College list advice?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, guys. I've been posting on this website a lot, and I think I might need some help making a feasible list of colleges. I'm currently a rising senior, and would like some advice, please. Thanks!</p>

<p>8th grade summer Courses/Grades
JHU CTY Honors Geometry:A
JHU CTY Honors Precalculus: B</p>

<p>9th grade Courses/Grades
AP Calculus BC: B
Chemistry Accelerated: B
Physics Accelerated: B
English I: A
European History I: A
Spanish III: A</p>

<p>10th grade Courses/Grades
Multivariant Calculus and Linear Algebra: A
AP Chemistry: B
Biology Accelerated:B
Spanish IV: A
English II: A
US History I: A</p>

<p>10th grade summer Courses/Grades
Computer Programming I: A</p>

<p>11th grade Courses/Grades
AP Computer Science: A
AP Biology: B
AP Spanish: A
AP Language: A
AP European History:A
Art History I: A</p>

<p>11th grade summer:
Research under professor at Cornell
Will take SPA 224 Hispanic Studies at Princeton University senior year (actual Pton course, our school lets us do that)</p>

<p>Predicted UW GPA for 9-11: 3.65
Predicted W GPA for 9-11: 4.39</p>

<p>SAT scores:
SAT II Math Level I and Level II: dual 800's in middle school (meaningless, I know, but IDK what else to say about that)
SAT II Physics: 790
SAT II Spanish: 770
SAT I: 2320</p>

<p>AP scores
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Statistics: 5 (self-studied)
AP Spanish:4 (predicted, please just assume so)
AP European History: 5 (see above)
AP Biology: 5 (see above)
AP Comp Sci: 5 (see above)
AP Language: 5 (see above)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Science Olympiad:
multiple medals at various invitational tournaments
multiple gold medals at states
individual silver medal at nationals 10th grade
part of 5th place team at nationals
Science Bowl: 3rd place at regionals 11th
Quiz bowl: 2nd place at regionals 10th and 11th
Weill Cornell Medical School summer research (Endocrinology)
Research at Pennsylvania Department of Health
Approximately 100 hours volunteer work tutoring (predicted over summer</p>

<p>National AP Scholar (?)
223 PSAT, possible NMSF
Chess player (rating 1440ish)
Secretary of Biology Club sophomore year and senior year
Treasurer of Science Club senior year
PUMaC 7th place team in division
Will take legitimate Princeton course</p>

<p>Anyway. That's my CV. Can you guys give me a list of colleges I should consider applying to, including reaches, matches and safeties? Let's pretend we live in a perfect universe where cost doesn't matter. I'll look into that aspect myself. Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Stats are only the start of the discussion about where to apply. What are you looking for? Do you know what you want to study?
Do you want a small school/ big school? Urban? Rural? climate?</p>

<p>Are politics a factor? Religion?</p>

3

<p>I’m looking for a school that offers pre-med, as I want to become a doctor. Climate is not really a factor, but I would choose a school with a warm climate over a school with a cold climate. A reasonably good reputation would be nice. I don’t think urban or rural really matters for me right now. I don’t care about politics, but I don’t really want to go to a school with a religious affiliation. </p>

<p>I hope this helps. Thank you!</p>

4

<p>Bumpity bump bump</p>

5

<p>Bumppppppp</p>

6

<p>Virtually any accredited college/university supports a pre-med track (which is not a major, just a collection of courses that med schools expect to see). So you really have not provided much information to help anyone make good recommendations.</p>

<p>Your qualifications are strong enough that virtually no schools are completely out of reach. Your GPA would be a little low for at least the 10 or so most selective universities and LACs. Your class rank and the competitiveness of your school could come into play.</p>

<p>You’d be ill-advised to ignore cost even at this stage. There is no point applying to schools you can’t afford. Your family circumstances should drive whether you seek a low-cost school, a school with generous need-based aid, or a school with generous merit aid. Those are 3 different strategies that could generate 3 different lists of schools.</p>

<p>Since you don’t seem to have any strong preferences, start with your in-state public flagship. That is often the school to beat in terms of quality for the money. In most states, your stats would make admission likely.</p>

7

<p>hendrix, ursinus, muhlenberg, if your big into names
haverford, williams,swathmore for (lacs)</p>

<p>bigger schools rice,vanderbilt or u of pittsburgh
those schools are a good spread with good pre med . you need to take a road trip!</p>

8

<p>From your past posts, you need financial aid. You need to build a list that takes into account of that. Sure for some schools, it’s need blind but that’s probably for kids that they want, not the kids that are borderline. What about Juanita from the CTCL? I’ve read it’s good for pre-med.</p>

9

<p>@DrGoogle, you mean Juniata? I thought the term need-blind meant that financial considerations were totally divorced from admissions decisions. Am I wrong?</p>

10

<p>^ Yes, that’s what the term “need-blind” means.</p>

<p>The following page has a list of need-blind, full-need colleges:
[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission]Need-blind”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>

11

<p>Williams seems like an interesting college, upon cursory examination. Can anyone chance me?</p>

12

<p>triple, yes that’s the spelling. And some colleges are less need-blind then they claim.</p>

13

<p>You might want to PM Cortona431, he/she got into Cornell, CMU, Columbia but ended up attending RPI. Those schools didn’t give her/him enough financial aid.</p>

14

<p>Alright. I understand that I need financial aid. However, it would be too complicated for me to fully explain my financial situation. Can you guys just give me a list of colleges that are in my range, academically? I’ll go from there, aid-wise. Thanks!</p>

15

<p>Williams is a reach for nearly all applicants. You may have a fairly good shot if you rank in your school’s top 10%. </p>

<p>Most of the other NESCAC schools are somewhat less selective than Williams (exception: Amherst). Unlike the New England LACs, many private LACs in the South and Midwest offer merit aid (as well as decent need-based aid) and also are less selective than Williams. Check out Davidson, Oberlin, Grinnell (low reach/high match) … Centre College, Rhodes, Sewanee, Knox, Lawrence (low matches). </p>

<p>If your financial situation is difficult, you don’t like your state flagship, and you want a smaller school in a rural location, then consider Truman State in Kirksville, MO. It has ~6K students and relatively low costs for out-of-state students (~$21K). It might make a good safety if it fits your budget. Your home state no doubt has even less expensive public alternatives.</p>

16

<p>My school doesn’t rank, so I’m not sure. This has been a recurring problem for me, because I’m really not sure at all whether or not I’m in the top 10% and, as such, feel sort of helpless when people tell me I need to be in the top 10%.</p>

17

<p>Does your HS have a Naviance account? If so, look up the admission outcomes of students with similar GPAs and scores who applied to the kinds of schools that interest you.</p>

<p>Williams and some other highly selective LACs (Pomona, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bowdoin, Middlebury) do not report GPA distributions in their Common Data Set files. Here are the average GPAs and median bands for some other LACs in the USNWR top 50, as reported on the USNWR site:</p>

<p>Davidson: 4.0 ; 3.7 - 4
Wesleyan: 3.8; 3.7 - 4
Vassar: 3.8 ; (median band not shown)
Grinnell, Bates, Colby : N/A
Colgate: 3.6 ; 3.4 - 3.9
Oberlin: 3.6 ; 3.4 - 3.9
Macalester, Colorado College, Richmond: N/A
Bucknell: 3.5 ; 3.2 - 3.8
Holy Cross: 3.8 ; (median band not shown)
Kenyon: 3.8 ; 3.5 - 4
Trinity: N/A
Lafayette: 3.4 ; (median band not shown)
Centre: 3.6 ; 3.3 - 3.9
Whitman: 3.8 ; 3.7 - 4</p>

<p>(listed from higher-ranked to lower-ranked by USNWR)</p>

<p>National universities in the USNWR top 50 typically have similar GPA distributions.</p>

18

<p>Hmmm. Are those ranges Q1-Q3?</p>

19

<p>The US News site labels them as the “high school GPA 25th-75th percentile range”.</p>

20

<p>Williams is one of the highest ranked LACs in the country. It’s probably a reach for anyone. </p>

<p>My understanding is that students who play sports are at an advantage in the Williams admit process.</p>