I'm so perplexed....HELP

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I already spent months searching the internet for schools to apply to. The last four days I did intensive research and got to around 30 finalists:</p>

<p>Schools I'm in love with!!
-Princeton
-MIT
-JHU
-Cornell
-Harvard</p>

<p>Other reach schools I'd love to attend:
-Upenn
-Stanford
-Columbia
-Yale
-Tufts
-WUSTL
-Duke
-Northwestern</p>

<p>More realistic schools:
-Brandeis
-NYU
-University of Maryland-College Park
-UCSD
-SUNY Binghamton
-Vanderbilt</p>

<p>My Stats:
SAT: My accurate prediction for the October test-800M, 600CR, 700-720W
SATII: 720BioM, 750MathII, 800Modern Hebrew, 570French
Rank-1/90
GPA-98.2</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Israeli Dance-I dance 20 hours a week+studying to be a dance instructor in the sports department of a respective university+volunteering- I dance with handicapped people (on wheelchairs)
-school newspaper editor
-One of 20 finalists in Math Olympiad</p>

<p>Other info:
I skipped a grade, I'm a US citizen living abroad (lived 10 years in CA, living in Israel for 6 years), my father has a mental sickness, my parents are separated</p>

<p>My teacher recommendations, secondary school report and essays will be AMAZING!! </p>

<p>Can you help me minimize my list and make it more realistic? I know I'm aiming way to high but I really put a lot of effort in order to get to the best college I can. I'm also coming by myself to the U.S. and leaving my family in Israel; therefore, I want to go to a good university that is worth it. Here are my preferences for college:
-GOOD PRE-MED PORGRAM
-Active and dominant Jewish community (especially Modern Orthodox one)
-Medium size or large student body
-anywhere in the US
-college near a big city
-Financial aid very important</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help!!!! I need to make a final list of 15 universities. As I said, reputation is very important to me. Therefore, I want to apply to 10 reaches and 5 matches/safeties.</p>

2

<p>How can you have an "accurate prediction" of anything? Particularly of a standardized test you haven't taken yet?</p>

<p>Don't send in your French SAT II - it won't do you any favors. Also if you expect to get a 600 on the CR portion of the SAT I, try to study more. It's an important component of the test.</p>

<p>Your valedictorian status will help you.</p>

3

<p>Bumpppppppppppp... any other opinions?
lolabelle- I took the SAT this October. I just didn't get the scores yet and I have a feeling these will be my scores.
I studied a lot this summer for CR and unfortunately, I think this is the best I can do. I hope the other parts of the application will compensate for this fact.</p>

4

<p>^^When you send SAT scores to colleges, <em>all</em> of them get sent, including the French score.</p>

5

<p>I can retake French in December if it makes such a big difference.. I think I can get 650+ because I studied a lot since last year.</p>

6

<p>people please...... I need help!!</p>

7

<p>You have a strong resume - women with 800 SAT Math scores are highly sought after. Many are from foreign school systems, which means you, a US citizen, are even more unique. I think your CR score can be attributed to living out of the country for the last few years. </p>

<p>I can't give you guidance on all of your schools, but my oldest son is a math major at Cornell, and he looked at a number of the schools on your list. You might consider applying as a math major to play up your strength. Pre-meds can major in anything they want, and there are careers that combine math and biology - Cornell has an option to concentrate in that area. And, as long as math and sciences are part of the same division within the university, you should have no problem switching majors to something that suits you in those fields.</p>

<p>Your top 5 "in love with" schools look good. MIT is 3X more generous to women than men in admissions, but it has a very tough core curriculum. Princeton and Harvard are super-reaches for everyone, as you probably know, while Cornell and Johns Hopkins would be medium reaches. I could see Cornell accepting you - but did you know that it is a 5 hour bus ride from NYC? Binghamton is in the same area. There are no large cities nearby - medium-sized Syracuse is an hour away. Bus service to NYC is quite good, though.</p>

<p>Your next set ranges from super-high reaches (Columbia, Yale, Stanford, U Penn) to medium reaches (Tufts, WUSTL, Duke, Northwestern). I would carefully consider how much time you want to spend on those super-reaches. It may happen that you apply to ten of them and get zero acceptances. You would be wise to concentrate on matches and low reaches, where you could expect an acceptance rate closer to 50%. Reduce this section by at least half.</p>

<p>Realistic schools - of these, NYU is notorious for giving large loans as part of their financial aid package. I don't think Binghamton fits on your list for a number of reasons. Vanderbilt is a good choice but the Jewish community is not as strong as the others, and Nashville is not a big city. You could fly in and out of Chicago, though, which is only about an hour flight.</p>

<p>Regarding your test scores, if you do retake, it should be your SAT, especially if you think you could raise the CR score. Your SAT IIs are three solid numbers, and that's all any school asks for. I believe the December test would be accepted by all of your schools for the RD round.</p>

8

<p>Thank you Midwesterner!! Your advice is so helpful. I will definitely apply to the first five schools. Now you even made me more in love with Cornell- you idea of majoring in math sounds good. Can you major in math and minor in biology or the opposite? Will it hurt my chances to get accepted to a medical school if I major in a non-science subject? I'm a little bit worried about the location of Cornell. Is there an active Jewish community in campus? Is there a Jewish community outside of cornell such as: a Jewish school, synagouge etc.
Of the second category I will definitely apply to WUSTL because of its great pre-med program and to Upenn because of its active Jewish Community. I want to add one more from Stanford/Columbia/Yale and one from Tufts/Duke/Northwestern/Rice. Which are best for my preferences?
*Any ideas for one final low-reach?
For the last category: Here I'm totally confused. How are the universities I listed for sciences and math? I think NYU is ruled out because of the loans policy and Vanderbilt is too alienated. Why doesn't Binghamton fit? How is the University of Maryland-College Park.
Does anyone have ideas for matches? Especially important is:
-good pre-med program
-active Jewish community
-Financial aid</p>

<p>I really appreciate your replies. There is really nobody here in Israel that can help me.</p>

9

<p>From the Columbia/Stanford/Yale pool, any would make a fine choice. At least among my friends, I've noticed those that currently do, or previously did live in CA fair far better than they otherwise might. So that might be worth keeping in mind. And remember, Columbia has a substantial core, which may or may not be your cup of tea.</p>

<p>Of the Tufts/Duke/Northwestern/Rice group, Tufts jumps to mind first, as they are excellent both for pre-med and medical school, and should you change interests, are very well regarded in areas like IR. But Northwestern is top 10 for most of its science programs, and is especially well ranked for chemistry. In that case, I'd choose by location, size, or other factors of personal interest.</p>

<p>If you are looking for one more low-reach Carnegie Mellon is strong all around, and generally quite strong in the sciences, as well as art (like dance), business, and computer science. Of course, given your medical plans, I might be inclined to advance Lehigh too, though I feel like this is more of a match perhaps than it is a reach. Another match with several solid science programs, including a top 5 BME program, is Case Western. The Jewish community there (Case) is decent, with two formal Jewish groups and another in the works, an on-campus Hillel, a Jewish fraternity, and possibly a Jewish sorority in the next year or two. </p>

<p>Most of your college selections are good. But I agree that you ought to remove Binghamton, unless it is your safety. It is an isolated state school that is of far lesser quality than any others on your list. UMCP should also go, as it is an oversized degree factory that can't match up with the others you've suggested.</p>

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<p>while this doesn't fit all your criteria, have you considered Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA? It's small, but my daughter (a freshman) seems to think that 1/2 the student body is pre-med (or that's what it seems like to her). They also have a highly respected dance program where the classes are open to anyone who attends the school. It's an hour and a half from NYC - there are regular buses there. The Jewish population is substantial - about 1/3 of the student body. She was kind of floored when she went to choir rehearsal the Thursday night before Rosh Hashanah began. She said about 1/2 her choir was missing because they'd already left for the holidays.</p>

<p>Your stats would qualify you for some really good scholarship money. My daughter has two academic ones and one talent scholarship, adding up to $18,000 a year. You would also qualify for one of the honors programs (there are three to pick from), which, when admitted is one of the academic scholarships.</p>

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<p>Don't knock Vanderbilt off your list too soon. They have been trying to increase their diversity, and are one of your best bets for merit aid. Even though you will probably get some need-based financial aid from all of your schools, part of that package will be loans and a campus job. Merit aid is a straight grant, no strings. If you have medical school in your future, you'll need to consider the best offers.</p>

<p>For the same reason, take Teriwitt's suggestion of a smallish, liberal arts college seriously. I know two outstanding young women who graduated recently with excellent records from small to medium sized middle-tier colleges. One is now doing genetics research at Yale, and the other is developing robotic limbs as a grad student at Northwestern's medical school. Their undergraduate educations gave them the opportunity to really stand out and they had generous scholarships to make grad school a reality.</p>

<p>About the math major - spend some time on Cornell's math department web site. If you can master the theory, it is not a time-consuming major. My son is actually double majoring in math and computer science, and still has time to work a campus job and pursue his favorite hobby. Cornell doesn't have minors, I believe.</p>

<p>As you trim your list, you have got to spend more time going over course offerings and other details. Not every school will offer the things that make college enjoyable. For information on Jewish life, use "Hillel" in the search engine. Good luck, and PM me if you have more questions. I have a good friend going to Israel next month - maybe you can answer some questions in return!</p>

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<p>Hi everybody.</p>

<p>gprime- do you mean that as a former CA resident I have an advantage for Stanford? </p>

<p>teriwtt-Do you think Muhlenberg would be a match for me or a reach? I checked the college's website and it looks like an interesting school. Can I major in science or mathematics and minor in dance or does dance have to be your major? What is the school's total annual cost? I think the website said it's 33K. If that's the case an 18K scholarship won't be enough:(</p>

<p>Does anybody know how Brown is for pre-med and how good are its scholarships? I checked the accepted students' stats and it seems like Brown could be a low-reach for me? Am I correct?
Is there any point in applying to Caltech if I'm already applying to MIT. They seem to be very simillar schools except for Caltech being a smaller school. Where do I have more chances of being accepted?</p>

<p>For some reason I'm still having trouble with the safeties. Is Brandeis good for science and math? For now my safeties are: Brandeis, Vanderbilt, Muhlenberg, MUCP. It's hard for me to find safeties because I don't know anything about them. Can someone help?</p>

13

<p>Well for safeties you could try Tulane as the people I know there have mentioned the strong Hillel presence on campus and 25% of students are jewish. Also they give out goof financial aid and they have a strong pre med program. It loves to show people the love to try to steal them from other schools. As for the safeties you mention Vanderbilt is not really a safety for anyone more a match IMO.</p>

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<p>Even though the accepted student statistics make it look like a reachy match for you, Brown is a reach because of their extraordinarily low admit rate. They may be looking for athletes, minorities, legacies, etc.
Caltech is short on women and might welcome your application.</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
Do you think Muhlenberg would be a match for me or a reach?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think it would be a match. As far as money goes, I'm just reporting what my own D got. I'm sure there's more available somewhere in that school. However, I will tell you that many Muhlenberg applicants are EA, but my daughter had no problem getting in or getting scholarship money. The only area it really hit here was that she got her third choice in housing, which by the way now, she is totally in love with.</p>

<p>And as far as the dance program goes, anyone on campus, regardless of major, can take any of the dance classes offered. But yes, you can minor in dance if you want, but it won't give you access to classes that you wouldn't have otherwise. My D is double majoring in vocal performance and theatre, and (although I still need to clarify this - I get different answers depending on who I ask) could minor in dance. She entered with enough AP credits to allow her to take that many dance classes.</p>

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<p>Another question: Is Middleburry a reach or match?</p>

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<p>Thanks teriwtt!!</p>

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<p>Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia is a strong match for you. It is approximately 33% Jewish. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Barnard--located next to Columbia in NYC, are very strong matches also. Middlebury has a 12% not very active Jewish studentbody. Tulane is also a strong match and awards lots of merit scholarship money. Have you actually received any SAT I scores yet? If not, then Muhlenberg is Pennsylvania is a great almost safety school for you to consider. Muhlenberg is about 32% Jewish.</p>

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<p>Even though your SAT-CR score is low, I'd definitely apply to MIT. Contrary to popular opinion, you're not likely to get a boost for being a woman - the female applicant pool is MUCH more self-selected at MIT. But you have good math/science stats, and it is both near a big city and has a large Jewish population, much of which is active, including a culturally Jewish sorority.</p>

<p>If you can handle the classes, you will certainly be better-prepared for med school than many of your future med school classmates, and there's a good premed advising program in place, and a club for premeds. The drawback is that it's harder to get good grades.</p>

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<p>jessiehl-did you mean definitely apply to MIT or Caltech? I'm just not sure because someone before said that Caltech is in need for women..lol
Thanks for your advice:)</p>