Happy to hear you have another affordable option. I’m from the Philadelphia area and West Chester was always well respected for its science/pre-med programs. My Penn doctor (who is always ranked among the top docs) was a West Chester grad and went to Penn for med school (after starting out as a music major). Another high school friend went to West Chester, then Georgetown Medical School. He is now a well-respected cardiologist.
@Cookies510 Thank you! Nice to hear of some success stories about those who have gone to West Chester for their undergrad. Assuming I go on to med school, I really do hope I can get into a top medical school like Penn or Georgetown. Sounds like with some effort and handwork, West Chester can really prepare you for that.
Time for another update!:
-So I was rejected from Northeastern, no surprise there…
-Waitlisted from both Dickinson and Marist
I was really hoping to get into Dickinson, as it’s my #1 school and if accepted I would attend. I am planning on emailing a letter of continued interest stating the previous and touching upon a new month long internship I will be doing at a well respected hospital near by.
For right now, West Chester is where I’ll be attending, I haven’t submitted my deposit yet as Dickinson releases waitlist decision late April/early May–therefore I’ll hold out as much as possible. They accepted 35 students off the waitlist last year–not many I know…
Any suggestions/tips for increasing my chances at being accepted?!
I’m very sorry about the WL from Dickinson. Do send that Letter of Continued Interest with the updates (1st seemster grade report, and 3rd quarter grades, recommendation letter from supervisor at internship or job, etc.) Do stateclearly that if accepted and affordable, you will attend since it is your #1 school.
As for West Chester, start exploring Living Learning communities to see whether there’s a deadline, same thing about honors progam.
@MYOS1634 I start my internship in early May, so I won’t have a letter from my supervisor ready in time, I will speak with my counselor about sending in my third quarter grades. For now, I’ll continue to look into the honors program, I’ll also be commuting to West Chester, so there will be no need for housing all four years.
Ok.
The PASSHE schools’ honors programs have a really cool benefit (in addition to the usual) in that each year they select 2 students who can go study abroad for totally FREE over the summer. The places rotate in order to match a variety of majors. APPLY ASAP (especially since the quicker you apply, the better the odds of scholarships)
https://www.wcupa.edu/viceProvost/honorsCollege/prospectiveStudents.aspx
https://www.wcupa.edu/viceProvost/honorsCollege/faqStudentTestimonials.aspx
https://www.wcupa.edu/viceProvost/honorsCollege/leadershipMinor.aspx
https://www.wcupa.edu/viceProvost/honorsCollege/internationalTravel.aspx
Contact the WCU office of Financial Aid (attention Ms. Barbara Fenton) to indicate you’re a candidate for the Honors College (list stats) but can’t afford to live on campus, and hte Honors College has recommended you email her.
@MYOS1634 My stats are just under the cut off for the honors college (SAT 1270 / UW GPA 3.5) at 1250 and 3.4 respectively… I’ll try to see if I can apply either way though. Is Barbara Fenton the one who I contact at the Financial Aid Office and for the honors college application?
Living on campus is not really a must for me in this situation, would be nice, but right now my COA is next to nothing, and I wouldn’t want to add $1,000+ just to dorm. I live about 20mins away from campus as is.
I know but honors really helps since Passhe schools have lower funding so the honors program offsets this (since they have extra funding). Housing is just one benefit - the other perks, especially close relationship with professors, advising, the supportive cohort would all help.
What’s your weighted GPA? What AP classes have you taken? How many honors (#)?
Match your interests with what the honors program offers, cite something you’re genuinely excited about (book, idea…) Any extenuating circumstances (could be having to work 20h a week, family suffering a setback…)
@MYOS1634 Makes sense, I’ll definitely use specific examples/cite from their program and apply, couldn’t hurt 
-W GPA is 4.28
-AP Psych, AP Spanish 4&5 (5), AP Italian (5), AP Chemistry… the 5’s are what I received on the tests
-Don’t remember the exact number but around 18+ honors classes
Definitely list your weighted GPA too, nulber of honors classes, and each AP class with the exmaen result, your foreign language study and exams (are you a heritage speaker? Do you love languages and if so why/how do you demonstrate it and how would being in the honors college help that live if learning? So you read in Spanish or Italian, watch films in the original language, hope to learn one more language…?), explain you’d like to major or minor in Spanish (which is 100%legir for a pre-med) among with a (biochemistry, neuroscience, bioinformatics…) major…
@MYOS1634 Will do! I was planning on minoring in foreign language, Spanish or Italian (probably Spanish). I honestly just love languages, I can speak, read, and write in them both. I’m currently taking French 1, just for the heck of it too. I’ll touch upon my passion for languages and the such within the application, hopefully this will give me a good boost
I’m wrapping up my letter of continued interest to Dickinson, and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to day:
“Dickinson is still my top choice for a great affordable education, and if accepted off the waitlist, I would happily attend without hesitation.”
Or remove the word affordable? How do I go about saying that I would love to attend, but since money is a big constraint for me, it has to be affordable?
Just say “Dickinson is still my top choice and if accepted off the waitlist, I will happily attend without hesitation”.
Would asking for an interview help Elly710?
^Not at this point, alas.
Good luck, @Elly710! A lot of us are following and pulling for you!
Edit: @MYOS1634 - You’re a great mentor!
@chercheur Thank you so much! 
I am no longer getting the “@…” comments so I’ll check my settings. Anyway…@chercheur thank you!
In case it isn’t already known, the West Chester honors program is “comprised of students with outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership, and community service” - with a major focus on leadership and service. So it’s not just for smart kids and is very competitive. One of my twin Ds was invited to apply for the honors program, but she respectfully declined as she’s just not a confident leader yet (and WCU is just too close to home at 7 minutes away).
The other twin D was accepted to Dickinson but is unlikely to attend (small amount of merit doesn’t justify the cost over her alternatives). After reading this entire thread I wish we could offer you her acceptance - your good natured enthusiasm is refreshing. Good luck!
As a student with EFC of $0 you got a tough time in PA. You can get a Pell Grant of about $6,000 and a state grant of about $3,000-4,000 depending on school.
Sounds like Cabrini is giving you need based institutional aid as well and/or merit, which is very generous.
Take the generous offer.
Your biology, chemistry and organic chemistry classes will be difficult.
Cabrini is one of the member colleges of the SEA-PHAGES program.
https://seaphages.org/
Get involved in that, and you can be doing hands on research as a freshman biology student.
That will probably lead to other opportunities.