Match rising Senior Biochem major chasing merit [MO resident, 3.97 GPA, 32 ACT, <$15k, pre-med]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Mom of a rising Senior who would love to go to a unique school with a focus on academics and not a “party school” environment. She has enjoyed her relationships with her teachers in HS and would like to move on to a college that would allow her to continue that with professors. She would like to stay within 5-6 hours of home in the STL metro area unless the school offers something compelling like an open curriculum/great research opportunities OR is on the east coast. We don’t have a lot of east coast schools on the list currently as I do not believe many of them will meet our financial needs.

We both feel the school list is too heavy on reaches and would appreciate suggestions that we have not thought of. Also would welcome comments on if she should even apply to all of the reaches given her stats/our financial situation.

Demographics

  • Missouri Resident
  • Large suburban HS, US News ranked in the 30s for Missouri so not the best
  • F/Caucasian
  • No hooks

Intended Major

  • Biochemistry or Biology - Pre-med. Potentially a minor in math or French if available.

GPA, Rank, Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.96 (2 Bs in 8th-grade courses that counted for HS credit, all As in HS)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.52
  • Class Rank: 27/420, top 10% of her class
  • ACT Scores: 32 Composite, retaking in a week. 27 math (she thinks she can improve this a lot, she forgot some of the formulas for Geometry), 32 science, 35 English, 35 reading

Coursework

  • All classes were AP/Honors/DE when available
    *AP World History: Modern, 4
    *AP English Lang & Comp, Score not out
    *AP US Gov & Politics, Score not out
    Taking these senior year:
    *AP Calc BC, highest level before this is DE Pre-Calc
    *AP Biology
    *AP Chem
    *AP French Language & Culture, 4 years of French prior to this including 1 DE
    *AP Psychology
    *DE Communications course
    *DE English Literature
    *DE Sociology
    *PLTW Biomedical 4-year course sequence (she will apply for the DE credit for this)

Awards

  • 2023 HOSA State Finalist, Medical Terminology
  • Teacher Nominated Award, Character & Leadership
  • Likely: Missouri State Seal of Biliteracy, National Merit Commended (will likely just miss the cutoff for Semifinalist)

Extracurriculars
*Student Council 2023-2024, President
*Student Council 2022-2023, Chief of Staff
*Student Council 2021-2022, Cabinet Member
*HOSA 2023-2024, Chief of Staff
*HOSA, General Member (3 years)
*NHS, General Member (3 years)
*Scholar Bowl/Quiz Bowl (2 years)
*Mentor - community building activities within the school (2 years)
*Teacher Assistant/Student Tutor for Honors Biology (1 year)
*Mizzou Mini-Medical School Summer Experience, 2023
*Summer job with the city parks department

Essays/LORs/Other
*She believes she will get strong LORs from her PLTW Biomed Teacher, French/English teachers.

Cost Constraints / Budget
*15k is ideal but could stretch to 20k. Middle class family not eligible for need based aid. Paying for medical school is going to be difficult if she gets in so honestly the lower the better.

Schools

  • Safety: Mizzou (Big school and the party atmosphere she doesn’t want but automatic admit & good opportunities for pre-med)
  • Likely: Truman State, Truman State is the definite financial safety due to automatic aid. She plans to apply for competitive scholarships at all three Missouri schools.
  • Match ???
  • Reach: Hendrix, Wooster, St. Olaf, Syracuse, Boston University, Grinnell, WashU (don’t think we can afford it even if she could get in)
    *Not considering:
  • Missouri S&T - visited and really did not like the town, not sure it’s great for pre-med anyway.
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Also wanted to note that I said no need-based aid but when I’ve done the NPC at some private schools we are eligible for some. Grinnell’s quick financial calc said 22k-32k without a federal loan included.

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Looks like you may want to try the net price calculator on the web site of each college that may be considered.

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So - you do qualify for aid.

The first thing is - all schools have parties - short of a BYU type and you can get to know professors at any school - whether Mizzou, WUSTL, or anything in between - but that’s on the student.

So your biggest challenge is budget - but it does sound like you do qualify for need even though you say you don’t. But note only two public schools (UNC and UVA) guarantee to meet need.

So that limits you to publics like Truman State, which would be low 20s…or a school like UAH (Alabama Huntsville) which would be under $20K. I’m sure there are more.

So private schools - you can run an estimator for a Bradley or you can look at the NPCs for privates like you have.

But given your budget, you’ll need to find low cost schools - but don’t forget, for med school, it’s your gpa and mcat - so the name matters less.

If she’s not interested in Mizzou, why apply?

I would not say Hendrix is a reach - and Hendrix and Ogelthorpe in Atlanta might match Mizzou tuition - but that will still put you over budget…so in that sense it’s a reach. Wooster and St. Olaf won’t be reaches either.

I would run NPC for all the privates - you might find there’s no need to apply.

BU, Grinnell, and WUSTL are reaches. For Syracuse, you’ll have express a lot of interest. Also, SU and BU are not within your geographic area. You might look at Rhodes as an alternative - but unless you have need, it’s going to be tough.

You might also look at full rides - yes, they’re Hail Mary’s but the Presidential at SMU and the Johnson at W&L. Yes, they’re out of desired market - but that’s the tradeoff.

I would worry less about pre-med - and focus on getting good grades wherever you go… Pre-med is advising - and if you need to bypass that for financials - what can you do?

Best of luck.

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I honestly don’t know how accurate these NPCs are going to be with the “need based” aid because we have such a complicated financial situation with divorce + remarriage and only recent high income. I don’t know her bio dad’s income and I don’t know that I’m ever going to be able to get it (trying though.)

The only reason she is going to apply to Mizzou is because it’s our in-state flagship. She said if she gets into the Honors College she thinks it could be a good option. It might be one of the only options ultimately because of finances??

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Thank you for the recommendation for the Johnson scholarship at W&L! Might as well try.

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I would not count on merit to Syracuse and BU (she would need a full tuition scholarship). Also, the NPC may not be accurate given what you are describing, but if you can speak to a FA officer you might be able to come up with a number. If you do not get enough FA (you will need it for all four years) I would drop these two schools. You commented about a “recent high income” which might limit aid.

If you are considering the east coast I would take a look at the SUNY schools. She may get some merit to Binghamton since they are looking to increase OOS students (note: this school is not an academic safety). Also look at the smaller SUNY colleges which are a little cheaper and many give merit (Oneonta, Geneseo etc).

You can also look at Quinnipiac, the U of Rhode Island, and Emerson (Boston area). I am not sure that they will provide enough merit but it’s worth looking.

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Check the college’s web site about whether the other parent’s finances are required. If so, then that must be included in the net price calculator. If the other parent is uncooperative, then those colleges will give no financial aid.

Most prestige private schools do require both divorced parents’ finances. Chicago and usually Vanderbilt are exceptions; Princeton also if the custodial parent is remarried.

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Western Kentucky University allows students from border states to pay in-state tuition rates: WKU Border State Scholarship Program | Western Kentucky University . Your daughter also would appear to qualify for various additional merit scholarships at WKU, here: First-Time Freshmen Scholarships | Western Kentucky University .

Some of the “directional” schools in Illinois allow out-of-state students to pay in-state rates. For those offering biochemistry as undergraduate majors, there is Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, here: Illinois Residency | Undergraduate Admissions | SIU, with merit scholarships, here: Incoming Freshmen | Undergraduate Academic Scholarships | SIU.

Eastern Illinois University also offers biochemistry as a major; border state students pay in-state tuition, here: Eastern Illinois University :: Office of Financial Aid - Cost of Attendance, and here is a link to automatic and competitive merit scholarships: Eastern Illinois University :: Scholarships - Highlighted Scholarships for New Freshmen

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Perhaps Uof Tulsa might fit in the budget. They have been recommended a lot on here for their generous scholarships and very involved university president. I’m sure there’s partying but it’s also a very highly accomplished student body.

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Many small regional LACs in the Midwest give a limited number of full tuition scholarships. These may not be “national names”, but they provide a high quality education with a lot of personalized attention and mentoring. Here are just a few I know of:

Carthage College: Quite a few full tuition scholarships. A very strong student from our local high school went there and is thriving. Within 6 hours of STL.

Gustavus Adolphus: about the same distance from you as St. Olaf, and a lot of the same vibe, while probably more likely to get you to budget.

Ripon: I know a National Merit commended student who nabbed one of their competitive full-tuition scholarships. They are starting an engineering major in fall of '24. It won’t be ABET accredited yet, but is designed to get that accreditation, and then graduates will receive ABET accreditation retroactively. Engineering can be a terrific pre-med major (a number of my medical school classmates had undergrad engineering degrees–mechanical, civil etc.)

UMN-Morris. Minnesota’s public LAC. About 10 hours away, but a very good biology department and great mentoring. Baseline OOS price is <30K, and your student would likely get merit scholarships on top of this. In addition, cost of living in the area is really low. I know a number of accomplished grads including a biology professor, a diplomat, and a number of doctors.

Out of the box idea: UMN-Rochester. Not a traditional college experience, but an incredible opportunity for the right kid. Small college that offers only pre-health professions majors. Right there by the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Medical School so a ton of research opportunities and mentoring. OOS tuition is same as in-state, and there are multiple scholarship opportunities on top of this.

ETA: I would not worry if a school does not have a separate Biochemistry major in addition to Biology. The college I went to was a well respected LAC and had no Biochem major. Despite that, I graduated with a very strong foundation in biochem.

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Iowa State, with departmental scholarships would be close to $16k.

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Thank you, everyone, for all of the recommendations!

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But would Truman State be better for her than Mizzou ?

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St Olaf is a match. Similar would be Kalamazoo or Lawrence.
Seconding Gustavus Adolphus, adding Concordia-Moorhead and Luther, all have the same vibe as St Olaf but are easier to get into, making them academic safeties. Wooster and Beloit would be likelies too.
Wheaton, Muhlenberg might be of interest.

UMN Morris is similar to Truman State but would be another public LAC option with excellent academics, less partying, and more contact with professors. SUNY Geneseo and SUNY New Paltz may also work for that purpose.
UChicago and Vanderbilt wouldn’t ask for your ex-spouse’s financials, so that if your daughter were to get in financial aid may work out - both are big reaches obviously and a lot would rest on her essays, however she has the grades and the course rigor they seek. Other top universities would however require your ex spouse’s financials so odds of affordability are low.

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