Help with College Search - Science and Math, Pre-med

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm a junior and I'm having trouble with deciding my lists of colleges I want to apply to. I would like to know soon, though, so I can start prepping. </p>

<p>I would appreciate it if anyone has suggestions for me. I'm looking for a college preferrably in the North East or East Coast that has a good Science/Math program, has a relatively known reputation, and is preferrably a private school. Ivy suggestions are welcome too. </p>

<p>My stats are:</p>

<p>Female, Asian
GPA Weighted: 4.76
SAT score: 2360
Classes:
Freshman: 4 GTs, 1 honors, 2 reg
Sophomore: 1 AP, 3 GTs, 2 honors, 1 reg
Junior: 6 APs, 1 honors
Will take in senior year: 6 APs, 1 reg (Anatomy)</p>

<p>Current classes:
Calculus AB AP
English (Language and Composition) AP
Chemistry AP
Phyics C: Mechanics AP
World History AP
Statistics AP
French 4 Honors</p>

<p>Took as a trial Math II SAT Subject test sophomore year. Got a 720, Plan on retaking.</p>

<p>Ecs:
French club
Book club (VP)
Future Medical Doctors of America
National French Honors Society
National Honors Society</p>

<p>As for volunteer/service work, currently, I'm going around trying to find a flexible clinic. Hopefully I find something before summer</p>

<p>Have earned academic awards in Math, Science, and French. </p>

<p>Current list of colleges (not very big. This is why I need help :D)
Harvard
MIT
University of Chicago</p>

<p>What I'm really having trouble with is finding non-Ivys that have good science programs. I just don't know where to look.</p>

2

<p>Yale
Amherst
Swarthmore
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Stanford</p>

<p>Is money no object? If you’ll need financial aid, then that will affect your match/safeties.</p>

<p>What is your home state</p>

3

<p>You should take a look at the following:</p>

<p>Cornell (excellent in all sciences)
University of Rochester (you might get some merit aid here)
University of Pittsburgh (although a public school, you will get merit aid here)
Brandeis
Princeton (big reach, but the sciences are topnotch)
Haverford (very small, large percentage of science majors)
Wesleyan
Wellesley (if you’re willing to consider an all-female school)</p>

<p>I also second the recommendations of Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Finally, if you are willing to look outside the Northeast, Northwestern, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Michigan have excellent programs in the sciences.</p>

4

<p>No love for Tufts? Also Lehigh, NYU, Boston U, and probably others.</p>

<p>[Most</a> of the good NE LACs](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4828868-post8.html]Most”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4828868-post8.html) would be more than sufficient for your needs. Franklin & Marshall is probably the best as a match school, but any of the others (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Allegheny, Bates, Bucknell, etc.) would work anywhere from reaches to safeties.</p>

5

<p>Second Tufts. Great pre-med program.</p>

6

<p>Yes, I will be needing financial aid, though I’m also hoping to get scholarships. However, I don’t want money to be too much of a limiting factor in the colleges that I apply to. I plan to factor that in after I know which colleges accepted me. I do have back up, in-state colleges just in case though. I live in Maryland.</p>

<p>What is Tufts? Sorry, I’m the eldest sibling in my family, and also the first person really thinking of going out of state in my extended family, so I’m really new to all this. I’ve been doing as much research as I can, but yeah.</p>

7

<p>Holy Cross has a great pre-med program and nice campus-1 hour from Boston. HC is a smaller version of Georgetown but easier to get into.</p>

8

<p>*Yes, I will be needing financial aid, though I’m also hoping to get scholarships. *</p>

<p>First you’ll need to find out if you’ll qualify for financial aid. Many students want financial aid, but their family’s income/assets are too high to qualify for much help.</p>

<p>Do you know how much your parents will contribute each year? If it’s not much, then there’s no point creating a list of schools that won’t work for you. </p>

<p>You really do need to find out what your family’s Expected Family Contribution is…<br>
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml)<br>
Once you know your EFC, if it is an amount that isn’t affordable to your family, then you’ll need a strategy for scholarships and such. </p>

<p>* However, I don’t want money to be too much of a limiting factor in the colleges that I apply to. I plan to factor that in after I know which colleges accepted me. I do have back up, in-state colleges just in case though. I live in Maryland.*</p>

<p>OK…it’s time for a wakeup call. Money is a limiting factor. You only have a limited amount of time & money to spend on a certain number of applications. </p>

<p>What’s the point of wasting that limited amount of time on several colleges that won’t be affordable? It’s one thing to apply to one or two unaffordable colleges just to see what might happen. But, to ignore the financial aspect could result in a handful of acceptances to unaffordable schools. There’s no “do-over”. You have to do it right the first time.</p>

9

<p>I am perfectly aware that money is a limiting factor. It’s why I’m applying to a wide variety of colleges with a wide variety of price ranges. But what I also know is that financial aid varies from college to college. For instance, Harvard first is financially blind, then if you get accepted, if your income is below a certain point, they will give you a full ride on financial aid. I talked to the admissions director in my area, and I know that my parent’s salary is within the range where they pay full ride 85-95% of the time. </p>

<p>When it comes to decision making, of course money will be a main priority. But I also know it’s a college-to-college basis and thus don’t want to generalize by the broad research I am doing now. I’m making sure to apply to at least a couple colleges in which I’m fairly certain I’ll get into and are very affordable. But those are back up colleges. Not only am I absolutely sure I will be qualified for financial aid (for reasons I am not disclosing on a public thread), I also know that I am in quite good standings for getting student loans as well. Of course I dont plan on being one of those people who are $500,000 in debt by the time they get out of college, but I dont see any problem in paying off a debt little by little each year.</p>

<p>I’m not neglecting the financial aspect altogether, however, I refuse to focus solely on it. Nor am I just “applying to a couple just to see what will happen”. Each and every college I apply to will be because I believe I have some chance of being accepted and because I know that while it may not completely be in my price range, it will be manageable.</p>

<p>You’re right. There is no do-over. This is my future we’re talking about, and I’m determined to give myself the best opportunity possible.</p>