Need help shortening my college list

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, I know this is a really long post, but I really need help shortening my college list. I don't want to apply to any more than 5 schools on the "other schools on list" list. I've already run a net price calculator on all of these schools, and my parents are fine paying the remaining price. If you can think of any other schools that would be a better fit for me that would be great. Thanks in advance for any help you provide. </p>

<p>College List:
Early Action Schools:
[ul]
[<em>]UChicago
[</em>]Stanford
[<em>]UNC-Chapel Hill
[</em>]Notre Dame
[/ul]</p>

<p>Safeties:
[ul]
[<em>]Purdue (in-state)
[</em>]UAlabama (qualify for presidential scholarship)
[li]IU- Bloomington [/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Other Schools on List:
[ul]
[<em>]Yale
[</em>]Columbia
[<em>]Duke
[</em>]USC
[<em>]Johns Hopkins University
[</em>]Washington University- St. Louis
[<em>]Boston College
[</em>]Cornell
[li]Northwestern [/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Objective:
[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): C: 1920 CR: 720 M: 630 W: 570 E: 8 (retaking in October)
[</em>] ACT: 32 (retaking in September English score was bad)
[<em>] SAT II: Chemistry: 780 Math 2: 740 (retaking Nov.) USH: 750
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81
Freshman: 3.96 (got a B+ first semester Algebra I in 8th grade)
Sophomore: 3.60 (2nd semester was BAD)<br>
Junior: 3.86<br>
[<em>] Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.30
Freshman: 3.96
Sophomore: 4.28
Junior: 4.72
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH: 5 Psych: 5 Chem: 4 Human Geo: 3
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C: Magnetism & Electricity, AP Physics C: Mechanics,AP Gov, AP Econ,AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Calc BC, World Lit. Composition, Human Genetics, Honors Sociology
[/ul]</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
[ul]
[<em>]Spell Bowl 9-10, 12 (Captain)
[</em>]Varsity Track and Field 9-12 (Captain)
[<em>]National Honor Society (mostly volunteering and tutoring) 11-12
[</em>]Best Buddies 11-12
[<em>]Project X (volunteering club) 11-12
[</em>]DECA 10,12
[<em>]Spanish Club 11-12
[</em>]Snowflurry (volunteer at middle school): 11-12
[/ul]</p>

<p>Other
[ul]
[<em>] State: Indiana
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: African-American
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income Bracket: > 200,000
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
[<em>]Intended Major: Chemistry or Biology. Minor in sports medicine if possible.
[</em>]Professional Goals: Pre-medicine
[/ul]</p>

<p>Non-Academic Preferences
[ul]
[li]Urban with many things to do on and around campus.[/li][/ul]</p>

2

<p>bump…</p>

3

<p>Dude if I were you, I would just focus on the ACT. Your ACT score can easily be improved considering English is the easiest thing to improve on. </p>

<p>OT: It’s hard shortening someone else’s college list without actually knowing a little bit about the type of atmosphere they enjoy. </p>

4

<p>@NewYorkHustle when I took the SAT/ACT the first time I didn’t study for them. I’ve taken some practice tests and I scored a 2200 on my most recent SAT and a 35 on the ACT. Thanks for your advice though. </p>

<p>Well, I don’t want anywhere that is basically freezing year round. I know I want a school near a city. I don’t really care about the school size. I would like a school that has good school spirit. If they have sororities that’s fine. If not that’s fine too. Can’t really think of anything else. </p>

5

<p>It seems to me that there is a lot in between your safeties and your reaches. I would pick schools that are more “matches” from your “other” list, not reaches. Also, if you want to go to med school, consider that the top requirements to get in are:</p>

<ul>
<li>HIgh GPA - based just on your test scores, I suspect that a high GPA will be difficult to achieve in a school with a lot of high scoring students. If you truly want to be pre-med, think hard about whether it is smartest to attend a school where your test scores put you in the lower part of the applicant pool.</li>
<li>Strong MCAT prep and scores -You can get this at many, many schools.</li>
<li>Experience in medical field (which can be acquired in the summer)</li>
</ul>

<p>Although your parents can apparently afford the NPC amounts, med school is expensive. So minimize your loans from undergrad if possible, as you need to likely take out large ones for med school. If your parents are paying full freight, they might be able to help with med school if you keep your undergrad costs down.</p>

6

<p>@intparent thanks for your advice. </p>

<p>If I was to go to a lower ranked school but graduate with a 4.0 (hypothetically), would the higher ranked med schools look down on my application?</p>

7

<p>Get you final score(s) first. It is hard to make priority without knowing if you will get 35 or stuck with 32 in ACT for instance.</p>

8

<p>@sen302015‌ No they would not look down on you if you would get a high MCAT</p>