Looking for a college to ED to.

College Search & Selection
1

Hi guys! My stats in short are:

High school gpa: 3.72 unweighted
SAT: 1350 (just took a practice test after rigorous studying and I got a 1530 so when I retake in August it should be around that score)
Majors I am interested in: Planning to go down the premed route; Neuroscience, Biological Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology, Cell Biology, Genetics
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: South Asian
Hooks (URM, First generation): None
ECs: Nothing majorly interesting, but I show dedication, commitment, perseverance to what I do (i.e Piano, Tennis, 150+ Volunteering, Hospital work, Tutoring at school, Stem Cell Research Club VP)
State of Residence: California
Income bracket: 200k+ (My parents are willing to pay wherever I go)

So I’m looking for a college to ED to. I am interested in Northwestern and Washington University at St. Louis for its premed programs, and I will be more than okay with getting into either. I will not be able to visit the colleges this summer. Basically what I want to know is the ED vs. RD for these colleges as well as suggestions for other colleges that are good for kids interested in premed with stats similar to mine.

I know my GPA is on the light side. Don’t have an excuse for this. I am an IB diploma candidate and junior year took me by surprise. I hope I can explain myself a bit in my essays? Thanks in advance!

2

You shouldn’t go into your search assuming ED. Identify 8 or so colleges to aoply to with a range of selectivity that offers your major, looks affordable from the NPC, and seems like a size & location you would like. Visit them if possible to make sure you really like them. If so, and you have a clear favorite, THEN consider a binding ED application.

3

I would only apply to a college ED if 1) it a school is your absolute top choice and 2) your family has no need to compare financial offers between colleges.

4

@happy1 I would hold 2 as true, but I guess I need to do more research for 1.

5

ED has its pros and cons, as with everything. Mostly, it benefits the school. As @happy1 notes, ED works best for students who do not need to compare financial aid offers. Even if your family can afford to pay full tuition, a lot of full pay families like to know their price options, so you might want to find out if your parents like the idea of ED.

Understand too just how binding binding is! Yes, ED can give a significant bump, and it’t the strongest hand that a student can play, and, yes, I imagine that it would be nice to have a college path determined in December of senior year and then avoid the stress and enjoy the remainder of HS. But people’s feelings can change (not just for young people, but adults too!), and how one feels about school in the fall might be different than how one feels in spring. You must be truly in love with your ED school.

6

@Hapworth thanks for the advice! Like I briefly mentioned, I did not start looking into the value of these schools until two weeks ago (oops) I hope I’m not too late! I’m spending my entire summer compiling a list of colleges I would like to attend and realistically I saw the ED as a leg up. I do understand that financial offers are handy even if I can afford full tuition, and I will consider them. However, I don’t want financial offers getting in the way of my acceptance.

Speaking of that, is it true that people who can afford college tuition without loans have a better chance of being accepted than someone that does need the loans?

7

It depends on the college. Need blind colleges do not factor financial needs into admissions decisions. For need aware colleges an applicant’s need for aid can play a factor in admissions decisions, often for students who are on the cusp. Being full-pay will never gain a student admission to a top tier college that he/she is otherwise not fully qualified to attend.

IMO the biggest benefit of your family being full pay (be sure your parents are able and willing to pay the full cost of a private college) is that you are free to apply ED without financial concerns if you do find a school you like above all others.

8

@happy1 they were quite surprised that Northwestern was an upwards of 70k per year, but they were okay with me going there. I agree with you that I am not fully qualified for top tier colleges (GPA is soft) so I’ll be looking into that. Thanks!

9

@Aneem00 , honestly, it’s not that you aren’t fully qualified, it’s that the most competitive schools receive applications from many more fully qualified students than there are spots available. For example, a few years ago, at one top LAC we were told that the school considered 70% of applicants fully qualified and was confident that they would be successful academically and otherwise. It accepted 14% at the time. So 4 in 5 fully qualified applicants were not accepted.

Academics and reputation are important. So is fit. Look at any list of Top 30 schools. They are very diverse. Some might be great fit for you. Some might be your worst nightmare. Take Dartmouth and U Penn. Both Ivy League. Both obviously outstanding. Penn is extremely urban. You are generally a block from gritty city streets. It has a very professional vibe. Dartmouth is adjacent to a quaint college town with farms and mountains for miles around. It’s bitter cold in the winter. I find it bucolic. You might too, or it might feel very isolated for you.

So make sure that, if you apply ED, you’ve determined that the school not only has outstanding academics but is also a good fit for you. You will be living and learning there for four years.

With regard to Wash U, it’s a beautiful campus, and very posh. Academics are outstanding. Numbers definitely seem important in admissions, and so is interest. So definitely visit if you can, and interview if possible.

Truly, there are many, many schools with outstanding academics, just as outstanding as the most famous, competitive schools. Holy Cross for example. Also Case Western Reserve University (CWRU “Crew”) is outstanding for pre-med. There is a university research hospital practically on campus. It is urban in a similar way to Wash U and Northwestern. It gives generous merit aid, so MAYBE your parents would pay something like $40k-50k per year, instead of $70k.

Your success in going to med school would depend much, much more on your grades, MCAT scores, service work, etc. than if you went to Wash U v. Northwestern v. CWRU v. Holy Cross.

Good luck!

10

@TTG Thank you. I found that very helpful and insightful.

11

You should also look at the women’s colleges. The top five (Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley) have good track records for getting students into med school. Some of those have merit aid for truly excellent students. Of this group, I do know that Bryn Mawr practices need-aware admissions, so being able to pay the full cost might give you a boost there. The second tier down might be happy to throw merit aid your way, and would also give you decent support as a pre-med so don’t be afraid to look at those too. http://www.womenscolleges.org/

12

Since your search isn’t particularly price-sensitive, I feel as if you need a few more parameters to narrow down what would work best for you. Right now it seems as if you are in a mode of trying to parlay every possible advantage (ED bump, possible preference for full-pay students, etc.) to get into the absolute most competitive college you can. This isn’t an unreasonable line of thinking on the surface, but if you really want to end up in med school five years from now, you need to think in terms of the “long game.”

College GPA is a huge determinant of whether applicants make it into med school or not. Do you really want to pull out all the stops to get yourself to a college where 90% of your peers got better grades in high school than you did? Obviously you don’t want to err too far in the other direction either - there’s no point in going to a college that isn’t rigorous, such that your high GPA won’t mean much. But there are many excellent colleges in the zone in between, where you could land in the top half of the class on natural ability alone, and be confident that hard work could put you in the top 5-10%, but know that the achievement of being in that top 5-10% will really mean something.

Plus, it’s wonderful that your parents will consider spending $70K+/year on your undergrad, but do keep in mind what the total tab is going to look like by the time you get through med school. Doing your undergrad someplace where you could get some merit aid and perhaps keep the total cost of your bachelor’s degree under $200K rather than $300K+ is… not a crazy idea.

One option that is very much worthy of consideration is the College for Creative Studies within UCSB, which is a research-focused small honors college with an additional layer of application. https://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/majors

As a musician and a STEM student with particular interests in research and medicine, you might really love the University of Rochester. You could study piano at Eastman, participate in the ample research opportunities for undergraduates, and find all of the shadowing/volunteering opportunities you need through the med center. (D3 tennis too, if you play at that level.) You would very likely get some merit aid.

Women’s colleges can be particularly good places to do pre-med. Mt. Holyoke, Scripps, Bryn Mawr, Smith… all have merit aid potential and excellent sciences. Barnard and Wellesley don’t give merit aid, but in addition to their own excellent offerings they also allow you to take classes and do research at Columbia and MIT, respectively. Agnes Scott offers both great merit aid, and cross-reg/research opportunities at Emory.

Clark and, as TTG mentioned, Holy Cross, both have excellent sciences and research opportunities in their own right as well as through UMass Med School which is right there in Worcester. Brandeis can also be a great place to go premed, with easy access to Boston. Yes, CWRU if you like urban U’s… also Pitt where you would qualify for the Honors College.

Basically, there are many, many options, so it would help to narrow down what kind of experience you are looking for, beyond the academics.

13

@happymomof1 @aquapt thank you so much for all your help!

Sadly, it is true. As desperate as I seem, I really do want to maximize my chances of getting into a top school. But however, I do understand that most of the kids at those schools might fare better than me, which may leave me a bit behind for med school, the important part of my path.

I am extremely grateful for my parents for guaranteeing to pay for my undergrad and med school education, as I know many students do not get that opportunity. I do not want to be haughty about it, but if I do get an advantage for paying full tuition, I would like to know what it is.

Also, I did notice that many of the schools that were recommended to me were LAC’s. Do I have good opportunities at other equally good schools? I am not all that enthused about the idea of attending an LAC. I have visited one in the past (will not name so I don’t start a fire) and I didn’t like the vibe I was getting. I know that they all aren’t the same, and I’ll have to visit more for the real deal, but growing up in the suburbs, I would rather attend an urban school. I heard most LAC’s are not urban.

14

Okay, it’s helpful to know that you’d like a more urban environment. There are a few urban LAC’s - Macalester is a great one, and obviously Barnard which can really be a best-of-both-worlds scenario as an LAC which is part of a top research university.

I think what several of us are trying to point to is that the best pre-med opportunities often come at undergraduate-focused institutions. But LAC’s don’t corner the market on prioritizing undergrads. Mid-sized U’s like Rochester (which is certainly urban-adjacent with at least as much city access as Northwestern or WashU) can be great in that regard too.

15

@aquapt thanks! I should’ve mentioned the environment I was looking for in the post, oops :stuck_out_tongue: I looked into Barnard on the surface after you recommended it, and I like the campus and the premed opportunities I’m seeing.

16

Anyone know anything about Creighton for pre med? I’m keeping it as a safety since I am not interested in going to Nebraska for 4 years, but if it’s worth it I may give it more thought.

17

I don’t know much about Creighton - what brings that school up in particular? If you like the mid-sized Jesuit universities, you can also look at Santa Clara and Fordham (another great urban school), and Holy Cross is one too. Boston College is a tougher admit but it could actually be a great low-reach for you.

A really nice urban LAC with great pre-med opportunities is Rhodes College, in Memphis. They have a close relationship with St. Jude’s research hopital there, so if you’re interested in cancer research, pediatrics, etc. Rhodes could be a really nice safety.

18

You’ve received good suggestions so far. I would also expand your search to include Universities like Barrett honors at ASU or UofArizona honors college. UofA has a med school . Your GPA is low-ish for someone wanting to pursue med school, and also for the more desirable UC’s. College GPA’s usually tend to be lower than high school gpa’s. Med school is competitive but particularly so for students of Asian origin. You can google stats for med school admissions broken down by ethnicity from the official med school admissions site.

So, you need a university where you can change majors if you think med school will not work out in terms of your college stats, or if you lose interest somewhere along the way.

19

@aquapt my friend got into Creighton and she said she was drawn in by its med school. Apparently it’s really good and people that do undergrad in Creighton have an almost sure acceptance to the med school.

20

@momprof9904 oh that’s interesting. I was hoping to up my game in college but idk let’s see how that goes. I really want to go to a top med school so undergrad I’m not overly concerned about (ex. if I don’t go to the ones mentioned in my post, I won’t be upset). I am aiming primarily for UCs, but was wondering about an ED choice.