Finding a good Science Safety college (help please!)

Hi, I have no clue if I’m doing this right but here goes. I just ended my junior year and I am attempting to finalize my college list. Before I go into it, I’ll give information about my STEM life so far which should be useful, and then the rest of my extra curriculars at the end?

School:
- IB Diploma Candidate.’ (Taking 4 HLs. Biology and Chemistry included)
- 4.0 unweighted (because my school doesn’t do weighted)
- 1/520 students in my year
- AP and Advanced Honors classes for Sophomore and Freshmen year. Now its all IB
- Science Honors Society
- Current solo,funded research project on the effects of sound frequency on bacterial growth as an alternative to pesticides

Outside School:
- Got accepted into governors School (Month long summer program focused on STEM. I’m going for Bio)
-In the middle of (hopefully) finalizing partnering with an after school program to teach young girls STEM.
-Writing my own book based on eugenics and engineering (fiction though!)
-Taking immunology class on edX

Testing:
-Currently I have a 31 on the ACT but I’m retaking and aiming for a 34-35 at least!
-I’m currently studying for the SAT math subject test 2 and the Chemistry test (I’ve learned all the material on Chemistry and just missing two tiny ones on math.)
-I dont know if this is useful, but I took two history AP exams and got 5s.

Etc:
- I’m an African-American female
-the other things I do (non-STEM related) are Key Club (community service) , Model UN (Debate), National Honors Society (community service), MLK Jr. Leadership Academy (community service and change), Ground ONE (writer and editor).
-first generation, one parent, both parents are immigrants.

The ‘Reach’ schools i’m looking at right now are Yale, UChicago, Cornell, and Washington University in St. Louis
The ‘match’ schools are Smith, Bryn Mawr, UMichigan in Ann Harbor, and Boston college
My only safety right now is a local school i’m unsure of…

What is your home state and how much can your family pay for college each year?

I live in Tennessee and ideally I want to try for not really much more than 40k a year because my mom is the sole income and even that may be pushing it.

I would wait until you re-take your ACT and then re-evaluate your list. You can’t make any kind of meaningful list based on a score you hope to get.

Also please let us know what state you are in, financial constraints, what you want in a college (right now you have a huge variety of schools – do you prefer a LAC? a huge state school? mid-size schools? single sex schools?)

You’re super right about re-evaluating, and I’m definitely gonna keep that in mind! I’m just really nervous right now. As for financial problems, I live in a one parent household (60-70k a year depending on overtime). I like both LACs and regular colleges/universities. Huge state schools are something im not in love with, but I can handle it if the program is great. single sex or co-ed are both fine! Diversity is probably the one thing I want to say is a must have.

Agnes Scott for diversity. You can cross-register at Emory if they don’t have sufficient depth of coursework.

I think your budget is way too high; there’s no way to squeeze $30k out of $60k of income, and you can only get to about $10k between student loans, work study, and a summer job.

Your state school definitely has a more advantage if you want more diversity. I go to The University at Albany and almost half of the school are from NYC and the cities around there. LAC has less diversity.

None of your matches are matches. You should keep UChicago and add Vanderbilt to your list because they only request the income and assets of your custodial parent.

Congratulations on your hard work and success! You’ll be a great candidate. I agree, you’ll want a couple of safeties and matches and affordability is important.

Wash U places great emphasis on “interest” and numbers (grades/test scores). Have you visited? If not, is that possible? And interview if you can. It would be helpful to get your ACT up to maybe 32 or 33 for Wash U.

If you are considering Smith and Bryn Mawr, how about Wellesley and Mount Holyoke? Wellesley has a stunning campus, great students. Same with MH. Wellesley would probably have to go in the reach category (though you are a good candidate) and MH would be more a match. W offers need-based aid. Did you know that Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire, and U Mass Amherst are members of the Five College Consortium. Students can take some classes at the other schools and also take advantage of other opportunities.

https://www.fivecolleges.edu

Bryn Mawr is part of the Trip-College Consortium: https://www.brynmawr.edu/academics/bi-co-tri-co-and-penn-0

Also how about Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)? It’s highly ranked (see USNWR national university rankings). Beautiful campus in a nice part of Worcester. Dynamic female president. School has been aggressive in recruiting in female students and achieving something like gender balance (was heavily male just a few years ago). Female students seem to do very well securing merit aid. It is very hands-on and project-oriented, which may or may not be a positive for you. Here is some info about that:

https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan

https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-program

https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/laleshin

I think you’d be a great candidate for Holy Cross, which is also in Worcester (and just a little more than an hour from BC, without much traffic). Academics are as good as anywhere. I’d put that in the match category for you.

The University of Cincinnati is an excellent school that might also be a safety, if it is affordable. You could run the NPC for an estimate of what you might be expected to pay. I don’t know anything about financial aid there. Also, check out Denison University, near Columbus, Ohio. I don’t know about diversity, but I think you’d be in line for some great merit aid. And certainly apply to a state school or two. Good luck!

Franklin & Marshall gives need based aid only and would be a safety. BUT they care if you’ve expressed interest, so you’d need to do that. Not sure they are very diverse, though.

Have you run net price calculators for the schools on your list? (On the school websites). Is your bio dad in the picture at all?

I have run net price calculators and they’re all very affordable. Worst case scenario for some of them is 20k a year which isnt bad. And my biological dad is not. We’ve had contact a total of 5 times but I since I know where he is and all that I may have to include him on skmw things. I can gurantee he wont be paying any money though (because he does not want to.)

I was actually thinking about Vandy, its just that they barely accept anyone from Tennessee and I’m so close to it I was worried. Also, why are none of my matches matches? I need to know so I can make sure to make no mistakes! :slight_smile:

Did you include his financial information in the net price calculator runs? If not, then the resulting estimates will be unrealistically optimistic if he has significant income or assets and the college wants his finances (meaning most of your list except Chicago and Vanderbilt).

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21089443/#Comment_21089443 may be worth a look for automatic large merit scholarship safeties.

High match look at Tulane, Case Western, Northeastern, Rochester Institute of Technology are good stem schools. What are you looking to major in?

Have you asked your mom how much she can contribute each year for school? You need to start there. I can’t imagine that she could afford $30-$40K per year on that salary. A safety is not a safety if it’s not affordable.

My mom tells me not to worry which is very unhelpful. She refuses to talk about it ;/

I want to major in Biology. Most likely biomedical sciences and get a graduate in Immunology. But I know for sure Biology is my route.

I did not even think about that. Thanks for pointing it out, but I don’t have his financial information. I don’t even know his first name in all honesty. Thanks for the link though!

oh dear.
you really need to sit your mom down and have the $$ talk.
her saying " dont worry about it" NEVER works out come April 1, when college acceptances come i , with their FA packages, and students find out that they CAN’T go to any of the colleges that accepted them after all.
We see it time after time, year after year.
So ask you mom if that is what she wants to have happen to you.

The way to avoid that completely preventable situation is to KNOW what she actually CAN afford.
Then, after you have your latest ACT tests #'s, you can ask for help here n finding the MOST important colleges on your list- the SAFETY colleges where you ARE likely to be admitted and where you CAN afford to go to.