GPA UW3.82,W4.31 ACT: 35 SATII: Chem 800 Math II 800
EC: Track (JV, 9-12) Research internship (10-11)
Some things I’m looking for (in roughly their order of importance):
Brilliant professors who are involved in teaching and research
Diverse and intelligent student body
Multitude of research opportunities
Hospitals to volunteer
Liberal school
Medium sized school
Not too “cutthroat” (grade inflation would be nice)
Multitude of different classes to explore
Not a huge fan of the “core” from UChic/Columbia/etc.
Good premed advising
Religion does not play a dominant role in campus (I’m agnostic)
Prestige
Proximity of undergrad campus to hospitals/labs/etc.
School spirit
Fun things to do around campus
Cooler weather
Aesthetically pleasing architecture
Residential colleges
Preferably OOS/east coast
Finances aren’t too much of an issue unless the school is OOS public or has horrible FA.
What are some good reach/math/safety schools for me?
(Some schools I’m looking into are: Duke, Brown, HYS, University of Rochester, Cornell, Northwestern, and the UCs)
These lists, available online, can confirm some of your current choices or provide you with further ideas:
“The Experts’ Choice: Colleges With Great Pre-med Programs”
“The 25 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America” / Thrillist.
Regarding the University of Rochester, a relative looking at the school, also possibly premed, recently reported an excellent experience. Apparently the local hospital is within walking distance.
Someone who is premed doesn’t have to worry about “top bio programs.” Bio is a staple at all univs. It’s not difficult for an established univ to have a good bio program.
Many of the Catholics do not have an overly religious tone except for some religious “stuff” around. I’m thinking that Loyola Chicago might be of interest. It has an excellent med school, it’s in a big city, research opps. I don’t know about “school spirit,” but some of the other Catholic univs do …the ones with popular basketball teams.
What about Boston College? But you would likely have to pay full cost.
Agnostics, atheists, non-Catholics, etc, attend Catholic univs with no problems.
Your parents NEED to run the NPCs. IF your parents will pay $50k, but prefer $35k, then likely expensive schools will not be affordable …unless they’re the ones that give merit. Typically when parents say that they can pay $50k, the NPCs say that they can “afford” to pay more.
^ Going to school in Chicago would be a great deal of fun. As far as being a sports fan, it’s great:
Bulls
Blackhawks
Cubs/White Sox
Bears, or you can drive three hours north and watch a real team, the Packers, play in the mecca of football, Lambeau Field. ;-)
For college football there's Northwestern... or for a truly great experience, the University of Wisconsin and Notre Dame are within a couple hours.
For college basketball there's UIC, Northwestern, DePaul. Or, again, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. The University of Illinois usually has decent teams and they are nearby also.
Chicago weather is windy near the lake, which can seem refreshing at times and really hinder your comfort at others. You get all four seasons, sometimes within the same week. The food is outstanding and there’s plenty to do – museums, shopping, entertainment. Chicago is a great city.
the parents REALLY need to run the NPCs. They are likely going to find that they don’t qualify for ANY aid except for maybe at HYPS because those give super-aid.
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Finances aren't too much of an issue unless the school is OOS public or has horrible FA.
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^ This is a concern. The issue isn’t that a school gives “horrible FA.” There may be many schools that give excellent FA that still won’t give this student any money. Schools with GREAT FA do not give money to those who the school believes has the income/assets and borrowing potential to pay for the costs themselves.
@panicatcollege Have your parents run the NPCs on a few school’s websites…like Rice, Northwestern, Loyola Chicago (where you probably would get merit, but it may not show in the NPC results), and a few others. Creighton is a big premed school, and you might get merit there as well.
The fact that your parents “prefer $35k” is a red flag. That suggests to me that paying $50k per year would be a real stretch. That’s not a good plan for a family that needs to pay for 4 years. No family can go 4 years without having many “unexpected expenses” pop up. You don’t want to start at one school and then have to leave. You will have lost all your merit and best FA opps at that point.
I would agree with this IF the student gets into med school. But, as I am sure you know, a small percentage of high school kids that think they want to go to med school actually end up going.
If a student truly enjoys Bio and drops off the premed track (which a majority of them do) then finding a well-paying job in a region that is not a biotech hub with a degree from one of the thousands of vanilla “good” bio programs is hard.
If you look at the criteria behind this particular ranking, the schools that bubble to the top are those that have a number of “related programs” and high salaries. Those “related programs” tend to offer courses in the practical application of biological concepts. These “top” schools tend to be the feeder schools for the top Biotech Hubs (Boston, San Francisco and San Diego).
In general, it is a good idea to have a back-up plan when starting down the road to med school, because it is a long and arduous journey. If you like Bio, then choosing a school in a major biotech hub, with programs that cater to the local industry, is not a bad idea…
If a student decides against grad school, then the best thing to do would be to switch to engineering. A bio major is great preparation for everything from teaching to to JDs to the very wide variety of health professions. All other majors have equal competition at the bachelor’s level.
@OP can I suggest making UC Davis your first choice? With your grades it should be a safety, so you don’t need to worry about competition. You’re in-state so low tuition, there’s tons of research going on there and well advertised internship opportunities, and UCD undergrads have strong connections to its med school and private practices through their “HRI internship” program (you sign up for a time slot and are guaranteed a clinical internship, no application or transcript necessary). It matches the rest of your desires too, minus the last one.