@momofthreeboys - which are the clear deletes you see? That would be helpful to know!
Drew is the only school on that list that has early ACTION. The others either have REA, SCEA or only ED for early application options.
None have rolling admissions.
@thumper1 - Please tell me if I read these wrong because I thought both MIT and Chicago were also EA
From MIT:
MIT Early Action is an option for all applicants, domestic and international. Our Early Action isn’t single-choice, binding, or anything like that. If you choose to apply to MIT during Early Action, we do not place any limits on where else you may apply, nor do we require you to attend if admitted (though we sure hope you do!)
However: if you apply to another school during Early Action that does have a restriction, MIT requires that you respect those rules. So for example, if you apply to another school that is “single choice” - meaning that you can only apply there during the early period - you may not simultaneously apply to MIT. But that’s just good manners.
From Chicago:
Our Early Action (EA) deadline is best for students who would like to apply early and receive an admissions decision early, but are not certain about what college they would like to attend. Applying as an Early Action applicant does not constitute a binding commitment to attend if admitted, and you have several months to let us know whether or not you will attend. If you would like to compare admissions offers and financial aid packages from multiple colleges when making your final decision, Early Action is a better choice than an Early Decision plan.
Early Action applicants will receive an admissions decision of admit, deny, or defer.
If it were me (and of course it’s not) and if my kid as recently as a year ago was thinking about Econ/Policy, I would take Brown PLME off the list (and possibly the others as well). PLME at Brown will not give your D the opportunity to do a deep dive on some of her other interests which is a shame- I was at a conference at Brown recently and heard a fascinating panel discussion on Health Reform/Health Policy which was moderated by an incredible professor of political science with a wonderful presentation by an economist. Your D can go to Brown and major in virtually anything but still apply to med school, or shift her interest to health policy, or continue on to a PhD in Life Sciences for research. The odds of her getting into Brown are much better than PLME- that’s just a numbers game right there.
Someone with more knowledge about RPI and Case can weigh in on those programs. But for regular admissions to Case I’d think it’s a pretty solid safety, ditto BU.
So I think you are heavy up on the safeties and can afford to drop a few.
On the reaches- Haverford AND Swarthmore? Does your D love them both? I’d pick the favorite and drop the other.
And for my dough I’d pick a big state U like Rutgers (solid safety, although you need to work the financials since you aren’t in-state anywhere), apply early, and then be more judicious on the matches.
So net- trim the reaches, drop some safeties, decide if at the end of the day you are really going to pay for GW and you’ve got a manageable list.
@blossom GW is a tough one - I’m an alum! I had a great scholarship there and I was nowhere near the student my daughter is!
@blossom We are certainly having the exact discussion at home that you mentioned about studying something else before med school. I am a big fan of When Breath Becomes Air and use him as an example all the time.
@doschicos - I’ve put the list above. We have Naviance but only brought into the school this year. Students from the school go all over the world for college so it may not be as helpful a tool. College guidance counselor is not as invested in the process as I think is required for US applications but may be great with other countries - I don’t know. In the end, pretty much doing this ourselves.
I think it is a good list overall. Personally, based on the vibe your daughter wants, I’d keep both Haverford and Swat on the list.
I think it is okay to be a bit top heavy as long as she has a few she’ll definitely get into (and I think she does). Make sure she is showing these schools the love, though, via various means of demonstrated interest if they indicate on their common data sets that they weigh that in the decision process.
If it was me, I’d drop the following schools off the list: BU, GWU, Drew, and RPI/Mount Holyoke based more on location plus the fact I believe she’ll have other options from the list.
My family member recently received what her dad called a “full ride” ( merit) to GW. She currently attends one of the reaches on your list… I would keep GW if you think your D may like it.
I’d drop Drew - it’s a good school for B/B+ students but she will NOT find the caliber students she wants.
I’d replace it with a strong Honors College (Michigan LSA? Applying EA. And/or Penn State Schreyer for the summer 10-week medical internship opportunity for freshmen and sophomores - check out AFrenchie36 on Tumblr for his premed/research adventures - downside, she’d know quickly that she’s in but wouldn’t know about Schreyer till March I think.)
Oops…you are right…both MIT and Chicago have EA. Do those!!
Does your daughter have Drew on her list for some reason? Unless it’s a compelling one, I would agree…it might be better to drop that one…or replace with some other school. But I would want to know the reason the school made the cut in the first place. It might be a good reason.
@thumper1 - I have two younger cousins who went to Drew and had fabulous experiences so we looked at it. Found out they do have a BA/MD program with Rutgers that comes with fabulous merit aid if accepted (25,000 for 3 years during undergrad and 20,000 per year for 3 years during the MD). The clincher was the really interesting programs they have in NYC (semester in the city) as well as research opportunities.
They also have great merit scholarships for IB students.
As far as a safety - it seemed pretty interesting.
Uof M is not really urban but a great uni of course but the idea is to trim the list not add more. I would go with the urban since that was a stated preference, I’d start with taking a really close look at the reasons why Case, Swathmore, and RPI are on the list since they aren’t technically metropolitan in the same sense as Chicago, NY, Boston. If she’s willing to go to a women’s college then I’d leave those, even though arguably the metropolitan is not true for all. I’d also, as a parent, really want to feel the commitment to an all women’s uni…and in the case of the existing ones they hare very distinct personalities in their enrolled student body so that would be something to take a close look at. Brown is in Providence, but an outlier also compared to the others.
your reasons for including Drew are good ones.
Is the BA/MD a safety? Most of those are not.
I don’t know how long ago your family went to Drew, but we visited the school with DD in 2005, and it did not stay on DD’s list. If accepted, this is definitely one you would want to visit.
But then…if your visits are post acceptance, you would,want to visit all of the top contenders…right?
Providence is definitely a city.
It was a dumpy industrial city when I lived there 40 years ago but now it’s a real city. Fun downtown (10 minute walk from Brown campus), several teaching hospitals, good theater and music scene. An hour from Boston when you run out of Providence things to do on a weekend…
@thumper1 - No, the BA/MD program at Drew wouldn’t be a “safety” I don’t think…but I think she would be a very strong contender. As a school, they seem to be wooing IB students as hard as they can. So even if just admitted to Drew she can potentially get really good merit aid, enter with 32 credits completed, and be not to far from NYC for special programs.
@thumper1 What was it about the campus that you or your DD didn’t like? Would really appreciate the insight. My counsins went there because they got great scholarships and they both got a chance to continue to play soccer through college. I have been to the campus once for a game, but I don’t recall noticing much of anything.
The University of Maryland at College Park (what everybody has been calling UMD) is a good match or maybe even safety. It’s very close to Washington, DC, with easy access by the Metro (subway) system, so it’s a good choice for people who like cities. But it does NOT have rolling admissions. Decisions come out only about a month before the decisions for the super-selective schools are released.
If she applies to UMD, make sure to take note of the priority admission deadline (which is probably November 1). You can apply later than that, but only those who apply before the priority deadline are eligible for honors and special interest programs and merit scholarships. There are some very interesting programs for freshmen and sophomores that help make the huge campus feel smaller. She would want to be eligible for them.
@momofthreeboys Case and RPI are on the list for their combined BA/MD programs. Swarthmore because of it location near Philly, strong science/bio program and reputation for rigorous academics.
@CValle in my opinion…ANY school on the list for,a combined BA/MD program needs to be moved to the “reach” part of her list. These programs are highly competitive…and are not safeties…or even matches for the vast majority of applicants.
I’m sending you a PM.