Chances for a couple schools and some questions!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I’m new to this so I’m sorry if I do something wrong with this post!
I have a couple questions!

I’m gonna be a senior this fall and I attend a high school that is well known and offers a lot of honors and AP classes. It’s pretty competitive and I don’t really ask around but I’d say my GPA is barely above average (if not just average) while my ACT score is above average for my school.
I want to do the pre-med program and major in economics (I think). I’ve always wanted to go into sports medicine but plan b (in case I find I don’t like medicine/can’t take it) is to go into finance because my dad and sister are in the field and math comes pretty easily to me

GPA: 3.5/90.03
ACT: 33
Combined SAT: 2110

Classes:

Before High School-included because they’re on my transcript:
US HISTORY: 93
INTEGRATED ALGEBRA: 95
GEOMETRY: 95
BIOLOGY: 93
EARTH SCIENCE: 95
LATIN: 94

9th Grade:

ENGLISH: 85
AP WORLD HISTORY: 80
TRIGONOMETRY: 88
CHEMISTRY: 79
RESEARCH LITERATURE: 90
WRITING SEMINAR: 88
SPANISH: 93
BAND: 85

10th Grade:

ENGLISH: 88
AP WORLD HISTORY: 79 (4 on the AP exam)
PRE-CALC: 90
INTRO TO ENGINEERING: 94
HONORS PHYSICS: 79
SPANISH: 98
BAND: 95

11th Grade:

ENGLISH: 88
US HISTORY: 88
AP CALC AB: 85 (4 on the AP)
AP CHEMISTRY: 79 (3 ON THE AP)
SPANISH: 99
ARCHITECTURAL DRAFTING: 98

12th Grade:

HONORS CREATIVE WRITING
AP SPANISH LANG
US GOVERNMENT
LINEAR ALGEBRA AND DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (I think this is a post ap? I’m not sure)
MICROBIOLOGY
AP PSYCHOLOGY

Extracurriculars:
With senior year, I’ll have four years on the swim team (just as a member, no leadership)
Junior year: I entered a city-wide business competition and got to the finals with my team, conducted research on lung cancer under a mentor at a local university for the academic year, interned at a museum, and got a job at a tutoring center around March (still working there, plan to work until I graduate high school).
Sophomore year: Took part in a program focused on biodiversity and DNA that produced about 60 hours of lab work, member of the Red Cross Club.

I’m looking at an internship at a bike shop that starts in September and business internship at an office that’s held in the winter. Hopefully I’ll get both.
I know there are a lot of red flags with my grades and I tried to really hustle during junior to get something that stands out, but I get that it’s probably too little too late.

Finally here are my questions!!!

Do I have any chances at UChicago, UMich, University of Notre Dame, UPenn and Northeastern? Like how realistic are these?
My norms that I like are University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ohio State and I have several safeties that I put together with my guidance counselor (who is super nice and I don’t think she can bluntly say no without any sugarcoating so I’m afraid to ask her)

Also I’d like to take part in a co-op program! Are there schools with good co-op programs besides Northeastern and Drexel?

Lastly, is it possible to work with sports teams as an undergrad in econ? I think I will like medicine.

Thank you so much in advance!!

2

Your GPA is a bit low. UChicago, Umich,notre dame, northeastern are definitely all reaches. Upenn is a reach for everyone but for you it’s a fairly high reach. Northeastern is the only one you might have a chance at. UW might be a high match but doable. Ohio state is a good match. A lot of these colleges take the essay very seriously so having amazing ones may save you but unfortunately most of you list are reaches.

good co ops are Elon, butler, G tech, rochester .All I can think of right now.

3

[QUOTE=""]
I have several safeties that I put together with my guidance counselor (who is super nice and I don't think she can bluntly say no without any sugarcoating so I'm afraid to ask her)

[/QUOTE]

What are your safeties?

GCs tend to tell you safeties that will accept you. GCs usually do NOT know if a school will be affordable for you. Safeties MUST be affordable.

How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess.

You have a lot of OOS publics on your list that will expect you to pay most/all costs. What are your parents saying about that???

With your stats, you could get some merit scholarships at a few schools.

?? Why do you want to do a co-op if you’re premed???

4

Okay, so UPenn is out. I’ll be sure to work hard on my essays!
My GC said UMass-Amherst, Ithaca College, and UConn. I’m from New York so SUNYs (Stony Brook, Geneseo and Buffalo) are also there and good for price
I asked my parents but they were pretty vague about it and said the lower the better.
My dad said his coworker’s son, who’s studying to be a physical therapist, did a co-op with the patriots at northeastern. Maybe he heard wrong or left something out!

Thank you!!

5

I would focus on the SUNYs because of finances and your grades. Since you’re looking at grad school, you will want to be in a university where you can be a top student. If you try to get into a reach university, you might be admitted, but you won’t be a top student there with the competition for grades, and it will make it harder to get into a decent grad school program. The SUNYs are great, and whether they have “co-op” programs or not, you can certainly find internships – part-time during the school year and full-time in the summers.

I’m concerned about your science/math grades as an indication that medicine might not be right for you. There are other subjects that seem to come more naturally to you. Also, it sounds to me like your “dream” priority is working for a sports team more than working in medicine. Many people in sports medicine work at medical facilities, not directly with a team. Here are some job listings for jobs with Pro Sports Teams so you can get ideas for other jobs with teams, and possible majors for you:

http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Pro+Sports+Team

6

<<<
My GC said UMass-Amherst, Ithaca College, and UConn. I’m from New York so SUNYs (Stony Brook, Geneseo and Buffalo) are also there and good for price

I asked my parents but they were pretty vague about it and said the lower the better.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

This is what I meant by saying that GC’s aren’t a good source for safeties because they have no clue about what your family will pay.

How would Umass or UConn be safeties if your parents won’t pay the $45k+ per year to go there???

A school cannot be a safety if it’s unaffordable. you have to know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered by assured merit, assured grants, family funds, and/or a very small fed loan.

Please try to get some clarity from your parents. Ask them: If a school costs $25k per year, will you pay that? If they say Yes, then use that to figure a safety that would cost that much. If your parents say, “no” to the $25k, then ask if they’ll pay $15k…and if they say, “no” to that, then try a lower figure.

When parents say things like “lower is better,” you have to be very careful and make sure that you have 2-3 financial safeties that will have a LOW net cost for you.

7

The great thing about being in NYS is that there are many state schools. Make sure you apply to whichever SUNY is closest to you as a financial backup. Even if you don’t qualify for Pell or TAP, you could commute & pay the $8k tuition with the ~$5500/year student loan and a summer job. If your parents can help pay for books and commuting costs (or you can work during the school year) you’d have a solid safety.

8

Thanks mommyrocks, I’ll put more focus on the SUNYs! I understand your concern, and although I’m not dead set on medicine, I’d still like to try it out. My dream started off really general with just being a doctor but then I started to get interested in sports medicine. I’ll look into these other sports-related jobs!

My parents said they wouldn’t mind paying 20K, so Umass and Uconn aren’t good safeties. Thank you! I wasn’t sure how to ask