<p>I would love suggestions for this student from you experience folks!</p>
<p>White male from California
SAT 2000 ish; will retake in October
SAT II 740 Math II; 680 Bio
W GPA 4.4; does have one C in AP Chem this semester, but all other grades are As
Two AP exams this year; probably take 3-4 more next year; rigorous course load all throughout school
Attends a well known public school in our area</p>
<p>Athlete with awards in swimming, mostly, but also water polo and earlier in wrestling; he's a natural athlete</p>
<p>Has taken college math, Calc I, II, Discrete Math, stats, and maybe will take Dif. Equ. next year.</p>
<p>Also a talented artist and drummer; has some art for sale; drums at church</p>
<p>Maybe will major in bio? Seems to want to try for med school.</p>
<p>Wants/needs to go away from home (so no UCSD)</p>
<p>Family of four income around 90K; probably can afford 20K for school; willing to take loans.</p>
<p>I would <em>love</em> some ideas for reach, match and safety schools for this young man.</p>
<p>I would think any number of the Cal States or UCs would be worthy of a look see. With $20,000, plus a Direct Loan, plus some student earnings, this could be funded without loans…and if he is looking at medical school, that should be a goal too.</p>
<p>any of the mid/lower UCs…UCR in particular.</p>
<p>He wont qualify for B&G or cal grants so he may want to try some OOS schools.</p>
<p>the family’s income is not high enough for them to be considering loans…especially if they have other kids to put thru college. </p>
<p>are they saying that they can pay $20k per year? or is that the child’s estimate. get clarification from them. that is a lot for that income in Calif, unless they have cheap housing. If that is from the parents, unless they have college savings, paying essentially $2k per month towards college for four years seems unlikely. </p>
<p>maybe the $20k estimate INCLUDES loans??</p>
<p>if his m+cr or ACT is high enough, there are OOS schools that will give him substantial merit…Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, and others.</p>
<p>I would try to find him full tuition scholarships so that the family’s contribution is $15k-ish…and a student loan could further reduce.</p>
<p>Since Calif med schools are so hard to get into, it may be a good idea to get connected with another state to get some preference there.</p>
<p>I guess we need to narrow it down. Which ones would be good in bio or for pre-med? Any specific ones? I think they were actually thinking the UCs would be too expensive. 20K a year is really pushing it. Aren’t UCs around 27-30K?</p>
<p>I was thinking SLO would be good, but don’t really know how good it is for a pre-med student. </p>
<p>Would love some OOS privates that might have merit aid, too.</p>
<p>So if he retakes SAT in Oct., he could still take ACT in November and that would “count”?</p>
<p>The good news is that their older son will be heading to Coast Guard Academy, so they really can put all their eggs into this basket.</p>
<p>I think the 20K might be with loans. I was thinking 15K was more reasonable based on income, but mom is willing to do what it takes to have him go away to college. They have a business, but it’s not doing too well. the 90K is the mom’s salary.</p>
<p>Any reachy schools that have good need-based aid? You know the ones that meet full need? I don’t know pre-med stuff.</p>
<p>What about schools like Davidson? Vanderbilt? U of Rochester?</p>
<p>Sbj…there is no magic major for premed. The student must take the requisite courses for med school applicants, but can major in anything, really. He needs to choose a school where his GPA will be stellar, and his preparation to actually take the MCAT solid. </p>
<p>Look at the thread automatic full tuition/full ride scholarships above. There could be something in that mix that would work for him.</p>
<p>There is also a thread about colleges with lower costs…I can’t remember the exact name, but it’s also pinned at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>What is his CR/Math SAT breakdown? That is really what the colleges use.</p>
<p>1360 is the combined math and reading; 680 each. I think, if he studies, he could get an 800 in math, if he got a 740 on the SAT II Math II. Honestly, if my math disabled son can get a 750 in math, I feel certain this young man can do better.</p>
<p>Yes, thumper, regarding the GPA. That’s what I told the mom today. </p>
<p>Since I am wholly uneducated about this–</p>
<p>Does it make more sense to attend a lower ranked school that is maybe easier to get good grades in? Is getting into med school all about grades?</p>
<p>Honestly, this was what I told DS when he was applying to colleges:</p>
<p>Apply to any college in US as you wish, but do not apply to colleges in California. (I conveniently skipped explaining the real reason why I think he should not apply there though.)</p>
<p>He ended up staying in NE almost forever, and I myself ended up moving west to California after he had graduated from college. We are farther and farther apart from each other and rarely have a chance to see each other face-to-face. How ironic!</p>
<p>Wonder how likely he will join us here in the future? Quite unlikely unless we manage to “get” him a girlfriend in California! LOL. (It seems he may have a “group date” with a couple of NE girls (who don’t drive - grew up in NYC then?) this memorial weekend. Not even sure whether it is a group date though. Dare not ask.)</p>
<p>Well, this is my job–to help identify colleges that would be good for him. Since there are thousands of schools, I’d like to narrow it down! </p>
<p>Here are things that are important to student or parents:</p>
<p>Looking for merit or need-based schools, since I think they’d definitely get money from more selective need-based</p>
<p>Looking for schools where he can swim, maybe D II or D III</p>
<p>Northeast is ok; Pacific states are ok; Texas ok; East Central ok (Ill, Indiana, Ohio, Mich, Wisc)</p>
<p>Any size and any type of school ok</p>
<p>Would like intellectual and friendly school</p>
<p>Would like some flexibility in curriculum</p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>mcat, was was the real reason you didn’t want him applying to schools in California?</p>
<p>Pre-med does not require majoring in biology, although a set of pre-med courses needs to be taken. Indeed, as advanced as he is in math, he may want to major in math (or statistics if he likes that better), pre-med or otherwise.</p>
<p>A lot of people assume that attending a lower ranked school automatically means the student will earn better grades. This isn’t necessarily true. At most schools, the most academically able students tend to cluster in a few majors (engineering, and the typical pre-med majors of bio, chem, biochem). </p>
<p>Also the required pre med classes everywhere are designed to have high weed-out rates with steep curves to winnow out potential med school applicants.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Grades are a starting point, but are by themselves not enough to guarantee admission school admission. A low GPA can eliminate an applicant, but a great GPA doesn’t guarantee anything other his application might get looked at. </p>
<p>Most med schools do an initial screening of applicants using a computer program that evaluates on a combination of GPA/sGPA* & MCAT score. Applicants who pass this screening are then judged on their personal statements, letters of recommendation, ECs, leadership, communication & interpersonal skills, plus whatever else a specific medical school has determined to be valuable in its students.</p>
<p>*sGPA = GPA from all bio, chem, physics and math classes taken</p>
<p>And for reference: according the MSAR, the average GPA for an accepted med school applicant in 2012-13 was 3.7. The average MCAT was 33.</p>
<p>Interestingly, he was thinking of heading towards being a PA, but he and his mom were talking with a doctor, who encouraged him to go towards med school, saying they’ll be needing doctors and that it’s really fulfilling. </p>
<p>I know <strong>nothing</strong> about any of this. Thanks for the education, WayOutWestMom.</p>
<p>Unless my child was a superstar student (test scores and gpa), I would not have him do premed in calif.</p>
<p>SLO is essentially a techie school. unlikely going to have good premed advising, doesnt do Committee Letters, and he will have top students in his premed prereqs (all the engineers, since they take the same classes0.</p>
<p>I agree with wowmom that being premed at any school is hard…you will have to work at your grades…BUT…there will be less gunners and super-stars at lower ranked schools, so less likely to get weeded out in the weeder classes.</p>
<p>An amherst premed recently PM’d me and lamented about his sub 3.4 GPA…just finished frosh year. He said that it would be impossible for him to raise his gpa because his classes are filled with stronger students. I gave him some tips to raise both of his gpa’s (his BCMP GPA and his cum GPA) and he’s going to do that. He really needs to have a 3.5+ gpa to apply after junior year (his goal)…preferably 3.7+</p>
<p>Great information, mom2collegekids. This is really good for this student to think about; who will he want to surround himself with so that he can stand out?</p>
<p>I still think the UCs are relatively cheap. I would suggest UCD or UCI or UCR for premed. He may get some merit aid at UCR which makes it even cheaper. I think D2 has a friend who received $10K/year at UCR. I would take it slow freshman year, I think 3.7 is doable at some UCs. My niece graduated between 3.8 - 3.9 at UCI in neuroscience within 3 years and my brother said she is not the smart one in the family, her older brother is, but he got much lower GPA because he liked so many majors and was distracted easily(ADHD). Both ended up at a medical school OOS. </p>
<p>If he is interested in UCR, they find it to be affordable in the net price calculator, and he qualifies for it, he can lock it down as a safety using this program. Note the dates when he can sign up.</p>
<p>CPSLO has separate biology-major / pre-med courses in physics, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and calculus, compared to the harder ones that students majoring in those subjects (or engineering majors who need those courses) take. This is not all that different from most colleges.</p>
<p>Of course, the biology-major / pre-med courses will be full of pre-med “gunners” and “grade grubbers” in any case.</p>
</p>