Am I applying to the right schools?

College Search & Selection
1

I hold an aspiration of one day becoming a vet. While I’m very passionate about it, and I don’t see my mind changing any time soon, I obviously can’t predict the future. Whatever school I go to, I want it to have highly-regarded alternatives to a pre-vet program. Below are the schools I plan on applying to (I’m a junior). Please point out any glaring flaws in my list, like what schools I should consider adding or schools I should take off.

I don’t want to go to any Lib arts college (amherst would be the only exception), and whatever school i go to can’t be in the middle of nowhere. So no Dartmouth, Williams, etc. Cornell is as rural as I get :slight_smile:

I’m from Florida, and my in-state safety is UF. I have an SAT of 2210 and a 3.9 UW GPA and a 5.52 weighted GPA on a 6. scale. For a more detailed list of my ECs and such, I have a couple chance threads in my post history.

My family income is about 50k. My grandparents will be helping to pay my tuition, but likely anything beyond 12k a year I’d have to get out loans for. And considering I’ll have over four years of vet school afterwards to pay for, I’d like to do my undergrad debt free.

Here are the schools I’ll be applying to. I’ve listed them in descending order from most to least desired.

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Cornell
Duke
Penn
Columbia
Princeton
UChicago
Brown
Amherst
UCLA
UC Berkeley
USC
Tufts
UC Davis
UIUC
UCSD
UF

2

Honestly think you need another safety or two. Hopefully someone more familiar with vet will chime in but I’ve always understood that it is easier to get in vet school when in applying in same state as undergrad so maybe add UGA or Alabama which might be pretty affordable with your stats. Clemson also ha good animal science program. D has friend who has had great hands on animal experience UGA.

3

Your list is very top heavy. It reads too much like the USNews top 20 list.

Some suggestions. Since you need substantial financial aid reconsider whether out of state publics make sense. My opinion is that they don’t but perhaps you can rationalize including one. If you do, picking UCLA and UC Berkeley compounds the top heavy sense of your list. Similarly I would drop UIUC since your instate public would in most cases be just as good a choice and it’s a strech to think that UIUC would offer you substantial financial aid.

Start by identifying 3-4 safeties. Since you will need substantial financial aid, factor in both the high likelihood that your stats will guarantee acceptance as well as substantial financial aid. UF may be a safety for you. Your stats are very good. That said you’ll be competing with many other applicants with equal and better stats. Work to identify the other 3 or so safeties.

Then identify 4 or so match colleges, match in the sense that you have a reasonable chance to be accepted based on your academics. My sense is that apart form UF (and eliminating the OOS publics) that there aren’t any match colleges on your list. Couple the need for academic match with a need for financial aid and spend your time (with the help perhaps of your high school college counselor) on identifying the possible match choices.

I don’t have a sense of your leadership related activities. If they are compelling, like class president, winner of a major science competition, etc. then your chances at the very top universities are above average. Otherwise keep in mind that your very top colleges have acceptance rates in the single digits. You would get somewhat of a boost from applying to one of your top colleges early decision. But your list does not suggest an obvious preference. Eliminating the OOS publics, I count 11 reach colleges on your list. See if you can bring that down to 3 or so.

4

Like Med Schools, admission to vet schools depends on grades and tests (GRE or MCAT). Do you really think you’ll be able to show a top GPA competing with students at HYPS? Drop the UCs from the list. They offer little aid to OOS students and you would need to pay the $23K OOS surcharge no matter what. UIUC also offers little aid (to anyone).

5

Cornell is a lot more rural than Williams. Even Stanford seems kind of rural - it’s relatively hard to get off campus (compared to Harvard, for example). I would investigate your choices more closely and take the advice of the previous two posters. You don’t need a big name on your undergrad degree to get into vet school, in fact, it may hurt for the reasons given above. With a 50K income to work with, many schools will give need based aid. If you set your sights a little lower than HYPS, many will give you merit aid too.

6

Cornell is super rural.
And I would add a few more safeties. A safety is a college you can afford. So look into that.

7

It looks like your list is based on what you want (or what you think vet schools will want) instead of what you can AFFORD. Start over. Make a list of affordable schools. Then pick your favorites from that list.

Your final list must include:

(1) one affordable FL state school to which you are guaranteed to be admitted.

Your final list should include:

(1) one school at which substantial merit aid is guaranteed/automatic based on your GPA and SAT score

(2) one or more schools at which you would be a top candidate for competitive merit awards (this means schools at which your stat’s would place you above the 75th percentile for that school)

(3) one or more schools that meet full need without loans (and you still need to run the net price calculator for each of these to see if it looks affordable)

Your final list may not include:

(1) ANY state university not listed in the first two categories above. That means NO UC’s - they will not be affordable. UIUC also has to come OFF your list - it will not be affordable for you.

You want to be a vet? Get the stars out of your eyes and figure out what you need to do to actually achieve that goal.

8

Do you want to apply to all those schools because you’ve researched them and know why you like them? Or just because they’re the in the top 20 USNWR rankings? Keep in mind that the less schools you apply to, the harder you can work on each application. Also keep in mind that many colleges will ask you why exactly you’re interested.

I think it’s problematic that you have 2 safeties, 2 matches, and 15 reaches. No matter what your test scores and ECs are, you could easily get rejected from at least 15 of those schools.

My advice is that you narrow your reach list down to the schools that you really like and know that you’d still really like regardless of their rankings, and find some more matches and safeties.

9

Thank you, youve all made very legitimate points. UCs and UIUC are definitely off my list.

However, there’s a very strong implication in this thread that a top-10 level college would be in some way detrimental to my ability to get into vet school, or that I want to go to them because I mistakenly believe they will give me the upper edge. Several upper tier schools are notorious for grade inflation, Harvard especially. Regardless, those universities would offer me an undergraduate experience I know I would enjoy immensely. If that means sacrificing a 4.0 gpa at a state school for a 3.6 at an ivy, I’m ok with that; so long as I’m not taking out any loans. My reasons are not as superficial as just prestige. I’ve done plenty of research into those schools. I didn’t put a single school there I don’t think I would enjoy. And I am aware that they are all hyper-selective, that’s why I’m applying to so many :slight_smile: Better chances of getting into 1 when you apply to 15 as opposed to 5. I’ll likely narrow down the number of top 20 colleges as I learn more about each one.

I do agree that I could use more match schools and perhaps another safety or two. When I was making my list, I wanted to include the upper tier universities whose respective programs, weather, and locations I know I would enjoy. Also, I was looking into schools that had decent prevet/animal science programs, and these were typically lower ranked land grant universities. Hence the massive gap in my list and the number of public schools with limited financial aid.

Do you guys have any suggestions for universities with decent biological science programs that offer significant aid to OOS applicants, merit or need-based? Preferably not in the south, I’m trying my best to get out of here. :stuck_out_tongue: I’ll of course search on my own, but just in case I overlook something :slight_smile:

10

Cornell/ Ithaca is not rural. Anyone who thinks it is must not have actually spent any time in a rural area.

I’m not as knowledgeable as many on CC but what about Case Western in Ohio?

11

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/dvm/vet-scholars.php

12

I get wary when a list includes almost the entire Ivy League…

First, eliminate all out of state publics… they are expensive and notoriously stingy with financial aid for OOS (there are a few exceptions, like Alabama, but none of the OOS publics on your list will give you significant aid).

Next, you just have too many schools… there really is no need to apply to more than 12 schools if you plan a balanced list.

Okay… for a student strongly interested in elite schools with pre-vet, definitely keep Cornell, Penn & Tufts. All have excellent vet schools… I know you don’t have to go to a undergrad with a vet program, but it does mean that you know these schools will have a solid animal science program or animal science specialty within biology.

It sounds like you are pretty ambitious, and want more elite schools, so okay, nothing wrong with that… but you can’t apply to them all… choose no more than 5 from this list:
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Chicago, Columbia, Washington U, Brown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, Carnegie Melon, USC
But don’t apply to them all… they are all excellent in biology, all considered elite, all large research universities, none are rural… look at their websites, and narrow it down to about 5 to add to Cornell, Penn and Tufts. That get’s you to 8 elite schools… you should not apply to more than that.

Now, we need safeties (financial and academic)… definitely UFlorida… how about North Carolina State U (It’s public, but your stats are significantly above, so you may get merit aid… they have a very highly respected vet program).
Honestly, you don’t need a lot of safeties if you are happy with UFlorida… your stats are way above their average, so you will almost certainly get in… you are in-state, so it should be very affordable with financial aid, and they have a top 15 vet program.

So to summarize:
Absolutely apply: Cornell, Penn, Tufts

Pick another 5 elites

Safeties: UFlorida, NCSU

13

Ithaca is a college town. Grinnell is rural, Cornell isn’t.

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Cornell
Duke
Penn
Columbia
Princeton
UChicago
Brown
Amherst
USC
Tufts
=> automatic reaches

UCLA
UC Berkeley
UIUC
UCSD
=> impossible due to no financial aid

UF is thus, as of now, your only “reasonable” college.
You need to add at least 3 more reaches (universities with 30%+ acceptance) and 1 more safety. A safety would be the honors college of another Florida Public. UAlabama would be a safety since you have the SAT and GPA required for Honors College + full tuition scholarship. Pitt I think also has a full-ride scholarship program that you’d fit into, but it’s not automatic.

Could you consider a LAC in a consortium (like Amherst is)? In this case, look into Barnard and Bryn Mawr, both in/near a big city and in a consortium (basically accross from) a co-ed college where you can take as many classes as you wish.

Universities that meet 100% need include: Boston College, Emory (including Oxford campus), Northwestern, UNC-Ch, UVA, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan.

Universities where you may want to apply: Case Western Reserve, UMiami, Tulane, Brandeis, Saint Louis University, UMaryland Honors, USC-Columbia Honors, UMass Commonwealth Honors College.

14

I understand why you think that applying to more super-selective schools will better your chances at getting into one, but if you think about it mathematically it just doesn’t. If you have a 1 in 10 chance and you apply to 10 schools, then you’ll have a 10 in 100 chance. It doesn’t make the odds any better. In fact, it probably makes the odds worse because you cannot focus on making each application perfect since you have so many of them. I agree with the other posters that you should pick 5 reaches at most, preferably less, and then you need to find more match schools, meaning 30%< acceptance rates.

15

Thanks a bunch!! @harvardandberkeley‌ and @MYOS1634‌ you guys helped a lot. I had trouble narrowing down my “reach” school list, but I took off a couple and will probably take off one or two others as I learn more. I also added more match schools, and NCSU as an extra safety. All in all, I’m much happier with my list now lol. The original one was kind of ridiculous. This one is slightly less ridiculous.

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Columbia
Duke
Penn
Cornell
Brown
USC
Tufts
Case Western
Tulane
UF
NCSU

Besides having such a long list of reach schools, do you think I have a reasonable number of matches/safeties? If anything I’d like to think of USC and Tufts at most as low reaches, maybe high matches. Case western and Tulane were really nice finds, thanks for telling me to check those out.

16

You still only have two matches and two safeties.

You need more mathces. Check out UVA, Wake Forest, Boston College, Emory, U of Rochester, and Brandeis.

17

If the student is happy with the safeties on the list then they don’t Need more matches.

18

That’s true. @giraffeinatree, would you be happy if you were to only get into UF and NCSU? To me it didn’t sound like you were crazy about either, especially because you talked about wanting to get out of the south. Correct me if I’m wrong though.

19

@lalalemma‌ Correct. I wouldnt be upset if I had to go to those schools but Im not obsessed with them. Wake forest and brandeis are too small for my taste. Emory is too far south and I used to live in rochester so I have a bunch of relatives around U of R and I’d rather go somewhere farther away from family. Do UVA and UNC-Ch actually meet full need even though theyre public?

20

They claim to, and according to US News data they do. I think they would be good to add to your list.

Some other options: Boston College, NYU, Lehigh, BU, Northeastern.