Hi, my daughter has an overall score of 2250 SAT 1500 M&R and a 35 ACT . She does not play a varsity sport , but is involved with Debate and is the President and founder of the Young Womens Executive club at her Catholic school . She has a GPA of 4.4 and will have 9APs mostly in the Sciences and 2 English . She is interested in Biochemistry with a minor in Art History .
Also is it better for Med School purposes to go to a non ivy as she will have more opportunities for research ?
Thank you for any insight you can provide .
is she currently a junior?
On the positive side, her stats are very strong. On the other hand, everybody who applies to Princeton and Brown has strong stats. It’ll come down to how she presents her ECs and then her recommendations…and, natch, the essay.
Yes she’s a junior , she also volunteers at a therapeutic riding center for veterans and the disabled and has done for almost 2 yrs . Also what are your thoughts on the personalized letters, she has had them from Harvard, U of Chicago and Dartmouth . Do these mean anything at all ?
The letters mean nothing. Her name was bought from college board for 35 cents and a computer “personalized” them.
But she sounds like a viable candidate. That’s all anyone can really say about chances.
What is her UNweighted GPA, makes a big diffence.
Please see the pinned thread at the top of the forum. You can estimate her chances are about at the accept rate if she meets basic qualifications. That’s all anyone can say about selective colleges that reject 90 percent of applicants.
Brown is especially known for the ease of undergraduate involvement in research, I wonder where you think she will get more research opportunities? Because the grad school is small, undergrads play a key role in research groups and have ample opportunities. There are also university grants for research. I imagine Princeton is similar.
You can read the individual college forums instead of this Chances guessing game forum. There is a thread from a med student about why Brown is great for premeds you can find, it isn’t all that illuminating but at least someone who has insights made it. Most posters here are HS kids.
Agree that personalized letters should be viewed as marketing materials. Welcome to the forums.
I’ve heard of other students (Columbia forum) who have received personalized letters. Was your daughters hand written? If so would you mind posting a link so we can see (after blocking out the names)?
Brown does not offer the option of pursuing a minor. Princeton offers ‘certificates of proficiency’ but maybe not in Art History - you could check their web site.
Best of luck to your daughter.
She might want to look at Williams (also a reach, like Brown & Princeton). But they have a biochemistry major and an amazing art history department. Not sure whether she has visited any LACs, but it would be worth looking at.
^^^I would second visiting Williams - especially given her interest in Art History. However, I think Williams only offers a Major in Art History and a Minor (‘concentration’ in Williams-speak) in Biochemistry.
My daughter LOVED Williams, and we visited during a blizzard! It’s a pretty amazing college. Well worth a visit.
Has your daughter visited Princeton and Brown? I would suggest spending some quality time on campus before applying. Brown will want to know why she wants to attend.
That’s depressing to consider. 
Do they at least charge 75 cents for the names with 2400 SAT’s?
Make Brown PLME the first choice…
On the other hand, what are her non-reaches like?
@justonedad – nope. And a kid with high scores is better off just marking no to whether they want mailings to start with. Unless you like giving your recycling pickup guys a workout…
Good question, @Catria. As a parent, I would definitely say put effort in to finding and promoting non-reaches to your kid. The reach schools are easy to fall in love with. Non-reaches require more work.
I confess, I sort of like the mailings. It’s a way to glimpse at schools you might not have otherwise considered. Especially non-reaches. Our trash can is next to the mailbox so it’s easy to scan and toss.
I will say the mailing are all very similar. Perhaps there are only a few marketing companies that contract with most of the colleges?
@ Catria , we are visiting Brown , BC, BU in the beginning of April . her non reaches are William & Mary as we live in VA & UVA . Do you think we should look at Northeastern as well ?
@ arwarw Williams is wonderful but its too small for her and she really wants to be close to a city . Any other schools you think might be a good idea ?
That’s how my daughter felt. We had visited W&M and Amherst which she did not like, so we came very close to cancelling the Williams visit, but she didn’t as we were up there anyway. She spent a day and night at Williams, and I would say of her 12 or so college visits, the Williams visit most redefined and challenged her concept of what she wanted from a college. She really loved the attitudes of the professors and students she met there.
Another unexpected college she really liked was Barnard College at Columbia University in the Morningside Heights section of NYC. Her cousin, who was senior at the Columbia at the time, had recommended it. D had no interest in women’s colleges, but really liked Barnard. If your daughter likes the City, the arts and access to a large research university, you might consider it.
As you may know, Northeastern offers a generous NMSF scholarship and a coop program, which I really like, but we never got a chance to visit. I’d like my son to possibly look at it if he does well on his PSAT next year.
We’re also from the south. Enjoy your visits. We emailed ahead of time and lined up department tours and classes, which I think really helped with my D’s decisions.
What’s your D’s problem with Tulane?
Tulane ? she hadn’t even thought of that -what makes you suggest it ?
She really is looking for a school no more South than NC though
Thanks
Now I understand the trouble with Tulane; however, Tulane accelerated med is a little peculiar:
2 years regular undergrad (cell & molecular biology)
1 year doing community service with AmeriCorps
Med school
in that order.
@JustOneDad
It’s 38 cents, not 35 cents.
Here’s a breakdown of what our kids’ info is being sold for : https://collegeboardsearch.collegeboard.org/pastudentsrch/support/purchasing/pricing-payment-policies
It’s not just score bands the colleges but up, but zip codes too.
@PVImom
Do you have cost constraints? If so, put most of your initial energy into finding that elusive FA safety. If not, put most of your energy into finding the elusive safety that offers everything she wants and in which she’d be happy to attend. I’d suggest two or maybe even three of these schools. My D took some safety schools off her list because when she looked at the scattergrams on naviance, she noticed a number of outliers (high stats kids) who were denied. She didn’t want to have to deal with falling victim to yield management.
Then there are the match schools. The bulk of her list should be these and they’re generally pretty easy for high stats kids to find.
After all that, she can start focusing on the sub ten percent admit rate schools.
Remember, the colleges get to decide whether their school is a fit, not the the applicant.
(And I apologize for being so cynical about the process. Maybe the wait is wearing me down. :))