looking for colleges?? (no idea what I'm doing please help)

College Search & Selection
1

HS UW: 4.0
ACT: 35
SAT: Taking sometime soon, the closest center is 70 miles, so I’m really just going to pray for a good score the one time I take it.
Class Rank: 1/100ish
State: Mississippi (rural area, about 8,000 people in the “area”, most left when the entire city was leveled by Katrina in 2005, 60%+ left are just retired Senior Citizens that couldn’t afford to relocate to Florida or a nicer place)

Intended Major: Pre-med so most likely Biological Chemistry or something along those lines.

Super Reach Schools: Harvard, Yale, UPenn
Reach Schools: Vanderbilt, Northwestern
Safety: University of Mississippi, Milsaps, Mississippi State (although no pre-med programs unless I wanted bio-engineering)

EC:
Do pretty much everything at my school besides like farming club (haha ironic)

Extra Info:
Never have gone to a college fair, never visited a college outside of my state before, literally my school has offered nothing to go to college, most kids either go to a CC then transfer to Ole Miss or State or they go to Delta State or Jackson State then wind back up on the farms.

PSAT Score was 1410 SI was 210: Literally my school just called me to the cafeteria with like 20 other kids and told us to fill out forms and take the test so there was 0 preparation (perfect on math, CR+Writing killed me since its counted twice as much)

This year (my junior year) was the first year that my school offered AP Classes (Teach for America paid for all of my teachers to get AP Certified) and I took:
AP English Lang (4)
AP Physics 1 (5)
AP USH (4)

Next year I play to take: AP Calc AB (school doesn’t offer BC), AP Physics E&M, AP Bio, and AP Lit

I did a transfer program with the University of Mississippi where I took Political Science 101 and Speech 102 and made an A+ in both, and from what I hear POL 101 is what you get if you pass AP Gov so I probably shouldn’t take that my Senior year.

I volunteer a lot with children at the county foster homes and I love working with them. My goal is to eventually become a pediatric surgeon, however I realize this is years and years of school. I’ve heard that for med majors no one ever looks at your undergrad as long as you go to a good medical school, but the thing is I want to be prepared for a decent medical school so I don’t want to go to a party school for an undergrad then fail med school.

Probably won’t qualify for any financial aid if I go to an out of state school, however, if I go to the University of Mississippi or Mississippi State, I qualify for full scholarships from both.

Any other questions, post below and I will answer them, but I’m really just looking for recommendations because I 100% have no idea what I am doing, although my essay I wrote for my common app about breaking the typical stereotypes of a kid from a farm in Mississippi is stellar.

2

My first questions have to do with finances. What will your parents pay each year? You should run the net price calculators with your parents for the schools that interest you and see if they are affordable. You are a strong student- can you pay $65,000 a year if you don’t qualify for aid? Or will you need merit? Once you get the finances set it will be easier to help you find appropriate schools. If you are premed then it’s a good idea to keep undergrad costs low and save the money for medical school. Also- you will want to go someplace where you can maintain a high gpa.

3

Highly selective private schools such as Harvard/Yale/UPenn typically offer need-based aid for family incomes as high as $200K/year. If your family income is average (~$60K) or lower, some of these schools cover 100% of costs (or close to it).

Other schools with very generous need-based aid:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need

In case your income is too high for need-based aid, but your parents are not able/willing to cover the Expected Family Contribution, a few of them (like Vanderbilt) also offer merit scholarships. Big merit scholarships may be more likely, though, from less selective colleges.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

In any case, you might want to consider some “target” schools that are a bit less selective than the Ivies, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern. However, it’s not clear what you’re looking for, or what you can afford.

4

Why are you taking the SAT? I would not bother. You may want to look into taking some Subject Tests instead.

5

According to the Net Price Calculator my cost per year would be around $9,000 with half coming from my parents and half coming from me working during the summer/what I saved working in high school @twogirls

6

I was told incorrectly @tk21769. After visiting the Net Price Calculator I found that they don’t give priority based on where you were from, in fact I received more because I would have a higher traveling cost coming from Mississippi.

7

From what I have been told at my school, I need to take the SAT to apply to some schools because they do not take the ACT because its a mostly Southern test. @suzy100 Honestly, I have no idea what Subject Tests are but I think they are required at Harvard and recommended at schools like Vanderbilt.

8

Agree with post 3. Skip the SAT, but check to see if your super reach schools want to see subject tests.

You need some match schools, and you probably don’t need both Mississippi and Mississippi state, just apply to your favorite. Millsaps is a small school with a very different feel so keep that safety for now.

9

Which school NPC said 9000? Every school has their own calculator. You need to run this at every school that interests you as the prices will definitely not be the same everywhere.

10

Harvard’s @AroundHere

11

@birdinthetreetop

you could add Duke to your list too. maybe Rice?

you would get full tuition + full housing at UAH (Alabama Hunstville – uah.edu), and i know that UAB has a medical school in Huntsville. I don’t know if that would be a more appealing option to you over Ole Miss or MS State.

you would score a big scholarship at Alabama, and maybe even win the competitive full-ride scholarship.

i wouldn’t be too negative about where you come from b/c many top schools want geographical diversity and socioeconomic diversity. heck, they might even put you in their brochure or website.

i don’t see the point in taking the SAT. you have a 35 ACT. my son got into Duke with a 34 and our HS is not all that great. check to see if the schools you are targeting want SAT subject tests, or if they will take your current ACT instead.

have a look at these websites which list automatic full-tuition (even full-ride) scholarships, and competitive scholarships:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

if you crush your GPA at Ole Miss, Miss State, Alabama, UAH or wherever, and crush the MCAT then you would be a strong candidate for med school. now perhaps you want a more challenging undergrad experience at a more selective university, but keep in mind that it would likely make it harder to maintain the high college GPA you will need for medical school. not impossible, but harder.

12

The ACT is NOT “a mostly Southern test.” Look at your targets’ web pages and you will see all the top schools accept the ACT. Be informed. Learn what Subject Tests are. Get activated.

13

every school will take either the ACT or SAT. you do not need both.

you do need to research the individual application requirements of each school you are interested in.

14

So should I just cancel my SAT and take Subject Tests instead? If so, what subject tests would you recommend? The practice questions for Math II seem easy, but which other ones?

15

Here is some information from Northwestern as an example as to whether or not Subject Tests may be required. You should check with each college on your list to see their requirements:

"While SAT Subject Tests are optional for most undergraduate applicants, scores from SAT Subject Tests are required for applicants to the Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME), the Integrated Science Program (ISP) and applicants who have been home-schooled.

Specific exam requirements:

HPME: Chemistry and Math Level 2
ISP: Chemistry, Physics and Math Level 2
Home-schooled: Math Level 1 or 2, plus two other SAT Subject Tests of the applicant's choice from different areas (i.e., not two science or two foreign language or two history, etc.)"

http://admissions.northwestern.edu/faqs/high-school-courses/index.html#reasoning-writing

16

OP’s PSAT score and SI of 210 may qualify for Nation Merit scholarships, so would need to take the SAT to get a confirming score, to advance to finalist status. Taking the SAT may give OP additional options for merit aid through National Merit scholarships, whether sponsored by a college, corporation, or the NMSC.

I do also agree that the ACT is widely accepted by colleges and is not considered to be substandard. Just pointing out that taking the SAT may give this particular student an extra boost for merit $.

17

^ Yes, you learn from exploring what the colleges themselves say.
And get a Fiske Guide to Colleges, which should fill in some blanks and give college suggestions.

18

Wait, you might want to take the SAT for NMSQT finalist status. Makes no difference for any of your super-reach schools but some scholarships elsewhere may be tied to it…

No need to prep for the SAT though, use that time for the subject tests instead…

19

I won’t be a NMSQT semifinalist so no need @notigering

20

You should look at Emory and Georgia. Maybe even Sewanee or Texas-Austin