NY College Recommendations For a Junior???

College Search & Selection
1

Hey there guys
I’m currently a junior attending a competitive high school in NYC. Interested in medicine for the future and looking to major in biology/psychology/public health (any recommendations?) in college.

GPA: 3.3 UW (88-89)
Several honors classes
2 APs (so far)
Several college classes (all A’s)
No class rankings
SAT: 1420/1600

Extracurriculars:
Worked in a daycare (One summer)
Worked retail (One year)
Tutored a kid (Two years)
Red Cross (All years)
Engineering Team (One year)
Science Olympiad (One year)
Pre-Med Club (Two years)
No leadership positions.

Recs:
Probably generic and alright, nothing too special.

-Money is a large factor (Household income is around $25,000 for 5 people)
-Only NY colleges
-Let me know if I should add or remove any colleges and if my safeties, matches, or reaches should be changed.

CURRENT COLLEGE LIST

Macaulay Honors College (REACH)
Hunter College (MATCH)
Queens College (SAFETY)
City College (MATCH)
Brooklyn College (MATCH)

Buffalo (MATCH)
Stony Brook (REACH)
Binghamton (REACH)
Albany (MATCH)
Geneseo (REACH)
ESF (MATCH)

If anyone has any info about the academic guidelines for the SEEK/EOP/HEOP programs, that would be great!

Any and all suggestions from students/parents on what colleges to look into?

2

Medical schools do not require any specific undergraduate major, but you need to fit in the pre-med courses and earn high college GPA and MCAT score.

3

I am genuinely interested in those majors and will be taking prerequisites with the major. Any recommendations for NY colleges that are pretty good for pre-med and are not too expensive? Or do I have that covered?

4

Check out both SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Fredonia. Although it is not the primary focus of either school, both are known for their bio programs. Fredonia has a biochem program and offers scholarships specifically for STEM students. You might also qualify for merit money and/or the honors program at both, which is much less likely for your GPA at SUNY Geneseo, which (from what I know and this info is older than my info about the other two schools, only offers merit money to the tippy top students, meaning those who might be able to get into an Ivy but can’t afford it).

5

Some of your better financial (as well as pre-med) support might come through well-funded private colleges. You might want to consider those for which your GPA and scores would be appropriate

6

@merc81 Do you have any suggestions for any NY private colleges that are appropriate for me?

7

Definitely look at University of Rochester. It might be a reach with GPA but worth a shot:

8

Depending on your GPA in context (course rigor, etc.), you could look into schools such as St. Lawrence and HWS, @ironfloyd.

9

You should apply HEOP to St Lawrence, HWS, Colgate, Vassar, Skidmore, Barnard if you’re a girl.
You’d be at the bottom 25% for scores but your curriculum rigor and their ability to recognize your HS and “recenter” your grades would be in your favor - and those bottom 25% admitted students are typically exactly in your situation, lower income, first generation, and/or URM. Those are long shots but the financial aid package would be a full ride.
One big issue is that you assume your recommendations will be generic - make sure you speak up in class, work diligently on group projects, go and visit your GC/college counselor regularly (once a month?), and start compiling your “bragsheet” (if you don’t know what that is, look up “college bragsheet”).
Another issue is your ECs, with no leadership and all over the place. Did you have a job, or do you have a job? This counts as a solid EC if you work, especially if it’s 15+ hours a week and/or if it helps your family (ie., if the money doesn’t get spent on new sport shoes or new iphone covers). Looks like job-wise you’ve had one and quit or something, so get back to it. Stick to the premed club and the engineering club or another club and try to get a leadership position for one.
Cornell’s contract colleges, especially CALS, would be worth reaching for but you could ask your school’s college counselor whether you have any odd at all, because the financial aid package would be excellent, as it would with the above colleges.
3.3 for a competitive NYC HS is quite good, especially considering your income bracket (ie., no family guidance/advantage.) It won’t be looked at the way a random 3.3 is looked at.
Nevertheless it makes some schools reaches.
Apply to Honors at all the SUNYs you apply to even if your odds seem low as there are scholarships. The benefits will be very important for a premed (not just the money but also the priority registration and special opportunities).
Even if you want to stay in NYS, you may get good financial aid packages from schools such as Muhlenberg, Wheaton MA, perhaps even Connecticut College (assuming they’ll know your HS).

10

Canisius College in Buffalo, it is a private Jesuit college. They have early assurance med school programs and work with SUNY Buffalo. I know a girl in your income level that received a ton of merit and financial aid.
Hobart William Smith another option. Good luck

11

If you’re female you could check out Clarkson. With the heavy male population they are always looking for female students. Also, you may want to look at some of the PA LACs, especially the CTCL ones, which give good merit.

12

Try running the net price calculator on each college’s web site to see what its financial aid may look like.

13

Run the net price calculator on every college listed on your thread, one by one.

14

First, with this SAT score, Binghamton and Stony Brook are not a reach for you, they are a match. My son got into both with 91 unweighted GPA and 1,270 on the SAT. Second, with your super low income, you will receive full Pell and TAP grants, which are $6,020 and $5,165 respectively. Third, you will also receive Excelsior scholarship, this is s new program in NYS and it covers tuition at city and state school, just the tuition, which is great because should you choose to go away to let’s say Binghamton, Pell and TAP will cover most of the room and board. Fourth, you should fill out FAFSA form ASAP because you are also eligible for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), however, each school receives a limited number of funds for FSEOG so it’s on a first come first served basis, and the max on this grant is $4,000, assuming you qualify for the max, you got your full college costs covered by the combo of Excelsior, Pell, TAP and FSEOG. There is also merit aid from SUNY system-my son was not offered any merit aid at Stony Brook and Bing, but Fredonia offered two scholarships which covered tuition cost, we would just be paying for room and board. For the private colleges, many offer very generous need-based and merit aid, the key to finding out is to run net price calculator. To save time, instead of running it one by one, use this website https://collegeabacus.org/, you can run multiple colleges at once, as long as they are participants.

15

Hobart and WS offer a scholarship for students interested in medicine. They also have a track record of making their school affordable for lower-income students from NYC.

Bard might embrace you and give you aid, but it’s less assured than for other schools. They have a social-justice mission and they want people with STEM interests to offset their large population of arty students.

Wells would give you merit probably and you could cross register at Cornell for at least a few classes.

I like that you put Macaulay on your list first. That would be an amazing option for you. The CUNYs are a great resource.

Have you considered the Sophie Davis program? There’s also similar program at CUNY Brooklyn.

If you could be CLOSE to NYC but in another state, and get good FA, would you do it? I’m saying this because NY state is so huge that you’d be closer at some Connecticut and Massachusetts schools. Mt. Holyoke has great academics and a socially conscious mission. they have excellent science facilities. You’d also have access to the other schools in its consortium: Amherst; Smith; Hampshire; UMass Amherst. Also Wesleyan is excellent and has a social justice element to how it accepts students. it also will make sure that you can afford to attend.

Vassar might be a good fit for you. They have some of the best FA. Your raw GPA looks low, but they may refigure it, weighting it because of your high-ranking high school. Try Vassar. They make sure that if they accept you, you’ll be able to attend and your debt burden will not be too high

I have issues with Merit because it often still leaves considerable costs left topay. Nonetheless, some people get lucky" For schools local to NYC that would probably extend merit to you, look at–
Manhattan College
Manhattanville College
Wagner on Staten Island

As an aside, a woman I know whose child got into both Yale and Princeton as a premed-focused student, she advised me not to let my child attend such high-ranking schools for premed. She said that doing premed at such high-powered schools does you no favors. Her child was miserable and had a hard time getting accepted into med school. med school acceptance depends on GPA + GMAT scores. The name of your school is less important. She advised that my child look at Iona College for example. Also she suggested that a child could start at nursing school and get the prereqs That would eliminate the intense competition from peers. Lehman College is known for its nursing program. It’s just another angle you may want to explore.

16

This is definitely one school of thought on CC, and I believe that it has some validity; at least, for those students who aren’t bona fide superstar geniuses. You want to be smarter than most of your fellow premeds, and that’s an awfully high bar to clear at Wash U., Johns Hopkins, etc. If you are honestly on the left side of the bell curve of the premed cohort at your reach schools, perhaps you should look elsewhere. See Malcolm Gladwell for an essay about this.

17

@MYOS1634 I had a job through a government program (SYEP) but now that the program is over, I am done with the job. Currently I do have a year-long job through a similar government program which is due to end during summer time. I agree, I should probably apply to some of the private colleges thru HEOP. However, I’m unsure if I would really have much of a chance at some of those colleges (Barnard, Vassar) and I can’t find any information on HEOP applicants and the average stats anywhere online. I tried using Naviance but I don’t think it would help me since it doesn’t display the students who applied thru HEOP.

@taverngirl Ran the net price calculator and the cost out of pocket after grants and scholarships is around $20,000 per year for Clarkson. Go figure.

@babysladkaya I’m unsure if I should apply to Stony and Bing. I would be pursuing a field in medicine but with Stony’s surplus of pre-meds, won’t the environment be quite competitive? As for Bing, I can only imagine that the science classes will have professors trying to weed out students similar to Stony. Coming from a specialized high school that sends a large number of strong students to Stony and Bing each year, I’m not sure if it would be viable to attain a high GPA there.

@Dustyfeathers If I could be close to NYC but in another state, and get good FA I would do it but the reason I wasn’t concentrating on out of state colleges much is because I won’t be qualifying for their in-state rates and don’t see how i can get good FA from them unless I have excellent stats.

18

@ironfloyd

OOS and in-state cost differences only apply for PUBLIC schools. They also don’t give great FA (except for perhaps the Excelsior scholarships of NY https://www.ny.gov/programs/tuition-free-degree-program-excelsior-scholarship )

PRIVATE schools are eager to find 1) high achieving; 2) lower-income students and they 3) provide financial aid based on NEED. Some also offer merit aid plus need-based aid, combined. Then for low-income students such as your family the government also provides aid. You would probably also be asked by the school to do some work study for aid. And then there will be a small amount of debt, but that debt can be less at a private school than at some publics.

To summarize, there are several private schools near NYC (or on the Northeast Corridor train and bus lines) that profess to provide 100% OF NEED for low-income students. Please bear in mind that NEED is calculated differently from school to school. You won’t know how they calculated your need until you are accepted and see the FA package they give to you. Some of the schools, once they accept you, will guarantee that you can go – in other words they will adjust their need assessment to ensure that you can attend. Your need assessments can vary greatly from school to school. Net Price Calculators on each college’s website will give you an idea of what you’d pay, but that is just an estimate. Strategy for applying to these schools and getting the best deal is usually to apply REGULAR decision and then compare FA packages. Bargaining with them is perfectly acceptable and should be done. They expect this. In other words, you see how much they are asking from you and then you ask the rival schools if they can give you a better deal. Some people, though, use a different strategy. They take a school at its word, that it will give you 100% of need, and will apply early decision. ED locks you into attending that school UNLESS YOU CAN’T AFFORD THE AID PACKAGE. Then you are released from that obligation. Sometimes some schools stagger their ED deadlines such that you can apply ED to several schools SEQUENTIALLY. So maybe ED I to Wellesley (because it guarantees you will be able to attend). If rejected then EDII Vassar (because it’s aid is so good AND because you can still apply to Skidmore ED if rejected by Vassar). If rejected by Vassar, then Skidmore EDII at their deadline, the rest all Regular decision.

Here is the estimated net price of some schools that profess to give 100% of need (as they calculate it). By net price, that’s what it will cost you PER YEAR including tuition and room and board (maybe some expenses too) –

As a point of comparison, SUNY Albany net price for your income bracket is $11K per year.

** I’d immedately get on the mailing lists of all schools that interest you. Go to their Admissions tab and fill out their form for more information **

  • Haverford--estimated net price for your income bracket -- $7K -- https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=haverford&s=all&id=212911
  • Bryn Mawr (women's school in consortium with Haverford -- they share a campus basically -- go here if you can, they have excellent premed and a nurturing environment with less of a weed-out environment. Very Nurturing School.) In addition, Bryn Mawr and Haverford are part of a consortium that includes Swarthmore and University of Pennsylvania. They provide free transportation to these other schools. Also BMC truly looks holistically at the entire application. If you really like the culture there (they have an honor code that allows for a non-competitive academic atmosphere and it allows you to take exams without proctors self-scheduled; and students self-govern) then write about this carefully in the "why BMC" essay. They pay close attention to this essay. Also BMC does interviews in NYC. If you sign up to get their emails you will be notified when they are. BMC is NOT need blind. If they don't have FA for you, they will not accept you. But if they do have FA they will accept you, if you qualify otherwise BMC net price for your income level is $10K
  • Skidmore net price for your income level is $11K
  • Vassar -- has some of the best FA available -- note that they have changed their subject test requirements lately Net price for your income level is $5K
  • Wesleyan University Net price for you is $5K
  • Smith (part of the Five-college consortium with free buses to the other campuses) For you $9K
  • Mt. Holyoke (also part of the Five college consoritum with free buses to other campuses. Like Bryn Mawr, this is a Very Nurturing School with less of a weed-out environment.) net price $11K
  • Amherst -- Net price $6K
  • Swarthmore but to my mind it has a more competitive environment and I would not encourage you to go there if you're worried about weed-out schools. Net price about $6K
  • Wellesley -- also excellent in all ways but a tad bit more competitive than the other schools. It may suit you, though, and they also GUARANTEE that if they accept you, you can attend. They have been known to adjust FA accordingly to make sure that will happen. Net price -- $8K
  • Barnard -- part of the Columbia University system. FA is all need-based, but again you will need to check to see how you like how competitive the atmosphere is. See if you can go to the campus and ask students there. $7K
  • Connecticut college -- also a great choice -- match school for you probably $12-$15K
  • Wheaton in Massachusetts (not Illinois) -- provides 95% of NEED $15K

Trinity College – $10-$14K

Hamilton – $8K

Union College – $8K – and if you’re female they will want to recruit you all the more. This is a boy-heavy school. There is also more of a party culture here, and if you can ignore that, you can get an excellent education here. Also it’s on the Amtrak and bus lines to NYC and it may be a MATCH for you

Hobart and WS – $14K – this seems a little high but they have in the past recruited low-income students from NYC and they make you a nice offer

Not sure if they provide 100% of need but the estimated net price is very reasonable –

Wells college (and can cross register for some classes at Cornell) This is probably a SAFETY school for you.

This college is outside of your region, but it has a super cheap estimated net price for you
Beloit – $5K It would also be a safety school. Attending college far from home is not the easiest thing, but I did it. I couldn’t go home for holidays, for example. But in the end it was okay. I was happy to have chosen a nurturing school. It completely changed my life.

St. Olaf is a little more expensive at $10K but it’s an amazing school

Davidson – $8K

University of Richmond – $8K

Bates – $3K

Colby – $7K

19

I want to also mention Earlham, which is also outside of your region and for your income comes in a little pricy at $14K. The reason I am mentioning it is 1) it’s a school with huge sense of social responsibility in the Quaker tradition of nonviolence and equality; 2) it has been known to give nice aid packages and so it might be worth trying this for you; 3) campus is gorgeous; 4) it has a great reputation for preparing students for med school; 5) as it’s in Indiana, your competiton with peers for med school acceptance will be less because there just aren’t as many people in Indiana competing for med school as compared with, say, California or New York; 6) it has a nurturing non-competitive student body with no weeding out–mostly tutorial style teaching 7) it has one of the few undergraduate-level cadaver courses 8) it has a gorgeous campus; 9) it would be a safety school for you in all probability.

20

By any chance are you the first person in your family to go to college and/or an underrepresented minority? If so, that will open doors for you at private colleges.