Match me: Senior from CT, 3.8 GPA, 1300 SAT, Hopeful Pre-Med [<$44k?, no need-based FA]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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My Demographics*

  • US Citizen
  • State: CT
  • Type of high school *Highly competitive school (blue ribbon school, adjacent to UCONN campus
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Female/ White/ Hispanic
    Intended Major(s). Heath / Pre-Med / Spanish (possible double major)

**GPA: 4.51 weighted

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8
  • Class Rank: Top 10% of my very competitive HS
  • SAT Scores: 1300 SAT

Coursework.
AP US Hist, AP Bio, AP English, AD Enviro Science, AP Spanish, AP PreCalc, AD Human Bio, AD Allied Heath & Med Terms, Chorus (4 yrs)

Awards
Bilingual certification

Extracurriculars
UCONN Pre-Med summer program, Select Chamber Choir (3 yrs), performed at Carnegie Hall, Costa Rican Exchange program, National Honors Soc., National Language Honors Soc., Best Buddies Program, Varsity athlete in Field Hockey (all 4 years), Lacrosse (3 years), JV basketball (2 years). Peer mentor (all 4 years)

I am hispanic, I have ADHD (hence, the low SAT Scores and the less than stellar GPA)

Cost Constraints / Budget
My parents’ salaries disqualify me from any need-based aid. That said, they purchased a business 2 years ago so although it looks like we’ve got money, most of it goes back into the business. I have a 529 with about 120k but I’m committed to enrolling in a medical program after undergrad so I’d like to make that money last. My parents are currently paying about 44k a year for my older sister’s tuition so I can probably expect about the same contribution from them.
I am from CT. Ideally, I do not want to go outside New England for college. I would consider schools in the eastern parts of NY (like Vassar).

Schools
I visited Vassar, and Wesleyan. I fell in love with Wesleyan and Vassar as a close second - as a student with ADHD I really appreciated their low student:faculty ratio (same with Vassar). I did not realize that they only offer need-based financial aid. Ouch. I was planning on applying ED to Wesleyan but now it looks like I may not be able to apply at all because of the financial constraints.

I live 5 minutes from UCONN and most kids at my school with similar stats think of UCONN as their “safety”. I’m not overly confident but feel it’s likely I’ll get in.

I need help finding colleges that offer low class sizes, celebrate students who are creative and enjoy “finding their own paths”, but are also rigorous enough to help me work toward my dream of going to med school. Because I did not realize that there were schools that offered no financial aid/merit aid to students, I made an initial list of schools that no longer seem like possibilities. What schools should I look at? Thanks in advance!

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I worry about the finances too - as you are keenly aware of med school costs.

Look at Marist (shows on a lot of ADHD lists) and some of the smaller SUNYs and see their class sizes. It’s not New England - but it’s very close.

Good luck.

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Well…since Vassar is all of ten minutes from Marist, Marist is a good suggestion and not off the mark geographically from what the OP seems to want.

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Thank you! I will add Marist to my list!

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Below are some schools that you may want to check out. Most of them are pretty generous with merit aid (and I believe the SUNYs would match the tuition at UCONN, so no more expensive than your in-state flagship).

  • Clark (MA): About 2400 undergrads and you can read more about it on this profile page page: Clark University – Colleges That Change Lives

  • Drew (NJ): There are about 1500 undergrads at this liberal arts school and from what you describe, I think it might be a great fit. They also are very generous with merit aid.

If you follow this link the poster talks about Drew, and then two posts later talks about their visit to Marist, so you might find it helpful.

  • Moravian: About 1900 undergrads

  • Saint Joseph’s (PA ): About 5100 undergrads and has some very good education/training programs for special education teachers, particular in relation to Autism. (I realize you said ADHD and not Autism, but both are areas on the spectrum and faculty that are used to dealing well with students with Autism will likely be good working with students with ADHD.)

  • Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads

  • Stonehill (MA): About 2500 undergrads

  • SUNY New Paltz: About 6100 undergrads. If you visit Marist, this is another nearby option.

  • SUNY Plattsburgh: About 4k undergrads

  • Susquehanna (PA ): About 2200 undergrads

  • Ursinus (PA ): About 1500 undergrads and you can see its CTCL profile here: Ursinus College – Colleges That Change Lives

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What about College of St. Rose in Albany?

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Op given you will not get need abd your budget is $44k and you’re aware of med school expense - schools like Vassar and Wesleyan won’t work. But far less ranked LACs - so Clark as mentioned and some of the others will come in much less.
If you were to go south or Midwest, options would increase and costs might go down.

But you have to be open.

@momsearcheng just recently posted a merit by school her pre med daughter achieved which might be helpful. If I recall, Gettysburg was a good one. Maybe Furman or Kalamazoo - not on her list but they abd Depauw give nice merit). But hopefully she can re print her table for u

With your stats you can go as low as $20s abd as high as ….Vassar / Wes cost (not saying you’d get in but there are schools that would charge that level )

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Here is the list @momsearcheng posted. Many of the schools are not in the geographic area this student has clearly stated they want.

@momsearcheng are the numbers after the college names the amount of merit your daughter received…or her net costs at these colleges?

If this poster is willing to go a little further a field…I would agree that Juniata is worth a look see.

  1. Nova South Eastern -22K (accepted to BS/DO program) -SAT for DO only.
  2. Ursinus -35k (I think provided SAT 1360)
  3. St. Mary’s Maryland -6k (this is in state school) -TO
  4. Juniata - 39K (provided SAT 1360)
  5. Miami of Ohio - 34K TO
  6. Dickinson - 35K TO
  7. Gettysburg - 43K (Eisenhower Scholar) TO
  8. Rhodes - 28K TO
  9. Muhlenberg - 34K (invited for Shankweiler) TO
  10. Hobart and William Smith -40K Provided SAT to qualify for scholarship.
  11. George Washington- waitlisted, did not stay on WL, TO
  12. UMD- ILS Honors, Dean’s Scholarship -4.5k for 2 years. TO
  13. Washington and Lee - waitlisted, not accepted - TO
  14. Case Western - rejected EA, TO
  15. Richmond- accepted TO
  16. Lafayette accepted TO
  17. University of Rochester - accepted TO
  18. Bucknell - waitlisted, not accepted TO
  19. Furman - 28K TO
  20. University of Cincinnati TO- some ridiculously small scholarship, and not accepted into Medical Science Major.
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Thx. That’s it.

Just to balance out the geography with cost if that were to become a consideration. OP would have to decide. But many aren’t too too far.

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It is amount of merit. School vary a lot by COA. Northern schools are more expensive than Southern. For example, Hobart and William Smith is expensive even with a scholarship.

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SUNYs to look at:
New Paltz
Geneseo

I would also take a look at TCNJ. Not New England but not too far.

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I just looked up Juniata COA is 70k. 39k was absolutely max merit available. Next year price will go up. But it should be within 44k for OP. OP needs to know true budget. It should not be based on my parents pay X for my sister…

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Thank you for all the helpful information. Because my parents’ business is so new, it’s hard to estimate whether they’ll have more or less to invest in my educaiton. To be safe, I think it’s best to estimate that it will be no less than the 44K but possibly more.

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You need to check with your parents. I do not pay equal amount for my 3 kids. They are totally different kids with different abilities at different schools.

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Consider U Hartford. They’ll give you a lot of merit money, probably enough to match what you’d have paid at UConn. You’ll probably get a very high GPA there. Easy access to three major hospitals for shadowing; you can probably easily get a clinically related part time job in the area.

If you want med school, you really need to keep your costs as low as possible. Probably your best education for the buck value is gonna be UConn, but premed classes will be very competitive there.

Look at 3rd tier liberal arts colleges that offer a lot of merit money to high stats students. If you don’t qualify for financial aid, this is really the only way that you’re going to get a smaller, private environment that also fits your budget. When applying to med schools, the most important thing is high GPA and high MCAT score; apparently less weight is given to prestige of the undergrad institution.

For a real money saving option, look at ECSU. Good school, cheap (and they’d probably give you some merit money, too), and you could commute from home. Have a very frank discussion with your parents about money. From what you describe, they may not have the dollars now to put towards your undergrad; if the new business is successful, they may be able to help with med school.

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Don’t know if they will meet the budget, but they do offer merit: St. Lawrence and Union.

I believe small schools are often the best for adhd kids – less bureacracy to navigate, harder to fall through the cracks.

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In NJ, Drew and TCNJ were already mentioned. I would also add Ramapo College, a state liberal arts college near the border of NJ/NY.

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