Are these schools reaches, matches or safeties?

College Search & Selection
21

Ann Arbor is a small city of about 110K. the central campus is integrated with the town. If you drive about 10 min west, north, and south you will be in the country. It is usually rated the #1 or #2 college town and in the top 10 best places to live and/or retire. It also is ranked the most educated small city in America. I’d recommend you visit. Admission rates for OOS students range from about 15-30% depending on the college at Michigan you apply to. They also meet need for OOS students (apply EA) if you are looking for FA. If you like sports, Michigan is one of the few schools with high academics and amazing sports. They also have one of the best Alumni networks in the world.

Pre-med it can be anything these days as long as you take the requisite courses. Some medical schools (like Michigan) favor their own undergraduates - I’d also check that out - and there are some integrated programs with guaranteed medical school admission (e.g. Brown, Rice).

Northwestern is 3-4 hours further west and is both colder and hotter. Much smaller, beautiful urban campus on Lake Michigan.

Visit as many likely schools as you can. My son visited about 25 campuses and pared his list down to 8. He was able to eliminate about 50% after visiting.

22

@LushLillies:

If you do make it to the Midwest, you can hit Northwestern, Chicago and WUSTL (4 to 5 hours drive from Evanston). I definitely suggest you take a look at the latter. St. Louis was a surprise to us and our Sophomore loves it there. Beautiful campus, 1200 acre Forest Park (including the St. Louis Zoo and Art Museum) right across the street, Delmar Loop, Central West End. Loves school, faculty, and students. Doing research at the Medical School. Tons of things to do – even with demanding academics. Very nurturing environment – great collaboration with classmates.

Sophomore has been able to get to and from school with friends (14 hours) and plenty of flights are available from an excellent airport accessible via MetroLink light rail – with two stops on campus. Student went to the Cardinals baseball game last night after exams Monday and Tuesday.

You will do great wherever you wind up! Best of luck!

23

This is demonstrably false–being a female at MIT is not a hook at all. It may confer some small benefit, but even that is far from unequivocal and certainly not a hook.