<p>I'm a little confused with all the information that I've been getting. I'm looking for a school that is good in the sciences. I know that I would like to either do pre-med or engineering, but any further than that, I honestly have no idea. Maybe neuroscience, or maybe biochemistry... It would be great to be able to keep my options open. I have a lot of "reach" colleges but I would like to make sure that I will have some options. I'm not too interested in any liberal arts colleges, I think. Something with more emphasis on the sciences please!</p>
<p>My Stats as of now:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.000, 4.348
Rank: 1% out of 574
SAT: 2350 (reading 800, math 780, writing 770)
ACT: 33, will be taking the September on this Saturday
PSAT: 227, semi-finalist, hopefully finalist! </p>
<p>Work:
Kumon Math/Reading Center, 8hrs/week
High school math tutor 5-6hrs/week</p>
<p>Volunteer:
Hospital 2hrs a week
Animal Rescue 2.5hrs/week
HOPE center 2hrs/week</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Vice-president Orchestra Council 12th
Orchestra Freshman Mentor 3yrs
Officer (historian) Key Club 2yrs, member for 3yrs
Mu Alpha Theta 3yrs
NHS 2yrs</p>
<p>All-State Orchestra 3yrs
State Honor Orchestra 6yrs
Piano 12yrs</p>
<p>Current List, comments please!!! I desperately need to narrow it down and add some safeties</p>
<p>Stanford (early action)
Brown
Washington University in St. Louis
Northwestern
University of Michigan
Duke
Emory
MIT
University of Oklahoma</p>
<p>Also, comments on these?
Berkeley
UC Irvine
UChicago
Dartmouth
UPenn
Columbia
Cornell
Rice</p>
<p>Is CA your home state? If not remove UCB and UCI because you won’t get any aid from OOS. Would you be happy attending OU? If so then you really don’t need another safety. Will your family qualify for FA? Many families are surprised at what schools expect to be the family’s share to pay.</p>
<p>You should drop the OOS CA schools (S was offered Presidential from a UC but it hardly makes a dent in the 50K OOS). </p>
<p>However, do add U. of Southern Cal. If you do make it to National Merit Finalist, they offer a half off tuition to NMF. It’s not a guarantee, but you would be in the running for it if you apply (think you would need to apply EA). It would bring total cost with room and board to around 30K :). This isn’t a suggestion for a safety though --but a suggestion of a school to target for a NMF scholarship. </p>
<p>Did you receive the NMF application packet yet? Read through the entire blue page of NM sponsored schools and I think you may be able to find another couple safeties that you would be happy to attend. There’s lots of threads on these too on cc. And btw, 90% of semifinalists reach finalist standing, so do a great job on the essay and make sure counselor does his/her part by the deadlines, and you should make NMF. </p>
<p>Here’s the link to the threads and read the stickies at the top about schools that give NMF great scholarships:</p>
<p>Oklahoma is his safety for being NMF…which he will be as long as he dots the i’s and crosses the t’s. (Congrats!!)</p>
<p>If you’re going to put Oklahoma as your NMF safety, then please consider Alabama as well…beautiful campus and brand new science and engineering facilities.</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>The above is a video of the College of Arts and Sciences, but it does show a small part of Shelby (which is Phase I of the new Science and Engineering Complex…there are 4 phases…Phase 3 will complete in a few weeks).</p>
<p>Since you’re considering pre-med or engineering, you will still have to take some courses in A&S. </p>
<p>If you scroll to the bottom of the pre-med link, you can be added to the listserv to get further notifications.</p>
<hr>
<p>I agree that he needs to remove the UCs unless he’s instate. And, even the UCs can be unaffordable instate if you’re beyond Pell and Cal Grant limits and your family can’t pay much.</p>
<p>Rice is nice because it has like 9 hospitals in the immediate area…lots of opps for shadowing, volunteering, research, etc. </p>
<p>Have you visited any schools? </p>
<p>Tell us more about yourself… </p>
<p>What do you want outside of academics?</p>
<p>Quiet campus? </p>
<p>rah rah campus?</p>
<p>city setting?</p>
<p>rural setting?</p>
<p>are you the type that easily makes friends?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, this is such a valuable website!</p>
<p>CA is not my home state, Oklahoma is. I don’t think I would be happy at OU though. It’s more of a very last resort type of school, though it would be virtually free. </p>
<p>jkiwmom, I will look into those NMF opportunities at USC and check out that link, thanks! I did not receive my packet, but maybe I will soon because it is supposed to be confidential until Sept 14. </p>
<p>20more, do race and gender influence acceptance rates significantly? And I will be taking my SAT II in October, a little a late, I know…</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, (Thanks!! hopefully) And I will look into Alabama, thanks for the suggestion. I added Rice to the list! I have visited Northwestern, UChicago, and WashU and of course OU. I had a difficult time trying to figure out what I was supposed to be looking for at the campuses and decided not to visit more. Bad idea maybe…</p>
<p>I want to definitely have a lot of internship opportunities and ways to apply myself outside of school. I’m pretty flexible; anything fun is fine with me. I do enjoy outdoor activities, which is why I was leaning so heavily to CA schools. I will probably apply to Stanford REA because it is non-binding. </p>
<p>As for city/rural… I think I would adjust well to either.
I am outgoing enough to get by, but definitely not the life of the party.
I am thinking that large colleges might be a little scary. But too small seems silly as well. </p>
<p>I think I asked for the wrong thing. OU would be my safety school. But what would be some suggestions for schools in the middle? Like somewhere between HYPSM and OU. Would UMich fall in that middle category?</p>
<p>There are lots of schools that offer NMF scholarships, but the amount of scholarships vary (less from top LAC’s/universities who have lots of NMF). UNC Chapel Hill offers 1-2K, Kenyon offers 2.5K, Tulane offers some full rides(I believe), Alabama is a full ride (even your computer!), Denison offers full tuition (separate app.), U of Richmond offers full tuition ride. USC, with their half tuition is the most highly ranked “sponsored school”, so often top students target their NMF scholarship. </p>
<p>The list changes and that packet will have everything you need, but do your homework on the schools you are interested in. Check for additional applications for those scholarships (such as Denison). And you’re right, you probably won’t be able to receive the packet until next week. Your counselor should give it to you next week. Congrats!</p>
<p>OP, you didn’t mention AP scores/courses. What SAT II subject tests will you be taking in Oct.? Just realized that you will need 2 and possibly 3 for some of the schools on your list. You have great stats and I just want to be sure that you have the best possible chance at these reach schools. Best!</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, thanks that is good to know. Might as well cross it off the list. One less app to fill out… And that list you linked is priceless. THANKS!</p>
<p>Jkiwmom, I will also look at the NMS threads, but do you think I should still go for USC? For acceptance, I mean. The half tuition definitely sparked my interest though.</p>
<p>I will be taking US Hist, Math 2, and Chemistry. Not looking forward to the history. And yes, I completely forgot to sign up for them at the end of last year. Big mistake. </p>
<p>AP Scores?
Calc BC 5
Chem 5
Lang 5
Microecon 5
Macro 5
US Hist 4 (I really just don’t do well)</p>
<p>Calc 3, concurrent
AP Govt
AP Physics B (with an awful teacher, not sure about AP tests, but it won’t matter for applications)
AP Bio (another interesting teacher…)
Orchestra (all 4 years)</p>
<p>If you are considering doing either a PhD or med school or both (MD/PhD) and you were my daughter I would STRONGLY advise (actually I would force you) to apply to at least one small liberal arts school with excellent sciences where you are almost guaranteed great merit aid and a fantastic education. See “colleges that change lives” and you will see that some of these little schools are the best places for the really bright student to get a stellar education, cheaply. PLEASE look at: Rhodes College (memphis), Washington and Jefferson (near Pittsburgh), Hendrix, etc. Make one of these a safety/out of the box application and when you are admitted (and you will be) go and visit and seriously consider taking an alternative path…there is a poster on Rhodes forum who had a very bright D do premed at Rhodes and now is at Harvard Med and finding herself one of the best prepared and confident students in her class. </p>
<p>Look for example at the descriptions of these schools and you can see that they may offer you a very different experience. I am a Duke grad and would NEVER advise one of my kids to pick a large prestigious research university education with debt over a small, liberal arts college with merit aid…never. </p>
<p>Hendrix maintains one of the country’s most ambitious undergraduate research programs. No other college or university in the country sends a larger percentage of its students to the annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
Hendrix ranked 28th in the nation among all colleges and universities for the percentage of graduates who earn Ph.D.s within six years of graduation. Hendrix ranked 1st for graduates earning Ph.D.s in psychology, 6th for social science professions, 8th for chemistry, and 9th for education.
Our graduates’ acceptance rate at law schools stands at over 90% and the acceptance rate to medical schools is nearly twice the national average.</p>
<p>Anyway…very little harm in applying to one of these and may open you up to a whole world of possibilities…good luck!
I think, too often, kids with amazing stats like you focus on schools where there are other students with amazing stats rather than on where you want to be when you graduate. As Pope points out…do you choose a hospital for how healthy the patients are when they are admitted or for how healthy they are when they leave?</p>
<p>All your AP courses and scores look great. I am pm’g you because my response is just to dang long, lol!</p>
<p>And agree with above post too, in addition to what ever school you decide to target for the NMF scholarhsips. Another CTCL school strong in the sciences is Ohio Wesleyan U. Over 80% med school acceptance rates for OWU too and academically very challenging. S received their Schubert along with Founders (they “stack” merit awards), bringing total cost to 20K per year. It sounds like you have a lot of schooling ahead of you, so if you can avoid debt then do. And many OWU grads head to JH, Harvard, UVa, etc. etc for med school btw.</p>
<p>I also recommend USC – on top of merit they are a school that meets full need – of course that is with loans. It is a unique school because it operates a bit more like a LAC as compared other Universities. It is easier to take classes in another “college” so that you can major in Engineering but still take classes in the College of Arts & Science. I was very impressed with it when we toured in August. </p>
<p>Brown looks like an outlier compared to the other schools. It just has a different vibe to me than the others. Think about why Brown is on your list. You may have some great reasons for liking it that will lead you to other schools.</p>
<p>I also second Bama because of the great merit.</p>
<p>I second fineartsmajormom – look at LACs and the CTCL schools – for pre-med Ursinus and Rhodes are my personal favorites. Rhodes is near St. Jude’s Hospital and therefore has plenty of opportunities for volunteering/intern</p>
<p>This is not unique to USC. At any school with an engineering subdivision (e.g. College of Engineering), students in engineering take many courses in the arts and science subdivision. Such courses include required things like math, physics, and English writing, as well as the students’ choices of humanities and social studies breadth requirements. Any free elective space can be used on arts and science courses as well.</p>
Best!</p>