I’m having a hard time narrowing down my college list. If anyone could help/provide suggestions, I would really appreciate it!
What I’m Looking for in a College
Smaller school (my exception is Ohio State University since it’s a state school and I’ve been taking classes there.)
On-campus housing
Good biology/pre-medicine program
Not located in the city (by or close to is okay)
Smaller classes (As in around 20-50 students per class or even lower)
Ample student resources provided (Ex: Ohio State University’s Writing Center)
My Stats
(A few notes about my school: We don’t have class rank, AP courses, or IB courses. We’re a public, state STEM school with about 100 students per grade.)
ACT: Comp - 34; English - 35; Reading - 36; Math - 32; Science - 34
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (For HS)
Past Dual Enrollment (Ohio State University): Math 1151 (Calculus) (B-), Biology 1114 (Form, Function, and Ecology Biology) (A-), ESEPSY 1259 (Independent Learning and Motivation) (A), Biology 1113 (Energy Transfer and Development) (B+), English 1110.01 (Freshman Composition) (A), Medical Terminology for Health Professions (A), Art 2100 (Beginning Drawing) (A)
Dual enrollment (Washington University in St. Louis): Social Issues and Social Problems (A)
Extracurriculars: Mock Trial (Founder, President, and Core Attorney), Science Olympiad (Co-Founder, Vice-President), Student Government (Interim Leader, Co-Founder, Representative), Joyce Ivy Foundation (Scholar, Fellow, Grant Researcher), Law and Leadership Institute (Participant, 3rd in State Leadership Project Competition, Most Outstanding Student award, Mock Trial Competition Winner x2, Best Advocate (Oral Arguments), Best Case Brief (Written Arguments), Assistant Mock Trial Coach), Key Club (Vice-President), Multi-Cultural Ambassador for the International Partnership for Education Research and Communication
Job/Work Experience: Student Researcher Intern (Nationwide Children's Hospital) (14 hrs a week for 19 weeks, unpaid)
Volunteer/Community service: 357 hours total so far in high school
Colleges I’m Looking At
University of Cincinnati
Ohio State University
Case Western Reserve
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Cornell University
Carleton College
University of Notre Dame
Washington University in St. Louis
Williams College
Swarthmore College
Darthmouth College
Johns Hopkins University (On-campus housing for only the first two years)
Princeton University
Vanderbilt University
Harvard University
Stanford University
Ideally, I’d apply to a maximum of twelve schools.
Williams, Swarthmore, Carleton, Dartmouth and Princeton seem to closely match your stated preferences. To this group, you might consider adding one or more of Bowdoin, Hamilton, Middlebury, Colgate and Kenyon. You might prefer URochester to CWRU. Denison would be a relatively safe admit for you.
This feels very reach-heavy to me. I’d say to pick 4 of the reaches, keep Cincinnati and OSU as safeties and Case as a match (but show interest). That would put you at 7 schools. I would suggest you add 2-3 more matches to give you more options if the reaches don’t pan out.
I agree with @merc81 about Williams, Swarthmore, Carleton, and Dartmouth being some of the best fits based off your stated criteria. For matches, perhaps Bryn Mawr (if you are female), Skidmore, or Bard.
@suzy100 Ah, thank you for catching that. I forgot that the GPA PowerSchool (my school’s grade report system) doesn’t include my college courses. I used a GPA calculator online to calculate my unweighted GPA to be a 3.93.
@intparent Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll definitely check the school out.
@glittervine Agreed, for my list being reach-heavy. Thank you for your advice and for the suggestions! I am female, so I’ll take a look at Bryn Mawr along with the other two colleges you suggested.
I’d cut some of the reaches/lottery schools. Add Carnegie Mellon and Oberlin. I’d keep Case over U of Rochester.
Why Notre Dame?
@Suzy100 lots of HS do not count dual enrollment or summer courses in the GPA. How do you think all of these kids have such outstanding GPA’s? (Not saying this specifically refers to this particular student who clearly is an outstanding achiever!)
I’d add St Olaf as a low match if you express interest, it’d be an excellent fit (size, location, focus on Math/science, support, residential).
I’d cut all the large universities except for tOSU and UC, keep the LACs and Case, and then add 2 -3 favorite “dream schools”.
Your list is all over the place in terms of size, geography, and campus culture. I doubt any single student would be equally happy at all of these schools. It looks like a lot of random prestige schools. I mean Carleton and Swarthmore are exceedingly different from Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. Ask yourself whether you’d really be happy at a particular school for 4 years. If you’re not sure, don’t apply.
UMich is not exactly a small school. It’s also got more of an urban feel than you may like. Although Ann Arbor isn’t a huge city or anything, if you have reservations about being in the middle of a city I would think that UMich would not appeal to you. With that being said there are obviously a ton of advantages to Michigan, it’s just that I noticed it didn’t really fit two of your criteria.
I think WashU seems like a really good fit. Good for biology/pre-med from what I’ve heard, smallish, and it’s located in suburban St. Louis, so it doesn’t feel like it’s in a city at all (much less urban feeling than UMich imo).
FYI:Using student-level data provided by Linkedin, these college and universities send the highest percentage of graduates to a top-level medical program.
Amherst
Williams
Swarthmore
Pomona
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Harvard
Brown
John Hopkins
MIT
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Berkeley
University of Pennsylvania
University of Chicago
Washington University
Yale
Maybe, but some writing centers are more equal than others, and have been recognized by independent sources, such as in this example from The Freelancer:
No one said Hamilton didn’t have an excellent writing center. However, Kieran Dahl is ranking the 10 best colleges for creative writers (i.e., the best undergraduate programs.)
If dangkat5 had expressed an interest in majoring in creative writing or had asked which colleges excelled at creative writing courses, then by all means, Hamilton is worth considering if s/he is interested in attending a small, rural college.
Nonetheless, dankat5 is interested in schools with writing centers for assistance with course work. My statement that most top schools have excellent writing centers for that purpose is correct.
@labegg My brother attended the Uni. of ND in his undergraduate years so I got a lot of exposure to the school from visiting so many times a year. I really like the campus, the traditions (and dorm-specific traditions), the student life, and the overall atmosphere. There’s a strong sense of community there. Thank you for your reply, also!
@sheepskin00 I prefer smaller schools, but I am applying to larger schools because the size isn’t a large of a factor. OSU is extremely large, but it’s a financially good decision since I have so many credits there already and is my state university. In terms of geography, they are all not in a single specific region because I don’t have a certain region I prefer. Then, for campus culture, between the openness and fluidity of some schools compared to the strict rules of others, I do find myself enjoying more of the liberal arts schools since I enjoy both humanities and science, but I also recognize that a research institution would provide great opportunities to hone my focus on certain subjects. I find myself ambivalent a lot of these things. I like science and the humanities. I like the “Swarthmore” type school but also the “Notre Dame” type school as I see the appeal in both types. Thank you for your reply!
@callogan44 I had the same thoughts, but honestly the factors are listed are a lower priority with the academics and programs and opportunities available taking first priority. Thanks for your input!
I agree for WashU. I had a blast attending their summer program and loved their campus feel, location, size, and so on.
@crewdad Thank you so much for your reply! I’ll definitely be taking that list into consideration!
@crewdad@merc81 The writing centers were more so an example of student resources I’d like to have available. Most schools seem to have many academic resources available, though.