Intended Major(s):
I will double major in public health, health sciences, or human biology and something political like poly sci or international relations with a minor in something else on the pre-med track
Standardized Tests:
Low Score on first attempt will take again in November/December
GPA:
4.0 weighted (the only GPA my school provides)
Coursework:
AP Computer Sci A-Current
AP European History-A
AP Psychology-A
AP Language-A
AP Chemistry-B
AP Literature-Current
8 Honors Classes- All A’s
Awards:
Honor Roll
NHS
Extracurriculars:
Head Fundraiser of Dance Team
Director of District Wide Event
NEHS Tutor
Theater (Main Role: Junior-Senior Year)
Racial Affinity Group Member
Employed at Mcd
Choir Member at Church
Assistant Treasurer at Church
Babysitting Buisness
Volunteer at Homeless Shelter
Upcoming Research through Biomedicine Class
Schools:
EA: No idea yet
RD: BostonU, Brown, Harvard, Howard, Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, Penn State, Virginia Tech, UMich, UNC Chapel Hill, UPenn, UVA, Yale, MIT
Dream School: None just give me a full-ride
Circumstances
Attend Transfer School so long commute
Declining Health Junior Year
Low Income
Oldest child of a single parent household so many household obligations
Literally be brutally honest on where I would probably actually end up. It will help me a lot in the long run. Just glad I have the chance to pursue higher education. Thank You!
How low an income ? Have you checked out Questbridge ? You say your score was low ?Define your score. Well if you are a senior the deadline has passed….
Some states have programs for low income. Does Va ? I can’t find one. UVA meets need but can you afford Va Tech ? Or Penn State - unless they have a diversity scholarship it will be expensive to you. ? For a 4.0 Arizona would be about $10k tuition plus room & board. Many schools, like Pitt offer diversity scholarships - theirs is the cathedral of learning.
It’s hard to rate you. But I would add lower ranked meets needs schools in case - still fine - Rochester, Case Western, Miami, but then LACs like Dennison, Franklin & Marshall, Connecticut College.
I’ll be honest. I think this is a very top heavy list. Having all reaches isnt a good application strategy. Do you have any sure things you are considering?
There are tons of colleges where SOME students will receive full need based aid based on their EFC. This list is of colleges where ALL accepted students having this need would get it met. There is a difference.
Can you compute your GPA on an A=4.0 and B=3.0 basis? Alternatively, can you tell us how many A’s you have, how many B’s you have, and if you have anything lower than a B?
You might want to consider additional in-state public universities.
Also, Columbia is good for public health and might be worth considering.
This is an extracurricular activity (although your list is long even without it).
I think that you are a strong student and should do well. I find it hard to predict where you will end up, but to me it looks like you are likely to do well wherever you end up.
Yes. We don’t know the need. Some will get merit, diversity too etc.
But these schools promise to meet need - whatever that need is.
Often times need is, per the school, so what the student/family thinks it should be isn’t how it comes in. But in theory those schools, if they accept the student and many are need aware, will meet the need. A school like - American, for example, may meet need but likely not and they don’t promise to .
OP is a first gen, URM and she’s going to have opportunities. Will they be affordable - don’t know ? But she says need a full ride. Depending on her test score, she might merit her way to close to a full ride. Or she can apply to programs like the Johnson @ W&L, Presidential at SMU, Douglas at AU and many more. These are full rides.
Her list is all meets needs except PSU (should remove-Pitt unlikely affordable but a better choice as there is a small possibility), Michigan bcuz I believe they meet need in state and Va Tech.
If she needs a full ride and can earn it based on need, she needs an assured admit that promises to meet need. An assured admit that might meet need is fine but you need one will meet in the bag.
Correct me if I’m wrong…but it sounds like you are intending a pre-med track. If that is the case, please understand that you can meet the required courses for medical school admission at just about every four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded). So, please open your mind to considering affordable options…and especially if medical school is potentially in your future.
ETA….you have a lot of potential majors, double majors and minors in your mix. There is absolutely NO need to double major or have multiple minors. It sounds like you are sort of unsure about your future goals, so if that is the case, pick some places with many majors you could switch to. Many students switch majors during college.
And as an FYI…for public health, you will need an advanced degree.
You can do your own UW GPA by giving yourself a 4 for every A, a 3 for every B, etc for all your academic classes.
What is your level of math?
Re: your list-
As others have said, Penn State is unlikely to give you a full ride; ditto UMi
Do you see yourself as an MIT person, or is it on your list b/c it’s famous?
If you are seriously pre-med, the B in chem makes me think that JHU may not be the best way for you to get there
UNC-CH is a stretch for OOS- they have a tight cap
What (besides the famous name!) do you particularly like about Harvard v Yale v Brown?
If you like the pre-professional / urban vibe of UPenn, check out Emory
Have you considered Wellesley or Barnard? Amherst or Vassar? All of them are top-drawer academically, decently diverse, very supportive communities, and will meet your full financial need.
Yes, MIT sends people to med school, but not many. MIT is not a college. MIT is not a university. It is an Institute of Technology. It’s mission is different from that of colleges and universities, and most people considering med school find better fits elsewhere.
A “T50” (whatever that is) may or may not be the best stepping stone to medical school. Most are big. That may or may not be the best path, depending on the student. “Prestige” is all well and good, but most med schools have learned how to look past the school’s name and at the individual.
Also, students who are chasing prestige tend not to do well at MIT, and MIT admissions does a pretty good job of identifying them.
Do you have any idea what percentile you are in your class? That weighted 4.0 could be top 5%, or it could be top 25th%, depending upon your school’s weighting system. Believe me, the colleges will be given some guidance on interpreting where that GPA puts you. Some colleges will recalculate your GPA based upon the grades on your transcript, so an estimate of your class percentile will help guide those responding to you.
Your list is chock full of impossible reaches, for both academic and financial reasons. I would keep UVa and Va Tech on the list as in-state match/reaches/possibly financially feasible. I’d add the 4 yr public college that is commutable from your home as your financial safety. Then, I’d keep Howard on the list as possible. I’d add U Alabama and any other flagship south/southwest schools that give free tuition for high GPA students (although I’m not sure that your 4.0 weighted GPA qualifies - depends upon what the weighting is at your school; if it’s 4.0 out of 5.0, you might not qualify).
BTW, if you want to go to med school (and keep in mind that most premeds wind up going into something else), you want to keep your borrowing to a minimum, and your GPA to a maximum. That’s probably going to mean going in-state public, possibly from home. It’s not that you’re not a good student - you are! But there are other URM low-income, first gen to college students who have UNweighted 4.0s, always took the highest rigor classes and have a string of high AP scores, have high SATs, and have multiple high award ECs at the state and national level. They’re the ones who are going to get accepted with full rides to most of the schools on your list. Even if you by some miracle were accepted to any of the other schools on your list with a full ride, or even with enough fin aid to bring cost down to equal to what you’d have paid in-state, you’ll be in much greater competition in a far more academically rigorous environment, which might torpedo your GPA and hence your chances at med school acceptance, despite the fact that you might make an excellent doctor, were you able to get accepted.
If you’re premed and haven’t been a Master of the Universe academically in high school, better to go to a less rigorous college and compile a 4.0 GPA there than go to a highly rigorous T20 and wind up washing out of premed. Honestly, nothing at med school was as difficult as the premed sciences, I felt, and there was much less competition there - it was more of a cooperative learning environment. After all, we were all definitely going to be doctors (although there was competition for residency slots).
I’d like to reply specifically to the UVA part. Per my local message boards (I’m in Virginia), UVA looks for students in the top 5% of their graduating class. What that means for GPA will depend on the school, but in Northern Virginia, that has meant a weighted 4.5 or higher the past couple of years. Maybe a 4.4 squeezed in somewhere, but not a 4.0.
UVA also looks for foreign language all 4 years. I don’t see that listed in your original post.
Tech and JMU might be good in state schools to try (I don’t know about their FA, though).
I can also comment on UVA High stat kid. It will also depend on the major you apply for. You are definitely on the bubble. Personally, I would pay the application fee, and not give any indication of income. We had a fee waiver, due to qualifying for school lunches and SAT Waiver. I think that hurt us. The accepted all the lower stat full pay kids, over higher stat kids needing financial aid in our school. Kinesiology, you will have a better chance at getting in, than Arts and Sciences. But if you apply for Arts and Sciences and don’t get in, they do offer high-stat Virginia Residents a year at their Wise campus and a guaranteed transfer.
Virginia Tech is your best chance, but it can also be dependent upon the major and area you are coming from. NOVA students have a much lower acceptance rate than SWVA. There will be no money at Penn State and UMichigan.
You don’t understand what I am saying. Yes submit financial aid, but do not show on your application you qualify for a fee waiver. Two different things. No they don’t ask for income, but in big letters it shows what kind of fee waiver was used.
