Can someone chance me for Fall 2022 at CWRU?
Intended Major: Neuroscience on Pre-Med Track
GPA: 3.94 (UW) 4.6 (W)
Rank: 13/415
SAT: 1360 (Taking again on 08/28)
AP: AP Human Geography (3), AP English Literature and Composition (3) This year-AP Biology, AP Physics II, AP English Language and Composition, AP Calculus AB
Dual Enrollment: Introduction to Biology, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to American Government, Fundamentals of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Composition I and II This year-Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience (OSU)
Clinical Experience: Brainterns Virtual Shadowing Program
Research: Independent Analytical Research Paper on DIPG, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Student Program Webinar Series
Honors: QuestBridge College Prep Scholar, Honor Roll, Dean’s List
Extracurriculars: National Honors Society-Officer, Freshman Mentor, Tutor, Concert and Marching Band-First Chair/Second Chair/ Assistant Section Leader, Spanish Club (I can provide more information on the extracurriculars if necessary).
Applying for PPSP or RD
80% - you can use a school like Pitt as a safety, etc. Or a GW or a Lehigh.
I think your chance is very good, especially if you apply early action.
Good luck.
pretty good…would be much higher with a higher SAT score
PPSP (assuming the medicine one) is a reach, and I would not submit that test score (unless you are URM).
Are you thinking about applying ED anywhere? Are you doing Questbridge for this application cycle? If not, why not?
Agree Pitt would be a near safety (apply ASAP)…only if affordable, but GWU and Lehigh are not safeties and you need to demonstrate interest.
What is your budget? Have you run the net price calculators at the schools on your list?
I am applying for the QuestBridge National College Match, which is why I can not apply to Case EA. I do plan on retaking the SAT on August 28, and I hope to get around a 1500. Case Western’s net price is doable if I receive a merit scholarship along with my financial aid offer. With that increase in my SAT score, would you say that I would be a more competitive applicant for PPSP?
How do you think my chances would be if I apply RD, because I am doing the QuestBridge National College Match which means that I am unable to apply EA to Case?
Also, what do you consider to be URM, because I know sometimes, first-generation and low-income can be, because I am both of those? I also think my personal story is unique and in some way presents a hook. I will be writing my Common App essay on overcoming both obstructive hydrocephalus and homelessness. While also including information regarding how I have cared for my mother who is an opioid addict.
The SAT breakdown is 640 RW/720 M. Also, if it helps I have demonstrated a lot of interest to Case, and am signed up for an interview on the August 20, but I have also attended numerous informational sessions, went on a campus tour, and spoken with my admission counselor both over email and on the phone about some questions I had.
You can apply EA. not ED. To CWRU
As a QB applicant, OP can not apply to any colleges EA (or ED or SCEA/REA). If PPSP required an EA app that would be allowed, but applicants can apply RD to PPSP, so that’s OP’s only option.
https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/early-application-policy
Oooohhh. My bad. Seems a bit harsh since there’s no guarantee of a match. Thanks for educating me.
For RD, you need to get that SAT up.
If you look in the Common Data Set for CWRU, the 25% is 1350 and the 75th%tile is 1490.
For PPSP:
" As an alumni ambassador, I asked admissions folks about this and this is what they said the typical PPSPer was like:
Very high academic achievement. Taking most demanding courses available and has mostly As. Testing in our top quartile, so basically, in the mid to
high 700s on each section of the SAT or at least a 32/33 on ACT.
Excellent involvement in extracurriculars, well rounded, and significant
leadership roles.
Significant exploration of the field of medicine, such as volunteering,
shadowing, research, or some combination of those.
There is no magic formula or black-and-white profile. . . most students who apply for the program have most of these qualities . . .it often comes down to the degree/level of significance of these qualities. (For example, there is a difference between a student who has volunteered for 20 hours and one who has volunteered 300 hours. There is a difference between a student who has shadowed a doctor for a week and one who has shadowed all summer.)
An example of an admitted student:
A student from our independent, college preparatory day school was admitted to PPSP (medicine) for matriculation this Fall. This student’s application information includes the following: 36 ACT (composite); 4.82 GPA (weighted); multiple AP classes; 4 years field hockey (senior year captain); 4 years marching band/student orchestra; elected to student government.
URM is typically a non-Asian POC (but can vary from school to school). First gen can be a minor hook. How much merit do you need from CWRU to make it affordable?
It sounds like you will have interesting essays…make sure that the focus is on you, and the person you are. What makes you, you.
Even if you get a 1500 on the SAT, PPSP will be a reach, and a high one. Bopper linked to some good info about that program, I expect it has a single digit acceptance rate.
What are your affordable safeties? A safety has to be affordable to be a safety. Sounds like Pitt is not likely to be affordable, but do run the NPC there too.
It sounds as if you are expecting need-based aid and merit aid to “stack.” Most colleges do not do this, and many students are shocked and dismayed when they realize that their merit award is getting absorbed into their aid package, leaving their out of pocket still at their EFC as that school computes it. At best, merit aid will replace loans and work-study; some schools don’t even do that!
There are exceptions to this but assume the worst unless/until you verify that a school will stack and allow you to end up with a lower net cost than what they consider having your full need met. Ask schools specifically about their policies on this front.
A Questbridge Match offer is more generous than almost any regular aid package, so consider ranking as many schools as you could possibly be happy attending, and try to include some that aren’t in the top half, rankings-wise, of the list of partner schools.
A BS/MD program will be a super-reach. And many of these have a pretty high bar to stay in - such that students who qualify to continue would also have gotten in through the regular route, anyway. If QB is a possibility, I’d focus on that for now. There are some great QB schools for premed/neuroscience that aren’t the HYPSM+ “usual suspects” that many QB applicants limit their match list to. If you’re female, give strong consideration to the women’s colleges, which have terrific med school preparation/placement and higher acceptance rates relative to their quality/reputation, simply because the applicant pool is smaller.
My safeties will most likely be OSU and UC, as I am an in-state applicant. However, I would also prefer to have scholarships at these schools as well, because my goal is to get a loan-free undergraduate education since I will incur debt for medical school.
I was told that CWRU does stack financial aid and merit by the admissions officer for my area, as he said they were evaluated independently of each other. Thus, you would receive an offer for financial aid, and then if they find you to be a competitive applicant they would then review your application for merit scholarships. Is this not true?
If it helps, I have an EFC of 0.
If you got a firm statement that they would stack, then that’s great. It’s possible - some schools do allow this, and I’m not up to speed on whether CWRU is one of them. Just make sure. Evaluating independently is one thing, and not uncommon. The question is how the two types of aid will be merged once awarded, and whether the school is willing to let your net cost drop below your EFC, or if they’re just willing to let merit wipe out loans and work-study. (Turning a package with loans/work-study into a no-loan package without work-study is of course a great thing, but you sound like you’re counting on a below-EFC net cost as well.)
I may be mis-using “EFC” (or it may have multiple meanings)… zero EFC on FAFSA does not always translate to $0 out-of-pocket from the Net Price Calculator or in your final aid package. I’m referring to your out-of-pocket as CWRU would compute it.
I am looking to get at least $8,000 in merit scholarships, because I have an EFC of 0. Thus, my net price was $10,850 with a $2,500 work-study and loans. I would like to replace the loans in the package with merit scholarships ideally.
I plan to rank MIT, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, UChicago, Brown, WashU, and Emory for the QuestBridge National College Match as long as I become a finalist.