Help me find match schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm a rising senior and I'm having trouble identifying which schools will be matches for me. If anyone could offer some suggestions that would be lovely :)</p>

<p>Stats:
-White girl from Ohio, nice public school
-35 ACT, 4.2 gpa W, 213 PSAT (maybe NMSF)
-AP classes: lang(5), calc ab(3), chem(4), enviro(5), apush(4).</p>

<p>ECs are good but fairly typical, nothing extraodinary. Student council (with some smaller leadership things like committee chairs, etc), NHS, Envirothon team member (team has done well), 6th grade camp counselor, environmental club, competitive horseback riding, and decent amount of volunteering through student council and nhs at elementary schools, retirement home, etc.</p>

<p>As for what I'm looking for in a school, I don't want tiny or massive. Strong academics. School spirit (not necessarily great athletics, just like general pride/happiness) would be nice. I'm tentatively thinking premed so a good science program is important. Not super urban campus but not middle of nowhere. I would like to stay east of the Mississippi, and probably not too far up into New England, as I think I want to be no more than 10ish hours from home. Money wise, my parents are comfortable financially so in this initial search we aren't limiting based on cost. My safeties are definitely affordable.</p>

<p>The current, rather small, list looks like this:
Vanderbilt (reach)
UVA (reach)
OSU (safety/match)
Miami of Ohio (safety, will give merit money)</p>

<p>and maybe WUSTL, which would also be a reach.</p>

<p>So please, please help me pick some matches? I would really sincerely appreciate it haha, I'm getting a little overwhelmed by this whole process! And let me know if I left out any info!</p>

2

<p>Interesting. The 35 ACT is outstanding, as you must know. </p>

<p>Matches (not to far from cities, not too big, not too small): (40-90% admission probability)
Oberlin
Rochester
Case
Carnegie Mellon (match for science)
SUNY Binghamton
Vassar
Wesleyan
Brandeis
Tufts
Wellesley
Smith
Mt Holyoke
Boston College
William and Mary
Bryn Mawr
Franklin and Marshall
Lehigh
Lafayette</p>

3

<p>If you’re thinking premed, then the best on your list is probably WUSTL (full disclosure, my son will be starting there this fall). What is your UW GPA and (estimated) class rank? I’m sure you realize that with the attributes you listed as being important to you, STL is just barely west of the Mississippi. The academics are very strong, but it is a division III school, so campus spirit will not be the same as it would be at schools like Vanderbilt, OSU, or UVA.</p>

4

<p>Vanderbilt and UVA are two of the coolest schools in the country. You may also like these…</p>

<p>Davidson, Washington and Lee, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Boston College, Lehigh</p>

5

<p>Penn State and University of Pittsburgh, both might give you a full ride since you have outstanding stats.</p>

6

<p>Thank you to everyone for replying!
@ClassicRockerDad thank you :slight_smile: and I will definitely look into all those schools! some may be a little far for me, but I’ve heard good things about a lot of them</p>

<p>@PsychoDad I know WUSTL would be best for premed, I guess I’m just concerned that with so many premeds their track would be very competitive? Although this is likely true at many top schools. I don’t know my UW GPA unfortunately and I would estimate my class rank to be top 5% in a class of 500. The Mississippi guideline was more general, STL’s location is just fine.</p>

<p>@timetodecide Yes, I’m very excited to visit Vanderbilt soon, it really seems like a neat place! Those suggestions are really good too, thanks</p>

<p>@XtremePower I know someone at Penn State who’s having a fabulous time, and a full ride would be hard to pass up, so I’ll look into that as well as Pitt</p>

7

<p>For great pre-med program and school spirit might look at Holy Cross 1 hour from Boston. HC HAS ONE OF THE BETTER ALUMNI NETWORKS- very good in te midwest, its sports teams play Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown. HC website is informative.</p>

8

<p>Vanderbilt which is on your list is a good choice
maybe look at Muhlenberg College and Lafayette College too. very different than Vandy but worth a closer look.</p>

9

<p>I don’t think Penn State gives out good scholarships to anyone. [Academic</a> College Scholarships ? Penn State Office of Student Aid](<a href=“http://studentaid.psu.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/academic-colleges]Academic”>http://studentaid.psu.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/academic-colleges) Certainly no a full ride. Those would be found here:</p>

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

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

10

<p>I think Boston is about 13 hours from where I live, which is probably a little farther than I’d like. I know there are a lot of really great colleges around that area though, wish I was closer!</p>

<p>Bummer about Penn State, I was excited for a minute there! But merit money is more of a bonus than necessity for me, so I’ll keep it in mind regardless. </p>

<p>Everyone on here is so knowledgeable, thank you guys for taking the time to give me advice!</p>

11

<p>PSU does not give any need based aid but it does give scholarships for very high stats students. Here a student received a full ride from PSU and chose Penn State over University of Virginia. Since you are in the college of science, you qualify for the millennium scholars program.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/penn-state-university-park/1483930-full-tuition-plus-room-board-expense-social-life.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/penn-state-university-park/1483930-full-tuition-plus-room-board-expense-social-life.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Nice to know. Not well advertised at all.</p>

13

<p>Hmm, I may be misinterpreting, but from reading that thread it sounds like you have to commit to a PhD program for that scholarship, so no med school? Is that correct? It’s certainly a great opportunity for a lot of people though…</p>

14

<p>consider lehigh, northwestern, the uc’s, and the university of michigan they’d all be high/ middle-high matches</p>

15

<p>My middle son (similar stats, pre-med, specifically looking for neuro for a major, so that may be different) considered:</p>

<p>U Rochester (where he’s soon to be a sophomore with no regrets)
Pittsburgh (his second choice - due to neuro and finances)
WUSTL
Vandy
Emory
Case Western
Lafayette (probably too small for you)
Franklin & Marshall (probably too small for you)
U Alabama (probably too big for you, it was for him too - and no neuro - but it was a nice safety)</p>

<p>and there were probably more I’m not thinking of this morning. He didn’t apply to all of the above. Some (like Vandy) dropped off his list (due to too much Greek for him with Vandy), but his fit isn’t necessarily yours so I added some that seemed close even though they didn’t make his final cut.</p>

16

<p>

It seems like you are right.
“with the exception that students applying to the Premedicine major or Premedical-Medical program are not eligible to apply for the Millennium Scholars program.”
[Penn</a> State Millennium Scholars Program Accepting Applications ? Eberly College of Science](<a href=“http://science.psu.edu/millennium]Penn”>http://science.psu.edu/millennium)</p>

<p>You might be eligible for some other scholarships.</p>

17

<p>Not tiny or massive…strong academics…school spirit…premed…not urban but not middle of nowhere…east of Mississippi but not too far away…you’re describing Duke.</p>

18

<p>^ Except for that “Match” part in the thread title. 14% selection rate?</p>

19

<p>Match means you have a strong chance of being accepted. Doesn’t mean you will be. That would be a safety. I’m not saying she will get in, just that it meets her criteria and her stats make her a strong candidate. Isn’t that a match?</p>