I’m looking for schools that I have a very good shot at getting into but aren’t shamefully easy to get into…
Stats:
I go to a fairly competitive high school.
Unweighted GPA: 3.99(Will be higher after next year)
Weighted GPA: 4.1 (Will be
high after next year)
UC GPA: 4.1
Honor Roll every year.
I will have taken 6 AP classes by the time I graduate.
ACT: 30 (retaking saturday and expecting to get 31-33 given practice test scores)
Language: French 1-3
Extracurriculars:
Speech and debate all four years. Two year captain of a well known speech team. National Qualifier and top 16 at the Tournament of Champions. Second and fourth at State Championships.
Vice chair of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board of Beaverton. Only youth on two other city boards.
At least 100+ hours of community service, mostly community improvement projects.
Member of the National Honor Society.
I have played the guitar for 8 years.
Letters of Rec: Both the Mayor and the Superintendent have offered to write me letters of recommendation for the schools i apply to.
Intended Major/Field of study: Pre- Med majoring in either
Health Policy, Dietetics, Public Policy or Nutrition. Possibly double major in biology.
Building on @JBSeattle …any size preference, interest in Greek life, single sex/co-ed, LAC/State schools?? The more you share the more focused the responses you can get. (People don’t want to know nitty-gritty details about you or the schools you’re looking for - just generalities.)
I live in Oregon. I am fine going to Washington, California, Utah, Colorado, anywhere on the east coast… basically anywhere but like Montana and the Dakotas…
Greek life doesnt matter much to me.
Max per year would be $55,000.
Private or public is fine.
As you can tell I am not super picky, but I do like schools that are in the city or an area with good outdoor activities. I just dont want some middle-of-nowhere college town.
U of Utah could be a great safety. Great honors college and unbeatable access to both a major city and world-class outdoor recreation. Affordable as a baseline, either with the WUE discount or by utilizing the path to residency after the first year, plus good merit opportunities. There’s an undergraduate minor in nutrition, and professional graduate programs in nutrition/dietetics as well as a med school, so lots of opportunities for exposure to both fields both through the university itself and in SLC generally.
UNR is another very affordable WUE school with both a city and terrific outdoor recreation, just a stone’s throw from the CA border; it’s a solid flagship where you could distinguish yourself in any direction you choose.
For smaller schools… Agnes Scott in Atlanta has a fantastic Public Health major, developed in collaboration with Emory U, that allows you to take graduate public health coursework through Emory as an undergrad. Tons of opportunities there for a premed including both Emory’s resources and the CDC headquarters. Rhodes College in Memphis has a strong relationship with the nearby St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital for shadowing/volunteering/research - great LAC for premeds and probably a safety with your stats, and their post-bacc certificate in Health Equity could be a great way to combine your interests in health and policy.
If the Northeast is calling to you, look at the excellent schools in Worcester (Holy Cross and Clark) that are only a short commuter rail ride from Boston, or at Brandeis - all have great premed opportunities, and Massachusetts is one of the most interesting incubators for health-related public policy. (Minnesota is another, so schools like Macalester and St. Olaf could be worth a look also.)
URochester and Case Western Reserve are both great mid-sized universities for premed musicians; but they’re not safeties, and they’d be affordable only with significant merit, so they’re more like theoretical matches that are really reaches in terms of getting an offer you can afford. U of Pittsburgh has a lot of the same virtues in a public U that would be (barely) affordable for you even without merit, and getting some merit could be a realistic hope especially if you apply EARLY - admissions are rolling and merit chances are better the earlier you apply. Also, having an early acceptance in your pocket turns a theoretical safety into an ironclad one, which is a good thing!
With WUE, Western Washington would be way under budget and you would likely get into the Honors program. My daughter is attending, good student but not in your league.
Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Drexel (in Philadelphia), Fordham (NY), and University of Denver are some schools that are expensive but all would likely give you enough scholarship money to put you under budget. I would be shocked if you didn’t get into all of them with merit but none are auto admit by any stretch and all would still challenge you. Not sure if all these schools offer the programs you want so research that part.
FYI, you should really have academic recommendation letters. It is ok to have a supplementary letter from one of the two people you have listed, but they should be your only letters.
The OP needs to find a relatively affordable school if medical school is in the future.
Santa Clara is pretty bad when it comes to financial aid and the school costs almost as much as an Ivy. Also depending on the major there is some grade deflation.
In general California schools are pretty expensive. If cost is a factor, California public/private schools off your list.
An ACT score of 30 should be sufficient to get WUE rates at Utah. At 32-33 you would get decent merit (and then can qualify for in state tuition, which is not possible with WUE). It’s a good school if you like the outdoors, especially with great skiing 30 minutes away, and SLC is a nice city.
U CO Boulder? Great area for outdoor activities, easy flights but far enough from home to be fun. They have an honors program you’d probably qualify for and you could likely make excellent grades for that medical school application.
By the way - “shamefully easy to get into” should NOT disqualify a school from being a safety! I know what you mean but really - a safety needs to have 50% acceptance or above to be a true safety.
As @aquapt pointed out, Pitt is a good choice but the merit threshold for them doesn’t usually start until the ACT score is at least 33 minimum. Even then you’re looking realistically at $5K a year. $10K a year tops and that’s a super stretch.
I know what you mean but really - a safety needs to have 50% acceptance or above to be a true safety.