Any suggestions for high scoring super picky biology/astronomy major?

College Search & Selection
1

We’d love suggestions for D19. At this point there are very few schools that interest her. She’s really not sure of exact major, but it will be stem/bio related. Loves space & astronomy as a possible minor but not super strong in math. Loves medical research. Wants to go on to graduate school, not interested in Med school at this point.

Basic stats-
SAT 1570

As of now? Could change a bit
3.9u/4.9w
class rank around 10?/545
white and unhooked
Low mid income, cost is a big factor, make just too much for Questbridge but might try anyway
ECs focus heavily on medical research & art

Likes smallish to middle sized schools, located either in or close to a larger city or large college town.
Likes warmer east coast or southern weather, but will travel further northeast for the right school. No extreme winter weather.
Is artsy & geek-chic. Likes anything science/stem related, movies, literature, music, art, museums, fashion
No heavily Greek/preppy schools. Wants an intellectual/stem vibe.
No religious affiliated schools
No women-only schools

Only truly Interested in these reach schools so far-
Rice
Swarthmore

Other possibilities I thought might be a good fit but she’s unsure or rejected for various reasons- again, cost is a major factor
Wash U (no Astronomy?)
Duke (Too greek preppy??)
Johns Hopkins (don’t get a happy vibe from this one)
Haverford- does possibly like this one
Georgia Tech
U of Miami Florida
Case Western
MIT, Yale - is slightly interested but realistic about the very slim shot of acceptance

Will also apply to- but very uncomfortable with huge size of these schools-
University of Florida/possibly honors?
University of Central Florida/possibly honors?

Any other suggestions or comments will be much appreciated!

2

Niece #2 with a similar profile found good merit aid (and a nice Astronomy department) at Guilford College.

3

With low/mid income, have you told her what you are able to contribute for her college costs (probably not much) and shown her net price calculator results for various colleges?

Being super picky is not a good idea, since it could result in her being shut out of an all-reach list. In this case, starting at community college would be the default safety.

4

Of the options you listed so far, Duke, case western, Haviorford, and Wash U and JHU are 100% full needs meet. Focusing on these schools will likely give you financially feasible options. Northeastern may have programs that fit her interests and is needs meet.

5

Since money is important and scores are so high, look at the merit aid thread carefully

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21089443/#Comment_21089443

6

What are her ECs and “story”/interests? And how strong is her essay writing?

7

She could look at Wesleyan. While Wes doesn’t have an astronomy minor, just a major, they do have an interesting minor in planetary studies. The artsy vibe at Wes also seems like it would be a good fit.

8

She needs to decide on a handful of deal breakers (must have/must not have) and then list the rest as ‘wants’.

For instance, her nonreligious college criterion: would she be okay with a college where most student are spiritual and where many faith traditions are accepted and represented? Or is it more the presence of crosses in classrooms or taking a ‘world religions’ or ‘theology’ class? Or only colleges that require chapel attendance?
This matters because many LACs and small universities with no Greek life are religious affiliated, although not necessarily religious and

The no women’s college requirement: what about women’s colleges in a Consortium with coed colleges? Would Scripps and Bryn Mawr be okay (in the middle of Claremont campus; partnership with Haverford?) Less close, but Agnes Scott is in a city and there’s cooperation with Emory.

Since 90% of the country is either too cold or too hot at some point during the year, might she be willing to reconsider her ‘no extreme weather’ criterion?
Basically she’d be limited to VA, NC, the PNW, and northern California. Of those, small colleges in VA and NC tend to have Greek life, and few small colleges in the PNW/NoCal meet need.
Basically, she’d be applying to Pomona. Scripps if she can relax her requirement of no women’s college since the college is in a Consortium and she’d thus have men on campus and in class. And both are reach for everyone colleges. She could add Willamette and, perhaps, Lewis and Clark or UPuget Sound, hoping for merit. (They don’t meet need but have competitive merit scholarship programs).
Or does she only mean "no snowstorms’ but hurricanes and tornadoes plus horrid humidity are ok?

Could she consider Macalester, St Olaf, and Emory’s Oxford or would the weather be considered too extreme?

If she can split the list of criteria into what is a deal breaker and what is a ‘nice to have’, it’d help.

As of now: Duke is heavily Greek and about as opposite to hipster/artsy as you can get. Also, not small. UMiami, same thing.
GTech won’t be affordable.
Case Western, Swarthmore, Haverford sound like good picks. She’d need to express strong interest in Case Western starting now (fill out request information form, then click on emails they send; later in, communicate with adcoms, visit if you’re within driving distance.)

Get her a Princeton Review’s Best Colleges book from the library and have her find 15 colleges she hadn’t heard of that she’s willing to consider.

9

She can be picky if she wants, but she’s giving up a lot of money from Florida. If you are ‘just over’ Questbridge eligible, you are going to fall over that cliff of getting 100% paid for and getting just enough paid for to make it uncomfortable to attend a $70k school.

Most of the schools on her list have winter weather - Yale, MIT, Case , even Hopkins.

10

If the family makes 65-75k they’re (quite) over the Questbridge threshold and yet would qualify for a full ride at many elite LACs.
The issue is that very few of these don’t have extreme weather (Pomona, Scripps, Mudd, Davidson; broadening weather criteria: Haverford, Swarthmore, Dickinson, Kenyon, Denison) and among those few half have Greek life…

11

I have degrees in Astro…

Note… At many universities, Astro is a division within the Physics Department.

For mild to warm climate, excellent science, not rural, excellent financial aid, consider:

Stanford U.
U. Penn
Duke U.
Johns Hopkins U.
Rice U.
Vanderbilt U.
Washington U.
Emory U.
Tulane U.

On the smaller side: Pomona College

12

Among academically rigorous LACs like Swarthmore, Haverford, I would suggest she look at Williams. I understand that Williams’ insular location and snowy climate may be deal breakers, but the positive matches to her wish list are very strong.

Excellent sciences, including biology and astronomy. Excellent research opportunities. Excellent art studio and art history departments plus vibrant arts environment – art, music, drama – and access to worldclass museums. Excellent graduate school admissions record. Experimentation across academic disciplines encouraged. Closeknit campus community; no Greek presence. Energetic, intellectually curious student body. Excellent need-based financial aid.

If art is a significant EC, then she should submit an art supplement with her application even if she has no intention of majoring in art. Small to medium privates value arts involvement and multifaceted interests. This is especially true of schools that have both strong sciences and strong humanities, for example Williams, Haverford, Wesleyan, Brown, Hamilton, Pomona.

Once she starts visiting, she’ll get a better feel for the cultures of the individual school. LACs are very distinctive, but the nuances don’t always come across from afar.

13

Reed ?

14

Except for the weather, Carleton checks all the boxes.

15

Yes, Reed.
And Caltech. SoCal weather, small-ish student body, and geeky greek-free vibe.
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/
http://www.bbe.caltech.edu/
And check out New College of FL for a small FL public with strong sciences:
https://www.ncf.edu/academics/undergraduate-program/division-of-natural-sciences/
Also, for a more artsy school that still has excellent bio and astronomy, look at Vassar
https://physicsandastronomy.vassar.edu/astronomy/
https://biology.vassar.edu/

16

Vassar? The OP expressly said no extreme winter weather. Vassar is in upstate NY and has brutal winters, almost always below freezing… and not uncommon to be below zero from time to time… with a moderate amount of snow.

17

There are a few universities conducting research in astrobiology for NASA. If she attended such a university and studied biology or another science, she would have the opportunity to try to do research for a professor involved in astrobiology. A few examples are below, but she could search for more places online.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
https://depts.washington.edu/astrobio/drupal/content/welcome-astrobiology-university-washington

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
https://nai.nasa.gov/teams/can-6/uwis/

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
https://astrobiology.arizona.edu/

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
http://uhnai.ifa.hawaii.edu/

18

^ but none of these are small. Nor do they meet need for a lower middle income student.
OP needs to come back and let us know whether her daughter has established what is essential and what is ‘nice to have’. Astronomy? Astrobiology? Weather? Size? Location? No Greek life? Etc.

In all cases for a student with financial need, finances will be THE deciding factor. Running the NPC will cut the list.
Then there must be a variety of colleges, not just reaches. (Every year there is an incredible student on this board who ends up shut out because his matches were reaches despite what test scores/gpa indicated to him or her, due to acceptance rates. That student may have to take a Gap year or attend the state flagship which they wanted to avoid.) Finding affordable matches that the child likes is going to be very difficult, so, identifying key characteristics is going to be important.

19

Maybe URochester?

20

I was goign to suggest the “New College” of Florida as well.