Match Me: NY Resident, White Female w/ Hispanic Background, 75k ish [NY resident, 95% GPA; pre-med, biology]

Chance Me / Match Me!
201

Maybe it’s because I’m on the West Coast, and not to be a Debbie Downer, but I had never heard of High Point until this post. Is it supposed to be prestigious? I just looked it up. $66K a year. That is expensive and does not include travel and expenses.

I don’t know if your family has considered all of the expenses for attending a university, but a round-trip ticket is going to cost you and your family some time and lots of money. Unless you plan on spending the holidays at the school, you need to plan for travel expenses. Some students do stay during the breaks but most students leave. (The food/cafeteria staffs leave as they want to be with their families during the holidays).

You have to have funds to travel to the airport (UB had a shuttle to the airport which was 10 minutes away). You have to have funds to fly round trip, and then you have to allow for travel delays-sleeping at the airport or airport hotel ($$$).

We were fortunate with the eldest’s schedule because the minute she had her class schedule without changes, we booked her direct Southwest flights for December, Spring Break, and May. (Flights were advertised, at that time for $99 one way if they were booked in advance.)

With the airlines, you can only schedule for 3-6 months in advance, depending on the airline. However, certain times of the year, were nightmarish with east coast weather delays. We were also fortunate that, at that time, my husband had wonderful perks on his airline cards, so she was able to use some of those perks when there were cancellations and we would transfer her to other airlines, or overnight stays at airport hotels.

Maybe this is too much information for you right now, but these are things that you need to think about because wherever you decide to go, if it is a school that is out of state, you’ll be dealing with these similar issues, all of the time, as a non-local student. And, you can bet that it is going to impact someone’s budget. If your parents don’t have immediate “cash in hand”, when these emergencies arise, you wont be able to travel home.

1 Like
202

And High Point’s is 76.9%. They are peers, competitiveness-wise, and have some similarities, which is why I made the suggestion; but Elon has a stronger academic reputation. Likewise with Blossom’s suggestions.

Txfriendly suggested Baylor upthread; that would be another that may share attributes your parents like about Elon, while being a stronger school for premed. Acceptance rate is under 50%, which seems to be important to you. Baylor’s perceived premed reputation is elevated by the strength of their med school, although the medical campus is in (urban) Houston, while the undergrad campus is in (decidedly-not-urban) Waco.

2 Likes
203

Yes. Bama has more national merit scholars than anyone or they are near the high end. 25% of Tulsa’s class is National merit. The highest concentration.

But both have high acceptance rates as do many many many colleges.

Guess what -you’ll find like kids and pre med will not be easy. Anywhere.

Some will prosper. Some will fail. Just like at Harvard.

There’s lots of brain power at so many places.

You need to slow down, enjoy life and find the right fit for you.

You are just looking to create controversy after controversy.

Both my kids got into high ranked / strong programs and yet chose safeties. One for his own bedroom which Bama offered but the high ranked didn’t. The other just for the vibe. It fit her.

Her school is not even nationally ranked. It’s regionally ranked (college of Charleston). It’s low ranked at that. She’s interning right now at arguably the top think tank in the country.

You are making a lot of incorrect assumptions.

You will drive your success or lack thereof more than anything else. Like my daughter. The kid from Gtown didn’t get the internship. She did.

2 Likes
204

I understand why I should apply there. What i don’t understand is why such a great college would be open to subjectively bad students? And if thats not the case it means that the college isn’t very well known and people dont want to go there- why? I dont see the logic behind the college itself

1 Like
205

I no longer want to go to high point

My parents only wanted me there because they thought it was pretty and they like the political ideas of the president. Student life and class quality and rigor were not taken into consideration. My parents are no help, my friends are no help, im the oldest in my family, and i cant get a time with my college counselor. I am on my own in the college search and I’ve clearly been very misguided. Bear with me please

206

Ive given up caring about what my parents think. They’ve clearly set me on the wrong path and ngl im pissed at them for that.

I’ll consider elon, though i dont know how i feel about nc. Baylor too

207

I dont want controversy

I mentioned it before to someone else and I’ll mention it again, I am on my own and ive been misguided. My parents, friends, and counselor are all no help. Im not wealthy nor legacy anywhere nice. The strongest thing about me is my drive to be better, its clear in my previous posts. I just want a school with a decent reputation that has the resources to help me study, and is not in a city.

208

You have time. Considering some options and then deciding against them is par for the course; it doesn’t mean you’ve been on a “wrong path.” You have time to build a good list.

I know the discussion about Missouri S&T is entirely hypothetical, but it makes a good point - don’t conflate a higher acceptance rate with being “open to [I think you mean objectively?] bad students.” The median stats there are 3.71 GPA, 1300 SAT. 75% of students are in the top 25% of their graduating class. The effect you’re seeing here is that of predictable public university admissions. It’s well-known what it takes to get in, so “bad students” don’t bother to apply, and a high percentage of the good students who do apply are accepted. This is the problem with dwelling on acceptance rates - they don’t tell you the quality of the applicant pool.

3 Likes
209

I don’t want to be mean, but High Point biology department just doesn’t strike me as impressive. While there appear to be a few good individual profs, the department is very small. As a whole, the department isn’t even to the level of the bio departments at a bunch of small LACs with super high acceptance rates.

Elon’s bio department is far better. And so are bio departments at pretty much any of the other schools that have been mentioned here.

This acceptance rate thing you’re hung up on is hurting you – you’re going to have to let it go. The people on this thread are correct with their advice for what makes a good premed education. I’ve taught biology at a variety of institutions. My students have included premeds and med students. There are brilliant students at every school and you will be challenged in your biology studies wherever you go. Your teachers and fellow students will push you. I attended a state flagship with a high admit rate and the premed courses were brutal!

Can you go to High Point and be a premed? Sure. But you’d be better off at Elon, Alabama, SUNYs, Baylor, Missouri S&T, etc. Unless you personally feel a super-strong pull to High Point, look elsewhere.

2 Likes
210

Do look at Elon to see if it may be a fit for you. While my D did not apply (due to location), it was one of our favorite college tours. The “standard” tour was good, but my kid was also invited to a private tour/meeting with the head of the chem dept (her major) plus a current senior who had just been accepted to Duke Medical School. Impressive and informing. We got the impression this is a school that will bend over backwards providing support and resources for ambitious kids.

4 Likes
211

I no longer want to go to high point, my parents wanted it more than me and they wanted it for the wrong reasons, i agree its not impressive

But can i really not do any better then those schools?

212

No college, that wants to recruit dollars and good students, is going to actively accept students who did not prepare themselves well for academic life.
There are a LOT of 4.0 students in the US. Too, too many, and that’s why thousands of perfect students are rejected at the top 100 schools.

I know you are sitting inside your bubble, assuming that because a school accepts 50% of applicants, that its quality is poor. Maybe at your school, you don’t see other 4.0 students. You’re probably “a big fish in a small pond” and don’t realize how competitive it really is out there.

At my children’s HS, with over 3000 students, every AP and Honors class, is filled to the brim with 4.0 quality students. The non-AP classes, or “regular ed”, are full of students who couldn’t get into the AP classes for lack of space, scheduling or test scores. There is an AP class taught in every subject. Please don’t assume that all schools are like your school and that you are the only top quality student. It doesn’t work that way.

Also, can we please stop using the word “bad”? I never allowed my children or my students using it to describe people.

5 Likes
213

Depends on your definition of “better”. Better premed education? Nope.

If by “better” you mean lower acceptance rate and/or higher prestige? Perhaps. But it may cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. You state that your family doesn’t have the financial means to easily afford that. You need to save that money for med school. Med schools don’t care where you do your undergrad studies. They do care that you pay your tuition.

Apply to a variety of schools, including those where you are certain to be admitted, and those where you are likely to receive merit aid (hint, those schools have “high” acceptance rates). Then if you don’t get into more prestigious schools, or their offers aren’t affordable, you’ll still have great options!

4 Likes
214

Take a look at the women’s colleges. Barnard is urban so scratch that.

But Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Agnes Scott. Any of these excite you? Don’t know (yet) how to characterize them as reaches or matches, but the women’s colleges in general have a terrific track record of getting women into grad and professional schools. You’ve got the rest of junior year to focus on academics but keep these in mind.

3 Likes
215

They might prefer Hillsdale.

1 Like
216

I’m still confused about the budget, but if you’re willing to look at smaller schools, and at private schools, look at schools in PA like Bucknell, Muehlenberg, Lafayette, Lehigh, Dickinson. Some are still reaches but not Cornell level. If you can consider (geographically) MN, take a look at St. Olaf. Very strong in stem and also is a Christian school, though of course it has all kinds of students. Also agree with Holy Cross. There are just so many great schools out there. You will find a good one! You have plenty of time. I also want to say, I had a kid who was overly focused on acceptance rates when he was applying. He got in to his top choice, which had an 11% acceptance rate that year, and it was a poor fit. He transferred. All is well now at a completely different school, but it was kind of sad at the time. So please don’t make the mistake he did.

3 Likes
217

Not always true! Some colleges have a self selecting set of applicants….meaning many of the students who apply do so with the intention of attending

3 Likes
218

High acceptance rates at state/public schools means one thing: They believe in and practice their mission to educate the people of their state.

I’m not sure what you find distasteful about this. I’m not sure why you think you should only be surrounded with superstars.

That is not the way the world works at all. You are imagining a bubble of, like, rocket scientists and thinking about how awesome that will be – but NOWHERE will give you this. Not in school and certainly not when you have to adult.

And my kid, with a 3.14 when she graduated high school, barely a 3.0 when she graduated college (in four years), is a freaking great human being who works professionally in theater tech – and I’m trying very hard not to get annoyed at a teenager who would no doubt look down on her as a “bad student.”

8 Likes
219

I’m sharing the old thread when my daughter applied to colleges to show you the process of choosing colleges for us. My daughter was an average high stat kid when she applied to colleges in 2021.

It was quite a journey for me at least, but I learned more about the process in applying to colleges and was able to work with my daughter in choosing the affordable and “right” school to help her in pursuing her dream. She is now a junior at UMD and doing well. She chose this school because it offers her a good education at a reasonable cost, provides support for her extra curricular, and most importantly, it’s close to home so she can come home most weekends for a home cook meals :slight_smile: .

You shouldn’t weight solely on ranking or acceptance rate when choosing colleges. There are several important factors that other posters have mentioned here, and they are not one size fits all. Our daughter also applied to Stony Brooks among other “hight acceptance” rate schools but chose UMD based on my explanation above.

1 Like
220

I recall you said you were in the top half of your school for math. Can you provide more info on your math background? What math classes you have taken and what grades you got? And…how are you doing on the math sections of the psat and sat practice tests?

2 Likes