Will have taken five by the end of high school: English Lit, Calc AB, Biology, US History, and Chem. I'm awaiting my AP scores for this year.
Honors: Will have had either 7 or 8 by the end of high school.
Grade trend: Generally upwards. I've averaged about a 4.19 this year as opposed to a 3.7ish from last year.</p>

<p>Odd things you ought to know about my school: Sophomores aren't allowed to take APs, and they only allow you to take more than 4 APs under special circumstances. Also, we're not allowed to hold more than one elected leadership position per year.</p>

<p>ECs</p>

<hr>

<p>Humanitarian Aid Society: 10-12
JSA: 10-12 (Going to be Secretary next year)
Newspaper: 10-12 (Probably going to be editor, which is appointed)
Girls Quartet/Mixed Octet: 10-11, hopefully next year as well
Barbershop: 10-12
Pit Orchestra: 10-11
Play crew: 10, hopefully 12
Musical: 12 (hopefully)
IS Chamber Orchestra: 10
Mentoring in lower school: 10-12
NHS: 12
Tutoring: 12
Field Hockey: 9 (did this at another school before I transferred to this one. They got rid of the program here right after I transferred. I've done some stuff outside of school, though.)
Tae Kwon Do: Started this in 6th grade, currently have my second degree
Voice Lessons: 8-12
Flute lessons: 8-11
Horseback riding: On and off 9-10, steady lessons 11-12</p>

<p>Other stuff</p>

<hr>

<p>I did a genetics course at Case Western University in my freshman year
I'm going to a NYLF program this summer in chicago for medicine.</p>

<p>I'm looking to stay in the Midwest or go to the Northeast. I'm willing to look farther South, but my parents have put their foot down on the West coast, so that's out. I'd prefer to be suburban, if possible, but cities aren't a problem. Somewhere between 1500--7000 students is preferable (yes, I know, large range there,) but I'm aiming for between 2000-5000 if I have a choice.I'm not big on politics. Anything too right or left wing will tick me off--I'm basically right down the middle.<br>
I'm planning on being pre-med, with aims to go to Case for med school. I'm not too picky about diversity (never really noticed it at any of the schools I've gone to).</p>

<p>I was thinking Columbia as a huge reach, maybe Tufts and Northwestern and Case, but I really have no idea outside of that. Suggestions would be very helpful.</p>

<p>Help?</p>

2

<p>I think you could not only get into Case, but also get a nice financial aid package from them. Plus, it does seem great for you. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Your sat is amazing..Upward trend will help Hmm...theres a lot of goood schools...look under LACs..</p>

4

<p>Yeah, I've been told to look at some LACs, but then I was also told I'd have a harder time getting in since I'm female. Go figure.</p>

<p>Any feeling for which LACs are particularly strong in their biology/biochemistry departments?</p>

5

<p>LACs:
Carleton
Oberlin
Grinnell
Macalester
Swarthmore
Kenyon
Bucknell</p>

<p>Universities:
Cornell
Northwestern
U Chicago
Notre Dame
U Rochester
Washington U St Louis</p>

6

<p>With your good scores/GPA, your desire to stay in the midwest, and your preference for a suburban area, I think you should strongly consider Notre Dame.</p>

7

<p>Look into Case's guaranteed med placement program</p>

8

<p>A number of top schools offer direct into med school programs, such as Rice, BU, Northwestern, Case Western and a few others.
For biochem (grad school but still valid):</p>

<p>2 Stanford<br>
3 MIT<br>
4 Cal Berkeley<br>
5 Harvard<br>
6 Yale<br>
7 Cal Tech<br>
8 Wisconsin<br>
9 Cal San Diego<br>
10 Johns Hopkins<br>
11 Columbia<br>
12 Colorado<br>
13 Washington (St. Louis)<br>
14 UCLA<br>
15 Duke<br>
16 Penn<br>
17 Brandeis<br>
18 Washington<br>
For LACs: Bowdoin, Carleton, Macalester, Oberlin, Swarthmore and a few others.</p>

9

<p>Dorian--to clarify, I don't necessarily want to stay in the midwest. I probably should've said Northeast quadrant of the USA--it would've been a bit more clear. ^^;; I'll consider Notre Dame, though. Thanks.</p>

<p>Bob and collegehelp--I've been told that Macelester might be just a taaaad too liberal for me. Are they really left-wing?</p>

10

<p>Macalester is at the liberal end of the mainstream. So it's not as left as Oberlin but (way) more liberal than Notre Dame. I think the school was super liberal during the 70's and is still trying to shake that image. Most people vote democrat and don't like Bush but care more about specific issues than partisan politics.</p>

11

<p>Tufts and Holy Cross are very strong in pre-med and Holy Cross offers merit aid.</p>

12

<p>I've never heard of Holy Cross. Where is it? Is it religiously affiliated, or does it just retain the name?</p>

<p>"3 MIT
8 Wisconsin
10 Johns Hopkins
11 Columbia "
How much of a chance would I have at these, though?</p>

13

<p>great shot at wisconsin...MIT, Hopkins and Columbia are reaches for everyone and your uw gpa sounds low so just write a great essay and you have a shot.</p>

14

<p>"MIT, Hopkins and Columbia are reaches for everyone and your uw gpa sounds low so just write a great essay and you have a shot."</p>

<p>I'm guessing my unweighted would be a 3.6-3.7, since I have somewhere around an A- average. Honestly, though, I don't know, especially since my weighted GPA looks incorrect and they haven't bothered explaining how they calculate it.</p>

15

<p>Alright, so I know this is old, but I'm still sort of stuck. I have a few schools I'd really like to apply to, but my list is sadly lacking in safety schools, mainly because I don't really know WHAT a safety is for me. ^^;; My guidance counselor is very little help, and my parents...well, one didn't go to college in the states, and the other one decided based on how far away from home the college was, so I'm a bit stuck.</p>

<p>Updated stats:
I'm a senior, still in the midwest, and now you can see my state under my name.
My stats are as follows:
SAT: 2300 (800 verbal, 790 writing, 710 math)
SAT IIs: 770 Bio E, 750 Math I and Lit
GPA: 3.92. No idea what our weighting scale is, but I really should be somewhere around a 3.67-3.7 unweighted.
Class Rank: 3/42ish
APs: Will have taken five by the end of high school: English Lit, Calc AB, Biology, US History, and Chem.
Current AP Scores: Bio 5, USH 5, English 4.</p>

<p>See original post for the oddities about my school.</p>

<p>ECs</p>

<hr>

<p>JSA: 10-12 (Secretary 12)
Newspaper: 10-12 (Copy editor 11, Editor in Chief 12, both appointed positions)
Girls Quartet/Mixed Octet: 10-11, hopefully next year as well if we can replace our graduated members, lead soprano
Mentoring in lower school: 10-12
NHS: 12
Tutoring: 12
Tae Kwon Do: Started this in 6th grade, currently have my second degree</p>

<p>I have to stay in the Midwest OR upper East Coast region. My parents have put their foot down on anything farther away. I'm planning on being pre-med, with aims to go to Case for med school.</p>

<p>Anything else can be found in my original post because it hasn't changed.</p>

<p>What's currently on my list is:
Case
U. Rochester
Yale (as a super-hopeful, seriously-dreaming reach)
Brown (see Yale's add-on)
Tufts
WUStL/JHU (not sure if I'll apply to both)
Swarthmore
Northwestern</p>

<p>I've also been considering Colby and Carleton, but I'm not sure if my parents will agree to sending me to either Maine or Minnesota. Kalamazoo has also been a consideration, though not much past a "Hm, maybe I ought to consider this." I did consider some of the other mentioned schools...Wisconsin is <em>huge</em>, and Notre Dame...the affiliation kind of killed it for me. Macalester is a problem because of location.</p>

<p>Also, I'm trying to stay away from anything with a religious affiliation. I've had religion shoved down my throat by my family for my entire life, and I'd really just like to get away from that. If we had to swing right or left on politics, I'd be much more comfortable in a liberal environment, even though I tend to be a tad more on the conservative side of the line, because that's what I've grown up with. I'm not going to look at all-girls schools, since I tried that in high school and just didn't like the environment much.</p>

<p>Quite honestly, I feel like my list is horribly unbalanced, but...well, I'm a bit stuck. Any and all suggestions for lower match to safety schools would be very much appreciated, which is why I'm resurrecting this thread.</p>

<p>Help?</p>

16

<p>you have excellent stats- great safety schools could be skidmore and union</p>

17

<p>You might want to look at the Coast Guard Academy or the US Merchant Marine Academy.</p>

18

<p>No military affiliations. My parents have been very clear about that--they're against me applying for military-affiliated scholarships or to military-affiliated schools. Otherwise I might consider it.</p>

<p>Huskem--what's union like? I don't think I've heard of it.</p>

19

<p>union college is a great LAC near Albany, NY. beautiful campus, great school spirit, and quality academics- good track record for med school and other grad schools.
i think its most similar in feel to schools like Colgate, Trinity, Colby, but easier to get into.</p>

20

<p>Union is alright. You would just have to get past the horribly wretched state of Schenectady</p>