College Ideas

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello! I would like some help building my college list, mostly the matches and safeties I should apply to. I want to become a veterinarian in the future, and possibly major in Animal Sciences. If you could suggest some colleges that have good prevet opportunities/resources/programs that'd be nice :) I posted a thread before and realize it might've been too much information so I decided to shorten it so its easier to take in:</p>

<p>~~
Freshman Year Courses:
GPA: S1: 4.143 S2: 4.5 (these are weighted)
~~
Sophomore Year
GPA (currently): Weighted: 4.583 Unweighted: 3.923 (will be 4.0 once my bio teacher finally puts my grades in)
~~
Grades/Courses Info:
All A's except one B+ (89!) first semester on AP World Freshman Year.
I've taken all Honors courses, and AP when available.
Senior Year I will be doing the ASPIRE program offered at my school where I will be assigned a research topic, given a mentor, have an entire school year to research and create experiments on my topic at a college laboratory facility, and present my findings at multiple science fairs/competitions. </p>

<p>List of APs and Prospective ones (score): AP World (3), AP Bio (possible 4, maybe 5), APUSH (possible 4), AP Chem, AP Euro, AP Lang, AP Calc AB, AP Physic B, AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Calc BC, AP Chinese, AP Enviro</p>

<p>Testing:</p>

<p>My PSAT Score this year is </p>

<p>Critical Reading 66
Math 68
Writing 58</p>

<p>I took a Mock SAT Exam in December at my SAT class and got: </p>

<p>Math: 670 CR: 680 Writing: 540</p>

<p>I took Writing again months later and got a 650. I'm taking SAT classes regularly and I'm sure I'm in the 700s now.
~~</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>-Playing Piano since I was seven (I think I've gone to districts for eight years in a row and have been qualified for the state competition for those eight years...)</p>

<p>-Community Service Officer of the Chinese Club this year (member for two years, trying out for VP next year); also in National Chinese Honor Society</p>

<p>-I was chosen for the Chinese Bridge Scholarship freshman year. I was allowed to go to China for two and a half weeks in the summer staying at a college with other people selected from my state. </p>

<p>-Member of the Animal Care Club at my school</p>

<p>-Volunteering at my local animal shelter four times a week for an hour (started last month but I'm determined to continue this for the rest of my high school year); have 30+ hours currently; was named Volunteer of the Month only a month after volunteering. </p>

<p>-Founder/President of Creative Writing Club (effective Junior Year)</p>

<p>-Next year when I'm 16 I will start volunteering at my local ASPCA</p>

<p>-Will either try to shadow a veterinarian this summer or attend a summer program about Marine Animals and will get hands-on training with dolphins</p>

<p>Other Stats/Preferences:
Ethnicity: Asian
Parent's income $115,000-$175,000; money isn't much of an issue though
State: Florida
School: Private (one of the best in my state)</p>

<p>I kind of want to go somewhere Northeast, probably somewhere less urban because I want a change of scenery from where I live. Number of people attending doesn't really matter, I just want a place where people are friendly, still social, and not just 100% competitive/all-study.
<em>~</em>~<em>~</em>~<em>~</em>~<em>~</em></p>

<p>My College List So Far:</p>

<p>Reaches:</p>

<p>Cornell (dream!)
UPenn
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
UC Davis</p>

<p>~~
Matches (more or less?):</p>

<p>North Carolina State
Penn State
Virginia Tech (?)
Findlay</p>

<p>~~
Safeties:</p>

<p>UF</p>

2

<p>Bump (10char)</p>

3

<p>Anyone?? :(</p>

4

<p>If you need a financial safety, look into Iowa State.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the suggestion! Financial aid is always a plus.</p>

6

<p>Make sure to apply by Iowa State’s merit deadline (google it). You’ll get at least $8000 a year with your stats and the cost of living is much lower than in the Northeast, although travel might be an issue.</p>

7

<p>Auburn and The University of Kentucky have decent to excellent merit aid and strong vet programs.</p>

8

<p>@whenhen: Alright I’ll keep that in mind :slight_smile: Would you consider Iowa a match or a safety? Also how would travel be an issue?</p>

<p>@SpaceCoastMom: thanks for the suggestions! I’ll check them out right now.</p>

9

<p>Iowa State is a safety.</p>

10

<p>Iowa State is ultra safety.</p>

<p>University of Florida is a match, not safety. Whats the rank ? UF prefers top 10%, no matter what your SAT score is. Look at UF decision thread, people are being denied with 2200 SAT but their GPA was around 3.6. </p>

<p>North Carolina State University is safety.</p>

<p>Look into University of Minneosta-Twin Cities. Low OOS tuition and a match for you.</p>

11

<p>@XtremePower: Well I live in Florida though. Does that make a difference? I haven’t actually taken the SAT yet either.
Okay I’ll move NC to my safeties. And I’ll check out Minnesota thank you :)</p>

12

<p>UC Davis and Tufts would be matches if you end up scoring a 2100.</p>

13

<p>@Pat1120: really? Thanks for telling me! I’m gonna try my best to get 2100+ then.</p>

14

<p>I’d also like to add some advice here. If you find you are having difficulties scoring higher with the SAT, give the ACT a try.</p>

15

<p>Be warned that UC Davis is extremely expensive for OOS students. If your parents are willing to pay $53000 a year, fine, apply. But if not, note that the UCs cap financial aid to the difference between in state and OOS price.</p>

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<p>@jabrown2013: thank you for the tip! I’ll be sure to keep it in mind. </p>

<p>@whenhen: Yeah I’m aware of that. It’s kind of low on my “colleges I want to go to” list right there next to UF because I don’t really wanna stay in state or go to the west. So, if I do get in, it’ll probably still be like a last option or something. Ive just hear that they have a good prevet program so I added it to my list.</p>

17

<p>Bump! I think I just need a couple more. Not sure how much makes a good college list actually. I will probably cut some down when I start visiting…</p>

18

<p>Depending on how much your family can afford, and if you’re willing to go across the US for college, you might want to look into University of Edinburgh [Contact</a> us | About | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies](<a href=“http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/vet/about/contact-us]Contact”>http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/vet/about/contact-us)</p>

<p>The thing is, most land grant schools will have decent to excellent animal science programs, particularly those in states that are heavily dependent on agriculture for their economy. That’s partially why UC Davis, Iowa State, and others have such strong agriculture/ animal science programs. A significant portion of the state’s economy comes from those fields, so the state deems it necessary to invest in programs that will educate the next generation of workers in those industries.</p>

19

<p>Mizzou has a large vet school, but they don’t give much aid in gnereal, merit or need based.</p>

20

<p>Isn’t establishing in state residency in Missouri extremely easy?</p>