HELP please! What colleges should I look at?

Hello! Here are some of my quick stats (class of 20):
1490 SAT
4.0 uw gpa
4.349 w gpa
1/360 class rank
AP Physics 1&2 3, AP Lit 3, APUSH 4, IB Physics 4

I will be a full IB diploma candidate senior year and will be taking AP tests for corresponding courses.

Based on my parents’ income I get next to nothing in need based money. ($100,000+) but realistically my parents can only afford 30-35k a year

Clubs
Elected Student Body President, selected to represent the school in a District Council for the School Board of Education, plus other community service clubs and leadership positions

Swimming
elected team captain, 3 year varsity swimmer and state qualifier
Times are good enough to be recruited for d2/d3

Experience
150+ hours volunteering at local hospital
150 hours interning at American Cancer Society
Lifeguard and swim instructor during summer

Strong letters of rec
race: Asian

I plan on double majoring in biological sciences and cultural anthropology or majoring in Medical Anthropology (if school offers) and possibly a minor in communication studies. Essentially Pre-Med.

I want to set myself up to be able to apply to the top med schools and get in, so I want a college with strong sciences and a strong premed advising that can offer me merit scholarships to cover costs. Ideally, there would be a lot of research opportunities available. I’d prefer for it not to be rural but location and size is not a huge issue. Not sure if a lac or research university is better for me.

Schools currently looking at:
Case Western Reserve
Brandeis
Oberlin
Claremont Mckenna

What colleges would be best to look at for me? What should I be focused on improving in my application? Any help in sorting out what schools would be realistic in my situation or would offer the most would be greatly appreciated! I’m the first in my family to be applying and I’m just feeling overwhelmed!

Thank you in advance!

Search for premed threads in the forum. Tons of good advice. Common themes are keep undergrad costs low because med school is expensive and undergrad prestige doesn’t matter because it’s grades and mcats that get you into med school.

Look at UT Dallas, Alabama, USF, WVU(bigger med/science area than you would think), Ohio State, Arizona State, and Temple. Maybe one of the Jesuit schools like St. Louis University. Your in-state options are usually cheapest. Talk to your guidance counselor.

@chmcnm
That’s an interesting set of recommendations.

OP: Review the forum for recent and ongoing Oberlin issues.

Is there a reason you aren’t considering your state flagship? Those are usually very good and relatively inexpensive schools.

Otherwise, CW and Brandeis make sense. I’m not as familiar IRL with Claremont McKenna, so won’t make a judgment one way or another there.

Some other schools with potential for merit aid would be Wooster (OH) or possibly Dickinson (PA) - the latter in Carlisle which is a cute college town, but not a city nor very close to one. Washington & Jefferson is near Pittsburgh, but might be too far away from a city for you too. Juniata would be on the list too, but it’s more rural. Toward eastern PA take a look at Muhlenburg, Lafayette, and Lehigh. For all of these schools, run the NPC to see if they seem to work - and compare them to your state flagship TBH.

Run the NPC on Whitman, St Olaf, Lewis and Clark. Seconding Dickinson and Muhlenberg. Public flagship+ honors college.

@ivycover
It is an eclectic list LOL, but OP is thinking med school and his budget is $30-35k/year with no FA so those schools would be affordable with his stats. Some would be downright cheap allowing to save money for med school. I think Temple and WVU probably have affiliations with the hospitals and SLU has a med school I believe.

I know several docs that went to W&J. (I grew up close and was accepted there many years ago). It’s always been known for sending kids to med and law school. Nice school but in a smallish town about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh.

I like Dickinson in Carlisle. Was there a few months ago visiting a friend. Nice campus and neat town. Road trips to Philly or DC wouldn’t be difficult. Maybe throw Bucknell in the list too if Lafayette and Lehigh are on the list.

Here is your situation from what you have said: you need money and do not qualify for financial aid. Your parents can pay $30-35k a year. The schools you have listed are bumping up to the $80k a year mark. You need $40k+ in scholarships to make it work at those three schools you mention.

CMC gives about 25 kids merit money. They are the top of the top, all having something CMC really wants. The chances of getting merit awards there are very very small. You can look at the Common Data sets to get some idea of what the average merit awards are and how many freshmen are awarded them at Case and Brandeis. The problem is that $40k of merit money is very difficult to get $10-20k, with your stats, possible. But $40k? ummm, that’s difficult to get. Especially from schools with name recognition.

CMC does have a program where they are giving financial aid to kids from families in the $100-200k range under certain circumstance. I do not know if their NPC takes that into account. I know some other schools doing the same, Rice and JHU, to name a couple of them. You might want to contact their Admissions and financial aid for details about this.

Otherwise, Brandeis , Case, Oberlin are high reaches for you because odds not good that you will get enough money to be able to go there even if you are accepted.

Oberlin is in a PR storm right now, so maybe that will affect Applications which may loosened some merit money this year, but then again they are facing a big financial hit. They are not an easy school even at best Times to get merit money.

Like anyone and even applicant who doesn’t want to be scrambling after the results are in, you need some schoolsvehere you know you’ll get accepted. And where you either can get a guaranteed scholarship to bring the price down, or the price is right. Like your state schools maybe. Like U New Mexico, maybe, or Alabama. Some good suggestions made upthread

The schools you picked are your reaches after you see if you qualify for CMC Fin aid and if you really think you’d get $35k+ from CMC in money when the top 25 kids got an average of about $13k. Otherwise, it’s simply not affordable for you. This is the kind of research you need to do to get schools with big possible merit money. Your instate public schools are likely affordable to you and some OOS have merit awards that you have a decent shot of getting that can bring the cost to you so that they are affordable