looking for advice on starting my college search (pre med)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior in high school just starting my college search and I'm at a bit of a loss with where to begin. My intention to do a pre med likely with a major in biochemistry. I've asked around and I usually get told about Cornell, JHU, etc. but realistically I'm unlikely to be accepted at those places. Many schools seem to offer some type of pre med program but I'm having trouble distinguishing which ones in my "range" can provide me with the best opportunities.</p>

<p>For reference, my GPA is a 4.0 weighted (I'm unsure what it is unweighted). I recently got the scores back from my first SAT and I received a 780 in Critical Reading, 740 in writing, and a 650 in math for a total of 2170. I know the math is a bit low (I was both surprised and disappointed with that) but I expect it's well within my ability to get that up another 50 points or so.</p>

<p>I live in MA so obviously schools around there are easier to visit, but I'm not averse to traveling for my education either. I don't know if I'm being a bit too vague here, but at this early stage in the process I'm just trying to get a sense of what type of places I should be looking at.</p>

<p>Any advice is appreciated, thanks.</p>

2

<p>start by getting a book about college admissions so you understand the landscape; the various types of colleges, the meaning of fit, what to look for on a visit, how to figure out if you can afford it, etc. That’s what you’re asking here, and it really does take a book to lay it out. One I like is “Admission Matters”. There are many other good ones.</p>

3

<p>Ask your parents how much they are willing to spend each year for college. Then work with the new Net Price Calculators on different school sites to see how much you’ll be expected to pay. That may narrow things down quickly.</p>

4

<p>I am a sohmore in high school, but i am graduating early so ill be graduating practicly in my jr year…i have started to do college researching and the way that i started was i just talked to my school counclor about what i wanted my carrer to be. She gave me some websites that i could use. (Including this one) that could help me. What i advise you to do is to just search for colleges in the locations where you wouldn’t mind going to college at, then i would just look at all of them see which ones pop out at you…I also have a GPA of 4.0, I live in a middle class family, so my parents really dont’ have that much money to pay for college, but with my grades i am hoping to get a schoolarship…mabey you will too :slight_smile: I haven’t taked the ACT and the SAT tests yet…I think you did a pretty great job…Good Luck!!!</p>

5

<p>Both of you need to start with the money. Unless your family has set aside $200,000 for your educaion you’re going to need to figure out what financial aid options are available at private colleges.</p>

<p>Ask your parents to use an on-line calculator to determine how much they would be expected to contribute. This will tell you how much NEED based aid you may receive. If that works for you, go forward.</p>

<p>If it isn’t enough, then you must concentrate on colleges that offer MERIT aid. This is a different list from the need based colleges, though some offer both need and merit.</p>

<p>After you’ve established the financial side, you can work on the fit aspect. I think a good place to start is to select one or two ideal schools, based on size, teaching style, location, atmosphere and ambience. Most often (though not always) the “perfect” college is also a reach. If so then find other schools with similar characteristics that fall into the match and safety category.</p>

<p>Safties are hard to identify. It takes time and is often a trial and error process. So make finding one or two “sure bets” that you could live with your #2 priority (after the money).</p>

6

<p>For reference, my GPA is a 4.0 weighted (I’m unsure what it is unweighted). I recently got the scores back from my first SAT and I received a 780 in Critical Reading, 740 in writing, and a 650 in math for a total of 2170. I know the math is a bit low (I was both surprised and disappointed with that) but I expect it’s well within my ability to get that up another 50 points or so.</p>

<p>I live in MA so obviously schools around there are easier to visit, but I’m not averse to traveling for my education either. I don’t know if I’m being a bit too vague here, but at this early stage in the process I’m just trying to get a sense of what type of places I should be looking at.</p>

<p>===============</p>

<p>You have good scores so far and if you practice, test again, you may do better. Also take the ACT.</p>

<p>1) Find out from your parents how much they’ll pay.</p>

<p>2) Identify some schools that will financial safeties …these are schools that you’ll get accepted to and your parents will pay or you’ll get large merit scholarships.</p>

<p>3) If you’ll qualify for FA, then identify schools that give great aid.</p>

<p>What kinds of schools do you like? Big, small, sprited, quiet, warmer weather, cold/snowy weather…etc.</p>

7

<p>I’m still unsure on the situation with money, I know my parents earn too much to qualify for financial aid but I’m not sure if they have the money available to pay for it. Frustratingly, they seem to have taken on a “cross that bridge when we come to it” attitude. I’ll try to have a talk with them about that when I can.</p>

<p>In terms of what type of school I’d like to attend I don’t have too much of a preset opinion. I think I’d rather go to school in a city since I come from an outer suburban/rural area. But that’s not a make or break factor.</p>

<p>I’m still puzzled on what type of school I should be looking at based on my grades. Many websites can give you the average SAT scores etc. but they all seem to span a large range. I’d assume I’d want to be at the top of this range to stand a good chance at getting admitted?</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>You may want to start by looking for cheaper options, such as:</p>

<ul>
<li>In-state publics (e.g. University of Massachusetts, about $23,000 per year). Even cheaper would be doing the first two years at community college and then transferring.</li>
<li>Less expensive out-of-state schools (e.g. Minnesota - Morris or Truman State, about $22,000 per year; Minnesota - Twin Cities, Virginia Tech, Stony Brook, Cal Poly, Iowa State, etc., about $30,000 per year).</li>
<li>Schools with big guaranteed merit scholarships if you get your GPA and ACT/SAT high enough (e.g. Alabama with Presidential Scholarship (3.5 GPA, 32 ACT or 1400 SAT CR+M) for net cost of about $14,000 per year, UAB with Blazer Elite Scholarship (3.0 GPA, 28 ACT or 1280 SAT CR+M) for net cost of about $6,000 to $10,000 per year).</li>
</ul>

<p>Medical school is expensive, so you want to minimize undergraduate debt. And if your parents do not want to talk about money or run the financial aid calculators, you need to have some cheaper options just in case they tell you after application season that their ability and willingness to pay is limited.</p>

9

<p>right, try to get your parents across that bridge now. Merit money (the equivalent to scholarships) is not so easily come by. You can find it; you can get it, but it takes a focused effort. You need to know the rules of the game.</p>

<p>Aside from figuring out the money, you should view the process of making a list from two directions: Where you want to go and where you can get in. At some point in the research process the two ends meet.</p>

<p>For the where you want to go part, just take the plunge and start reading, talking to friends, visiting. Large and medium sized colleges have a range of personality types so it’s easy to find “your people.” Smaller liberal arts colleges are more personality specific so you have to seek out ones that appeal to you.</p>

<p>Start with a list of about 30 and keep narrowing down until you get to about 8 to 10. Among those 8-10 there should be reaches, matches and at least one, solid safety. Don’t stress over the fine points of where you stand statistically as it’s not possible to develop a foolproof analytic formula. There are too many unknown and uncontrollable factors to know what will drive the admissions committee’s decisions.</p>

<p>Your grades, scores [and presumably rank] are just part of the admissions process. Yours will not keep you out of any college in America, but nor will they get you in. They are just the starting point. </p>

<p>What will get you over the wall are the intangibles: extracurriculars, essays, recommendations, activities, accommplishments and general life experience. Also critical is your demographic which includes all sorts of factors like race, economic status, geography, gender, religion.</p>

<p>Basically, colleges are looking for a balanced class on so many levels. They want good grades and scores of course, but they also want students who will contribute to the campus community.</p>

10

<p>Originally Posted by rightprofile</p>

<h1>I’m still unsure on the situation with money, I know my parents earn too much to qualify for financial aid but I’m not sure if they have the money available to pay for it. Frustratingly, they seem to have taken on a “cross that bridge when we come to it” attitude.</h1>

<p>Well, when parents say that and you can’t get them to be specific, then you have to PROTECT yourself by making sure that you have 2-3 back up schools that you like and can afford. These are “financial safety schools”.</p>

<p>Once you have 2-3 financial safety schools identified (and applied to!!), then you can apply to various other schools as you wish. </p>

<p>Sadly…all too often when parents wait til they have to cross the bridge, they find out they don’t have enough money to pay the toll…and guess who gets hurt??? YOU…the student…and then it’s too late for a “do-over”.</p>

<p>Right now, you have the stats to get some very large scholarships at a few schools. That’s what you need …VERY large scholarships to schools for back-ups. Those can be your financial safeties. We can talk more about those in a bit. In meantime…test again and take the ACT as well. :)</p>

<p>how did you do on the PSAT?</p>

<p>With both of your parents present…try again to talk about this subject. Explain that you’re not likely going to get need-based aid. Ask them if they think they can spend $20k? $40k? $60k per year…or less??? You need to know that. If they dont’ think that they can come up with that kind of money, you need to know.</p>

<p>" Merit money (the equivalent to scholarships) is not so easily come by. You can find it; you can get it, but it takes a focused effort. You need to know the rules of the game."</p>

<p>This is so true…and maybe your parents are (wrongly) assuming that all/most of your schools will offer you lots of money. You have to carefully FIND the select ones that will give you lots of merit. many won’t give you anything.</p>

11

<p>uab does not have a forum here :frowning: so if you have any questions about it, feel free to pm…for more info on merit, honors colleges, dorms, programs etc. would be glad to give you info…its an excellent school for sciences.</p>

12

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<p>Do not do this if you are potentially on the pre-med path. While not a fatal flaw, it’s definitely a nick on your med school application according to those I’ve talked with and the general consensus I’ve read here on the pre-med forum.</p>

<p>See if you can get your math score up and try the ACT. There are merit aid options out there if you search carefully. Students from my local ps have gotten decent merit aid from mid level LACs and some larger Us with lower scores than yours. These would be better on your med school App than any community college.</p>

13

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Agree!</p>

<p>A CC isn’t probably the best plan here…not great for pre-med…and certainly would ruin all of the excellent merit offers that are only giving to incoming frosh by universities.</p>

14

<h2>Skittle…“I am a sohmore in high school, but i am graduating early so ill be graduating practicly in my jr year…i have started to do college researching and the way that i started was i just talked to my school counclor about what i wanted my carrer to be. She gave me some websites that i could use. (Including this one) that could help me. What i advise you to do is to just search for colleges in the locations where you wouldn’t mind going to college at, then i would just look at all of them see which ones pop out at you…I also have a GPA of 4.0, I live in a middle class family, so my parents really dont’ have that much money to pay for college, but with my grades i am hoping to get a schoolarship…mabey you will too.”</h2>

<p>I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to graduate early until you know for sure that you have the ACT or SAT scores to get the scholarship that you need. And, in the meantime, work on your spelling. ;)</p>

15

<p>^^^ M2CK, you took the words right out of my mouth. Skittle: another year of high school may seem like a long time but I assure you that the year will fly by, offer up opportunities you would otherwise miss, and help with maturity. Colleges will be able to assess your skill, education and maturity through your writing. Keep practicing and write as much as you can. Good Luck in your college endeavors! :)</p>

16

<p>OP,</p>

<p>Give more thought to your major in college. While you do have to take a year of Calculus, Bio, Physics and 1.5 yrs. of Chem to prepare for the MCATs and to satisfy Med School Admissions requirements, the other 75% of your college life can be spent studying anything that interests you. Sociology? Art History? Philosophy? LInguistics? Econ? really anything. If I were on a med school adcom, I’d be impressed with a person who did well in STEM classes, and majored in something completely non-STEM.</p>

<p>Oh, and you’ll find out soon enough… about two thirds of entering Bio majors don’t stick in Bio… either b/c a lot of schools give out about half C,D,F grades in the traditional pre-med weeder courses (especially first year BIO + Ochem), but more b/c they learn there is no such thing as a pre-med major, and BIO is not a surrogate for pre-med. There are few things more depressing than fully understanding and practically memorizing the text, including footnotes, and realizing that the other 300 kids in the BIO class are doing the same thing.</p>