Need help with College List

My child is a junior this year and we have been working on the college list. Here’s the list we have as of date:
Yale
Upenn
Duke
WashU
Rice
UPitt
Case Western

This list has a lot of schools that are reach for any student. So would love sone suggestions of schools that would be a safety.

Child has a 36 on ACT, waiting for SAT scores. PSAT 1500(hoping to make NMF), GPA 4.0, taking all Honors classes with 6 majors Junior and Senior year. School does not offer APs but aiming to complete 4 APs by Senior year (Chemistry, Calculus BC, Physics and Biology). Local and national prizes in STEM.

Interested in the pre-med track but is willing to explore other areas as well. Hence prefer a college that is strong overall. Interested in a variety of subjects and clubs. Preference is to remain in the Northeast or at least the Eastern US. Would also require merit/financial aid given that we want to save for graduate school.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Apply early to Pitt. Your son is in the range for merit but it’s not guaranteed. This year Pitt received a large increase in applications and they have been waitlisting a lot, even high stat kids, who applied late. If he applies in September it should be a safety. If he waits until January, you are taking your chances.

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Moved this to the “What Are My Chances and Matches?” forum. You may want to fill out the chancing template. It will provide information that will help people help you.

Information such as: which state you are in, what your budget is, etc.

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I agree Pitt will be a near safety if applying early in the cycle. App should be available Aug 1.

Will you qualify for need based aid? Several of the schools on your list don’t offer any merit (Yale, UPenn) or merit is difficult to get. I encourage you to decide on a budget, communicate that to your child, and stick to it. It can be difficult when budget is not clear, or only certain schools are deemed to be good enough to pay full boat.

Run the NPCs at each school to get cost estimates. If parents are divorced, own a real estate beyond a primary home, or own a business, the NPCs may not be accurate…are any of those the case for you? Here’s Yale’s NPC: Yale University - Net Price Calculator

Would your child consider a liberal arts college? Many have excellent pre-health advising and access to the various activities necessary for success in med school applications. Schools like the Maine NESCACs, Hamilton, Bucknell, Lafayette, Franklin and Marshall could work, but there are many more and they would range from reaches to near safeties.

You might add your state flagship to the list for an affordable option, especially if it is appealing and not overly selective. Some state schools to consider: UMass Amherst, PSU, OSU, UVM, but again, many could work.

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Thanks for the advice! Will definitely keep that in mind.

@mwfan1921 Thanks for the tip on Pitt.

We will qualify for need based aid. I ran the numbers on the Yale website and some others as well. He knows that he will need to keep the numbers in mind especially since he wants to go to graduate school:)

We did consider LACs but it’s not what he wants. So I want to respect his decision. as for state schools, they are really large and he’s leaning towards a small to mid size school.

Northeast and high stats - a strong school that might be less of a “reach” in your circumstance is McGill. Much more objective admissions criteria than equivalent OOS US schools (but probably not as “safety”-ish as an instate flagship for a high-stat kid). Also many admissions decisions come on the early end compared to the American cycle, which is great. They seem to love APs - but with the posted standardized test scores I don’t think it’ll be a problem for you.

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I second McGill for high stats students. And it’s a great school!

What is it about the LACs that is a turnoff? They are not all the same so if there are a couple of aspects that make a school unappealing, that doesn’t mean they all share it.

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Not a safety, but if your son is interested in medical sciences and has those stats, has he thought about Johns Hopkins?

I’d consider Duquesne if your son wants a smaller campus that’s still in Pittsburgh.

If you’re thinking about Yale, I’d look at Fairfield University (CT).

If you’re thinking about Duke, I’d consider Wake Forest. It’s not a safety, but odds are at least 3x better than getting in at Duke and it has a very strong sciences program. Your son’s chances would be even better at Elon, which has some very happy students and a big focus on job placement, but finances might be a bit more of an issue there.

Not a safety, but I’d think your son’s odds would be good at U. of Rochester, and the hospital is right across the street from campus.

I’d consider the College of New Jersey as well.

Most of the universities above have about 5-6k students.

ETA: Alabama schools

And it’s not in the northeast, but U. of Alabama - Birmingham has a strong background in the medical sciences, is mid-sized, and your son is likely to get an extremely nice financial aid package. And if a big state school is okay, U. of Alabama has a well-reputed honors college and your son would get a full ride:
PRESIDENTIAL ELITE

A student with a 4.0+ GPA and 36 ACT OR 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:

  • Value of tuition for up to four years or eight semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
  • First year of on-campus housing at regular room rate (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
  • $1,000 per year supplemental scholarship for four years
  • $2,000 one-time allowance for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
  • $2,000 Supe Store book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)
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Pitt is your safety so you can apply anywhere beyond there as you only need one acceptance abd it would come early.

If you get NMF Bama is the best deal but top schools like USC also pay. U of Arizona also cheap for a top student.

If you want strong but not full pay there are solid schools with a chance…albeit small…for merit. Rice. Vandy. Bu etc and LACs too Good luck

@AustenNut thanks so much for the suggestions:) I read a few posts about U Rochester but was not quite sure about it. I will check that. However, do Wake Forest, U Rochester etc. have other strong departments as well? Just in case, he decides to shift tracks (which seems unlikely, but you know, you never know)

Actually JHU is on his list. He visited the school and likes the research options there. I’m not sure about the strength of their non STEM departments though?

I was wondering about Honors colleges as well. The one in NYU also offers something similar to Alabama schools called the Deans Scholarship. Any inputs on how good it is?

In terms of Honors colleges, the perks are very tempting and he will be in a small cohort even if they are in a larger campus right? Any other benefits to Honors colleges?

no doubt McGill is a great school! Would that not make him an international student though with no chance at any aid? Also if he wants to go to medical school in the US, would that make it harder?

McGill’s tuition tends to be less than comparable US schools, and in addition it varies by degree, so that a Bachelor of Arts is significantly less expensive than a Bachelor of Science. That may be good for a pre-med student, who can major in any subject as long as they take the required pre-med classes. But it would be good to check with McGill if, say, a sociology major would be allowed to take the required science classes.

Also, their tuition and fees are posted on Canadian dollars, so the actual cost in US dollars is less.

Finally, McGill has various merit scholarships that incoming students can apply for.

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Here are the linked academic pages from the College Board for all the different majors offered at these universities:

University of Rochester has the Eastman School of Music and Johns Hopkins has the Peabody, both renowned music schools. All three are really good universities that offer a full range of majors, not just in STEM fields. I went over to College Transitions (a popular site around here) and just picked a few random majors. Colleges strong in (name of the major is the link):

Business: Wake Forest
Communication: Wake Forest
Computer Science: Johns Hopkins
English: Johns Hopkins
International Relations: Johns Hopkins
Mathematics: Johns Hopkins & University of Rochester
Mechanical Engineering: Johns Hopkins & University of Rochester
Political Science: University of Rochester & Wake Forest

And just because a college isn’t listed here, doesn’t mean they don’t have a good program.

I’m more familiar with honors colleges at public schools that private schools, but generally they will have various perks like smaller classes, priority registration, special (nicer) dorms, etc. I’m not familiar with the honors program at NYU, but perhaps someone else can speak to that.

UVA, UConn, Rutgers, Richmond or Notre Dame. Notre Dame has been very generous with my friend’s three children. The first two were NMF kids. Both are doing very well. Youngest starts in fall.

There are a lot of doctors in my family. The easiest transition from undergrad to med school among us was going to a big public university, getting summer science research work, then getting letters of rec from university faculty to go to that school’s med school. One of us successfully applied to ONE med school early decision this way. Others failed to get into med school the first time around - having come from Ivy League schools.

Off the top of my head, UV-Burlington, U Mass - Amherst, Penn State, Ohio State are all affiliated with excellent medical schools. In the Midwest and beyond: Indiana University, UW-Madison, UM-Ann Arbor, U-Iowa, UW-Seattle also have great med schools.

Also note: NYU, WashU and Cleveland are all tuition-free for med school now!

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Definitely consider U Rochester and Wake Forest, perhaps even Vanderbilt, with those stats. I’ve seen really, really good (merit) scholarships go to high stat students going to those schools. It’s certainly not a given, but he’s competitive, so worth a shot if he likes the schools.

Pitt should definitely be a safety if applied to early - and might, itself, give a really good scholarship.

U Rochester is one of those schools with minimal required credits outside of what one’s major requires. It makes it a great school for exploring different things and/or double majoring. They also focus a ton on research in all of their majors. Something like 75-80% of their undergrads are involved in research. It’s part of the “culture” there. In general, sports isn’t part of the culture, so if interested in that aspect of college, Pitt tends to be loved.

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