Anyone have ideas on a good match school (outside of Texas)?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys, senior here. I’ve been looking at several college sites and while I have my in-state school list compiled, I need some help finding match schools that are out of state. (I live in TX) If you know any, would you mind skimming the parts below to comment on any suggestions? Thanks!

I’ve broken this down into 2 parts, College for the school environment, and My Stuff for admissions selectivity.

COLLEGE
Location:

  • preferably large city
  • a location that actually snows??? PLEASE

College:

  • I’m into diversity so it would be great if I went to a college with a diverse mix of people.
  • I also intend to study abroad.
  • a college that can party but also has academic rigor
  • no cutthroat environment, please

Major:

  • double in Neuro and psych. I’m planning to be a doctor (psychiatrist) so premed.

MY STUFF
My Stats:

  • 1580 SAT (SAT II Math: 790)
  • 35 ACT
  • 4.0 GPA (4.5/5.0GPA Weighted)
  • Rank 9/493

My Involvement:

  • I’m very passionate about mental health so I’ve started my own psych club, am part of a mental health nonprofit, hold leadership positions in clubs related to this, and have 250+ hours of clinical volunteering. I’ve also worked in a lab during the last two summers.

My Awards:

  • not sure, but it’s very probable I am a National Merit Semifinalist
  • AP National Scholar

EXTRA
(not necessary, but would be nice to have)

  • diverse city (with ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown or Little Italy, etc)
  • I’m slightly liberal
  • Great public transportation
  • Great academic counselors :slight_smile:

I’m really sorry for the length. I’m actually not too sure on how to post stuff like this, so please let me know if I am too specific or too general. I’ll try to respond asap! Thanks for reading!!

2

You’ve indicated by your criteria that you would like to attend school in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, or maybe Cleveland and a few other cities.

3

Thanks for the city recommendations! I’ll start looking at schools in those areas :slight_smile:

4

Since you mentioned being a pre-med in another thread, remember that pre-med courses are more likely to see cutthroat behavior, since pre-meds must compete for scarce A grades (most pre-meds get weeded out due to GPA being obviously too low, or by not getting admitted to any medical school).

Be aware that on the diversity front, some of the previously mentioned large cities (e.g. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, New York) have a more segregated kind of diversity that correlates with poor racial/ethnic relations. See https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/ .

5

@ucbalumnus oh wow I was completely unaware of that statistic. Thanks for letting me know!
As far as the pre-med cutthroat environment goes, I guess it was just wishful thinking. Maybe for the school in general, instead of specific pre-med courses? Because I’m sure a pre-med course in a cutthroat school would be much harsher than others in more laid-back schools.

6

What is your budget?

7

Chicago, omitted above (reply 1), properly belongs with those cities. Washington, New Haven, Providence and Minneapolis would be others to consider. The smaller Ann Arbor might also meet your criteria.

8

Chicago also has long had the dubious reputation of being the most racially segregated large city in the US.

9

OP discusses budget issues / uncertainty in another thread:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2015224-tips-on-finding-an-ideal-price-range-for-colleges-when-parents-wont-help.html

10

@carachel2 budget-wise, basically I’d have to say around 30-35k, optimistically.

Thank you all for suggestions! I’ve come to realize that I value racial integration over size of the city, so I’m more than fine with smaller cities.

Chicago is definitely off the list for sure.

11

This Newsweek article may help you sort through some potential choices:

http://www.newsweek.com/25-most-desirable-urban-schools-71889

12

Minneapolis hasn’t been mentioned yet - Macalester is (maybe too?) liberal and very big on international studies.
UMinnesota is also there and a couple other liberal arts colleges as well.

13

So premed, large city, not hard, good party school, not in texas… u miami, emory, tulane, ucsd.

Ucsd isn’t a party school though.

I stayed away from cold places.

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of university hospitals. … at the bottom for US hospitals

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_hospitals

14

I’m surprised that no one has suggested University of Washington yet. It’s near the center of downtown Seattle – a large and diverse city, quite liberal, and occasionally snows in the winter. Admission rate is high, no cutthroat competition, and PAC12 sports and PARTY! Medical school is one of the best in the nation. OOS tuition is less than most private schools, and by your stats, you should be able to get the $5000 OOS scholarship easily.

15

Boston University and Northeastern would be schools to look at. You might also consider Brown in Providence.

16

I assume you are an auto admit to UT Austin and would be competitive for admission to the psychology major. I know you said you want outside of Texas, but it meets most of you other criteria and is very affordable, plus has a new medical school.

17

@merc81 thanks for the article link!
Also, thanks to everybody for the great suggestions! @roycroftmom I do know that UT is a great school and there’s a big chance I’ll attend there, but I just wanted to have maybe a couple out of state schools on my list.

Just a small thing–I’m fine with academically tough schools. I actually prefer that–it’ll motivate me to study hard. I just care about if the people in them aren’t the type who’s “I’ll be your friend so I can get ahead of you.”

18

Many majors at University of Washington have competitive admission to get into the major after one enrolls there. If your major is one of those that has competitive admission, the environment may be more competitive than at other schools where your major is not a competitive major.

https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/

19

Admissions to the UW honors program is also very competitive, and the 5K scholarship barely dents the nearly 25K out of state surcharge.

Maybe look for merit from Seattle U.

20

You would be qualified for Washington’s Honors Program if desired:

https://honors.uw.edu/apply/freshman/faq/

If you are taking or have taken calculus in high school, you might be offered direct admission to neurobiology (which is one of the few majors at UW that offers direct admission to freshmen).

http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/nbio.html

http://depts.washington.edu/nbio/

In any event, your academic profile (1580/35/4.0/4.5/9 out of 493/etc.) indicates that you would have little to no difficulty entering any major you wanted at Washington (certainly the case for the psychology major) as long as you continue to take your studies seriously (and don’t “party” too much). The competition mentioned above will be among students with academic profiles that are considerably deeper into the enrolled class than yours. Looking toward medical school, your job, as others have stated, is to get the highest grades possible in your classes, particularly your pre-med classes. A student of your caliber at UW should be aiming for magna cum laude (3.87) and Phi Beta Kappa (3.77/3.83 depending on number of credits).

For pre-meds (even those who are not residents of the “WWAMI” states that are served by the UW School of Medicine), it is helpful to have facilities like the UW Medical Center and the UW School of Medicine right on campus:

http://www.uwmedicine.org/uw-medical-center/observership

http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/admissions/applicants/shadowing

https://globalhealth.washington.edu/connect/internships-and-volunteering

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings

Additional info:

https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/at-the-uw/pre-health-advising/fields/medicine/

Lots of undergraduate research opportunities to enhance your medical school application, too:

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/about/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/

The amount of the OOS merit scholarship mentioned above varies from year to year. For students admitted for autumn 2017, the scholarship amounts range from $3,250 to $5,500 per year ($13,000 to $22,000 over four years).

Congratulations on your outstanding academic success, and good luck wherever you apply and enroll.