I am no longer a stressed sophomore but rather a stressed junior and need to make a serious college list.
About me:
I got a 1470 on my sat 770 on math 700 in English but I usually score higher in English so I can score higher or superscore to probably a 1500 or a little above
4.5 gpa but that was based on my most recent grades one of which was a b- (an outlier) so I’m sure I can get it higher
2 AP classes this year (apush, Lang) 4 next year (Bio, Psych, AB Calc, Stats)
2 honors class this year 1 next year
1 acp class this year 1 next year
Art, photo, ceramics (minor) this year ceramics major next year which factors into my gpa as an ap class
Officer of a school book club
Original member (but not founder) of a student led club to change our schools perception of mental health
Rowing for two years one year on comp. novice team two and a half hours a day six days a week probably will make varsity nest year
8 years of piano lessons
Past two summers (and this coming summer) volunteering at Massachusetts Audubon society day camp and help research and rehabilitation of endangered diamondback terrapins
I want to be a veterinarian so I’m looking for a school with strong biology programs or pre vet programs urban or close to a big city not necessarily in a city preferably with a campus
I have a couple ideas
Dream schools (high reaches)
Cornell (might apply ed)
Uchicago
John Hopkins
Tufts
Washington university in St. Louis
Reaches?:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Brandeis
Matches/safety:
UWisconsin
NYU
UWashington Seattle
UCDavis
Umass Amherst
I need more matches or reasonable reaches (also I’m from Newton Massachusetts)
What are your budget limits? Did you run the Net Price Calculators at these institutions’ websites to see if they are likely to be affordable.
If you are serious about pre-vet, you need a place where you can get the high GPA at a relatively low cost, and ready access to the vet-related volunteer work/job-shadowing needed. Cheap is good because you will need money to pay for vet school and later to start up your practice.
Iowa State would have the pre-vet program, and might give you decent merit aid. Check their website to see if you can be an Autoadmit. Your stats would guarantee that for an Iowa resident, but I don’t know how that would work OOS. If you’d be autoadmit there, and the money works, it would be a safety for sure.
Delaware Valley College in PA has excellent pre-vet in a small LAC-like environment close to Philly. Check them out too.
UCLA, UCB, UCD give little to no financial aid to out of state students so expect to pay close to $60K/year to attend. If Vet school is in your future, then you want to keep your Undergrad costs down.
UC Berkeley
UCLA
unless your parents are willing AND able to spend over $60,000/ year- including Room and Board- those or any UC’s, take them off your list.
have you had the $$ talk with your parents? Do you and they know how much they will probably have to pay for each college on your current list ?
If they CAN’T afford what the colleges NPC say it will cost then then drop that college from your list. And find others that you can afford AND that where you have a good chance of acceptance. I see way too many reachy- reaches on your list.
No use applying to a college that you can’t afford to go to.
Cost isn’t a big deal, obviously it’s a factor, but my parents have a lot of money saved for my college and will support me where ever I want to go.
Hopkins and Chicago are somewhat odd choices given your interests. Hopkins in particular has very limited offerings in organismal biology. I recommend replacing them with Penn, which has very good offerings in ecology and organismal biology as well as a vet school.
I’d also cut Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, Wisconsin, UDub, and NYU, all of which are unlikely to offer much merit or financial aid.
Tufts and Cornell are great choices. Wash U has the zoo nearby, which is useful for getting the animal experience you’ll need for vet school admissions.
Consider some of the public land-grant universities offering large merit scholarships; your stats put you in the running for a full tuition scholarship at Auburn. Since you’re looking for urban schools, also take a look at Rhodes (Memphis Zoo is across the street), Davidson, and Lewis & Clark.