@mom2collegekids could you tell me which ones aren’t great for pre-med? I’m doing that right now for those two schools lol @Itisatruth is right we are running down the clock and she needs to add schools that are more matched to likelies and affordable fit.
Brandeis and Amherst are excellent for premed. Amherst is a reach school.
@melvin123 Thank you!!!
Case Western Reserve University might be a good fit.
I would agree with Case as a potential pre-med school. And from the posts on CC, it doesn’t appear to have as much grade deflation for pre-med as many of its peers.
Northwestern would be a reach, but it could be targeted since OP already has a bunch of reaches on the list.
URM with 31 ACT might be accepted to some reaches.
My D is at Tulane (honors), a student of color, and loves it. The president is AWESOME and the VP of Admissions (a person of color) is focusing on creating a student body that reflects the real world (increasing the diversity of the student body) and provides the academic environment for jobs of the future. The Multicultural Center is growing and is very supportive. Tulane’s premed is excellent – health sciences is one of its strengths. The student body is more indie if not slightly geeky (Geeks are cool!). Over 60% of students are not from the south, and the average distance a first-year student travels to attend Tulane is 900 miles – it’s not a “southern” feeling school like SEC schools that revolve around football and fraternity life. It’s a community service focused student body, too – lots of engagement in service activities, volunteering locally, social justice, etc. New Orleans is booming and extraordinarily creative, culturally diverse, and has the best music and food.My nieces went to Brandeis and liked it. It’s in the Boston burbs, and is extremely diverse.It also has excellent pre-med track. Questbridge will be coordinating the match, right? so that will be very beneficial.Good luck!
@proudmama2016 I’ve been hearing nothing but great things about Tulane actually, but more on a general scope. Seeing specifics like this is encouraging! I will definitely discuss this with her. From what you described above, this may be a great match for her!
Brandeis is great for pre-med. Lots of opportunities for students to be involved in research. Campus is very welcoming.
Not your question, but with your original list + all of the good suggestions here, I think that the list needs to be cut way back. As in, have your daughter pick 2, max 3 of the super reach schools- the ones she really would like, and dump all the rest. Ditto for the matches and the likelies.
That leaves 6-9 applications to write in the next 2 weeks- which is a LOT of hard work. Doing it over the holidays is hard. Doing it when you are trying to genuinely get excited about new places when you’ve had your heart set on something else is hard.
@collegemom3717 I agree, I think she may have chosen too many reach schools. I’m currently showing her this thread as I type!. I appreciate the feedback, it will be good for her to see as well!! Thank you!!
I can speak to American (my son attends) & GWU (his best friend attends). American is looking to raise its stem profile, so I think they would be more generous with a STEM major in terms of aid. One of the criticisms of AU is (it also effects their rankings) is alumni salary. The Peace Corp is one of their largest employers. My son’s friend needed significant aid and was given a package that made GW cheaper than our in-state flagship. Both really like their respective schools.
IDon’t overlook Case Western. It is Midwest but Cleveland does not have a typical Midwest feel to it. My daughter has interests and preferences very similar to your daughter’s and she loved Case when she visited. Very strong research - she visited bio labs, the research quality is extremely strong - several Novel prize winners in medicine and physiology. Free access to very modern lab equipment for students - opened bio lab specifically for all students this year and it is very impressive. Good theatre program - she spoke with people from that department, they even have scholarships for students who minor in theatre. She got admitted to Tufts ED and when I asked her if she had any buyer’s remorse, she said the only school she feels sad about is Case.
UMaryland Baltimore County - huge STEM school. She would have been a great candidate for Meyerhoff Scholarship but nonetheless it’s still worth checking out.
Since you’re low income/Questbridge, most OOS public’s won’t work since merit scholarships deadlines are past. (You mustn’t look at application deadlines but at honors/presidential scholarship deadlines).
Exception: UMichigan meets need for OOS families under 90k income.
It wouldn’t be a good choice for a pre-med since competition would be fierce but their lower income/rural/first gen students’ initiative and support are exemplary and if like 3/4 would be pre-meds she ends up doing something else, a Michigan degree will serve her well. In addition, the Residential College would provide a ready made community of artsy/quirky/social justice kids.
She shouldn’t apply as Biology/pre-med anyway. (if her interest persists she can switch later on - she has till sophomore year to declare). Would-be pre-meds are a dime a dozen, there’s an oversupply of biology majors, and her 27 in math/science will hurt her. Expressing another academic interest that matches her strengths or just saying she’s undecided but is interested in psychology, cognitive science… would likely be enough but wouldn’t be as damaging as saying biology/pre-med.
Look into: Bates (shorty drive to Portland), St Olaf (short drive to Minneapolis St Paul), Muhlenberg, Dickinson. Seconding Mount Holyoke, perhaps Bryn Mawr (adjacent to Haverford so although they’re small, together they’re bigger than 3,000).
Show interest by filling out the Request info forms asap.
The OP’s daughter is a Questbridge finalist, so I assume lots of FA is necessary. There are many good suggestions on this thread from an academic standpoint but probably not financially doable. OP, how much can you contribute per year? IMO, you should start with all the QB schools and apply broadly to many of those. As a QB finalist, there are no application fees and you can’t beat the FA packages at the QB partner schools.
@MYOS1634 I was going to recommend Bryn Mawr also but BMC + Haverford is still < 3000. Easy trip into Philly, though, and fairly good access to Swat and Penn for courses widens horizons beyond a typical small LAC. Great pre-med and STEM in general, very good merit aid, and all the arts and quirk you could possibly want. Amazing theater program.
@Waverbeach please keep us posted on this thread over the next few weeks if you have time and inclination. I’m eager for your D to craft the right list before RD deadlines!
@Itisatruth I will! You all have been so very helpful! I read your other post about your daughter and our daughters are similiar in a lot of ways. I showed my D your thread and I’m going to do the NPC on some of those. @CottonTales yes, you are right. Lots of FA is necessary. She did start with QB schools(part of why the list is so long and so many reaches), it is amazing that they let you apply without the app fee. That has been such a blessing. She wouldn’t be able to apply to multiple schools without that.
We condensed the original list down a BUNCH, and added a few new ones. She is researching them now! Thanks everyone for all the feedback and suggestions! Have a great weekend!!
Not to be That Mom who only plugs her own kid’s college, but I would add Scripps to MYOS’ suggestion of Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. Like the other two, it’s a women’s college that has lots of overlap with its coed consortium partners. Fantastic study abroad options (my d is going abroad sophomore spring)… moderate diversity (they’re trying, which will strengthen your d’s application) and the excellent diversity of Pomona (the largest school in the consortium and majority non-white) helps a lot with the overall diversity of the consortium. Small classes, and good pre-health advising.
Also Agnes Scott in Atlanta, which has cross-registration with Emory… it’s not a full-need-met school but it does have some big merit scholarships that your d could have a shot at.
In the greater Boston area, Brandeis is a good suggestion academically but it’s not a full-need-met school so you might or might not get enough aid. Look at Holy Cross in Worcester, which does meet full need. They have rigorous premed advising - which is to say that not all students who start out premed and up getting the school’s support to apply to med school, but those who do have a very high rate of med school acceptance. (90% per this link https://www.holycross.edu/about-holy-cross/points-of-pride ) The campus is often cited as one of the most beautiful in the state, and it’s less than an hour from Boston on commuter rail. And they have a strong focus on social justice and diversity. It’s not quite a safety because it isn’t need-blind, but it’s at least a match, and you need more match schools with good financial aid. (St. Olaf, as mentioned up-thread, is another in that category and definitely artsy although it’s more known for music - I don’t know if theater is big there or not.) Ann Dowd, of The Handmaid’s Tale, was a Holy Cross premed before deciding to pursue a career as an actor, https://magazine.holycross.edu/issue_46_4/46_4_profile and she speaks highly of her theater experiences there (although of course this was a generation ago). And coming into undergrad with above-median stats for a given school can really improve the forecast for getting the top grades necessary to get to med school, if that’s the goal.
Wesleyan could be a good fit - a bit reachy because of the admit rate, but her stats are right in there around the median which combined with the URM bump gives her a decent shot.
Agree with CWRU, and also U of Rochester which has a terrific performing arts culture. And as others have said, there’s no need for a biology-type major as a premed, in fact, it can be a disadvantage. Majors in social sciences, humanities, math, music, and even theater do great in the med school admissions process as long as they take the prerequisite courses and do well.
Good luck in the home stretch of the application process!