Parents: Could you please make some suggestions?

Parents Forum
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<p>Thanks so much.</p>

<p>I need some suggestions with my college list. These are my stats:</p>

<p>White female, Southeastern PA
Competitive Public School (Sending 4/5 that applied to MIT this year, not 100% on other top schools but a handful to Penn, at least one to Brown, one to Georgetown, and one to Columbia)</p>

<p>SAT
Superscore: M 690 V 720 W 690 (1410/2100)
One time test: M 680 V 720 W 690 (1400/2090)
Taking SAT IIs in October
AP Lang&Comp: 5</p>

<p>Will have 5 APs by graduation -- 2 junior year, 3 senior</p>

<p>W GPA
4.211
School doesn't publish rankings (approximately top 10 to 20%)</p>

<p>Extras:
National Honor Society, French Honor Society, student of the year in honors world history (10), nominated RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Participant (11 and 12), People to People Sports Ambassador for Volleyball, Interact club President (12), member of varsity volleyball team, accepted into an EMT training program beginning in the Fall of '07, accepted into an Allied Health program (spend 2 classes each day at a local hospital with classroom and clinical program -- considered an honors program), weekly hospital volunteer.</p>

<p>I'm looking for a school within 350 miles of Philadelphia. I want to pursue a career in healthcare. Right now, I really like the idea of majoring in neuroscience, or biology/psychology, and then pursuing PA school or nursing school. I don't mind being in a college in a rural area, but I don't want it to be in the absolute-middle-of-no-where. If there is somewhat of a town, like restaurants, movie theaters, etc., I'd be fine. On the flip side, I'd be fine in an urban area as long as I feel safe (visible campus safety, etc.) I know in a city you have to be careful. I'd like a student body under ~12,000. I would really like to study abroad and do research as an undergrad. I'm not obsessed with prestige, so if you know some hidden gems, please share ;). Merit aid would be nice too. </p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

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<p>Allegheny College in Meadville, PA may be what you are looking for. Excellent science and psych. They also have a good neuroscience program. All students are required to do independent research to graduate. The school is has a lovely campus on the edge of town. Meadville isn't that great but there are stores and restaurants there. School has an enrollment of 1800 students and offers merit aid. They also have study abroad opportunities.</p>

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<p>Bryn Mawr College or Haverford?</p>

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<p>I second Bryn Mawr College. It has a very nurturing environment and have produced strong science students.</p>

5

<p>Clark University in Worcester MA has a lot of what you want: 250 miles from Philly; genuine strength in psych and life sciences with a strong reputation for undergrad research; merit scholarships for students in or below your range (Achievement scholars' average GPA is 3.70; average SAT is 1284 (CR+M)/29 ACT); no neuroscience major, but neuroscience specialists in the bio dept; safe feeling campus, but in a gritty area of a city. For lots of students, Worcester is a deal breaker, though.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the suggestions! I really appreciate it. :)</p>

<p>I'll definitely try and visit Bryn Mawr, and hopefully Allegheny and Clark.</p>

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<p>Not sure on the mileage but check into Wells. Very good merit scholarships in sciences as I recall.</p>

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<p>lauralice - I don't know about merit aid, but otherwise Wellesley College fits your requirements.</p>

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<p>Johns Hopkins, The College of New Jersey</p>

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<p>There are about a zillion east coast schools within 350 miles of SE PA, including such southern Maine schools as Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, the Five Colleges in western MA (four of which meet your description), Williams, Middlebury, Sarah Lawrence (not so strong on science, though), Bard (EXCELLENT sciences! nice EA plan (visit, interview, apply, and be accepted/not in one day), so you could (maybe) put it in the bag by mid-November, which would ease things nicely), Haverford/Swarthmore/Bryn Mawr, etc. Bucknell. Dickinson. Pretty much any list of the top 50 LACs would include 35 schools that match your description and for which you'd be a match/reach. Wellesley. etc. </p>

<p>So help us narrow it some more. How badly do you want a small school? How small? What kind of city? What kind of people do you want to hang out with? How badly do you need/want merit aid? Have you visited any schools and what did you think of them?</p>

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<p>Lauralice: I think that for Hopkins and Wellesley, you need to lift your SATs about 40 points to put you comfortably in the mid 50% of accepted students. Each score, at the least,should be at 700, to give yourself a real shot at either of those. What about Lafayette? Although it is not in a bustling town, it is very close to NYC...I think about an hour away.
I would also look at Muhlenberg, Lehigh, and Bucknell, athough they are in the country. Muhlenberg has a great medical school placement, and a student gets very personalized attention, there.<br>
Yup. After re-reading your post, I think the above mentioned would be well worth a good look. By the way, I know kids at all of these schools, and all are extremely happy.</p>

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<p>Union College in Schenectady might be a good safety. They have a big study abroad program and some interesting healthcare management programs. 250 miles, small city.</p>

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<p>There aren't too many hidden gems to the CC crowd - the CC'ers have pretty much found them all! You can pick any school in order to go into medicine as most schools offer majors in bio or chem. Two of the schools mentioned above are small and have particularly strong placement into medical schools - Bucknell and College of New Jersey. Beautiful campuses. Towns are cute (esp Bucknell) and both are close enough to Philly to give you access to larger venues.</p>

<p>One school not mentioned here is American. You have stats that could possibly be merit money for American. It's in DC but in such a suburban area that you'd never know you are in a city. The campus is well contained with a true "college" feel. Very nice school.</p>

<p>A potential safety that no one has mentioned yet is Loyola of Maryland, which is in Baltimore. A potential target school you may want to consider is Villanova. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Not a parent, but another one to consider is Goucher in MD.</p>

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<p>I would second Goucher and add Juniata which has very high acceptance rates to med school (near 100% I think), so must be good in sciences.</p>

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<p>Lehigh is in the city of Bethlehem (population 72,000) and Muhlenberg is in Allentown (population 106,632) Lafayette is in Easton (population 26,000). None of these towns are considered to be in the country - which sound like they may more fit the criteria. Two other schools in the Lehigh Valley are Moravian and DeSales. They are both lower tierered schools then Lehigh or Lafayette or even Muhlenberg but are respected in this area and may offer you better merit aid then the other three.</p>

<p>Juniata does have a huge acceptance rate to med school but it's definately in the middle of nowhere. I loved the campus and the college when my son and I visited but the location is not the best. </p>

<p>Hayden, Bucknell is close to three hours from Philadelphia - perhaps you were thinking of the distance to Harrisburg - that's one hour. Or maybe another school?</p>

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<p>Wow.. thank you for all the responses. I really can't tell all of you how much it means to me :).</p>

<p>I put the 350 miles requirement just so that I could find schools that I could get to by car.</p>

<p>To answer some questions above...
It doesn't need to be a tiny school, but rather a school where I could get some individual attention. I always seem to achieve in smaller environments. I don't need to be in a international city like NYC. I've lived in cities, suburbs, and small town USA, so I've been exposed to a lot. Merit aid would be awesome especially since I want to pursue a career that will require professional school. I have visited about 5 schools (including Lehigh, Delaware, Penn State) and while I liked all of them (except maybe PSU just because of sheer size) I didn't feel like it was 'the one' so to speak, or could really see myself there.</p>

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<p>Goucher would provide lots of personal attention. It is in Towson, a suburb of Baltimore. We really liked the campus. You might qualify for merit $$ there.</p>

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<p>Once again, thank you everyone.</p>

<p>Any more suggestions?</p>

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<p>What, you've already researched the thirty or so suggestions you've gotten, and none of them match your needs?</p>