I’m a rising high school senior who’s begun to draft a college list. I’d really appreciate some feedback on colleges that would be a good fit for my personality
Here are some of my personal characteristics/preferences:
LIKES:
I’m introverted and not very much into partying or Greek Life. My ideal sort of college would have that party scene accessible to students, but not be the dominant form of social interaction.
close community with interesting, intelligent, kind, humble peers
medium-sized colleges. Not small (<2,500 undergrads) like high school, and not big like most state schools, where you will have difficulty standing out to profs and getting good opportunities.
DISLIKES:
Cutthroat environments. I know that going pre-med is going to be academically difficult and challenging, but which colleges have the best environment with lowest stress for pre-med students? I can deal with competition, but not the aggressive sort of competition that would end up scarring my college experience
Colleges with elitist/exclusive tendencies (not a huge dislike, but as a lower middle class Asian, I want to be somewhere where the economic gap isn’t a prevalent social barrier)
**Academic qualifications: **
UW GPA: 97.7/100 (school doesn’t go by 4.0 scale)
W GPA: 102/100
SAT: 2400
SAT II: 800 bio, 800 chem, 740 math 2 (<–planning on retaking, because 740 is roughly the 75th percentile)
Ranking: probably top 1%
APs: Bio, Physics 1, Lang, US, World (all 5’s); planning on taking 5 more senior year)
Race: Asian
Sex: Female
School: suburban, public in Northeast
Major awards: school science awards/other science-related national/international awards
ECs:
Assistant editor of literary mag
Piano 11 years: multiple volunteer piano-related activities
founded science volunteer club
honor societies (3; VP in TriM)
volunteer/paid tutoring
science research summer intern
**College list so far: **
Yale
Stanford
Harvard
Princeton
Brown
Cornell
Columbia
(basically all the ivies, I know -.- See, this is why I need help)
Pomona (maybe?)
Duke
UChicago
WUSTL
Swarthmore??? Amherst???
Vandy
SUNY stony brook
UC Berkeley
If you have a great college suggestion in mind, please state whether you think it would be a reach/match/safety!
Thanks for reading this loooong post. I’m looking forward to hearing your advice
@Erin’sDad Since virtually anyone from my school above a 2200 SAT/90 GPA gets into UCB (I’m guessing because we’re all the way on the east coast), I had it on my list as a safety. I’m hoping to get one of UCB’s merit aid scholarships.
My guidance counselor didn’t give much advice when it came to my college list… when I consulted with her the spring of junior year, she basically took a look at the schools and said “yup, okay” and then moved on. Most of the seniors in my school go to non-ivies so I’m not convinced she’s familiar with the top schools. You bring up a good point though; I’m planning on meeting with her some more to go over the college list in depth, once school starts.
You might want to consider Northwestern University. There’s a Greek Life presence on campus, but it is definitely easy to not be a part of it or get completely sucked in. There are ~8,000 undergrads, (hopefully) fitting your desired college size limits, and the school is not cutthroat. Organic Chemistry is notoriously difficult, and its never going to be easy being premed, but nobody’s out for your scalp. Oh yeah, and the school is chock full of brilliant people. You can have an intelligent conversation with essentially anyone, which is nice.
Now for the downsides. While I’ve found most NU students to be nice individually, there isn’t really a single “close community” of students. You will definitely be able to find a community of warm, loving friends, but it will be one of many such groups. Also, there is a fair amount of pretentiousness among the student body, but, again, that in no way means that you can’t find a group of students who aren’t into that.
UCB would not be a safety if you can’t afford it without the (highly competitive) merit aid. Would you be happy going to Stony Brook if everything else fell apart?
The University of Rochester meets all of your criteria as far as I can tell. One difference between Rochester and some of your other choices is that UR has a higher acceptance rate. If you don’t consider this an adverse factor, then it could easily belong on your list. I’d describe UR as being a fine, complete university, with classically arranged architecture, on the edge of a medium-sized city. The local hospital is within walking distance and they have an early medical school acceptance program. As a bonus, it appears on this online list, as do a few of your other schools: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges With Great Pre-med Programs.”
@“Erin’s Dad” Yes, I think I would. Plenty of very bright, intelligent students from my high school chose to attend SUNY Stony Brook. It’s strong in the sciences and has some interesting programs (like WISE–Women in Science and Engineering–and Scholars for Medicine) that I think would be good fits for me.
@mom2coIIegekids UCB has very high acceptance rates in my high school (I’ve checked the Naviance statistics for the UCB acceptances, and every kid with grades similar to mine got in). But from what you and @“Erin’s Dad” said, maybe I should reconsider applying to it as a safety… Thank you to both of you for bringing it up!
@merc81 I’ve never heard of UR before but from what you’ve told me and from what I’ve seen online so far, it seems like a great option for me. Do you know anything about the generosity of their financial aid? It seems like the in-state and OOS fees are the same.
UR is a private university, so that’s why their cost is the same for in-state and out-of-state students. They would be likely to recognize your significant academic achievement by offering you a named merit scholarship as well as a need-based grant. Their Eastman school of music would complement your interest in piano.
@tonroxmysox I haven’t heard that Swarthmore is cutthroat though. I was more under the impression that its students studied really hard and that its classes were very challenging.
I too have never heard any complaints about cutthroat behavior at Swat. Some thoughts on your list…
(1) As others have said, there’s a pretty big gap between Stony Brook and the other schools on your list. With your stats, you could get some mega merit $$$ at some colleges a notch or two below the Ivies. Consider looking into such schools (Tulane, Trinity U, Case Western, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, etc.). Here’s a nice infographic from a few years ago.
(2) Yes, keep Pomona and/or Mudd on the list. The consortium makes the Claremont colleges feel larger. As smaller alternatives, I think Carleton and Oberlin might be very appealing to you.
(3) Some of your colleges are very extroverted places – Duke and Vandy come to mind in particular. It’s certainly not impossible to thrive as an introvert there, but it takes a bit more work to find like-minded people. Consider replacing a couple of your colleges with Brandeis and/or Rice. I second the recommendation of Rochester.
(4) Consider replacing Berkeley with UNC or (weaker in the sciences) UVA. They’re the only public universities to guarantee financial aid to OOS students, and you’d have an excellent shot at the Robertson if you submit the supplement. The deadline is November 13, much earlier than Duke and UNC’s RD deadlines.
(5) Consider applying SCEA to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Stanford. You have a pretty solid chance of getting in, and you can apply to fewer match/safety schools if you do.
@warblersrule Thanks for the great tips! All your points are extremely helpful
Harvey Mudd seems like a great school, but it’s mega focused in STEM. While I’m a science person, I still like the idea of having a liberal arts education. I really like writing, and history has always been really interesting to me.
I haven’t been able to find any info about the amount awarded by the Robertson Scholarship… do you know if winners get a full ride? How competitive is the scholarship? And, just to clarify, it’s not officially part of Duke or UNC right? I’ll look into it some more but it seems like an excellent scholarship to apply to.
I was considering applying to HYPS SCEA… just can’t decide which one. I’m leaning toward Harvard, but Yale has also always been one of my top choices. It seems (statistically, at least, when considering the differences between EA and RD acceptance rates between HYPS) that applying SCEA at Harvard would give me a better shot. Any opinions on this?
I actually don’t think you would like UCB. Very intense and cutthroat. Obviously you are very smart, so maybe you wouldn’t be made as uncomfortable by it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a premed unless you were from California and it was a bargain. Plus, it’s WAY bigger than you were looking for.
How about Tufts? It’s smaller and more supportive. They have an early admissions program to their medical school. Access to tons of hospitals in Boston. Easier admit than the Ivies. You would have a very good shot there. Try their NPC. They can be stingy but it doesn’t hurt to see. Brandeis would be similar and would essentially be a sure thing for you. They offer merit aid. Both LAC-ish universities with great premed programs.
@Qwerty568 I agree with you about UCB. I can handle academic pressure, but I think living in a cutthroat environment would be mentally and emotionally unhealthy. Thanks for the great suggestions with Tufts and Brandeis!
Which are your safety schools? Schools that you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered???
How much will your family pay each year?
You have a bunch of reaches, then Brandeis, URoch and Stony. If you’d be happy at one of those 3 AND you know that you have all costs covered then find.
But, I think you should add some other match/safeties that have premeds that will give you large merit…like Loyola Chicago, Rhodes College, Creighton.
But, some may depend on how much your family will pay.
I think you have a few too many schools (particularly high reach schools). If I were in your position I would probably get rid of Cornell (very intense and very large) and maybe one other Ivy you aren’t as attached to.
