If she is interested in BME, she might consider WashU as a reach. The academic flexibility would allow her to pursue a history minor relatively easily. The BME facilities are also very nice. It’s not as much in the region you suggested, but she could take a tour of the St.Louis College of Pharmacy while she is there as well (they have great brand-new facilities!).
The problem is that WUSTL has probably done the worst job of overselling itself possible with D. There was a thread on one of the forums about colleges that stalk you with constant emails and mailings and for us that was WUSTL. Great school, a little farther away than she wants to go, but oh the inundation of WUSTL materials she received unfortunately ending up being a bit of a turn-off. On the other hand, NC State sent a good bit of stuff, just enough to get her interested, so that is a fine line to walk in recruiting I suppose.
The mention of the great new facilities for a number of the schools suggested here was a huge theme I noticed when we did our earlier rounds of school visits. The amount of money the schools seem to be pumping into new facilities, primarily suite style residence halls, honors dorms and science/engineering facilities has been pretty incredible to see. No doubt our experiences might be a bit skewed by looking at a lot of automatic merit schools, who by their current nature are trying to improve their rankings with higher stat students and improved facilities and honor programs, but I was really surprised at how many huge new facilities had just opened (UK’s Pharmacy school is incredible, as an example), were under active construction or were about to break ground around the time of our visits.
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When we did look into the Alabama schools she was more interested in UAB than Tuscaloosa based on what we were able to read and research about the two campuses, student profiles, etc. She tends to prefer city-based schools, schools that are centered in large part around a medical center/hospital system, schools/areas that are more moderate to liberal politically and diverse racially and socio-economically, and she almost sees it as a negative if a school is a big football school.
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that’s understandable.
That said, UA and UAB are only an easy 60 minutes apart (all interstate and low traffic) so it wouldn’t be hard to visit both.
Little to no merit aid at WUST, too.
If she liked Pitt, and can get into their Honor’s Program and BME, voila!
Good luck!
While my D did not apply to NEU because it was too far for us, it would be worth an application IMO. Especially since she is NMF material. Someone told me the merit would be good for 6 years but I’m not sure so check with them if she is interested in their 0-6 pharmacy program.
We are from PA and my D applied to Duquesne and Pitt.
She had a 1550 CR&M SAT, was ranked 1/250 and was awarded the full tuition scholarship at Pitt. Fees, room & board are about $12k. While not guaranteed your D has a good chance for full tuition with her high stats and high rank. The scholarship is good for 4 years. Pitt awards a BSPS after 4 years so only year 5 and 6 count as graduate level.
The tricky part is going to be if she wants to have a conditional seat in the pharmacy program because they give out 50 or so of these seats and you have to apply early and indicate on your application that you are “prepharmacy”.
Duquesne gave my D their highest academic scholarship which was $20,000. But since pharmacy COA is around $50k that was much more than Pitt. The scholarship is now good for 6 years. And they also have some kind of early assurance program now.
The only school we considered that would have offered guaranteed merit (full tuition for her stats) was Temple. But she found out about her scholarship in December so didn’t apply.
@mommdc Thanks for the response and info. D is still figuring out her major, pharmacy remains one of her interests along with BME, CLS/BT and Biotechnology. We think her college app list is in final form now as we keep coming back to the same set of schools from each direction we look and research, have completed all of the visits to schools within reasonable driving distance and have them in tiers as follows:
Pitt
Case Western
Delaware
Those are probably her three favorites overall, with each jockeying for position with the next.
Drexel
NC State
Tulane
Southern Cal
Those four include Drexel, which is a strong contender to join the top tier, and three ‘destination’ schools that really interest her a lot for different reasons.
Central Florida
NJIT (her younger brother visited with her and really liked the small, enclosed, geek is chic campus vibe, so it is already on his list in 7th grade, lol)
West Virginia
This is her safety tier, and she would be happy to go to any of these, and they are affordable, so they are true safeties.
Overall, one school that is a real financial reach compared to the others (Case), five offer large competitive scholarships at schools that vary quite a bit in demographics, location, offerings, etc (Pitt, Delaware, NC State, Tulane, USC), two automatic full tuition (Drexel, which has stacked to FR in the past, WVU) and two automatic full ride schools (UCF, NJIT). Other than a more official visit to Delaware in a few weeks, school visitation travel is done until accepted student days arrive, apps are being completed, essays written and her senior year started today.
Georgia Tech and Duquesne fell off of her final list, with two schools recommended in this thread, USC and Tulane, jumping into their places. Duquesne is offering six year scholarships, but they don’t come remotely close to covering most of her COA, so while nice, they are out. Tulane replaced Georgia Tech, for a number of reasons, with USC being the west coast school that really caught her fancy.
Thanks all for your advise and conversations, on to the next phase of the process!!! (-:
@Skates76, this is a great list with lots of merit possibilities, and interesting places to boot!
You guys really did your research and great that you were able to visit so many schools.
Case was also on my possible list along with U Rochester if she would have went for biochemistry.
Is Drexel in a better part of Philly? I don’t know much about it except I think they have a coop program.
@mommdc Drexel is in West Philly, right next to the University of Pennsylvania and very near University of the Sciences in an area known as University City, just to the west across the Schuylkill River from the western end of center city. It is also very close to the 30th Street Station for train and subway access into and away from the city. They do have a downtown medical campus as well since they bought out the Hahnemann Health System to add a med school to their offerings. The main campus is very urban, but also more upscale in most places and undergoing lots of development. Security is everywhere with city police, the three university security/police forces (which may be combined in some way I think) and the transit police all patrolling constantly. It is in a much better location than Temple, even with the gentrification that is improving the Temple area now. My eldest S is a Drexel senior this year and gives it high marks, assuming one can get used to the quarter system they use. a necessary thing for their strong emphasis on co-ops. We had a great visit there and they are really pumping a lot of perks and money and attention into their Honors College.
University of Rochester is one of my alma maters as a grad student and where my wife and I met, so I know that was a good choice to have had on your D’s list too (-:
That sounds great about Drexel!
Clemson University is another option. They have a biomedical engineering major and pre pharmacy. They also have a strong honors program. They are about 11/2 hrs from Georgia Tech. If she is ranked in the top 10% of her class with her stats she’s eligible for 15,000 merit. If she chooses Honors and is admitted, she is eligible to compete for more scholarships
Biomedical engineering and pharmacy are two very different paths. I would think it would be easier to step into all the various advanced degree programs you have listed for your D by starting with engineering - in other words it would give more options. Good list of schools. Good luck to her.
I see that University of Rochester is not on your D’s list - is it because the city is too small? It ended up being one of S’ top choices after we visited (like CWRU but with more well-rounded students it seemed) - it ended up being eliminated due to the city not being appealing enough and not walking distance from campus. They do offer merit though not as generous as CWRU.
@singermom4 The University of Rochester and RIT were both on the list of schools to investigate. I am a U of Rochester alum as I received my Master’s degree there, and also met D’s Mom there. Despite being alumni on my side and my wife having family still up there, neither school really seemed to ever capture her interest. I agree it is a very good school, but I noticed that other than Case, which she just fell in love with, her sights have not been set that far north. D does have some benign issues with the cold bothering her hands and feet, though plenty of her schools are not exactly in warm climes, though none are quite as cold as Rochester, other than Case.
Thanks to all for the help, suggestions, advice and conversation. It has been enlightening and incredibly useful. She seems very satisfied with her list of ten schools to apply to (and thank goodness for the three app fee waivers we received and the free app for Case!).
She received confirmation of her NMSF status this week, likely on the way to NMF, and has completed a few applications, with only the essays and letters of rec to get completed (-:
Case is still pretty cold and the campus is very spread out. Perhaps the campus layout is a contributor but I felt the student body to be more cohesive at Rochester. Also Rochester at least has the tunnel system. Winter will be longer in Rochester and more snow. We also had Rochester on our fringes until we visited - it might be worth a visit. We also had CWRU very high on our list so it’s not that we didn’t like it. Since you mentioned not looking North, I hesitate to mention this option but my S ultimately chose the University of Minnesota - the great city location was a big tipping point. It also has connections to top medical institutions and the OOS rate is lower than many in-state rates.
Agree on the Cleveland weather and have told her so several times, plus I am not a huge fan of Cleveland compared to other cities we visited, but she really likes the school and I can’t argue with that since I was pretty impressed too. Case is really not the most likely destination for D, very good merit but with guaranteed full tuition and full ride schools on the list, along with competitive FR/FT scholarships at all of the others on her list I think Case is a long shot in the greater scheme of things.
D is wonderfully pragmatic and thrifty and knows she will be seeking a grad or professional terminal degree eventually. Given her situation with FR offers out there, she knows that for every dollar we are asked to contribute to room, board or tuition (other costs we will cover any place she goes) she is required to match it as per our rules on financing college. She can leave money on the table elsewhere, but only if she is willing to share in the pain of paying for that dream school, and she has no desire to take out any undergrad loans.
The hopefully final update on DD’s list now that she is deep into completing apps and essays; First, the background and updated stats so no one has to go back to read the first post here:
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Rising Senior
PA resident
227 PSAT - NMSF notification received
2250 SAT -780 M, 740 CR, 730 WR - should confirm for NMF status
ACT - composite 35
GPA - UW 3.97, W 107.7
Class Rank - 1 of 290 as of the end of Junior year, fairly rigorous public HS
3 AP Classes as a soph (all 5’s), 4 AP classes as a junior (all 5’s), 5 AP classes scheduled for senior year.
Good and improving EC’s - numerous academic honor societies with two leadership positions, plenty of volunteer hours in a variety of settings including one leadership position via Church Youth Group, founded a Women in STEM club at school this year, will participate in very selective Healthcare Profession Exploration internship program as senior.
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As we got down to the nitty gritty details that application season brings into focus, and as she has begun and participated in her health care explorations internship at the local University Hospital, her interests remain evolving and in NO order of preference are:
Biomedical Engineering B.M.E.- terminal degrees considered PhD, MD or JD.
Pharmacy - schools with PharmD programs or possible PhD as terminal degrees, and maybe a JD later
Medical Technology/Clinical Laboratory Sciences B.S. - terminal degree for this one would be MD
Wants to minor in History or something similar.
So some of the factors that went into final alterations of her list:
For competitive merit schools, several had their scholarship finalist weekends on the same weekend, and while there may have been a way around that, it made her re-evaluate which ones she was most interested in. Also, with her reach, match safety combinations she and I looked at making sure she has at least a match and safety for each major she is interested in since two of her possible majors are usually in separate colleges at a University. Also, she preferred schools with a variety of major choices outside of her three current goals in case she gets there and decides to switch. So here is her FINAL list, with the college she is applying to at each university:
Her ‘open-ish’ schools:
Competitive merit:
Case Western - applying for biomed, but they have a single door admissions policy which is awesome.
Safety:
West Virginia, has all of the three majors that interest her, and auto full tuition for NMF status (would not apply to first two Pharmacy professional years).
Her Pharmacy Schools:
Competitive merit:
Pitt - Pharmacy - 6 year direct admit program, allows undergrad scholarships to continue for first two professional years.
Safety:
University of Toledo - 6 year direct admit, full tuition scholarship likely based on stats, applies to first two professional years. Possible stacking.
Her MT/CLS schools (these are four year programs, no fifth year required as in California)
Competitive merit:
University of Delaware
Safety:
University of Central Florida - Auto full ride for NMF status
Her Biomed schools:
Competitive merit:
University of Southern California
Tulane
Safety:
Drexel - auto FT for NMF, possible stacking.
Dropped from the list, NJIT and NC State
She really likes her competitive merit schools, would be very happy with her safeties and seems to be doing a great job of covering her intended, and in some cases, specialized majors, so that when decision time comes in the spring and she has had more time in her current exploratory internship, she will hopefully have a great set of choices and a stronger idea of where her interests lie for an intended major.
Great list!
And Congrats on finding out about qualifying for NMSF!
DD is stronger than you think as an applicant. All of the schools you’ve listed as Reaches are Matches or even Safetiys
@Wje9164be the reason for listing her school’s the way they have been listed is based on merit more than admission criteria. I very much agree that DD could apply and gain admission to even more highly ranked schools, but we have concentrated on schools with either competitive or automatic full merit. She knows she is going onto grad or more likely some sort of professional school and will get there with no undergrad loans owed. She is very pragmatic, not overly prestige impressed and really loves or likes a lot the schools on her list. For her the terminal degree school she eventually enters will be the more important as far as names go. She is looking at honors colleges where the schools on her list offer them to find academic challenges, peers and perks. Her likely NMF status is a godsend and she is making amazingly good use of it!! (-:
@mommdc Thanks for the congratulations for her and thanks even more for all of your help, sage advice, suggestions and simply listening as we learned this process and continue to learn it!!