Chance My Daughter, Please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Background: Asian, Female
-Northeast
-Going into senior year
-Hoping to major in neuroscience/neurology, biomed/biotech, etc

Freshman Yr: 3.88:
Honors Geometry, Biology H, English H, Spanish II H, World History 2 CP1, Intro to Java and Intro to video game programming CP1

Sophomore Yr 3.6
Algebra II H, Chemistry H, English H, Spanish III H, US History H, Journalism CP, Java Programming Honors

Junior Yr 3.7
Trig H, English H, Spanish IV H, Physics H, AP US History, AP Chem, AP Bio
Overall Weighted GPA: 3.75 (Senior GPA : n/a)

Senior Yr:
AP Literature, AP Spanish, AP Psychology, ‘Beyond AP Chem’, Gym, Stats CP1, Microsoft Certified

SAT: 740 Math, 690 CR, 780 Writing (2210) - Retaking in fall to see if she can get higher
ACT: n/a, but taking it this fall to see what happens :slight_smile:
PSAT: 228

Pretty strong EC’s:
-Interned at Tufts Department of Psychology as a RA the summer before junior year
-Presidential Volunteer Group Award and Bronze Individual Volunteer Award (100+ hours)
-VP then President of Bollywood Dance Club for last 3 years
-Project Leader for 3 years at huge nonprofit organization - created several community projects for schools/underprivileged families each year
-Creating a mobile app for above nonprofit
-Piano for 10 years, Classical Dance for 8 years
-National Spanish Exam Award - silver for 2 years, gold for 1

What are some realistic colleges she can apply to? what kind of merit scholarship can she hope for?
Thinking about U of Illinois Urbana Champaign,
UMass Amherst
UPitt, Washington State, Rutgers,
maybe as a reach
UCB/UCLA
Tufts
Johns Hopkins university
Duke

Do you guys have any suggestions for colleges given her background? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this - I appreciate it! :slight_smile:

2

What is your Unweighted GPA?

3

Nobody can chance you realistically without scores for SAT/ACT. However, with your GPA, I can agree with you that the 5 schools in the bottom of your list will remain reaches for you.

4

Sorry! I missed to see your SAT score. Still I have the same verdicate regarding those 5 schools.
I do not not know much about the rest of schools in your list!

5

thanks crystal9ucla … was hoping for UCB…
any other schools that might be a safety/match? for my d

6

@enthuparent

Definitely Tulane should be on your list, and Miami (FL). Good match for stats, and decent shot at significant merit scholarship with that SAT score, even though grades are on the average side for those schools and for merit. Tulane has traditionally given solid weight to the test scores, and I imagine Miami does too.

7

What are some realistic colleges she can apply to? what kind of merit scholarship can she hope for?

Thinking about

U of Illinois Urbana Champaign,…NO aid/merit
UMass Amherst
UPitt, …Maybe some merit. Merit is questionable here, often for very high stats and top few % of class ranking.
Washington State, …Not likely
Rutgers,…maybe some merit.
maybe as a reach
UCB/UCLA…no aid or merit. …you’d be full-pay
Tufts…you’d be full pay
Johns Hopkins university…you’d be full pay
Duke…you’d be full pay

Tulane would likely give her merit, but not sure what remaining costs would be. Probably $30k+ per year. What would you think @fallenchemist ??

There are very good schools that will give her very large merit scholarships.

8

@mom2collegekids

Yes, I suspect that is right, less whatever may be awarded for need based aid. There is no mention of income, etc. so it is certainly possible there would be some additional grants along with loans in an FA package. All speculation since we have no information in that regard.

That goes for schools like Duke, etc as well. Almost no doubt a moot point since admission to there, Tufts and JHU is unlikely. But if she did get in, it wouldn’t necessarily be full pay if they qualified for need based FA. So I don’t think you can categorically state they would be full pay without knowing their financials. For UCB and UCLA I agree aid is unlikely since they are OOS, even if she does get accepted. Their whole point in taking OOS students is to bring in major $$. Well, maybe not their whole point but a very big one.

9

I go with mid-tier UCs as match for your daughter. UCB, UCLA & UCSD probably are out of reach.

10

Based on her stats, University of Maryland could be a good choice. The school has a good bioengineering program that can specialize in biotech, and the location is very beneficial for internships/jobs. They also have a strong neuroscience/cognitive science program. Best of luck!