I’m female, African-American, with a 31 on the ACT, a 1420 on the SAT, a 3.8 unweighted GPA, Mississippi resident, with a budget of <15k per year.
Reach
Tulane
Matches
University of Houston
University of Alabama-Birmingham
Safeties
Mississippi State University
University of Alabama-Huntsville (maybe)
Is this list realistic/exploring all my options? If you have any recommendations, I’d be very appreciative! Also, does anyone know how good UAB’s and UAH’s premed programs are?
I think you can reach higher with at least a couple of more applications. I just looked up Tulane, and you seem like a match there. Your scores and GPA are above their average.
With your budget concerns, I’d suggest googling the various lists of “schools that need full need,” and particularly “schools that meet full need without loans.” There are a number of really good schools on these lists where your scores could be in the middle of their average, or at least around the 25% percent mark for their students. (Look those numbers up on the school’s Common Data Set.) If you have a really solid application, and you’ve taken higher level courses as much as you could, having a 3.8 GPA and being an African-American from Mississippi could give you a chance at many places where your scores might be a little below their average. Rice and Vanderbilt are examples of two great schools that meet full need and don’t require loans if your family income isn’t that high.
For any school, you should run the Net Price Calculator and check out their premed programs. If you really, really like a school that has excellent financial aid and is good for premed, you might consider applying Early Decision if it is available. You would have to be pretty sure the school would cost less than what you can pay.
Are you low income? I’d throw a couple generous private schools on your list.
Perhaps look at Agnes Scott (all female), Rhodes, URichmond, Centre?
Look at schools like Emory, Grinnell, Rice, Vanderbilt and some of the Ivies which are known to provide good financial aid. I’m sure you would qualify for some of the fly-in programs.
Try the net price calculator for Emory and the U of Rochester and see if the cost looks affordable.
Agree, add some reaches! Tulane is a match and the rest are safeties. Find 1 or 2 top 30 schools that have excellent financial aid. Do you want to stay in the south?
Tulane is more a match SD all other safeties. Pick 3 that you like best. Then add a few more matches and a few reaches.
Also, apply to Ole Miss and its Honors college ASAP.
Run the NPC on the following colleges with excellent financial aid, strong science, and very few applicants from Mississippi:
Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Carleton, Bates, Grinnell, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Scripps, Colby, Kenyon, Dickinson, Denison, Skidmore, Macalester, St Olaf.
The first six would be reaches, so pick 3 from the bunch. Then add as many others as you can handle. Colby, Middlebury and Kenyon have no supplements.
If after the NPC you have a few that are affordable and you have a favorite, apply ED.
(Mississippi’s schooling is pretty terrible and the average score there isn’t 21 but 18. A 31 from Mississippi is as rare as a 34 in Massachusetts or California. So that 31 should be seen as a very strong score.)
If you’re lower income, make sure your guidance counselor checks the “fee waiver” box on Common app.
You can me and other adults on this forum your essays to review.
Well, my dad makes <150k a year but he has five kids (one will be in college at the same time as me, and one will be in grad school) and he wants me to stay in the south. Any of the schools you listed offer merit aid?
Well, my dad makes <150k a year but he has five kids (one will be in college at the same time as me, and one will be in grad school) and he wants me to stay in the south. Any of the schools you listed offer merit aid?
Some do, depending on how much more than 150K it is. Family of 7 with two in colleges would result in significant financial aid but maybe not to your desired level. Run the NPC’s. The first six colleges would likely eb the most generous. Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Scripps, Colby, Kenyon, Dickinson, Denison, Skidmore, Macalester, St Olaf, offer various levels of merit.
southern schools: SMU, Rice, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Emory, Rhodes, gt, uga - all privates have the sticker shock but run the net price calculator. If Virginia is still south enough UVA W&M are also good schools for you to possibly look
@MYOS1634 That is a long list of good suggestions. Fee waivers? That is expensive. Can she try Brown?
Bowdoin could love her.
Great stats @incurablycurious If the NPC works out for you, choose Amherst as a reach. That is a great college town in a five college consortium so you could take classes also at UMass, Smith https://www.fivecolleges.edu/
You should get a lot of merit at University of Alabama (main campus in Tuscaloosa).https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
Check out Davidson College in North Carolina. It’s a reach but you’d have a decent chance and they have good financial aid as well as merit scholarships.
You’re an excellent candidate, as others have posted, you’re almost selling yourself short by not including some of the top schools in the south on your list. For schools that are strong pre-med and are generous with financial aid, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory are your best bets. Also having another sibling in college will really help with lowering your efc - estimated financial contribution. Not sure about the grad school student though.
Seconding Rice, Emory (Emory Oxford if you’d prefer starting on a smaller campus), Davidson. Run the NPC’s.