I am freaking out!!!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi I am entering my senior year in high school and I can honestly say that I have no idea where to go to college next. I am very picky and tight on money.
Here is my background:
In school, I have a 5.5 GPA, <em>but its weighted and on a 5.0 scale, so that does not help</em></p>

<p>I am in French Club, NHS, French Honor Society, Deca Club, Tech Crew, Key Club , Tutoring, Peer Mentors, Yearbook editor, Student Council which I am an officer for, I am also starting up a book club for my school.</p>

<p>I have over 100 hrs of volunteer work so far. For example: nursing home, public library school library, recycling, and more.</p>

<p>I'm an African American female</p>

<p>Act score: 26, but I'm taking it over
I am in the top ten percent of my class.</p>

<p>My College factors
A place where there is good Pre-med programs and good researching
MY dream place is New York City but I am realistic and know I can't afford it.
I live in Illinois and want to go out of state
I also need a college that has good abroad programs
My intended majors is biology and psychology
My parents make about 24000 annually, so not much at all.
I would love to live in a big city type of place. </p>

<p>This is where the selectivity comes in:
I don't like hot places or summer, so anyway where snow is is great for me. <em>Yeah I know I'm weird</em>
My dream college is Columbia University in New York, but I don't think I really qualified.
I just need a good college that has awesome teachers that are affordable in a big diverse city and can help me on my path to medical school to be a neurologist. Can someone please help me out with some ideas because I am freaking out!!!</p>

2

<p>Given your financial situation, you may need to choose between the ideal college experience and an affordable alternative that will get you to your long-term goal. </p>

<p>IOW, a state school to which you can commute might be your best option. </p>

<p>Get the ACT up to a 30 or so, and you’ll have a lot more options, especially as a high-GPA URM.</p>

3

<p>Like Annasdad says, if you get the ACT up, you’ll have a lot more options. Just as a reminder, you probably won’t be at the school for the worst of summers. Also, a lot of colleges that give very good aid aren’t in large cities. I know that Boston University has a lot of interesting pre-med programs. Rice would qualify for diverse city and research but definitely not the summer part. I think you need to figure out how much give you have in your preferences.</p>

4

<p>I’m also looking to go into the field of medicine! These are the schools I’m looking at:
U of mn
U of Wisconsin
U of Michigan
U of Iowa
U of north Carolina
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Penn university
U of Maryland </p>

<p>All of those schools are very expensive (up to 50,000) but I would strongly urge you to look into how much financial aid you would receive. Schools like penn university originally cost about 50,000 but the average amount that people are expected to pay about 14,000. If they really want you they will make sure money is no object especially if your as smart as you. </p>

<p>Also this is something that I learned the hard way but there are no good premed schools. Premed isn’t even even a major that you can chose (most premeds major in biology or some science). There are only schools that have good medical schools and good reputations. The only thing that your undergraduate school gives you is a better chance to get into med school. Like if your under grad is at Columbia you have a better chance of being accepted into their med school. What other schools are you thinking about???</p>

<p>expensive (up to 59,000</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>Ohio State (Columbus) is pretty generous with financial aids, and if you could get your ACT score to say 28, you will be eligible for “National Buckeye Scholarship” for OOS students.</p>

<p>[Scholarships[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Geographic diversity (Columbus campus, autumn 2011)
Ohio State enrolls students from every state and territory. States with the highest enrollment:</p>

<p>500+: Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, California, Michigan
300 – 499: Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia
100 – 299: Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Utah, Minnesota, Missouri, Arizona, Tennessee, Connecticut
50 – 99: West Virginia, Washington, Colorado, South Carolina, Kansas</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-4KpfAHlz0]The”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-4KpfAHlz0]The</a> Ohio State University: A Grand Institution - YouTube](<a href=“Merit-based scholarships - The Ohio State University”>Merit-based scholarships - The Ohio State University)</p>

<p>Best of Luck & Go Bucks!! :)</p>

6

<p>Again, if you increase that ACT, you’ll definitely up your chances. Still, I’d recommend looking into schools like the University of Minnesota , which has good bio and chem programs and an average ACT of 25-30. It’s 18k per year, BUT you’d likely qualify for aid and it’s in the middle of the Twin cities. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is similar, but a little bit more competitive as well as slightly pricier. I know you’d like to go OOS, but UIUC is also a good school with strong sciences that will be less expensive for you.</p>

<p>Have you filled out the FAFSA/PROFILE? That will give you a better idea of the aid you might expect from colleges if you are admitted. If you can up that ACT score, even only by two points, it will seriously open up your options as it will put a lot of the more expensive private schools that offer good aid within your reach. All your other factors make you look like an awesome candidate - congrats on doing so much volunteer work! You must be pretty dedicated.</p>

<p>Don’t give up, freak out, or hang your head yet. You have all summer to study for the next ACT exam, and exploire further college options.</p>

7

<p>Very few OOS publics would be affordable for you since they don’t meet need. Even with some merit (if you got your scores up a bit), they wouldn’t be affordable. UNC and UVA meet need, but those are hard to get into from OOS.</p>

<p>I doubt tOSU would be affordable. Even with a $10k Buckeye scholarship and a Pell Grant, you’d be gapped too much and the school doesn’t give much else to an OOS student. Use the NPC to check. </p>

<p>Try Loyola Maryland. I believe that they do meet need…but do get your scores up a bit. Good luck.</p>

<p>edited to add…</p>

<p>How did you do on the PSAT? Are you a likely Nat’l Achievement Finalist? If so, then you’ll have more options.</p>

8

<p>Gettysburg College
Hendrix College
University of Miami (FL)-reach</p>

<p>I don’t know how much Fin Aid these schools give out. Use net price calculators to see how much you could get.
(It is just an estimate not guaranteed though)</p>

9

<p>Do you need to be in a city? If you’re open to more rural options, this could be a good school for you to pursue your goals.</p>

<p>[Beloit</a> College](<a href=“http://www.beloit.edu/]Beloit”>http://www.beloit.edu/)</p>

<p>They are need-blind, so you could definitely get a decent amount of aid (especially being a URM), and if you raise your ACT, maybe you have a shot at some merit money. Check it out.</p>

10

<p>tobe, First, on statistics: could you clarify your gpa? Is it 5.5 out of 5.0, meaning mostly A’s in rigorous classes? If yes, you’re in good shape for quite a few colleges.</p>

<p>Take a prep course (or self study), try the SAT or take the ACT again, but don’t obsess over it. Your grades and rank are the more important factors here.</p>

<p>Second, on extracurriculars. You need to edit and zero in on one or two activities that you feel strongly about. Your activities, essays, recommendation and everything in your application should reflect a singular image – who you are and what you can contribute to the campus. Think hard about how to get this across.</p>

<p>Third, ask your parents to use an on-line calculator to get an idea of how much need based aid you may be eligible for. I would guess, quite a lot. Many eastcoast selective schools are quite generous with need based aid. </p>

<p>You should definitely contact QuestBridge, an organization that helps place high achieving low income students in some of the best colleges in America. Do this right away!</p>

<p>Lastly, I believe that as an accomplished African American female in the sciences you would be a person of interest to MANY colleges and universities, and that financial aid will be available for you. </p>

<p>These are some colleges that you may not have thought of: Williams, Amherst, Smith, Grinnell, Carleton. They are not urban, but have plenty of snow :), excellent academics and strong track records for medical school admissions. If they accept you they will make it work financially.</p>

<p>As a general statement, small academically colleges in the midwest and rural parts of the east coast aggressively recruit high achieving URMs.</p>

<p>For urban, look at Brown, Barnard, Chicago.</p>

<p>(PS, Study abroad is fairly common at all top schools. Your financial aid usually follows you wherever you go.)
Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

11

<p>Please do NOT base your plans on a schools reported “average” loan/grant amount. That is a serious misnomer. Run the school’s college cost net price calculator with YOUR family’s numbers to get an estimate of what the school might cost YOU, not the “average student”.</p>

<p>As for premed, as long as you take the required premed classes, you can major in whatever you want. In fact many med schools like the student who majors in something besides a science. As long as you have the grades and the MCAT scores, you will be competitive for med school. Please listens to some of the advcice here with a grain of slat, Its a bit off the mark.</p>

12

<p>you really do need to check out hendrix college, it may not be a place on your radar ( I see bark123 also mentioned it) it is a super hidden gem! they have amazing med school placements and a super happy ,quirky, friendly student body! amazing professors and staff!and a beautiful campus! is it a 180 from columbia? for sure but I bet it is a better undergrad experience by 1000% for those who venture there!</p>

13

<p>momrath nails it. There are many good schools that would provide generous financial aid to a smart, ambitious and accomplished but low-income African American woman. Get that test score up to expand your range of options. And take a look at Macalester, an urban LAC in Minneapolis. It meets most of your criteria. Also, do a search on cc for threads on ‘pre-med’ - there is a lot of excellent advice and resources there.</p>

<p>Also, check out POSSE Foundation - if you are a resident of one of their target areas, they offer full-rides to many excellent schools.</p>

14

<p>My daughter attended the premed weekend last year at Hendrix and loved it. They have an excellent premed curriculum and the stats to prove it…definitely check it out.</p>

15

<p>If you get your ACT up and you want NYC, also consider Fordham.</p>

16

<p>I agree to look at Questbridge- now, because there are deadlines. </p>

<p>A lot depends on how competitive your hs is. That will have bearing on how the adcoms look at your 5.5, in large part because the ACT is low for that gpa. It’s also on the low side for some of the competitive colleges. Eg, Barnard’s median is 30. You need to add at least 2 points. </p>

<p>I agree an oos public is terribly risky. UMn, suggested above, is roughly 28k out of state and the aid won’t come anywhere near that. </p>

<p>A nice LAC outside a major city is good. Rather than suggest names, get a copy of Princeton Review or the Fiske Guide- you can probably borrow them from the library. They’ll help you narrow down. One advantage is you get to get a feel for a range of schools.</p>

<p>Also, many “good” pre-med programs- ie the classes in science and math- are brutal. Instead of thinking of Columbia, you want a school that works with you to head for med school apps, not weeds you out.</p>