Hello, I’m a high school junior looking to add to my college list and solidify some places I’ll be applying to, and I’m wondering which colleges would be best for me.
Currently, I’m looking for schools with good biochemistry programs and ample connections to research and internships. If there are many schools with a 5-year Master’s program I would gladly consider it, but I haven’t found any that interest me so far. I’m looking for an undergraduate population of anywhere from 5,000 to about 20,000. My main issue so far is that a lot of schools that have programs I think would fit me are all on the West Coast (mostly California), and I’m sure that my parents wouldn’t let me move that far from home (and, to be honest, I don’t know if I would like it very much either). I’m perfectly fine with going to colleges in the South (I’ve been thinking about applying to UNC), but living there for the rest of my life isn’t have I planned, so I’d like to be able to get a job outside of the South if possible.
I’m currently a junior in high school with a 3.8 UW and 4.1 W GPA, and by the end of this year I will have taken 5 AP courses (6 tests, because AP Physics is broken into 2 tests). I’ve been playing the viola for 8 years so far, and I’m in my school’s music honor society, competed in solo festivals, chamber orchestra, and I’m in a symphonic orchestra outside of my school. Other ECs: treasurer (and writer) of my school’s newspaper, NHS, English and Science Honor Societies, in-school Peer Counselor, a HOBY Leadership Seminar, and 1-2 hours a week of taking dance classes for 12 years (may not add that to the application bc that’s just a hobby of mine, not serious). No SAT (or PSAT) scores to report yet. I go to a public school in New York, about 1-2 hours away from NYC.
Any sort of recommendations for which colleges to apply to are greatly appreciated! (also, sorry for the super long post.)
Realistically you’re going to need some sort of advanced degree for biochemistry – whether that’s a MPH, MD, MS/PhD, Pharm.D, or something else depends on your interests – so don’t worry that you’re going to be limited to a particular region of the US after graduation.
Most selective colleges have fairly good offerings in biochemistry, so it won’t be hard to find options. Northeastern, Case Western, U Rochester, and U Miami are a few that immediately come to mind. Brandeis is also worth a look if you’re willing to go a bit smaller (~3500 undergrads).
I live in Long Island NY, about an 1-1 1/2 away from Queens (Manhattan or Staten Island can be nearly be about a 2 hour drive sometimes, depending on traffic). In terms of costs, about 50K per year (pre any scholarships/aid) is the limit. I’ll be going for as many scholarships as possible to cover that cost or otherwise lessen the number (with scholarships from whichever college I apply to and outside of it) to at least 25k. The cost of college would most likely be split between my parents and I, meaning that I’d be paying off at least some of it myself. I’m not eligible for the Pell Grant or anything like it (to my knowledge).
I don’t quite know the specifics of FAFSA paperwork yet, so sorry if I left out any of that information!!
Sorry, that’s my bad. I should have said that I was hoping to reduce it to 25K if I could through scholarships and the like; that’s more of a target for how much I’d be wiling to pay up front rather than what the pre-aid tuition is willing to be. Granted, I understand that the sticker price for most universities (especially OOS) isn’t going to be that low, so I’d be willing to work with colleges with a pre-aid price of 50K and see if I can pay for it with outside scholarships rather than loans.
My understanding is that some universities may have high pre-aid costs but then commonly offer a lot of scholarship money. Others may have low pre-aid costs but than offer very little aid. I try to base my searches off of the post-aid price for this reason, and my post-aid cap would be around 25K. Hopefully that’s more clear, sorry if it isn’t!
My understanding is that some universities may have high pre-aid costs but then commonly offer a lot of scholarship money.
Your understanding is incorrect.
If your EFC is high then colleges are going to expect full-pay with perhaps a token “scholarship” to make the parents feel good. Financial aid based scholarships may be given to those with a EFC below the school sticker price. Some schools meet the full shortfall, others only meet some of the gap and expect the family to take out loans for the difference. There are also merit scholarships given by some schools; you find these at lower-ranked colleges that have a few merit awards to attract students that normally would attend a much higher ranked college.
There is a misbelief that there is lots of private or outside scholarship money out there; some companies advertise to HS students promising to find them this “money”. Seldom do they find much if anything.
OP- you need to learn more about how outside scholarships work. At some colleges they will not “stack”- so a dollar of outside aid means a dollar less in aid from the college. Your financial target is going to be the single most important element of your search, and your understanding of how aid works seems fuzzy at best. The amount of loans that you can take is capped- so you don’t have the option of borrowing whatever you need to make the numbers work.
Take some time to understand your finances and financial aid before you get too far ahead of yourself with colleges.
If you run an NPC at somewhere like U Rochester or Case Western, what figure do you get back? That can tell you if either is likely to be affordable or not.