Help me define my reaches/matches/safeties and suggest schools.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>First off I will give you my stats.</p>

<p>Rising senior from a public school in Maryland
4.07 weighted GPA Junior year, 3.6 unweighted
Junior year: Wt Training II - A Pre Calc H - B AP World - B English III H - A Ceramics I - A Chemistry H - A AP Biology - B</p>

<p>~3.4-3.7 cumulative unweighted GPA, was always right around 3.9-4.2 weighted, don't have transcript available to calculate. Blemishes are 2 Cs, in 9th grade honor's geo and 10th honor's trig.
-Will have taken 8 APs upon graduation (Lit, Calc, Stats, Bio, Chem, US Hist, World Hist, Government) AP Bio - 5 AP World - 4 AP USH - 4</p>

<p>Should be top 15%, have no idea though, HS is not that competitive</p>

<p>SAT I - 1340/1600 /// 1990/2400 -670 CR -670 Math -650 Writing -First attempt, taking 2 more times and then 3 subjects.</p>

<p>ECs include: -4 year athlete having played 3 sports at varsity level -youth lacrosse coach during the summer, volunteer non paid -Two year Congressional internship at US Senate (all summer long program, 8hrs a day 5 days a week...valuable experience)</p>

<p>Background: White male, 300k family income</p>

<p>MAJOR: Economics on premed/predent track</p>

<p>Reaches
-Georgetown. This is my #1 school. My dad has a very high paying job there and is gonna do all he can to get me in.
-UVA oos
-Boston College? How high of a reach is this?
-JHU</p>

<p>Matches - this is where I need help! I don't know many solid matches.
-U of Miami. This is my clear #2 school. I don't want to apply ED but I want to get in so badly....Advice?
-Maryland College Park. Is this a match or safety since I'm in-state?
-NYU. Is this more of a reach?
-American University. Have to visit first, no sports turns me off like NYU.
-Wake Forest. Is this more of a reach?</p>

<p>Safeties - need help here too!
Alabama, honor's college?
Arizona State, honor's college?
NC State, is this more of a match? Honor's college?
UGA, is this more of a match like NC State? Honor's college?
WVU - legacy</p>

<p>What I'd like in a college
-Good academic reputation, average class size under 30
-I'd prefer a private with under 15,000 UGs, if it's a state school I'd like to be in the honor's college
-Above average athletics with a pretty good team in either football or basketball
-Strong economics and premed program
-Nice campus, ideally under 500 acres
-Near urban center
-Nice weather is a plus but not a requirement
-Top notch athletic facilities</p>

<p>Constraints
-Parents won't allow me to go anywhere on the west coast
-No LACs
-Must be within driving distance from MD or near airport
-Family income is $300,000, but I'd hope for some merit aid if it isn't a top school</p>

<p>Thanks so much for all the help and advice. I really need to solidify my list, as you can see I'm having trouble finding more matches and safeties which fit my description. Sorry for the lengthy post.</p>

2

<p>If you want to save money for medical school, you may want to look here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>If you want to go to med school, the attending G’town or similar as an undergrad is a recipe for DISASTER.</p>

<p>The idea of your dad pushing your app thru to a school where your stats will be average or below average is short sighted for someone who wants to go to med school. the last thing a premed should EVER do is go to a school where he’s not a top student.</p>

<p>The premed prereqs are all weeder classes. There are limited number of A’s awarded. If you’re not the “best of the best” at your undergrad, guess who’s going home with B’s and C’s at the end of each semester? Guess who won’t have the GPA for med school?</p>

4

<p>I do see what you mean. They only want to give my dad reduced tuition. He’s is a facilities manager and has been there for a month and a half — he isn’t on the board or anything. It probably won’t happen, but I don’t know. If it does, I can still decline to matriculate.</p>

<p>However, I do not think my stats fully represent my intelligence. Especially for my first two years and even last year to an extent, I’ve been lazy and didn’t have school as my top priority. You can see that in my lacking ECs. I may be up to the coursework, though. For example, I got a 5 on the AP Bio exam when only 5.6% of people did, but I got a B in the class because I turned in all my homework late.</p>

<p>Can anybody help suggest schools that would be a good premed/predent choice?</p>

5

<p>^^^^^^^^^^</p>

6

<p>In terms of the schools you listed, I think your reaches are REALLY reaches (unless your dad has pull at Gtown). I believe that UMiami has non binding EA (in addition to binding ED) so you can always apply that way. I think NYU is a bit of a reach but Fordham in NYC could be a match.</p>

<p>In terms of finances you need to sit down with your parents, get a solid idea of what they can pay for college, and move forward from there. Your in-state school UMD may be a good option if finances are an issue.</p>

7

<p>Arkansas would be a good safety because it’s the right size and has an honors college. It’s pretty similar to Alabama and UGA too</p>

8

<p>UT Austin. But idk might be a low reach with your rank… They have a good economics program but I don’t know about the pre med</p>

9

<p>UT is probably a reach if you’re out of state because it’s definitely a reach if you’re instate</p>

10

<p>You should narrow down your reaches</p>

11

<p>UT Austin is probably a safety for top 7% rank students in Texas, and a reach for others.</p>

12

<p>I would like to apply ED to Miami to make my chances near 100%, but I don’t want to so I can consider the finances at other schools… and what if I get into a reach? I will definitely do EA to most of my schools since none are SCEA. I may have to apply to the reaches RD so I have more time to up my tests and take the subject tests. My goal is a 2100-2200 and I will take the ACT twice and see how I do.</p>

<p>My parents will pay for any school I want to go to that fits the constraints. If we need to take out a loan then so be it. Our financial situation is good right now and for the future because both parents have pensions (dad’s is Congressional) and they’ve saved a lot for retirement and college. My sister will be going to college the year after I do, so I would like to help save some money if I can since we both want to go the premed/predent route.</p>

<p>I see most of my safeties are big football schools. If I have a 3.5 I could get a 2/3 tuition scholarship at Bama, but I don’t think that would be much cheaper than in-state at UMD. Then there’s always the lower in-state schools like UMBC, Salisbury, Towson. I also have legacy at VT and either GWU or GMU (Forget which one) if they count graduate school.</p>

13

<p>I might like Boston University if I don’t get into Boston College. I think I’m a lock for BU.</p>

14

<p>BC is a huge reach. BU is a match (not a lock).</p>

15

<p>Why would it be a huge reach? I can see JHU being a huge reach, but BC’s middle 50% SAT is 1930-2150. My score is right in there and my gpa isn’t that low. I’d say low-mid reach.</p>

<p>BU is harder than I thought to get into. Solid match.</p>

16

<p>Bump10char.</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Honors colleges are not safeties.
WVU doesn’t consider legacy
UMD is a lock
NYU and American aren’t worth applying to if the lack of a sports scene turns you off (Johns Hopkins falls into this as well).
UVA isn’t worth it OOS</p>

18

<p>I am a lacrosse player and coach so JHU’s lacrosse does interest me. I would settle to go to the #13 school in the country lol. </p>

<p>I would apply to those schools as safeties, but I would assume I could get into the honor’s college at those schools with my stats.</p>

<p>WVU is a safety whether they consider legacy or not haha. Dad just wants me to apply since he went there.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reassurance for UMD. I didn’t really like UVA that much when I visited, the campus is love/hate with the old buildings. 1/3 of the dorms don’t even have air conditioning and they want $10,000+ for room and board!? It is very good academically and prestigious, though.</p>

19

<p>yes you can definitely get into the honors schools with your stats, which are really good! Especially that AP Bio score, which will be looked very highly upon if u go the bio major route.</p>