US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
State/Location of residency: AZ*(state is important if you apply to any state universities)*
Type of high school - Top ten charter school in nation*(current college for transfers)*:
Gender/Race/Ethnicity- Female/ Asian American (optional):
Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):
Intended Major(s)- Cognitive science/ Neurodcience/ Pre Med
GPA,- 3.92 UNW Rank, - top 10 and Test Scores
ACT - 32
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.92
Weighted HS GPA -4.25*(incl. weighting system)*:
College GPA (for transfers):
Class Rank: top 10
ACT/SAT Scores:
ACT-32
Coursework-13 AP and 3 honors. (AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
Awards- High honor roll. Several other awards in school.
Extracurriculars- 100 plus hours at local hospital emergency. 50 plus hours at red cross. Leadership role in local student chapter of red cross. opened 2 clubs on cultural and environmental awareness in school. 100 plus hours in other volunteer work like local library, Down syndrome awareness, peer tutoring etc.
Conducted research last summer under very competitive program called KEYS at the University. Currently continuing further research assignments at Biochem lab at the university. 100 hours of physician shadowing(virtual) (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)- captain of varsity volleyball team.
Essays/LORs/Other - I think essay is ok. (Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Cost Constraints / Budget (High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Schools - UC Berkley, Stanford, UMich, JHU, UCChapel hill and CWRU (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
Safety (certain admission and affordability)
Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
You have great stats and strong ECs, I think. But all the schools on your list are reaches (or at least high matches in case of UNC and CWRU). Did you apply ED anywhere? Do you have other schools you didn’t mention?
All the schools you listed are reaches, except CWRU is a match…but only if you have been demonstrating interest in addition to applying.
You will have to analyze where to apply with/without your 32. Test optional probably makes sense at JHU and Stanford. Not sure about Michigan, UNC, CWRU…you need to look up last year’s test score ranges for them.
What is your weighting system ? If it’s the typical .5 for Honors and 1 for AP, the spread UW to weighted is low so either you got a lot of Bs or use a different weighting system. You show a 3.92 so I assume not a lot of Bs. Please advise on that.
You have an asterisk but no explanation that I see.
In general your list, including UNC OOS, is reach. But I’d like to understand the weighted GPa first.
Congratulations on being a competitive applicant however, UC Berkeley will be a Reach school with an overall admit rate of 8.6% for Out of State applicants.
You need to calculate your 3 UC GPA’s: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub
Only your AP courses will count for the extra Honors points in the calculation and UCB is test blind so your ACT score will not be considered for admission.
You do not list a budget, but you will be close to full pay at $67+K/year to attend and the UC’s offer little to No need or merit aid to OOS students.
Hopefully you have some solid Target and Likely schools are on your list where you would be happy to attend. Best of luck.
Medical school is expensive. UC Berkeley as an out of state student is expensive. It is also not necessarily the easiest place to maintain a “medical school worthy” GPA.
Right now medical school can be over $80,000 per year. With 5% per year price increases, given that you would not be getting an MD for a bit more than 8 years (best case), if you go on for an MD then we are looking at over $100,000 per year by the time that you are done. Four years at UCB plus four years of medical school could very well cost $700,000, or possibly a bit more. Can your parents handle this without taking on debt? If not, then you might want to pay attention to the likely cost of your undergraduate university.
The same might be true of most of the other schools on your list. Have you run the NPC for Stanford and Case Western? I do not know how likely you are to get financial aid at the other out of state public schools on your list.
You will find premed classes to be academically challenging at a wide variety of universities. You will have very strong students and very good professors at a wide variety of universities. Maintaining a high GPA in premed classes will be tough at a wide variety of universities.
If you do get into medical school, you will find that the other students in the same program come from a very wide range of undergraduate universities.
I hope that you are also applying to Arizona State University.
One daughter, with high school grades very similar to yours, got her bachelor’s at a university that is very similar to ASU in ranking. She was pre-vet. This meant that a large number of her classes were the same as premed classes, and many of her friends were premed students. She found the classes to be very challenging (for example she told me at one point that organic chemistry was the most difficult B- that she ever got in her life). She had long hours of studying and was taking exams in rooms full of very strong students. Having attended a university very similar to ASU in ranking (but way to the east and north of you) she ended up being accepted to multiple very good DVM programs (she is current studying for a DVM).
Admittedly her patients are mostly furry and have four legs, and her clinical experience involved animals. However, the process is otherwise similar to medical school admissions. You can get a very strong education and be very well prepared for medical school with a degree from ASU, and you could save a bundle of money to be put towards the cost of medical school.
Just to add on to your point - when you talk about costs (to OP if it is an issue - the 8 year, not four year).
I just had to change my dermatologist appointment - booked a year in advance. I have a conflict.
When I googled her for the #, it shows that she went to Lipscomb undergrad and U of Kentucky for med school.
Honestly, all I know is she is booked out many months and I couldn’t reschedule with her.
I really have no clue where any of my doctors went but I know my dentist went to Arkansas for both undergrad and dental and now my dermatologist U of Kentucky.
I think everyone thinks you need to go to the top-rated schools - but I think the reality is far different.
Unless your last name is Buffett or Musk, it’s probably wise to focus on costs in regards to many years of education.
Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated. Due to my participation at KEYS, I am already eligible to attend the Honors college at University of Arizona since junior school. I have received a full ride offer from them already. I have also received offer from ASU and will most likely get their offer from Barrett too. My budget situation is a bit weird. Based on my parent’s 2021 return, I have an EFC of $131K so no chance to get any need based . However my Dad resigned in September and with that the family income comes down drastically. Ias well. Only if I get a sizable financial offer- need or merit based, I will consider going out of state. Otherwise I will most likely go to U of A Honors school.am hoping that I will be able to negotiate a need based scholarship once and if I get any offer from out of state school. My particular interest is at CWRU, Berkley or UNC . I think UW is achievable
You won’t get any need aid from any OOS Public except UNC. But with and EFC that high you won’t get from UNC.
Him quitting - you have assets to get that kind of Efc.
Aid is not just based on income but assets.
If you don’t want to spend, then stick with your AZ publics or OOS publics that will pay you to attend their schools. That’s not the case with any on your OOS list.
It would be more like U of Alabama …check the MCCullough Medical Scholars. Mississippi State or Ole Miss. and others. Mizzou is another.
You could get some merit at CWRU but no need and it will still be pricy…if that’s an issue.
Congratulations on the U of AZ and ASU acceptances! At least you have those locked down.
If you haven’t already, please ask your parents how much they are able and willing to pay for your college. Then let us know here, so we can provide additional guidance.
Hi
I have a total budget of about $150 -200k. However , considering that there will be a substantial amount of investment needed for my med school, I would like to save as much as possible. I am undecided whether I should go instate and save now or should perhaps go to an OOS better college ( if I am offered) and spend most of my money.
Sorry for being obtuse. By better I meant the OOS colleges that I mentioned in my initial post in this thread. I missed to include UW Seattle and St Louis in the list.
Read the two messages from @Aust and @tamagotchi that followed my previous one.
That’s my point - for better it = a strong gpa and strong mcat - not St. Louis vs. Salisbury or UW vs. UW (Wyoming).
They’re all equally as good - if you deliver the gpa, test scores and other activities such as shadowing.
You have a gift from U of AZ - not to mention the Honors dorm is awesome with a dining hall at the bottom and gym adjacent. I was floored when I visited.
Adding to the excellent advice provided by the posters above - unless you qualify for need based aid and your NPC is $40-50k/year at the schools you’ve listed, UNC will be barely affordable and the other schools will be unaffordable.
Save your money for med school. Where you did your undergrad won’t matter.
I seriously doubt you will be able to “negotiate” anything from Berkeley. The UCs don’t give need based aid to OOS students at all. And their merit aid is a drop in the bucket IF you get it.
UNC…pretty much the same.
That being said…you have an affordable acceptance already. That is terrific.
Also, I think you are way putting the cart before the horse. While you have a pre-med intention now, that could change. You also need to have a Plan B just in case medical school doesn’t work out down the road.
You can take the courses required for medical school admissions at just about any four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded).
Agree with the above posters. Save the money for med school. My son was also pre-vet, went to a lower ranked school but with a vet school, and great animal science program, attended most his classes with pre-med students. He was challenged, excited and ended up summa cum laude and is now in his third year of vet school outperforming many students from those “better” undergrad schools. His pre-med classmates got accepted into excellent medical schools and are doing well. Go to one of the AZ publics and you will do great and go into med school a lot less stressed out! That was a huge factor for my son.
Exactly this^^^.
If you do receive “merit”, assume about $2K per year. That seems to be the average award.
Remember that the UC’s and CSU’s are public universities funded by California taxpayers.
Money to fund those schools comes from the residents and it is very limited.
So, non-residents pay non-resident fees.
Since the UC’s are going to be around $67-$68K per year, that $2k merit award is a drop in the bucket compared to the 4 year bill of $268K your Dad will have to fork over. Your health insurance fees are extra and will add to the bill.
Our daughter’s med school program cost us ~$250K for 4 years. (It will be more for you since the costs continue to go up.) Luckily, we were able to save because she did attend undergrad in-state.
Please remember that the name Berkeley has an extra “E” between the K and the L.