<p>My daughter is a junior at an excellent public high school in California. She has a 4.10 weighted GPA, 3.87
unweighted. ACT score 30; she is waiting on her SAT score from this month.
She has statewide recognition in music and has liberal leanings. She would ideally like to go to a college where she can take a pre-med curriculum and also study music. We prefer the west coast but are completely open to suggestions.
Any ideas on colleges she should apply to would be greatly appreciated. This is our first time through the mill.</p>
<p>You may want to read point 1 in <a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider.html</a> and expand on that so that others can help you better.</p>
<p>Fortunately, UCs and CSUs are pretty good with in-state financial aid. Check their net price calculators for estimates.</p>
<p>Music majors may be time consuming (with extensive “lab” time for performances); combined with lab courses for pre-med requirements, she may be spending a lot of time on her course work compared to most students.</p>
<p>Remember, it is best to start the list with a safety with assured admission and assured affordability.</p>
<p>The way we came up with the list is try one of those “College Finder” like on the College Board site where you put in how big, location, major, etc. Also I looked on about.com where they had lists of top colleges by state…that was a great place to see all the SAT scores together. We looked for scores where DDs scores would be at about 75% (based on PSAT). Look at those and see what looks interesting. Then see what colleges overlap with that college. Naviance, Fiske guide can help you with that.</p>
<p>So we thought TCNJ would be good for my DD (we are from NJ) and then we looked for other schools <200 miles from home, less than 10,000 students, have merit scholarships, were in the same SAT range for 25%-75%.</p>
<p>Does your daughter want to major in music, or pursue music as an EC or minor in music?</p>
<p>Are finances an issue? Or can you afford most any school?</p>
<p>My DD went to Santa Clara University.,she also was a state ranked musician on the oboe. She played in the SCU orchestra,and took private lessons all four years (at no added cost as long as she played in the orchestra). She majored in bioengineering -and biology. The school has very good sciences. Three of her good friends are in med school.</p>
<p>It’s an expensive school, however.</p>
<p>Scripps?</p>
<p>Yes there are a number of “college finders” available and those are a good way to start. Pre-Med can be anything, so use music as a factor, your budget, distance from home, size of college desired…and then start eliminating because you will turn up many colleges. Find the “safety” first then fill in the rest. For Californians the safety is often one of the fine publics. If you haven’t figured out your budget, do that now and be sure to share that $$ with your D. I found it worked best for my kids to get the list down to around 15 and then they dug in and did “their” research to whittle the lists down under ten to visit and apply. Once you have a manageable list this site is a treasure trove of info about every one on your list. The kid who had the most apps wanted engineering and didn’t really care about big or small so ended up with 5 big and 4 small, the other two had shorter lists. Santa Clara is a good one to look at for you. </p>
<p>Finances are not an issue. She will want to pursue music as an EC or possibly a minor.<br>
Thank you for the responses, everyone.</p>
<p>Pandem, if money isn’t an issue, really, I can heartily suggest Santa Clara. The music program is NOT highly competitive, and the orchestra is actuall open to students in all majors. My DD started off thinking she would minor in music…but instead just enjoyed her private lessons and her orchestra playing. Because she played oboe, she also played in a couple of civic theater/orchestra productions. </p>
<p>My daughter’s college criteria were good sciences, ability to play in an orchestra as a non-major, and a pleasing climate. </p>
<p>The sciences are very good at SCU. The orchestra was good enough. The climate was fabulous. </p>
<p>hendrix college</p>
<p>Definitely look into Pomona. I know a few students who had very good luck with med schools after graduating, and they have a small but decent music department, excellent academics overall and a very warm social atmosphere. It might be a perfect fit. Admission is kind of tough, but your Dd looks well-qualified.</p>
<p>Thanks very much; we will do that</p>