Biology/Pre-Med not extremely selective but supportive, diversity concern

College Search & Selection
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Daughter is currently a Junior with aspirations of a career in Medicine, and wants to major in Biological Science.

She has unweighted 3.8 GPA in primarily AP course-load (English, Math, Sciences, Humanities) and will be taking Molecular Genetics and Anatomy & Physiology next year in one of the county’s most competitive public high schools. ACT when formally taken should be 30/31.

She plays a string instrument in school and competitive county youth orchestra, and is planning to land EMS training and/or Hospital volunteer experience this year.

I as her parent have no delusions that she’ll get accepted in her very selective reach schools - Johns Hopkins, Rice, Vanderbilt. (Nor do I expect that Medical School will necessarily pan out, but she’s confident that she will do something related to the Health Sciences regardless.)

Based upon my conversations with her as we try to assess what type of school would be a great fit, she’s looking for small-ish classroom size with supportive faculty that she can get to know on a personal level, good opportunities for research/internship, and a good balance between academics (not ultra-competitive) and social activities (not “partying” as such).

In terms of financial cost, our EFC is projected to be around $54,000 but we’re targeting no more than $35,000 out of our own pocket - that’s after whatever work-study and federal loan she qualifies for.

I will also add that we’re South Asian and I have some concerns about the disparity between the diversity marketing that most schools advertise and the “realities” that I read about on Niche and other student-review sites, but she’s not overly concerned about that - however she has grown up in a very heterogeneous area and has not experienced racism. That’s part of the adversity that she will have to face anyway as part of her growth, but I would like to stay away from schools that treat certain minorities as tokens and environments where she would more or less have to resort to sticking “to her own kind”. (I have read several accounts of that at U of Richmond, for example.) She is otherwise very caring and outgoing and has a pretty diverse set of friends.

Location is not terribly important, as long as there is enough of an actual club/activity scene on campus such that Greek or off-campus is not the primary way to socialize and blow off steam. Geographically probably the only limitation would be nothing too far north (she’s not a fan of cold weather, yet she would love to be in the Boston area, so who knows…)

Our in-state happens to be U of MD which would be great financially but Biology is very competitive and unless she qualifies for one of their Honors or Scholars programs would be (I think) too large for her to thrive in. Will still definitely apply.

St. Mary’s of MD would have been a good choice but have heard recently from alumni that they’re experiencing some financial difficulties, and there’s not much to do on or around their campus.

Mt. Holyoke or Bryn Mawr seem like good fits but unfortunately outside the budget - cannot bank on scholarships.

Rhodes is currently on the list (I think it was fine last time I ran through its NPC).

Can I please get some recommendations for small-to-mid size schools that are not ultra-competitive, fit the budget, and have good pre-health advising with solid research opportunities? I know the stipulations provided are asking a lot and certain compromises will need to be made, but I’d appreciate any input.

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Sometimes, the location may matter in the concern you mention above. The school may be welcoming, but if it is in an area that is unwelcoming, that can be a quality-of-life issue if the student wants to do off-campus activities.

Pre-med courses (many of which overlap with biology major courses) can be expected to have more competitive students than typical for their schools, due to pre-med being a highly competitive weed-out process.

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If she is sure about STEM…look into UMBC…it has strong programs. @MYOS1634

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St. Olaf in MN would check many of her boxes.

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Seconding UMDBC - excellent for science and support for women in STEM (look into the honors/scholars programs, too).

Seconding St Olaf if she’s a good musician - very good premed program (summer internships at the Mayo clinic), look into the “conversations” programs, and merit scholarships as well as music scholarships – you can look at the music pieces that need to be recorded and see if it’d match your daughter’s level, they typically need to be sent by December (the scholarshipsare NOT for future music majors, about 1/4th students there are serious musicians regardlessof majors). Demonstrated interest important (get on the mailing list, participate in virtual meetings, etc.)

Muhlenberg is pretty good for what you want and has good merit, too.

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Third vote here for UMBC. I realize it may result in an eyeroll from your child, but it is a good academic fit.
Regarding smaller LAC type colleges, you will have to visit and see if the fit is okay in terms of the college culture. You also have to think of your budget. Any pre health major as undergrad most likely requires some type of grad school, if the med school plans dont pan out. So more college $$ with or without med school.

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True…but there are plenty of health related careers that do not require a bachelors degree.

@WayOutWestMom can you post that link to health careers, please. That can also help this OP and her kid who is interested in this area but maybe not medical school.

Re: UMD Baltimore County….make an appointment to go and visit and talk to someone there. Don’t judge based on hearsay.

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Centre is supposed to be great for health sciences. What about Roanoke as well?

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Try Washington & Jefferson in southwestern PA. If you can email some students there, they might be able to give you vibe, but for everything else, it ticks the boxes and might come in financially. One never knows on that.

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Wesleyan reportedly looks favorably upon women with STEM aspirations; and Middletown CT is an ethnically diverse town, but, if Bryn Mawr and Holyoke are financial stretches, it would likely be also. You have to run their NPC.

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Thanks for the suggestions, will take a look at all of them. And yes would like not to stretch financially for undergrad considering post grad expense is a strong possibility.

UMBC - should have mentioned will be visiting (just 45 min away) and most likely applying.

Just researching schools in different parts of the country, no matter how much her mother would like her to be relatively local.

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Explore Health Careers

There is searchable database of healthcare careers. The user can set maximum number of education years required and a minimum salary expected as a condition of the search

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St. Olaf parent here. I think it’s well worth looking at, great merit for about half their students and financial aid for almost all (our net price is about 25% below our EFC.) Strong sciences, strong pre-med advising, lots of women professors. It’s a pretty white campus but diversity, inclusion and welcoming are taken very seriously. We found that for LAC’s we had to be in the top maybe 30 in the country to have a real claim on diversity. No Greek and no off campus life to speak of but lots to do on campus and with Carleton College. All that said, it’s is COLD, no joking about that.

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Would schools in Washington or Oregon be too far for her to consider?

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If you want to go way out of the box Kansas State has an exellent biology department, has lots of research availability (S’s gf did cancer research from freshman year on), lots of asian students but no trouble fitting in. There is a sorority/fraternity group there but plenty of other social and cultural events too. They have excellent pre health advising, great study abroad opportunities and a very good honor society. They also have good OOS merit.

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It’s probably not going to work that way. EFC is a starting estimate what the schools are going to expect you to contribute (more below). The only way to reduce that to $35K is thru merit aid, and you’re looking for about $20K worth which is a significant amount. Many schools offer a discount off sticker price via “merit aid” but it usually isn’t that much at stronger colleges.

Take St. Olaf, which sounds like a promising school. According to their Common Data Set (CDS) report from 2020-21 there are almost 3,000 undergrads, of which 725 are frosh. According to the financial aid section of their CDS 159 frosh received merit aid and 622 total undergrads including frosh received merit aid. So about 20% of both entering frosh and total undergrads receive merit aid. See https://wp.stolaf.edu/ir-e/files/2021/01/H_CDS_2020-2021.pdf section H2A for aid stats, replace that H in the URL with B to see enrollment. The average amount awarded is what you’d like, but the odds of getting it at first guess are 1 in 5. Of course it isn’t awarded by a drawing, your D’s actual chances range from pretty good to very low depending on the institutional needs of St. Olaf (or of any school where she seeks merit aid)

Actually EFC is not the best way to estimate what you will pay. Every college is required to provide a “net price calculator” which is better for estimating what that college will cost. Their estimate of what your family can contribute may differ from EFC, and it is seldom the case that the amount over the EFC will be supplied by the college as a grant except at a handful of tippy-top schools.

Since she attends “one of the county’s most competitive public high schools” the counselors there are a better source of advice on where she is likely to be admitted and the merit aid she is likely to get (since they know similar students) than an internet forum where we don’t know her actual grades, teachers, and schedule. Not that we’d be better than her counselors even if we did…

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St. Olaf looks very promising in terms of what we’re looking for, and D will reach out to D.C. area alumni to get a sense of the vibe.

Information/reviews I’ve come across definitely impressed me.

Cold is a factor, but need to see if that’s something she can overcome taking all the other positive aspects into account. Having a renown music program on campus is a big plus (even if she doesn’t end up directly participating).

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Yeah I get that, will definitely rely on the counselors’ experience. But the Internet is still a nice source for suggestions to at least find out more beyond the popular/usual schools touted by family/friends/peers.

The NPC for each is being used as a general guide for our financial consideration as we try to put together a list, and ultimately it will boil down to the numbers offered if admitted.

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No, not necessarily. She actually mentioned Washington because she likes the rain (from what she’s heard about Seattle area), but we don’t get nearly as much rain as that region does.

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If you end up with specific questions let me know. Also to address @mikemac 's very good points about cost, St. Olaf is one of not many schools that both meets need and offers merit to a large % of students. My kid’s GPA were about average for their class (he’s got some neurological challenges which St. Olaf is also exceptional at supporting) so got no merit, but as I said their financial aid was quite generous. Our EFC is comparable to yours and without merit, our out of pocket costs are within your budget. You can definitely ask them.

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