<p>Rising Senior
4.35 W GPA
4.0 UW
SAT: 2310
SAT II: 730 Chemistry, Taking Math II and Bio in the Fall
EC: Leadership (2 Years), Track & Field (2 Years), Red Cross Club (3 Years, VP), Medical Careers Club
Class Rank: All I know is that I'm at least in the Top 15% from a UC qualification thing
Most likely staying in California but open to privates outside of CA
Major: Something Pre-Med and slightly leaning towards Neurobiology</p>
<p>Please help me I'm hopeless and can't quite measure a school to be a safety or reach LOL</p>
<p>What type of campus do you want to be on? Do you want to be in the city? Do you want a religiously affiliated school? How far do you want to go? How much are you willing to pay?</p>
<p>City would be nice. Preferably a non-religious school and I would be willing to go as far as the east coast. Willing to pay at most 40,000 a year.</p>
<p>These lists are not meant to be complete nor do they consider finances, okay? There are some strong neurosci schools in California that would be interested in a student with your stats. Your ECs aren’t anything special, however, and that might make some of them shy away. Pomona, CalTech, Berkeley, Stanford, are reaches for anyone. UCSD is a safety and has a very good neurosci program. </p>
<p>Outside CA, Northwestern, Amherst, Bowdoin are safeties because of your ECs. Washington University in St. Louis, Duke, Michigan, Georgetown, Cornell, Emory, and Vanderbilt are matches. UPitt is a safety and has had a very good neurosci program for decades. So, too, are Ohio State, Case Western, URichmond, Boston U, Brandeis, Rochester, Lehigh, Bucknell, Smith, RIT, RPI, Syracuse, and Tulane safeties.</p>
<p>There’s a start. Michigan will cost you 50K/yr. UPitt has low cost and you’d qualify for merit. Tulane has high cost but you’d qualify for at least 30K, I should think. WashU and Vandy are generous. Ohio State is automatic money for you.</p>
<p>yeah, that’s supposed to read that Northwestern, Amherst, and Bowdoin are “reaches” </p>
<p>I guess I don’t think as much of Duke’s selectivity as you do. It’s certainly a high match, but this is the kind of kid Duke gets. They must be a match for someone if their top 75% is 780/750/760.</p>
<p>Are you URM? Asian? Male or female? Just curious. With your stats, you’re pretty solid, but at this point it’s a crapshoot for top schools. Like other posters said, good stats, but your ECs are a little weak. Also run the NPC for all the private schools, you may be shocked at the price.</p>
<p>To be honest, I would probably leave most of the matches/safeties in CA, especially since the UCs are well worth the price in state. Why spend more at a private of the same level as some of the instate schools? However, there are a bunch of excellent reaches outside of CA.</p>
<p>Brown has an excellent neuroscience program, but I’m a little biased. Also look into PLME, their guaranteed medical school admissions. For LACs, Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore, as far as I know, have excellent science programs, though I still strongly discourage this because I think you’ll do better at a research university as a premed major. For other reaches, I suggest Johns Hopkins/UPenn/WashU/Northwestern since they have strong programs in the medical field.</p>
<p>Since you’re so confused about what’s a reach/safety, I would definitely take advantage of the EA programs at schools, for example, at MIT/Caltech/UChicago (super reaches for everyone, really), and also a few safeties and matches. Although I’m not sure if those 3 would be a good fit for you, but research, research, research! Anyways, after the results, you can properly plan your RD list and add/remove colleges.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 sorry my bad LOL 800 M 800 W 710 CR Math 99% Writing 99% CR 96% @enigmaticescape Southeast asian male (countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.) from a fairly high-ranked public school. Thank you for the input! And I was definitely considering in-states such as UCLA and UCSD for top choices, especially UCLA.</p>
<p>You really have a lot of choices, OP. You could stay in CA and find reach/match/safety, an abundance in each category, and not pay more than 40K/year at some excellent schools. I point you back to my post #3. Take out the OOS publics, substitute urban Columbia, JHU, and Penn for rural neurosci reaches like Amherst and Bowdoin, and my work here is done. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 ahh thanks! And thank you so much for all the advice on college suggestions and I’ll be definitely taking them into account in the fall!</p>
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