Help selecting a college...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello...I'm currently a Junior at 1 of the best public high schools (GBN)
Asian Male
gpa: 3.6 weighted
psat: 195
havnt taken ACT or SAT yet (JAN / FEB)
my PLAN test tells me i should get a 30-34 on the ACT
and im hoping i can atleast break 2k on the SATs...(prepping)</p>

<p>Frosh year: 1 honors (Geometry)
Soph year: 1 honors (Alg 2 / Trig) 1 AP (European History)
Jr year: 1 AP (US History) 2 honors (Physics + Pre-Calc)
Sr year (tentative): 2-4 AP (Physics / Chem / Calc / Macro) mayb bio</p>

<p>Activities:
1/2 year of Write Place Staff (+1 sr year)
1 year of Interact (+1 sr year) (Mostly volunteer work)
1 year of bard book club (+1 sr year) (volunteer work here also)
2 years of soccer
2 years of volleyball (+1 more year for dis year +1 sr year)
2 years of debate (heh...i suppose GBN is infamous for dat...was 4th speaker in state frosh year)</p>

<p>I want to pursue a medical profession ne school w/ a decent pre-med program is fine with me in or out of state (Illinois) thx</p>

2

<p>What do you want, big school or small school? Is location an issue? What about tution?</p>

3

<p>school size doesnt matter location doesnt matter tuition probably isnt a big issue for now</p>

4

<p>Join your friends at UW or UI.</p>

5

<p>uw = madison
ui = uiuc</p>

<p>??</p>

6

<p>You really don't care about your lifestyle for four years?</p>

7

<p>What would you prefer- small classes, lots of attention, everyone knows eveyone business or anonimity and innumerable opportunities of big University? How intense you want competition to be there? Any religious preferences? Climate? On campus- off campus?
You can get guide books from library or read up on line about majority of schools.
You can do searches on this forum about many colleges- some very descriptive visit reports have been posted here.</p>

8

<p>meh i can get along w/ the majority of the ppl i meet so i'm not really concerned...</p>

<p>i'd probably prefer smaller classes but doesnt have to be...doesnt have 2 b a big college...i'd probably prefer a smaller 1 tho.</p>

<p>i want atleast sum competition...not totally intense tho</p>

<p>no religious preference...</p>

<p>climate i don care about</p>

<p>thriving campuses r always a bonus</p>

<p>btw i'm still confused about UW and UI</p>

9

<p>Correct-Wisconsin-Madison and UI-UC</p>

10

<p>i heard madison is a party school...do they have a good pre-med courses?</p>

11

<p>I think you are too focuesed on "good" pre-med. Its largely a myth. The best pre-med is most often the highest ranked or reputed school you get into where you can get the highest GPA. Focus on what atmosphere you will like and how good of a school you can get into. LACs often are great med feeders because of the attention they shower on their undergrads and the access to research, whereas big schools like UW and Michigan will do you just as well but might require more initiative to engage the resources. I have found this to be the case even at the grad level. At my undergrad school (a quasi LAC) it was very easy to access professors (they invited you home for dinner), whereas at my top professional grad school the professors are amazing, but half don't know my name or won't grab coffee. If you engage them though, they can be incredibly helpful.</p>

<p>Anyway, I admire the attitude of just wanting the best school for pre-med, its just not that simple.</p>

12

<p>Madison has the best biosciences in the midwest and one of the top 5 or so in the country. Have you not heard of all their groundbreaking work on stem cells? UW is a work hard and party hard type of place. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/packages/biotech/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.news.wisc.edu/packages/biotech/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

13

<p>In addition to Wisconsin and Illinois...
and in the midwest...
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Carleton
Grinnell
Macalester
Washington U St Louis</p>

14

<p>mmm i was thinkin of northwestern n washinton st louis but i thought they'd b reaches 4 me >.<</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
1 of the best public high schools (GBN)

[/quote]

According to whom?</p>

16

<p>various people whether it would b my peers / teachers / other students from other schools...</p>

<p>there must b a reason y we dominate the debate kingdom every year :O</p>

<p>besides...i didnt say the best i said 1 of the best...it definately is...i'd like 2 hear a person say it isnt n his or her reason for it</p>

17

<p>GBN is a terrific school (don't listen to mesaboogie, he went to that school east of you). Given the resources of your high school, I'm surprised you haven't made an appointment with your school's college counselor. He or she would have a very good idea of suitable places based on the past performance of kids from your school with your range of scores. </p>

<p>You should start by visiting some local schools to get a feel for what you prefer: large, medium or small, technical or liberal arts, city, suburban or rural, liberal or conservative student body. Saying you don't have an opinion means you don't know yourself well enough; the college search process is all about discovering who you are and where you want to go in life.</p>

18

<p>hey hey
I never said it wasn't a good school.</p>

19

<p>WashU is a huge reach. My high school (which is near-by), sends a lot of kids to that school every year. In all honestly your GPA is too low. I've yet to see anyone get in below a 3.8, even when applying ED I. With a 3.6, I would say U. Illinois would be a decent one, U. Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State would also be worth considering.</p>

<p>I'm sorry collegehelp, but the four colleges below you gave him were moderate to large reaches.
*Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan</p>

<h2>Washington U St Louis</h2>

<p>Carleton- Reach
Grinnell- Reach
Macalester- Reach</p>

<p>You need to give the boy some matches, and safeties :)</p>

20

<p>heh i suppose i agree w/ kinglin :O</p>

<p>i suppose i can visit my counselor ^^</p>

<p>n np mesaboogie. no offense intended</p>