Hillsdale College Sciences/Chance

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi there!!

I’m currently a senior in high school and I’m seriously considering Hillsdale for college (it’s tied for first with the University of Rochester). As of right now, the plan is to major in Biology (eventually going into medicine) and minoring in Politics or History.
I know Hillsdale’s wonderful for history, economics, politics, things of the like, but I haven’t heard too much about their science programs. Can anyone offer me more information on what the science programs are like?

As for the chance, I have a 3.75 GPA, a 28 ACT with subscores being 32-English, 31-Reading, 28-Science, 23-Math (I know, I know, the math score is abysmal :frowning: should I retake the ACT??), approximately 35 college credits, and will be ranked in the top 15% of my class.
I participated in a study abroad program through Hillsdale during the summer prior to my junior year and earned college credit through that as well. (This summer I’ll be attending a 3 week pre college program at U of R.) Additionally, I’ve been part of my schools Science Olympiad (1.5 years), Academic Decathlon (2 years), and Speech and Debate (2.5 years) teams and will serve as the captain of Academic Decathlon this year. I’m president of a club I started (Dumbledore’s Army), Treasurer (3 years) of my local People to People International chapter (both the on and off campus clubs), and Historian for WAVES (1 year) (a women’s club that does community service). I am a member of Key Club (3 years), the school band (2.5 years), and work as a volunteer coordinator and food line server (4+ years) for my church’s annual Greek Festival.
Next year I will be taking AP Gov, AP Biology, AP Statistics, Honors Wind Ensemble, PE, and English 12.

Thanks so much for any insight. I appreciate it!!

2

I was impressed with the science department at Hillsdale, but my exposure was limited to working with students and a few professors during science olympiad. The list of science majors is fairly limited, but Hillsdale is well known for preparing students well for graduate school. Could you live with those limited choices?

I would take the ACT again, as you are just a little under the average in GPA and ACT.

3

Thanks so much, @TooOld4School. I think I’d be okay with limited choices as long as the lab facilities were up to par and there were opportunities to do some kind of research (which I’m fairly certain they have)… Did you happen to see the lab facilities? If so, would you say they were of decent quality?

4

Sure, they were comparable to most other basic university labs. They were not anything like the high end labs you see at the better engineering and medical research schools. Dow sponsored their science wing and it is pretty decent.

5

@elebean path of study almost exactly matches mine!! Crazy! Hillsdale’s science department is excellent. They recently (within five years) remodeled/made an addition to their science building, and for pre-professional programs, their name recognition is nearly equivalent to Ivy’s. Definitely choose Hillsdale in my opinion :wink: