Finalizing the list, please share your thoughts...

College Search & Selection
1

Thanks to a great deal of information gleaned directly from previous postings and from reading advice and reference sources provided to other posters, and after a significant number of miles driven and campuses visited, along with some raucous but productive discussions at home, here is where DD stands before her last two summer campus visits at the end of this week, and the beginning of her senior year in two weeks:

Stats:

SAT-total - 2250 - breakdown - M-780, CR-740, WR-730, will not be taking them again.
PSAT - 227, in PA, likely NMF
ACT-composite - 35 - breakdown- M-33, E-36, S-35, R-36, did not take writing, will not take again
GPA-UW- 4.0 on 4.0 scale, W- 107.2
Class rank - 1st of 293, public school, well regarded, usually send a handful of kids to Ivies and top tier each year.
Residence - Pennsylvania
Hooks - Not really
EC - Were good to average, but have been improving greatly as she started up a Girls in STEM club at School and along with another student developed a project to build mini-libraries in places like women’s shelters, free health clinics, YWCA, etc.
Essays should be good to very good.
AP courses taken (7) - Gov, APUSH, Chem, Bio, World history, Calc A/B, English comp - All 5’s
AP courses this coming year - Psych, Physics (not sure which one), English Lit, Stats

Intended majors: Have been a bit all over the place on this. Started with Pharmacy, then switched to biomedical engineering (which every school seems to have opened up as a major in the last two years), now open to considering other science based majors including biotechnology, clinical laboratory sciences, forensics, others based on schools involved.

Final destination - Grad school, Med School or Law School - she has explored all three of these, which does not preclude in certain cases, PharmD. She has a year long health care professions internship survey program to help her figure all of this out. Since she hasn’t decided yet and might not until later in school, my preference is for an undergrad major that is flexible and employable out of the four year degree in case she wants to take a year or two off before her terminal degree, and just to keep her options open.

We won’t get any FA, will file FAFSA though, and are not cash or savings rich despite good income. Daughter is not a prestige groupie, tends to be liberal politically, prefers city or suburban schools to small town ones, is not interested in any local Big 10 flaghips in PA or adjoining states. Looking for full ride schools, or full tuition and low costs elsewhere.

The list:

Reach:

Case Western - The biggest reach on the list because of high cost and very good, but not full aid.

Match/Reach - Essentially matches for admissions purposes, with competitive large scholarships that are possible, hence reasonable reaches for that reason:

Pitt - her favorite, and if she goes Pharmacy route scholarship money can be applied to first two years of professional school, which is huge, plus in-state of course.
Delaware -shortest drive, probably third or second favorite behind Pitt and Case.
NC State
Georgia Tech

Of that group GT is probably the biggest scholarship reach, and the others are very competitive/unpredictable for full ride/full tuition scholarships depending on year and applicant pool from what we have read.

Safeties:

NJIT - visiting Friday - Automatic FR for NMF
West Virginia - Visited and liked, Auto FT and very low cost of living, reasonably cheap travel costs
Drexel - visiting Thursday, Auto FT, possible stacking of scholarships for FR
U of Central Florida - Auto FR for NMF

We will have visited all but the three southernmost by the end of this week. She outright refuses to consider any Alabama, Louisiana or Mississippi schools, and in Texas the University of Houston might be added as an auto FR safety, but no other, and she has ruled out University of Kentucky as well. Gay marriage, abortion, immigration, etc and other social wars issues that have been getting lots of media coverage in a presidential election cycle have fairly much turned her off from most areas that are highly conservative bastions in her mind, and I have given up that fight since she has given in quite a bit on other issues that we have compromised on.

So, after all of that, looking for thoughts on a few things. Thoughts on the schools on the list that anyone would like to share, possible matches/safeties that are less obvious. I was really hoping for a Virginia school to make the list, but the ones with great aid like Richmond are too LAC-like for her tastes, with her preferring more of a research university feel.

Also, thoughts on good majors similar to those mentioned would be appreciated, since that might be something that opens up a new school to her or plays a role in deciding down the road among her possible choices. Thanks very much for all of the help already given and in advance for any further replies, suggestions or thoughts anyone might share!!!

2

Is penn state too big for her?

3

temple u

4

I know she is reluctant about schools in Texas but I Would have her look at TX A&M. I think the NMF scholarship would cover all but her room and board (you get in-state tuition plus OOS waiver). There are a lot of smart kids there. Texas Tech offers a very generous NMF full ride.

She should look at Tulane. Tulane is not a conservative school and your Ds might be competetive for a full tuition scholarship but like some of the schools on the list Tulane would be a financial reach.

Also, have you run the NPC for Cornell?

5

@NASA2014 Penn State was too big and in a place where the entire area basically revolves around PSU. We are very local to PSU and know it well enough to know it isn’t her thing. Rutgers, Maryland and Ohio State simply didn’t connect for her either. I know UCF, Houston and NC State are also pretty large, with UCF being huge, but she likes the idea of a bigger school if it is in a city setting, and the Research Triangle is a big selling point for NC State.

@fleishmo6 Temple is another school we know pretty well and that was an entire family decision not to apply there. Great school, but the area is just too sketchy.

@txstella A&M did not appeal to her and I didn’t expect it would, Texas Tech did not seem to have the breadth of majors she was looking for after we researched that one. U of North Texas seems to be in a very liberal, artsy city from what we looked at and UT-Dallas has that nerdy school vibe she likes so much at Case. I think those two and Houston are the three she will pick from if she applies to a Texas school. I did explain to her that there are many places in the southern states that are known for their liberal viewpoints, Austin, TX for example, and I was a huge fan of UAB in Alabama, it seemed a lot like the Alabama version of Pitt to me, city school with a major emphasis on its healthcare center and related programs.

Tulane looked good to me, though it seemed doubtful she would cover all costs and for a distant school travel costs start to add up, so a free ride or very close to it is essential. I have actually been the one urging her to look more to the south since she has Reynauds, a fairly benign condition of constantly cold hands and feet, but one that does better in warmer climates.

Closer schools she has sort of glossed over and I would not mind hearing opinions on include Stevens Tech in NJ, Richmond for a science James Madison and Fordham. Any insight into UNT, UT-Dallas and U of Houston also much appreciated. We will know more about NJIT and Drexel and how she likes them by this weekend.

6

Cornell is her if we win the lottery tomorrow school, lol, and mine as well. We love Ithaca and if sudden wealth was thrust upon us, I would retire there and take classes at Cornell myself. It just doesn’t work financially, but is by far our favorite of the Ivies.

7

UH has historically been mostly a commuter school. That has changed somewhat, and I have in-laws who lived on campus. Parts of the surrounding area are rough, and crime is a problem.

I am politically liberal and if we had your budget constraints( we are looking to keep our COA less than $40k so we have a different list of schools… my DS has slightly lower stats but would be vying for same merit money pool as your daughter), I would have him apply to A&M, UT Dallas, Univ. Of Oklahoma, Univ of Alabama, and Drexel from the schools I have researched. I would look hard at Honors Colleges in my home state.

University of MD College Park may give her enough money but I really don’t know. It is a good school with an honors college. Also, I would research Arizona State (Barret Honors College) and the guaranteed NMF tuition award.

I would not have my DS apply to UNT or UH, but that is just my opinion. Others might disagree.

8

I have heard, from a distance, some of the safety concerns with UH in doing our research and I appreciate hearing it here as well. Sounds a bit like the issues that Temple suffers from in PA. UNT sounds more liberal arts oriented, though it has an engineering program, than she prefers.

She tends not to really go for the big, outsized school spirit kind of schools, of which A&M is famous for in a very positive way, it just isn’t the vibe she enjoys.

UMD is one school that we have kind of taken off the list after having three different alumni locally tell us they did not enjoy their experiences there. We have some family in Arizona, but I was concerned in reading about education issues and the budget in AZ.

UT Dallas, which has an auto full-tuition and fees, and competitive stacking, sounded like the best fit to me. School on the upward arc, new dorms, geeks are cool reputation, very nice suburb of Dallas with easy access to the city all seem to be a fit for her. She posts on CC as well, and I invited DD to comment when she gets a chance in this thread as well.

Thanks for the info @txstella, very much the more local view on things that one appreciates being halfway across the country.

9

Hey, so I am the aforementioned daughter that has been discussed in this thread. I agree with the things my dad’s description of our college search thus far- only error I saw was that he accidentally omitted my taking AP Euro senior year, but I think we know something little like that isn’t really going to make any difference in admissions. Any schools that match what we are looking for that are located on the west coast would be neat to hear about as so far I have not found one and that is another area I’d be interested in exploring during my college years.

Any insight on NC State and Georgia Tech would also be appreciated as they’re pretty far away. Thanks!

10

I might think about adding University of Southern California. You already qualify for a half tuition scholarship as a NMF and with your stats, you might get one of the full tuition scholarships. You have to apply by Dec. 1 in order to get scholarship consideration.

11

If you like Case Western, you might also consider U Rochester (Rochester, NY). Many students like both and either could be very good with merit aid, though they are definitely competitive for it. I suspect Pitt will be the top offer in aid to be honest, but one never knows.

Here’s an admissions video from a couple years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiCbfSXoftI

12

“Any schools that match what we are looking for that are located on the west coast would be neat to hear about as so far I have not found one and that is another area I’d be interested in exploring during my college years.”

then add University of Southern Calif to your list AND apply before their Dec 1 deadline in order to be considered for one of the 100+ full tuition Trustee scholarships.

http://www.usc.edu/

As a NMF, you WILL receive at least a 1/2 tuition scholarship IF you are accepted.
USC LOVES hi stat, really smart students, but there are thousands of those who apply, so you ALSO need to show USC the LOVE!

USC has every program you want, a very liberal atmosphere, a small[ >20% ]greek community, a very ethnically diverse student body [ whites are in the minority] and lots of Calif Sunshine!

DS was a Trustee scholar at USC and is now completing his PhD at Caltech. [ he got into every PhD program he applied to]
He recently said he would not have traded his UG years at USC for any other college [ and he was accepted at 10 top colleges, including 2 Ivys, but just like you, did not qualify for enough FA. ]

13

Thank you so much, Mom has been a fan of finding a west coast school to apply to, as has DD apparently, so it looks like USC is going to be added to the list. We are well aware of the need to show love, Case Western is very much the same way.

I am a Univ of Rochester alumni actually, it hasn’t really appealed to DD so far. We may visit it if we visit family in the Rochester area.

14

If a USC rep comes east to a college fair, be SURE your DD makes eye-to-eye contact with him.
And she should visit and interview if at all possible just to get a sense of the place [ though if she is chosen as a semi finalist for a Deans. Presidential or Trustee scholarship she WILL have to fly out to interview. ]
USC is pouring billions into a new student residential complex across the street from the campus, as well as into many academic and research areas. Its a University that is on the move!!

15

As a note, most jobs I know of in the clinical laboratory sciences require at least a master’s degree. She might also be interested in statistics and combining that with biology to do biostatistics, or CS and biology to do bioinformatics. Pitt also has a bioinformatics major.

What about University of Rochester as a match/reach? They have an epidemiology major and a couple of other health-related majors, which may appeal to her. Tulane is in LA which she doesn’t want, but they have a public health major. Arizona State, Clark University, Iowa State, Rochester Institute of Technology, Maryland-Baltimore County, RPI, WPI, and VCU offer bioinformatics majors. (If Canadian universities are on the table, so do Toronto and Waterloo.) James Madison, Indiana, Syracuse, and UMass-Amherst have biotechnology majors. Brandeis and Miami U both have biophysics. (Miami also has health promotion and medical lab science.)

Texas A&M consistently makes the list of most conservative universities in the country, and College Station is also a small college town where things sort of center on the university. Those sound like two things your daughter doesn’t really want.

16

@juillet Most CLS jobs in non-license states, which is the great majority, require only a 2+2 or 3+1 program, unlike California or Florida where a 4+1 or full Masters is required. Most states only license the labs, not the individuals and national certifications are all that is needed, and in many states, none at all. I was an MT/CLS before going back to school and now work as an attorney in professional licensing, hence my familiarity with the very different licensing regimens regarding this.

Thanks for the information on bioinformatics as well, DD is still working on her major choice and likes biomed because it uses more math, which she loves, but it seems to me that the number of biomedical engineering programs is proliferating even faster than law schools and pharmacy schools have, and while there is a 27% growth rate predicted by BLS, that is based on a very small absolute number of positions, hence the percent increase is very misleading to some students.

DD really isn’t the engineering type though she gently disagrees on that at times with me, but something more like biotechnology seems a real fit for her. Really, I am not worried about that too much since we are looking at schools with a wide breadth of science/technology majors as one of the things that qualifies them to make the list.

We don’t have UM Baltimore County on our list since the NPCs didn’t come out great for us there compared to the NMF schools, but I agree with you and would recommend that as a school on the rise to anyone interested in a great school in Maryland. Thanks again to all (-: