Is he overlooking an awesome school?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Stats:
SAT: 2400
Bio: 800
Math2: 800
Latin: 800
Weighted GPA: 4.8</p>

<p>Bad stuff though: light on ECs, no athletics, no music/art/theater, no debate
Lots of passion for academics though, with a concentration on Biology, Latin, Computer Science, Literature, and research projects
Graduate in 5/2010</p>

<p>Ok, here is the list of schools:
1st choices: Brown, Stanford, Harvard
2nd choices: University of Chicago, Swarthmore, Reed, UC Berkeley, UC Davis</p>

<p>I'm SURE he is overlooking schools because we just don't know enough. Most of these schools have either been recommended to us by someone that we know, are nearby (like Stanford), or are Harvard ;)</p>

<p>I know he's weak on ECs, so may be overlooked, even though his academics are pretty much perfect (he will also have 16 APs by the time he graduates and I'm sure 5s on all).</p>

<p>Looking for a school with an incredible Bio department with world-class labs that can also support his interest in Liberal Arts, like Latin, Philosophy, English, History, etc.</p>

<p>What schools is he overlooking??</p>

<p>Thank you!!!!!</p>

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<p>Never would have thought Brown for an “incredible Bio department with world class labs”, but maybe I’m missing something. </p>

<p>Tons of cutting-edge research in biology is going on at the better big state universities (who get the vast bulk of the government and industry contracts). Being the top student at one of these will often open up internships, mentoring opportunities, and research opportunities less available to the average student at the prestige privates. (Berkeley is a great choice.) Of course, the top student anywhere will have great opportunities if they exist. (Won’t he find Reed or even Swarthmore a bit constricting? They are great, great schools, but there is, virtually by definition, a limit to the breadth of their offerings. Compare - say - the Latin courses available at Berkeley to those at Swarthmore.</p>

<p>[Fall</a> 2008 Course and Schedule - UC Berkeley Classics Department](<a href=“Semester.php | DAGRS”>Semester.php | DAGRS)
[Swarthmore</a> College :: Classics :: Courses](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/x15945.xml]Swarthmore”>Courses :: Classics :: Swarthmore College))</p>

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<p>Looks like your son is a standardized test taking machine.</p>

<p>I guess he’s overlooking any and all top schools he hasn’t looked at. Just fill in the blanks, you’ve got Harvard and Stanford so fill that in with MIT, Yale, Caltech and Princeton, ans since Chicago and Brown are up there too, put down Columbia, Duke, Penn, Northwestern, Darmouth, Cornell and Hopkins, and there you have it, you have a complete list of the every top school in the nation and he’s good to go.</p>

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<p>Pamona? Although only know one kid who goes there but he loves it. Tufts? Son really likes the idea of having a concentrated undergrad college with the access of fletcher’s (grad school) speakers etc and the city without the city.</p>

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<p>Actually, unless he applied ED to some of those schools, while he may be a test taking wiz, his lack of outside activities makes some schools more likely than others… i.e, a swarthmore, MIT, Univ of Chicago. While the scores are great, it does seem a little one-note and self involved, so I would definitely play up the research (lab rat) aspect.</p>

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<p>He’s a junior. I think it’s early to worry about his college application list.
I’d focus on developing the weak part of his candidacy, since he has plenty of time left before he actually applies to explore some ECs.
You are lucky to live near Stanford…some high school students take Stanford classes, or work in labs, or participate in summer programs on campus.</p>

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<p>If he is graduating next year why not do something in the way of a great community service project ? Or perhaps a Governor’s school ?</p>

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<p>UCSD should really be on his list. We work with lots of biotech companies in San Diego. The world of biotech is exploding and San Diego is the hub of activity. The bio departments there are very well funded by the industry and kids like your DS have unbelievable research and internship opportunities.</p>

<p>In fact, if I were a resident of CA with his interests and intelligence (he’ll be a superstar there) it would be my #1 pick over HYPSM. I’d also look at JHU, great research being done there too.</p>

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<p>He is going on a recommendation from a cousin who’s a PhD in genetics (that’s the kind of stuff he likes) and works at Cold Spring Harbor. She said there is incredible biology coming out of Brown (and Reed), so we were taking her word for it. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing so I’m not a big help for him, which is why I’m here …</p>

<p>I’m hoping his GC will be able to steer him in the right direction too. Berkeley is way high up there as well. It was just a bigger school than he wanted. We’ve toured it and it is kind of overwhelming. I guess he wants a school that is small and amazing in all areas. Probably hard to find.</p>

<p>That is interesting you said that about Swarthmore. One of my friends went there and highly recommends it, but now that you mention it, he dropped out of the Classics department because he was unhappy with it and majored in English Literature instead. He was really happy with the education he received there, except for his unhappiness with the person who was in charge of the classics dept.</p>

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<p>He doesn’t have any urge to apply to Yale or Princeton. I forgot to add Caltech to his list; that’s one he is interested in. But, I don’t think he wants a school just because it is one of the top schools. I think he wants someplace he will feel comfortable for four years, that also has the awesome academics. He’s a quiet kid. Not self-absorbed like someone said. He studies really hard and loves to learn. He spends time tutoring kids and blogging about current events. He’s not into leadership though. He’s happy going with the flow and contributing as much as possible to clubs, but not in a leadership role. It’s just not his thing. So, he does have academic extracurriculars and tons of awards, but not like some kids do, because of the lack of leadership.</p>

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<p>^ Chicago sounds like a perfect fit.</p>

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<p>Yeah, he knows Stanford like the back of his hand :slight_smile: He’s hoping to work in a lab there over the summer. I hope he is selected. That’s a reach school, for sure.</p>

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<p>Yeah, it really does. But, I’m hoping to uncover some hidden gems that are out there. I’m sure they exist! The school says to apply to 10 or 12 schools, just to be safe. I’m sure a UC will be an easy acceptance; just don’t want to overlook something that is even better for him.</p>

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<p>Brown gets around 53 million in NIH funding (predominant biomedical funding source) as of 2005
[NIH</a> Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT)](<a href=“http://report.nih.gov/award/HistoricRankInfo.cfm]NIH”>http://report.nih.gov/award/HistoricRankInfo.cfm)</p>

<p>This puts Brown above places like Purdue, Princeton, Cal Tech and other places known for research. There were 98 institutions that received more from the NIH than Brown in 2005.</p>

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<p>Thank you hmom5! We will look into UCSD. I should be more specific when I say Bio though. His true interest lies in plant biology. I think UCB and UCD might be good, but like I said b4, UCB is soooo big. I’m not sure about UCSD since we haven’t really looked at it.</p>

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<p>What is a Governor’s school??</p>

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<p>“he dropped out of the Classics department because he was unhappy with it and majored in English Literature instead. He was really happy with the education he received there, except for his unhappiness with the person who was in charge of the classics dept.”</p>

<p>If you go to a school in a department with only four faculty, at any one time, one is likely to be on sabbatical. If you have “trouble” with one of the other three, your opportunities are radically reduced, given that offerings aren’t very broad to begin with. </p>

<p>(Don’t read me wrong: I LOVE LACs, went to one myself, sent one very happy d. - with similar stats to your son, but much more in the way of ECs - to another. But there is something to be said for the big playpen.)</p>

<p>“There were 98 institutions that received more from the NIH than Brown in 2005.”</p>

<p>The vast majority will be state universities. Pitt, for example, will have more than Harvard and Yale.</p>

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<p>We haven’t thought about Tufts at all. Thank you!! I’ll check out their web site since I know almost nothing about it, except that it is well-known. The Pomona cluster is another very good possibility. The girl across the street went there and loved it. I like that the five schools have different personalities and you can really find your niche there easily and take advantage of all five environments. He’s been resistant to it for some reason though. Not sure why … I’ll bring it up again …</p>

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<p>Pitt, of course, is not quite a ‘public’ institution.</p>

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<p>I have to second the suggestion that Chicago sounds like a perfect fit. My child is a lot like yours, except that she is very artistic and had some pretty strong ecs in that area. Anyway, she is in her third year at Chicago and adores it, thrives there and couldn’t have had a better fit. Your child should really look at it. It has done wonders for my child.</p>