Need Help Figuring Out Where to Apply!!!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi so this is my first post on here and I’ve seen a lot of people ask about their possible chances at college so I was wondering if I could get some opinions on my current list of possible colleges. I’m a rising senior (graduating in 2017), for background I go to a semi-prestigious Private school (toughish academics, but mainly a focus on hockey and often not absolutely exceptional matriculation).Offer a decent amount of APs and mandatory community service and athletics to graduate. I’m not really a minority (might apply as woman for biomedical engineering not sure if that counts), low income, but I’m not a first generation college applicant. Anyways here are my grades with the courses I’ve taken…
9th
English 1 honors- A
Algebra 1- A+
History 1 Honors- A
Biology Honors- A
Spanish 3- A-

10
AP World History- A
AP Biology- A
English 2 Honors- A
Geometry Honors- A+
Spanish Lit- A

11
AP Chemistry- A-
AP English Language- A
AP US History- A
Algebra 2 Honors-A
AP Spanish-A (Not sure if this counts as an AP, there wasn’t enough students for an actual AP Spanish course, so I was the only one who took the AP exam and did extra work in the class, however it was technically Spanish 4 for everyone else in the class)

Classes planning to take 12
AP Statistics
AP Calc AB
AP English Literature
AP Physics 1
(maybe honors philosophy???)

Current GPA (not really sure on these my school doesn’t calculate GPA so they are approximated)
UW:~3.75
W:~4.33

Class Rank: information not provided by my school, however I’m probably one of the top 5 students in my class

Extracurriculars
JV Field Hockey- 9,10 (goalie)
Musical-9,10,11,12(background, supporting roles)
Play-11,12 (supporting roles)
FBLA-10,11,12 (Vice President and probably President next year)
Alumni Outreach club-9,10,11,12
GSA-11,12 (officer)
Tennis Manager-10,12
Dance-11
Troubadours-10,11,12 (choral group by audition only)
Voice Lessons-11,12
Dinner Theatre Club-10,11,12
Free Thought Society-11,12 (group dedicated to freely discussing current societal issues)

Honors and Awards
Societal Honrada de Español-11
Science Award-11 (outstanding member of community dedicated to persist of scientific discovery)
Deans List-9,10 (achieving a 90% or above in every class every trimester)
High Honor roll-11, (achieving a 85% or above in every class every trimester)
Honors Circle-9,10,11

Summer Experiences
Discovery to Cure Internship at Yale-2016 (prestigious internship at Yale university that cultivates the interest of young scientists and encourages research by pairing students with a Yale faculty member doing research at their school of medicine)
Fairfield University Summer Stags- 2015 (summer program at FU that lets students live on campus and take college level courses for an intensive 2 week period. I studied genetics.)
Volunteering at the Alzheimer’s Association- 2016 (Part of school required community service, however I chose the honors program of 80+hours at the Connecticut branch of the Alzheimer’s Association after doing a research project for it during AP biology in 10th grade and writing a paper about it at Fairfield University.)

Colleges
Reach:
Yale-obviously a reach, however both my grandfather and uncle went there(not sure if that helps) also I’m debating if it’s worth it to apply ED if I have a letter of rec from the Yale scientist I will have worked with over the summer.
U of Chicago- Also probably a reach, my mother is an alum and also has been doing alumni interviews for years (again not sure if that helps). Also debating if it’s worth applying ED.
Cornell- might apply to CALS program since they give more financial aid and may be easier to get into.

The Rest:
Skidmore
RPI
Colgate
Northwestern
BU
Georgetown
Hamilton
Brandeis
(Open to other colleges as well!!!)

2

Oh I forgot Providence, Brown and maybe Johns Hopkins.
Also just for background I’m planning on majoring in neuro/molecular bio/bio-med engineering, thinking mostly about the pre-med track
Also for test scores my SAT was really low but my ACT is 33-34

3

You are a strong candidate for a lot of colleges. (However, if you are reporting your ACT as a range, it appears you do not yet have the result.)

Your academic/major options appear to consist of one of the following:

  1. biochemistry/molecular biology
  2. neuroscience
  3. biomedical engineering

You should review your current choices in light of your primary academic interests.

Applying to CALs as a strategy never sounds right to me.

Though reductive in title, this online source can help you quickly order the selectivity of your schools: “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” Business Insider.

This article can serve as a source of ideas/confirmation with respect to colleges strong for pre-med: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”

4

Thanks that was actually really helpful merc81, I’m surprised though that Yale didn’t show up on the Great Pre-Med Programs list, even as just an honorable mention, not that I would have much of a chance there since it’s so competitive.

5

Use any list of unclear methodology with caution. However, as a source for ideas, the “pre-med” one isn’t bad. They clearly leave out some fine schools though.

Your goal right now should be determing which colleges match your interests and at which of them your application would be appropriate. If you like a given school and believe you are qualified for it, by all means apply there.

The college matriculation history of your current school (you referenced this in your original post) should not be of concern to you at this point.

In post 2, “of one of the following” should be “of the following.”

Lastly – and rhetorically at the moment – would you prefer an urban, university experience (e.g, Georgetown) or a woodsy, purely undergraduate-focused one (e.g., Hamilton)? Establishing your preferences along these lines, and others, will help you better craft your final list.