Thank you for reading this! I’m asking for suggestions of colleges to look at and a review of my list.
Stats: 3.632 UW GPA (2.8 Freshman, 3.7 Sophomore and 4.0 Junior, roughly)
35 on the ACT 36 Math, 36 Reading, 35 Science, 33 Writing 10 Essay
5’s in APUSH, WH, and Envi. Dual credit in Health and Human Services, English Comp, and American Literature.
Bio: Very shy, studies come first kind of person. Not preppy or social in the slightest. College for me is best seen as four years of mental agility courses and training. 100% need or full ride please. 4-8k COA.
List: University of Chicago: If I get in here I’ll be pretty happy. Longshot, but it meets my base requirements. The NPC shows me paying only a few thousand and that is good.
Hamilton: Also seems like a pretty cool place. NPC shows good things. Free to structure schedule for massive fun/nerdy adventures. A good chunk of Greek people there so I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I’m pretty quiet so I don’t know if I’ll fit in.
Howard: Everyone needs a safety. It’s a HBCU and I’m pretty apathetic to politics/race issues so I don’t know.
Rice: Seems like a solid institution for a man of my interests and behavior. Good aid, good school.
Well, that’s about it. My list is short and I stand a good chance of being rejected at everywhere expect for Howard, which I’m not really dying to get into but not going to die to get out of going.
In another post, you mention Indiana residency and not being into sex and drugs, and that your parents was cheap as possible. Correct?
With respect to alcohol consumption, fraternities and sororities are associated with higher consumption, while historically black schools are associated with lower consumption. However, individual schools may vary, so investigate the specific schools if that is a concern.
It’s important to identify a “second element” (or elements) to these schools that appeals to you. (Selectivity is a major limiting factor with your choices, but I’ll write about them first, then include a few other suggestions.)
Chicago
First element: World class academics.
Second element: Intellectually focused in an intense, but generally good, way. Impressive and beautiful architecture.
Hamilton
First element: A balanced curriculum with an emphasis on teaching.
Second element: Nature, open curriculum, incredible campus that reflects both the College’s traditional and innovative periods.
(The fraternities at Hamilton are non-residential. Some students will like them; some will ignore them. Preppiness and sociability, two of your concerns, are relatively prevalent here though.)
Howard
First element: One of America’s historic urban universities.
Second element: DC location and the school’s less common history may make it more progressive/political.
Rice
First element: Just look at their SAT scores.
Second element: Just look at their SAT scores.
Also consider: The University of Rochester, Case Western Reserve and Indiana University. Colleges, such as Reed within the organization “Colleges That Change Lives” could also be exellent for you.
All that said, your GPA could create some admissions challenges for you, so be cautious with your expectations. Colleges with acceptance rates of 30% and up should be included for consideration, as they really should be for all students. As of right now, the list of colleges you are looking at is really too short. Forming a stronger theme of realistic, affordable colleges, with academic and other factors that appeal to you, should be your priority.
@merc81 I did the NPC for CWRU and it was triple what I could afford per year. IU was double. To afford a school like Rochester, I’d need $55k a year (not counting loans) in aid. So far the only colleges giving me that are full-meet schools with huge endowments such as UChicago. Rochester doesn’t seem to be full-meet for all applicants, so would that be affordable?
For Reed, I don’t like their policy of not alerting students to grades unless they’re in danger of not passing. Does the school not assign a GPA or what? If I’m not doing well, but I think I am, I don’t fancy the unfortunate surprise of being disappointed.
At most colleges, it is the student’s own responsibility to keep track of how well they are doing in class (based on how well they have been doing on assignments and projects so far). Alerting students that they are in danger of failing an in-progress course is actually more than what colleges typically do (though individual instructors at any college may do so).
@ucbalumnus From how it read on US News, it sounded like your grades were kept secret from you unless you had below a C. Maybe I’m just comprehending wrong.
If you impressed Rochester with your application, they might make their school affordable for you. I think they should not be ruled out without further research.
Reed’s practices seem to be more an expression of their philosophy than a fundamentally different policy. In the early stages of a course, I think you could interpret the professor’s comments well enough to infer your own performance; at the conclusion of course, I do think grades are available for those who choose to view them. You could then calculate your own GPA.
Then broadening your list with colleges with good academics and admissibility/affordability should be your priority. You could take a look around at colleges like Trinity (Conn.) and see how their numbers look.
@merc81 That’s what I’m asking for. Full meet or full scholarship schools that seem like they would be a good fit for me. My original list is by no means anything else but a rough draft.
US News is not going to paint Reed in a good light, given their bitter past. You see comparisons of Reed to Swarthmore and Carleton on CC, which is inconsistent with what US News tells us.
For biochemistry or biology, Reed is basically the among the best. In fact, biology is the most popular major at Reed, and around 42-49 of the 320 graduates in 2015 were biology majors. This further carries out into the highest rate for PhD production in the biological sciences, usually neck-in-neck with CalTech.
If you are willing to work very hard, and not be distracted, you can certainly get a 3.6 GPA or above at Reed, which is necessary for medical school admission. After going to Reed I have realized that it is not THAT hard to get above a 3.5 GPA, even though the literature and general student body tell us otherwise. It depends on the student, what classes she takes, but the top 25% is certainly able to get good GPAs for law and med school. I mean, if you are just doing the minimum in science classes, which would fetch you a B or lower, you really need to ask yourself if you could handle med school. So yeah, do not be dissuaded by the lack of grade inflation.
You definitely can get access to your grades if you want them. Just shoot an email to your advisor and wait a few hours and voila! It is unfortunately a hoop you have to go through, so most people are content not knowing their grades.
Why are you only applying to five schools, though? There are so many more potential options, like Grinnell, Swarthmore, Carleton, Mount Holyoke, Smith (all excellent for the biological sciences), and applying to them is essentially free given what you can afford (application and CSS Profile waivers exist; just ask the colleges for them.) Some don’t even require supplemental essays, like Grinnell and Kenyon. CommonApp is a miracle.