Narrowing my list

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone, I am an incoming senior in high school and am trying to narrow my mammoth of a college list down.

Some quick facts/stats about me:

School Type: NYC public
Location: New York
Race/Gender: Caucasian (Greek)/ Female
Prospective Major: Pre-Med/Pre-Optometry
Unweighted GPA: 3.6
Weighted GPA: 4.04

SAT Scores
1240
1260
–started prep and taking the August 26th test so hopefully a bigger improvement

Long info:

EDUCATION.
-High School Diploma: Advanced Regents Diploma with honors in science.
-Senior Vice President of the senior class in the student government.
-Coursework in science research, specifically microbiology and holistic medicine with papers written on the studies conducted. In science research program since freshman year, and have written papers ~20 pages each regarding the studies in holistic medicine.
-Presented experiments at science fair every year.
-Member of honor roll/ARISTA
-Honor classes: Mythology, Science Research, Living Environment, Global, English, Chemistry, Physics.
-AP classes: World History, US History, Art History, Government.
-Classes taken for college credit at Queens College (CUNY): English 101, English 102 and Psych 101.

WORK HISTORY.
Worked as a pharmacist’s assistant since June 2016 10-15 hours a week year-round
summer paid internship at queens botanical garden (this summer) 25 hours a week for 7 weeks

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.

  • board member (2013-2016), Vice President (2016-2017), and President (2017-2018) of the Greek Orthodox Youth Association (GOYA) at my church.
    -I have been a girl scout since 2008, and have achieved my bronze, silver and recently gold award (equivalent to eagle scout award for boy scouts)
    -Member (2014-2017) and President (2017-2018) of Hellenic Club.
    -Member of Junior Statesman of America (2014-2018)
    -Member (2016-2017) then Secretary of the Pre-Med club. (2017-2018)
    -Sunday school assistant teacher at my church every Sunday for about 2 hours.
    -“Omonia Kastorian” and “Kopais Pan-chian.” traditional Greek dance experience
    -Trained in Byzantine music.
    -Self-taught artist.
    -Dancer at Scilla dance studio.

AWARDS.
Arista: National Honors Society: Spring 2017.
Science research excellence award: June 2015, and 2016.
New York City Science and Engineering Fair, preliminary round, March 2016, 2017.
New York City Science and Engineering Fair, finals round, March 2017.
Third place in the Microbiology Category at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair.
Bronze, Silver, and Gold Girl Scout awards.
Saint George, Chi-Ro, and Alpha-Omega religious awards.

SO… I have a bunch of schools on my list and hopefully yall can help me sift our whats unrealistic. Finances are a big concern/deal breaker because even though im “white middle class” and can supposedly pay 60,000 a year (according to the financial aid calculator, where I received a big fat $0) I cannot afford some school like that for undergrad with no scholarship. I have a lot of privates as saftey schools because I want that college dorming and living experience but I really need scholarships. Career-wise, Im planning on pursuing optometry but want a well-rounded undergrad education, so being able to study business and art while doing my prereqs for optometry school. I would prefer a smaller school because I love to discuss and debate in classes, also college town/city please not the middle of nowhere.

SCHOOLS:

(reach) Amherst College, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, Northeastern, BU, Lehigh.
(target) American U, Villanova, UMaryland-College Park, Fordham, Stony, Bing/ SUNY.
(safety) Umass Amherst/Boston, Uphiladelphia, Clark U, Temple U, Penn State, Rutgers, Drexel, CUNY.

THANK YOU for reading this strung out post, whoever is willing to help, it is greatly appreciated.

2

Based on your finances, why Amherst, at which all scholarships would be need-based?

3

I liked the academics/location and it was a fairly recent addition to the list so I haven’t really researched it as much… didn’t know their aid was only need-based. That’s good to know, thank you.

4

Those Reaches are high reaches

5

are they all high reaches? I was planning on scratching my reached because I wouldn’t get money to them. If any, which would you suggest I apply to, if not then I’m planning on just not applying to those. Thanks :slight_smile:

6

Money is big issue at Wake and UNC-CH. If you are pre-med you want as little debt as possible. Start with your state schools plus maybe some honors programs to get the small, interactive classes.

7

You aren’t getting into Amherst or UNC from OOS with your stats. I’d drop them. Penn State will be unaffordable, drop it. U-MD is likely as well.

Most OOS publics are not going to be affordable, but visit the websites for those I didn’t mention and see if they have merit scholarships that appear to available for OOS students and also where your stats are on the high end. If you don’t see that, I wouldn’t bother to apply.

How much can you pay? You might get some merit at Dickinson, maybe some at Mount Holyoke (?). But that will bring the cost down to ~45K, so if you need much lower costs, you need to focus your search for merit.

8

Anything 30,000 and under would be a life saver. If I don’t get merit scholarships to son of those target/safety OOS schools then I’ll end up just going to a state school which really isn’t my preference. I’m just really aiming for merit scholarships, but that’s why my safety schools are well below my ability so hopefully they’ll offer more $$.

9

Clark U, Temple U, Penn State, Rutgers, Drexel—These schools are not “below your ability” based on your stats. You would be an average student there.

10

I’m just basing it off websites and apps where it rated those schools as safety’s and my admittance chances were higher than average. I’m not trying to be cocky but that’s just the info I hve recieved, but it’s hard to find consistent/reliable info. Any suggestions on safety schools/reliable judgement of whether it’s a safety or not. Thanks!

11

I agree that finances will be a major factor. SUNY Stony or Bing would be about $25K direct cost a year. So the question is what other schools can you get at around that cost, or which ones would cost more but be worth it.

State schools like UNC, UMD, Penn State, and UMass are around $45K. For schools like that you (and your parents) have to see if it would be worth full cost, or if there is any significant chance at merit.

Private schools are $60-65K, and it sounds like those are not possible for you without merit aid. Northeastern, American, and Drexel have merit aid, but you’d need to investigate how common such aid is, how likely you would be to get it, and whether the amount would be enough.

I think your ECs and science work are great, but a 3.6 UW and possibly 1300 SAT, though certainly excellent, may not be high enough for merit at some places. You’ll need to see for which schools those are top stats, or which ones don’t consider stats only if those stats would be good, but not great.

You say you’d like a smaller school, but Amherst is the only one on your list. I’d suggest searching for “liberal arts colleges with merit aid.” Look into any names that come up that are also around #25-75 on the US News liberal arts list. Those would all be good schools where your chances of admission would range from at least possible to very likely. If there are any schools there that you like and that also seem like they might give substantial merit aid (not just $5-10K at most), consider adding them to your list.

12

Since you are in NYS, why don’t you have more SUNY’s on your lists? You might be eligible for Excelsior next year, if your parents’ federal adjusted gross income is less than $110K.

Look at SUNY Fredonia, for instance. It’s trying to beef up its science department and is offering scholarships for bio and chem majors. It has a very well known dance program as well. There is also an honors program and every student who is accepted (at least this year) got a $1500 one year scholarship. My son is in this year’s freshman class with a 3.4 UW and a 27 ACT; he was invited to apply for the honors program and was accepted.

There’s also University of Buffalo and Geneseo.

Go to the suny.edu site, where you can do a search based on criterion like major, school size, sports offered, etc.

13

Which of those schools actually give merit at under 1300 and 3.6?.

14

Getting in and getting merit are two different things. Average students in the admissions pool don’t get much merit. Have you looked at more SUNYs?

15

i have briefly looked into the SUNY’s but most of the campuses are in the middle of no where, and i liked the idea of going the school in MA or philly. I know thats not all to consider but i definately want to dorm so i guess i need more info o

16

If you need merit have you looked at smaller privates where you would be in the top 25%? Maybe places like Elizabeth town or Arcadia?

You won’t get any merit at most of the schools you listed even if they are average admission for you.

17

How much are your parents able to pay? Are you looking for schools that will come in at about the same cost as SUNY?

18

Yeah pretty much

19

Have you considered University of Pittsburgh? I think it would be great for your intended major and you’d be right in the city. Their merit aid is very straightforward, its based on SAT scores. With rolling admission you would find out very soon if you were accepted and shortly after if you received aid. You can call their admissions office for any questions on the aid.

20

@surfcity She’d probably need to break a 1300 to get the presidential scholarship at Elizabethtown. I’m not sure if anything less that that would get under $30K…unless she took loans.

I’m thinking if merit only. I have no experience with FA there.