I am an upcoming senior hoping to major in neuroscience and eventually go on to Med school. My GPA is 3.57 unweighted and 3.84 weighted. I am also ranked 21/177 in my class, so I am within the top 11%. I scored an 1800 on the SAT which I know is low, but I am planning to retake them in the fall along with the ACT. I have fairly strong extracurriculars, I play the French Horn and participate in RIMEA Solo and Ensembles as well as All-State band. I am also a member of class council, student council, and the National Honor Society. I also hold a hostessing job at a local retirement home where I also volunteer, in addition to a local hospital. If I boost my test scores and become involved in more activities, would Colgate University, Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and Syracuse University be out of reach? Would I also have a greater chance of being admitted if I apply ED or EA? As of now I would consider my match schools to be Pace University and UCONN. All feedback is appreciated.
Right now plan things as if your retake yields the same scores. Hopefully it doesn’t.
I assume you are CT resident? U Conn is a great choice all around.
Pace is not at all. You can do so much better than Pace. You are thinking about the location in lower Manhattan?
Clark, St. Michael’s, UVM, Siena College, Muhlenberg and St. Lawrence come to mind. There are others too that would be great for your stats.
For Colgate you need 250 points to have an average chance the others you mentioned as out of state probably high 1900.
@BatesParents2019 thank you for your feedback! I am a RI resident but I would prefer to attend a school in New York or Pennsylvania.
Muhlenberg is in Allentown, PA. St. Lawrence is in Canton, NY and Siena is in the Albany area.
Muhlenberg pre-med is very good and you look like a good candidate for that school. It is also test optional like St. Lawrence.
SUNY Binghamton might even work.
If the city attracts you Manhattan College is a much much better school than Pace. Scranton is another good school.
You are a solid student.
Your SAT is in the 83rd percentile hardly a train wreck. What is a train wreck is your list of schools.
BTW, your SAT score has virtually no predictive value, even Harvard admits that.
Try to get it up but your list of schools is either way to strong or way too weak, in the case of Pace.
@bandgeek22498 - I see you have another thread. My view:
Colgate University - Out of Reach
Penn State - Reach
University of Pittsburgh - Reach
Syracuse University - Low reach
Pace - Match
Uconn - High Match/Low Reach (probably would get in, but not guaranteed)
I see someone mentioned Muhlenberg. For combination GPA and SAT, their 50% line is 3.58 and 2100. I would consider you a match if you could get your SAT up to 2100 with that 3.57 GPA of yours, but getting 300 points higher on the SAT is not probable. It DOES happen, but not often. Usually students show a moderate improvement if that. So, I think it would be tough for you to get admitted to Muhlenberg.
University of Rhode Island?
Providence College?
If you can get your SAT score closer to 2000, you will have many more options available to you. Good luck.
@stepay Muhlenberg is test optional and his GPA is above average. The AVG GPA there is 3.3. The admit rate is close to 50%. He has a good shot.
@batesparent2019 - Ah. Test optional will help. I agree then that there’s a good shot there. Good info.
@stepay @BatesParent2019 I have considered URI, my dad went there so I guess that is a hook. I would like to go out of state if at all possible, Rhode Island doesn’t have much to offer and I’m ready for a change of scenery. Based off my current SAT, would Bucknell, Bates or Lehigh be plausible? I really am a poor test taker and am riddled by the time constraints so I had not finished the SAT. I only have a month or two to prepare for the SAT and ACT, but if I cannot increase my score these schools are test optional.
Also, they have significantly higher EA/ ED acceptance rates.
@bandgeek22498 - You are aiming too high with Bates, Lehigh, and Bucknell. Your SAT is below the 25% mark for Bates and Lehigh and right on 25% for Bucknell. You should pick a few reach schools, but you should not expect to be admitted to them…you really need some match and safety schools. Also, ED/EA rates are higher mostly because there are recruited athletes in there and some very top students who make it clear they want to go there. The rate for a student who doesn’t fit into those categories and maybe a few others, doesn’t necessarily have a better shot, and an 1800 SAT with your GPA likely isn’t good enough.