Please Help a Stressed Girl Out

College Search & Selection
1

Ok. So I want to go into neurology. I want to go to a top school, but I have many doubts that I won’t make it into the ones I apply for (like so nervous omg). So, I went and kept adding all schools that had decent neurology programs, and made it to 20 on Common App so quickly. I then realized that it was going to cost so so much for all of those apps… money that I don’t have. So I have to narrow it down and was wondering if some of y’all would be dolls and help me out? First time using this so we’ll see how it goes…

Here’s some basic stats of me:

rising senior
florida
GPA-3.9 UW, 4.5 W
ACT-31 (taking again)
attended 3 summer programs for neurology
taken the following AP courses-
bio
us history
world history
human growth and development
college algebra
lang

the rest of my classes are honors
I will be doing my senior year of high school at the local college, so I will have a lot of college credits

letters of rec will be great from GC, 1 teacher, and mentor outside of school

List of colleges applying to so far-

Vanderbilt
Berkeley
Brandeis
Cornell
Duke
Emory
Jhop
Notre Dame
NYU
Stanford
Umiami
Umich
UNC
USC Dornsife
UTX-Austin
Uvirginia
Wake Forest
WashU
Belmont
Drexel
Purdue
Carleton $0 app fee
Tulane $0 app fee
Colby $0 app fee
Oberlin $0 app fee

THANK YOU FOR ANY AND ALL HELP IN ADVANCE!!!

2

If you can’t afford all those applications, cross off all the out of state public universities on the list like Berkeley and UMich. You won’t be able to afford the extra tuition charge for being out of state.

What is your college budget? Have you run net price calculators at any of your schools yet?

3

Hi! thanks for your reply! I am a child of a single mother. I have (and will continue to) apply to many scholarships! Many of them for losing a parent. They are larger chunks of money that I will try my best on!

I don’t have a specific number as far as my college budget. My mom said if I get in to an awesome school that we will make it work, but I know that we aren’t very well off, and I don;t want to be burden to her… sorry I just ranted a bit there lol

And yes! I have run net prices before! Very helpful! :slight_smile:

4

You can’t count on your mom “making it work”. You need her to look at the NPCs with you; it will help you figure out some schools to drop. And large outside scholarships are VERY competitive (more so than top colleges). Also, even if an app is free, you have to pay to send test scores & file the CSS profile if they require it.

Drop Berkeley now. No aid for OOS students. Same for UTX Austin. And NYU – lousy aid. Unless you have some insanely great EC you haven’t mentioned, drop Stanford. You don’t have the “pop” to get in there. Purdue is an out of state public and may not be affordable.

Lots of these colleges won’t take your college credits. If you are counting on that reducing your college cost, it won’t for a lot of them.

You need to add a couple of in-state publics to make sure you have affordable options. You are lucky to live in a state with something like Bright Futures – pay attention to their requirements and deadlines to keep that option open. You could end up with no affordable choices and missing that opportunity – don’t let that happen. Your mom might be willing to take out big loans or put her own retirement at risk, but you know that isn’t a good idea. So keep those options on the table.

5

Drop the schools mentioned that give lousy aid. Sit down with your mother and use the net price calculators for the remaining schools- see if the cost looks realistic. Add some safety and match schools that are affordable- this list is reach heavy. Your in-state Florida schools should be on this list.

6

More regarding outside scholarships. Many schools reduce need based aid when you get them, and your out of pocket attendance doesn’t change. Some schools reduce loans or make other adjustments, but not all. Also, many outside scholarships are just for 1-2 years, and you may have to transfer someplace more affordable after the first year. Transfers often get worse financial aid, no merit aid, sometimes can’t transfer all credits, and have to start over socially and building relationships with profs/mentors.

The best aid comes from the schools themselves. Don’t count on outside scholarships to help you afford schools where the NPC doesn’t look good.

A school you might add is Dickinson (meets 96% of need – check their NPC).

7

University of Miami is private and extremely expensive even with a good scholarship.

You should be applying to University of Florida which has a great med school. Also Florida State and probably University of South Florida. Remember you are looking towards many years of school if you plan on neurology.

8

Do you mean neuroscience? Neurology is something that a medical doctor does and it is not taught at the undergrad level

9

Look instate at your best public options - UF, FSU.

10

I agree with other posters who stated that you must have your mom run the NPC on each of the schools on your list. Eliminate the OOS universities as previously mentioned that offer limited merit or financial aid. Speak with your guidance counselor about Bright Futures. They will give you the most up to date information. You appear to be a good candidate. Then compare the net prices of Florida University schools to the others on your list. If your intent is to attend med school, be aware that med school places the strongest value on high GPA, and high MCAT scores. You do not want to attend a school with grade deflation. Your goal is to attend the lowest cost undergrad institution where you will be able to achieve a high GPA. Don’t focus on a major or minor in neuroscience at this point. Take a look at the University of Alabama, they offer huge OOS merit awards to students with your stats.

11

You need to apply to Florida schools. Bright Futures will get you ~$3000, plus there are many local scholarships that can only be used instate. UF is a wonderful school. You will be able to use BF and the Florida resident grant at UMiami.

While some of the schools on your list have a free application, sending scores and CSS profile is not free. Managing 20 applications while you are in college is not easy. Not all of those schools will accept your AP or duel enrollment credits, so it if is important to you to get credit and graduate from college in 3 years, investigate whether you’ll get college credit.

12

Unless you raise your ACT score you should delete some of the high reaches, Duke, Vandy, Stanford, Cornell, Hopkins, Notre Dame. They would be very unlikely with a 31, so since you are looking to trim your list, that’s a good place to start

13

“You should be applying to University of Florida which has a great med school. Also Florida State and probably University of South Florida.”

Very strongly agree. Affordability has to be on the top of your list of criteria for undergrad, right up there with a very good (not necessarily world class) academic strength. For neurology (whether via medical school or a PhD in neuroscience) you have a lot of time left in university, and you can’t afford to run up major debt for the first four years. You should try to take on as close as possible to no debt for undergrad.

You have great in-state options in Florida, and they should be at the top of your list regarding where to apply. You have the stats to get into your great in-state options. Every other school should be evaluated on the basis of whether it is going to be worth the additional cost, which is IMHO unlikely for the vast majority of your list.

14

Post 12 says it very well. If the net price calculator isn’t within $3,000 of staying in state, don’t apply.

15

As the others have said, start with your in-state schools, and then use them to compare with your out of state options. UF and FSU are “matches”, with Bright futures likely paying out 100% tuition (it is this year) +$300 a semester for books. FSU is also likely to award you a freshman scholarship.

Pick at least one in-state safety. USF does extensive ($$$) research in the life sciences, include Nuerology. Here’ a link to the USF Neurology departmen where you can find a listing of current fields of research.

http://health.usf.edu/medicine/neurology

Based on your grades, USF would offer you several merit awards (in addition to Bright Futures). Currently you qualify for the USF Directors Award, which is $16,000 ($4,000 per year). Get your ACT score up one point, and you would be awarded the USF Presidential Award $20,000 ($5,000 per year).

http://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshman/admissions-scholarships/

USF awards are also “stackable”. Two other merit awards that may apply are:

USF Honors College Scholarship: $2,000 (Based on participation)
4.00+ GPA and 1400+ SAT (Evidence-Based Reading/Writing and Math) or 30+ ACT

USF History of Achievement Award: $8,000 ($2,000 per year)
Recognizes select students who have achieved above average academic records in high school while facing significant socioeconomic, educational, cultural or personal challenges.

All of these stack with BF, and after the awards, USF would then take into account any “need” based aid.

Apply early (USF uses rolling admissions), and you’ll get accepted (and know the amount of merit awards) by November. It’s a great safety, and having 1 early acceptance makes waiting for the rest, a lot less stressful.

So, apply to at least one in-state safety, at least one or two in-state matches (UF/FSU), and then apply to OOS schools.

Good Luck!

16

Lots of good advises, so I won’t repeat them. However, I will add that, in order to reduce your stress in the coming months, you should use your summer now to prepare for things that can be done in advance, such as 1) identity, contact and arrange for LORs, 2) prep for the next ACT/SAT tests, 3) review last year’s common app essay prompts and start to think about your choice and approach (and read this excellent book by Harry Bauld: “On Writing the College Application Essay.”

Don’t be stressed. A good preparation is half the battle.

17

You’re in very good shape, at least academically, didn’t see any ECs unless I missed them. Your list is very top heavy, you need to replace some of your matches with safeties, and probably reduce some of your reaches. Unless you have a hook, it’s going to be difficult to get into the selective schools on the list. I’d maybe group the schools by similarity and remove a reach, e.g. you can put Duke/Emory/Vanderbilt as private southern schools and figure out which one or maybe two to apply to. The other thing is that a lot of the schools have significant advantage if you apply early decision, so if you have a clear first choice and they offer ED, seriously consider it. You can get out of ED if you don’t like the FA package. FA is going to be more important imo for you because I think you’re planning on med or grad school.Good luck!