I can't visit any schools! How do I pick?!

College Search & Selection
1

So long story short I’m not going to be able to visit any schools. I’m going to be a senior so have to decide. Don’t say that I can drive and look because I can’t- it’s complicated, but my family is too busy and the schools I’m interested in are far away. So I am thinking about applying ED somewhere because my ACT/grades aren’t amazing ( 28 act + 4.1 gap weighted/3.8 unweighted) and it is my best chance to get into a good school. Here are the schools I am interested in, I know that some don’t have ED but I’d like any info I can get even just for regular admission! I am really stressed out because I like some of them equally and I can’t see them in person to help narrow it down. Also I want to go to med school of that helps.

Schools;
Pepperdine
UNC
SMU
Pen
University of San Diego
Vanderbilt
University of Washington
UC Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz
Elon
Baylor
Santa Clara
UGA
University of South Carolina
University of sanfran
Oregon
Lewis and Clark
Notre Dame
Case Western
Stanford (don’t we all)

2

Sorry *Penn and *gpa

This is on my phone and I fat finger everything hah!

Also I am aware Stanford is not going to happen:)

3

Home state? How much can your family afford for college? What are you planning on majoring in?

4

My home state is Colorado- I don’t want to stay here I don’t like the harsh winters and need to get away from my family. My grandpa just died and left me money only to use for college that will cover basically any school I want to go to so thankfully that is not an issue. I’m not sure about my major, but I want to be a surgeon. I’ve been thinking about maybe exercise science, but this doesn’t really give much options for jobs. engineering is also an option just incase med school doesn’t work out, but I’m not sure. Clearly I have trouble making decisions. @Snowybuny

5

Do not apply ED to a school you have not visited. That is a disaster in the making.

If you want to go to med school, you will need a good GPA. So a reach school isn’t the best idea. BUT, you also need a very good MCAT score. And if a 28 is the best you can do on the SCT, that does not bode well for your future MCAT score.

You should just take the following off your list. You will not get in with a 28:

Stanford
Vanderbilt
UNC
Notre Dame
Penn

Even ED (a terrible idea if you have not visited anyway), you aren’t getting into any of those.

Many of these are state schools – if your parents won’t pay for visits, how can they afford out of state tuition? You won’t get aid at most of them.

My advice is don’t panic. But use this site, the net price calculator on each school website, and resources like the Fiske Guide to Colleges to build a sensible list of RD and EA schools. Have a backup plan if med school doesn’t happen. Visit a couple of schools in April after you have acceptances.

6

So he left you over a quarter of a million dollars? (Cool!). Why don’t you use some of it for visits?

7

Have you reviewed the student profile or common data set for each school to better understand which schools are a reach, target and safety as there is a wide range in the schools you have listed? Case Western would also currently be a reach as bottom 25% is 30, top 75% is 33 with a median of 31.

8

@intparent The reason for not visiting schools has nothing to do with money as my grandpa gave me enough to cover any college plus some for travel etc. Money is not the problem with visits its that my parents/ any adults can’t take me and they won’t let me drive alone! I was not aware that a 28 ACT meant I was “doomed” on the MCAT. I think that is a bit far fetched.

9

@futuremed17 - I would suggest paying close attention to the cost of your college choices and try to save some of your money for med school.

10

Since money is not an issue… Can you use some of the $$ to fly in and at least see a few? Lots of schools have shuttles to the airport or you could Uber or taxi.

Sounds like you had an awesome Grandpa. What an amazing gift! Good luck and use it wisely!

11

To answer your question, if you can’t visit, you run admission statistics for your schools of interest to determine your chances of getting in. If you haven’t done so already, get the Fiske or Princeton guide to read some summaries regarding campus culture, academic profile, etc. Go on youtube and look for campus tour videos. Go to student review sites like niche dot com but remember to read the reviews critically. Go to Google Maps and explore the surrounding neighborhoods virtually.

If you are seeking warm weather, maybe take a look at ASU Barrett Honors College.

You might want to retake the ACT and/or give the SAT a try as boosting your score even a couple of points could make a substantial difference for admissions.

12

Keep cost down and use $$$ to fund med school

13

A 28 is 90th percentile. Not bad for all students headed to college, but the competition for med school admission is fierce. You need a backup plan.

Do your parents oppose having you go away? You don’t need a parent to go with you to visit, although some schools are easier to get to than others. You can fly to California and see seven of the schools that appear to be reasonable candidates on your list. But do a lot of research first, don’t waste time visiting schools that aren’t a good fit or are out of reach for your scores.

14

@intparent @carachel2 I’ve been trying to look at flying to California, but I can’t seem to figure out if I can check into a hotel room alone at 17. Also would getting an uber or taxi through basically the whole state of Cali be really expensive? Can you rent a car at 17?

15

Do you have an older relative or friend that you parents would trust to accompany you on a road trip? You can’t rent a car under the age of 18. If you were to fly out, you’d be relying on a combination of public transportation, cabs, and Uber.

If med school is the end goal, you are going to want to preserve as much of your inheritance as possible to fund it. You might want to look into WUE schools (Western Undergraduate Exchange) that offer reduced OOS rates for students from member states.

wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all

16

You wouldn’t take a taxi or uber everywhere. You should look at trains, busses, and SuperShuttle, and only use taxi or uber when necessary. Colleges may have recommendations on the best way to get there, too. Agree that hotels can be a challenge. You can ask colleges if you can do an overnight as part of your visit, some would let you. Take a sleeping bag, and you can sack out on the floor with a student. As a parent, I was able to make arrangements to have my kid stay in a hotel once when I was not with her – I paid the bill via credit card, and they agreed to it when I called ahead of time. But if your parents are opposed, they may not help arrange that. And they may still oppose the trip in general (if they aren’t happy with you driving, they may not be happy with you traveling alone in general).

You can’t rent a car at 17.

Are your parents willing to commit for a week of visits in April next year? That is lots of advance notice for them to arrange their schedules. You could follow the plan of RD and EA applications, then do 2-3 visits to schools you get into during April before May 1 decisions.

17

If you are serious about med school, then calculate the cost of the average program and subtract that from the money that’s been bequeathed to you. Make sure those expenses cover food, housing, and travel. Take out several thousand more for MCAT test prep. This isn’t a meant as a personal dig. You struggled to raise your ACT score from self-prep so learn from that and plan to take a different (but more expensive) approach to the MCAT.

After you do that, you’ll know how much you will have for undergrad studies. Assuming you’re still good, then follow @intparent’s suggestion that you look for a school where your grades would put you towards the top of the class. It’s not just good grades (which are vital), you want to be a standout enough student to get good recommendations and possibly research opportunities.

Finally, engineering programs are incredibly competitive. I’m not sure that’s a realistic fallback if med school doesn’t work out.

18

We’ve toured most of the California schools you have listed. I’ll give you my perspective but take it for what it is worth. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. :slight_smile:

UCSB and UCSC are very very different. Calculate your UC GPA to get a better perspective of your admission chances - 10th and 11th grade only with a max of 8 semesters (4 yrs) of AP coursework. https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

UCSC is more bohemian and is in the woods, not on the beach. It is in Northern California so is more rainy and cold that UCSB. When we visited, we didn’t get the feeling that UCSC was organic, healthy bohemian but more mountain men, Red Bull bohemian if that makes sense. It has a college system so the campus is divided into 10 residential colleges which some prospective students may like and some may not.

UCSB is more of a beachy/party scene. Although the university is trying to get the partying under control, the school still has that reputation and attracts kids that are interested in that lifestyle. Many members of my family have attended UCSB and loved it. I think you just need to find your group of friends and have a solid, secure sense of values and priorities when you enter. I think UCSB might be more of a reach with your 28. Did you study and prep for the ACT? If not, maybe you can study a bit over the summer and bring it up.

USD is a beautiful campus located on a cliff overlooking San Diego. The kids seemed happy, healthy, social and engaged. It is a small campus and very Roman Catholic. They give scholarships to anyone who attended Catholic HS. There are at least two churches on the campus. It was a little too religious for our family but might work for you.

Santa Clara is Jesuit and there is less of an emphasis on religion that USD. It is a very clean medium size campus. The church on the campus is a California Mission. It is located in San Jose (Northern California - colder than San Diego or Santa Barbara). It is right next to Google, Facebook, Ebay, Apple and a bunch of other tech type firms. There isn’t much of a college community surrounding the campus before you get into the city of San Jose. Santa Clara wants you to show “demonstrated interest.” They know that not everyone can travel to visit their campus. I would call the school and explain that you live out of state and won’t be able to visit. They might set up a phone or Skype interview. Be prepared as they are logging your call and are taking notes on the type of person you are. Have well researched questions ready before you call.

USF - Smack dab in the middle of San Francisco. There isn’t a college community around the campus but if you want to live in the heart of San Francisco, it is a good choice. We didn’t tour the campus so I can’t tell you much about the religious side or values on campus.

We haven’t toured UW or Oregon but UW is a big campus in a cold and rainy climate where it snows. Your scores are a little low for UW so, if you are looking for something warmer, I would eliminate that from your list. Oregon is also more cold and rainy compared to your So Cal schools but not as bad as UW. The town around Oregon is a college town so, if that is what you are looking for (compared to Santa Clara, USF, USD) it might be a good choice. Oregon is Pac 12 and has a lot of school spirit.

If you are looking for Catholic schools in warm weather, have you looked at Loyola Marymount University (LMU)? It is a beautiful campus with a lot of school spirit. Everyone I know that has gone there has loved it. http://www.lmu.edu/

As far as med school, if that is your dream, don’t give up on it. Everyone grows and matures at different rates and a 28 doesn’t automatically spell doom. There are hundreds of med schools with different admission requirements. That said, if you want to go into health care, be open to allied health professions as well - dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapists, physicians assistants, chiropractics, osteopaths, etc.

19

Futuremed17, you may not be able to travel to the out-of-state colleges you are interested in, but you should visit colleges in Colorado to get some perspective on different kinds of colleges. For example University of Colorado and Colorado State are large public universities. The University of Denver is a private university in an urban setting. Colorado College is a small private liberal arts college. The Air Force Academy is a federal service academy. Visiting any of these colleges may be an easy day trip for you and will help you refine what you are looking for in a college. Also, you may prefer to leave Colorado for college, but you should consider your in-state options for an affordable back-up plan.

20

Idea:

Create an Excel spreadsheet.

  • The heading for each row should be a school.
  • The heading for each column should be a fit variable: Social vibe, Environment (weather, location, city/town, etc.), Dorms/Food, Academics (class sizes, curricular style, schedule, classes and majors, research/internship opportunities, etc), and Cost.
  • Do a lot of reading -- research those variables and assign values from 1-10 -- each variable, for each school -- according to your preferences.
  • Add up the totals for each school.

Obviously, some variables will be more important to you than others. But this will give you some basic way to rate them.