Can someone please help me form a college list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I should mention that I had a REALLY REALLY rough start. I did not have any motivation until sophomore year and therefore did not try. On top of that I had terrible eyesight and my Medicaid privileges were taken away so my mother couldn't afford to take me to get my eyesight taken and get me glasses, therefore I could not see a thing in class. I have 20/200 vision I believe. Now, I have glasses thankfully. At the end of this post, I write everything that I have on my transcript. There is a significant upwards trend. I am currently in the 11th grade. </p>

<p>Stanford is my dream school and I just really want to know if I even stand a chance. Please tell me what you think. I'm going to major in Biology and do Pre-med since I want to go to medical school.</p>

<p>SAT I: Not taken yet, but I'm in SAT Preparation classes with Kaplan and Princeton Review </p>

<p>PSAT: 174 (first time ever taken during sophomore year), however I have taken a few practice tests and scored a 2100+ in most of them</p>

<p>SAT II: None taken yet </p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 93 average (unweighted), but should go up to a 95 and will weighted will definitely be over a 100 with my APs and honors classes </p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not available yet. However, definitely Top 5% (Class of 450 people) </p>

<p>AP: (Junior) APUSH, AP Calculus AB, AP Biology , (Senior) AP English Literature, AP Spanish, AP US Government, AP Art History, Forensic Science, CTE class</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc): None :( I only had a poem published in a summer poetry contest and I got awards in school for my services, for being "one of the best students in my school", and for submitting my work in the school newspaper (Gold prize)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Medical Club (Founder and President) Years 11th,12th; Red Cross 10th, 11th, 12th; National Honor Society 11th, 12th; Skills USA 10th, 11th, 12th grade (President), Peer Leader 12th</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Library intern, Intership at a Hospital, Kitchen assistant, Read Alliance Tutor, Youth Leadership</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer work in the aforementioned hospital and as a library intern </p>

<p>Summer Activities: More hospital volunteering, but nothing really because I had to babysit. However, summer of junior year I am praying that I get into two science related program. (If not, I will volunteer in Africa for a medical internship)
Applying for Financial Aid?: YES!
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: Public School (Vocational with about 2000 students)
Ethnicity Hispanic (Ecuadorian and Mexican)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $27,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation and an URM</p>

<p>Strengths: Hooks and every thing else is terrible :(
Weaknesses: Everything, I had no motivation until sophomore year (grades-wise) and junior year (extracurricular-wise) </p>

<p>My transcript is terrible, however it does show a significant upwards trend. </p>

<p>7th Grade , 8th Grade ( Took 2 high school courses):</p>

<p>First semester:
Living environment 83 (7th grade)
Algebra 87
Second semester:
Living environment 86
Algebra 87</p>

<p>High School: </p>

<p>9th Grade:</p>

<p>First semester:
English 83
Physical Education 85
Global 98
Earth Science 90
Level 3 Spanish 90
Geometry 86
Fashion 98
Text complexity 95</p>

<p>Second semester:
English 89
Physical Education:87
Global 98
Earth Science 93
Level 3 Spanish 95
Geometry 93
Graphics 95
Text complexity 89</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:</p>

<p>First Semester:
Global: 94
English:97
Chemistry:93
Trig:96
Health:95
Fashion:89</p>

<p>Second Semester:</p>

<p>Global: 100
English: 95
Chemistry: 95
Trig: 92
Physical Education: 90
Fashion: 95</p>

<p>Junior Year (currently):</p>

<p>APUSH: 93
English Honors: 95
Fashion: 93
AP Bio: 95
Physical Education: 100
AP Calculus: 93 </p>

<p>Regents Scores:
Living Environment 88 (8th)
Algebra 90
Geometry 86
Earth Science 91
Spanish proficiency 94
Spanish LOTE 98
Global 95
Trig 84 (Retaking because it is embarrassing and I didn't study)
Chemistry 81 (My teacher was fired and we missed 2 weeks of classes and were not done with the currciculum and didn't study so retaking just in case there's a red flag there) </p>

<p>So far for reaches I have Stanford, Harvard, Georgetown, and NYU. </p>

<p>I want a school that is private, in California or in the east coast. It has to have really good financial aid. That's about it. What's the best school that I could get into with these factors ? </p>

2

<p>Colleges generally aren’t going to consider the grades in your elective courses such as fashion and health. Colleges are also not going to consider your classes in middle school. Have you only taken one history course? Are you taking the most rigorous coursework at your school? You haven’t taken much in the way of foreign language. How did you go from taking 8 classes a semester to 6?</p>

3

<p>@scubadive‌ My school is fashion- based. I chose to go there because I wanted to be fashion designer, but now I have changed my route and want to be in the medical field. My school doesn’t offer any other languages, so I don’t think that will play against me. Maybe I should take a college course in another language or maybe study a language on my own? My two classes from middle school are on my transcript because they were high school courses and add on to my required credits. My school is crappy public school and only has 7 APs and 2 honors classes and I’m taking all of them, so yes, the most rigorous course load at my school. About the 8 classes to 6 classes, my fashion class is a double period because it’s a CTE class and a major at my school and my school only does one year of a language. I took global for two years, I’m taking APUSH now, next year I will take AP US Gov so 3. Thank you for your input :slight_smile: And I’m glad that those classes don’t count :)</p>

4

<p>Colleges do look at your transcript in context to the course rigor available at your specific high school. That’s fine that those classes are on your transcript but they probably will be ignored by colleges in the grand scheme. After you take the SAT/ACT test(s) you will have a better idea of where you stand on a national basis.</p>

5

<p>@scubadive thank you :slight_smile: </p>

6

<p>Does anyone know if NYU would be a reach ?</p>

7

<p>Please go away and come back in a year. Not enough information to chance you.</p>

8

<p>@DrGoogle‌ ugh, I guess you’re right :(</p>

9

<p>NYU is automatically a reach if you need good financial aid. You will need to aim for its merit scholarships, not just admission, since its normal financial aid tends to be insufficient for financially needy students – check the net price calculator.</p>

10

<p>I just calculated my GPA and its a 3.709. When I apply to Stanford it should be a 3.79 and when I graduate it should be a 3.84. :confused: </p>

11

<p>A lot depends on your test scores. But I will be honest, I don’t see the “pop” in your application that gets students into Stanford or Harvard. Georgetown will be tough for you as well, and as stated above, NYU doesn’t have good financial aid. You need to study hard for your standardized tests and come back when you have actual scores. </p>

<p>The other thing you need to know is that the important things for pre-med are (1) GPA, (2) MCAT scores, and (3) getting some kind of volunteer or work experience in a medical setting. You want to go to a school where you can get a really good GPA, and that is tough at many of the higher ranked schools.</p>

<p>You should see if you can visit a few schools to get a feeling for what kind of schools you want. Do you want a research university or a smaller liberal arts college? Have you checked out any SUNY colleges – there is a whole forum on them that can help you sort through the large number of options, and that might end up being most affordable for you. I think you are female, you might want to consider some women’s colleges (Mount Holyoke, for example). Maybe Vassar would be another option. Dickinson meets almost all need, you might look at them.</p>

<p>I am assuming you are a US citizen or permanent resident, can you confirm that?</p>

12

<p>Yes I am @intparent‌ :slight_smile: and thanks. Yeah, my application is very mediocre.</p>

13

<p>So… you have been posting a lot lately. And you seem really anxious about this. But posting and being anxious aren’t going to change the facts of your application. Wanting a college really badly doesn’t make them want you… it doesn’t matter to them at all. You need to take a rational approach to (1) getting the best test scores you can, and (2) building a college list that has at least one safety you KNOW you can get into and can afford and are willing to attend, some match colleges, and a couple of reaches. You are starting with the reaches, which is the wrong end to start with. Spend more time looking for your safety (or safeties) and matches, as the odds are very high that you will end up at one of them.</p>

14

<p>@intparent‌ I took a practice SAT test for an sat prep course and got a 2160. I think that I can improve that by the time I apply which is like a year and a month from now. I found an opportunity to volunteer in an oncology center near my school so I’m going to do that. I don’t know what would make me “pop” :confused: any ideas? </p>

15

<p>“Pop” are accomplishments at the state or national level, high finishes in a competition like Siemens, a published book with significant sales, an accomplishment that truly and significantly changes your local community, etc. They are above and beyond the “average” teenage accomplishments. Often they are also things that “go against the flow” of what most teenagers are doing – not typical school or community activities, but some path the student has identified and forged on their own.</p>

<p>As I said… you need to get realistic about your school list. Go ahead and apply to Stanford and Harvard. But then you need to find a list of schools that meet need where you are likely to be admitted and would like to attend. It is super easy to find super reaches (of course lots of people want to go there). But you need to be realistic about (1) where you can get in, and (2) what the best path is for you to reach your goals (it might not be those schools). </p>

<p>You say yourself that Stanford is your “dream school”. You should banish the idea of “dream school” completely. Dream schools just get in the way of a rational college search. Too often students focus too much of those schools at the exclusion of looking at the schools they likely really will attend. If they don’t get in (and often they apply EA or ED), then they are dispirited when they should be focusing hard on the rest of their applications. Sometimes they do get in, then find the school is unaffordable for them (or their parents won’t let them go, have seen that a few times). What you need is a list of schools (a safety or two, several matches, and a couple of reaches), all of which you would be happy to attend. When you have acceptances and financial aid offers in hand, then take another hard look and make a final decision.</p>

<p>A screen name that would make more sense would be “IWantACollegeThatFits”.</p>

16

<p>If you’re interested in the medical field, it’s important to take on as little debt as you can in undergrad because med school will cost a fortune. Make sure you have safeties on your list. In state is generally cheaper than out of state, so line up some good IS options. Good luck.</p>

17

<p>If you want to become a doctor, don’t make the mistake that many make. Many think, “oh, if I want to get into a good med school, then I have to go to a TOP school.”</p>

<p>NO…med schools don’t care where you went to undergrad. And with so many tippy top students attending top schools, it can be very risky to be premed at those schools. A’s are usually limited in premed prereqs to “weed out” students. So, the premed who goes there thinking, “yay, this is my ticket to med school,” may find himself with a GPA that isn’t med school worthy. And if you’re not a top student in the classes, it makes it harder to get great LORs.</p>

<p>And…all US MD schools are excellent. We don’t have any “so so” MD schools here. Any premed should be thrilled to get into any of them.</p>

<p>It really is best for a premed to go to a college where his/her scores are well-within the top 25% of the school. I’m not saying that doing so is a free tix to med school. I’m saying that if you do your job academically, and do well on the MCAT, then your chances of getting into med school will be very good. </p>

<p>Once you have scores, come back and we can help you with a reasonable list.</p>