What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay?
My parents are saying that I will not need financial need.
What is your career goal?
I want to be a life sciences researcher. I did research at Tufts immunology lab and I really enjoyed it. I also took a college level class in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard summer school to pressure test my interest and I loved it. I self studied AP Bio and scored a 4 and my SAt Bio was 780. So, I am leaning towards a career in life sciences.
How does a 3.35 stack up at your HS?
My high school does not do ranking, so I am not sure how to answer that. I can ask my guidance counselor.
Are you thinking big school or small school? Urban or rural?
I am not so hung up on big vs. small school or urban vs. rural. I like the idea of being in a smaller Liberal Arts college where I will get to explore and learn humanities and also allow me to focus on Biology.
Have you visited any colleges yet?
I have visited UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Wesleyan, Williams, Northeastern, BU, and Tufts. But these were not strategic visits - more like let’s check them out while we are here.
Are your parents willing/able to pay $70k/year without taking substantial loans? If they haven’t given you a number, you should ask for one. Parents are sometimes shocked by the current cost of college.
If you like the research Us like Tufts, make sure you check out the University of Rochester. Undergrad research is “normal” there and they do quite a bit of it (various things going on). If you like what you see on their website, doing a visit is easy with the airport there all of 10 or maybe 15 minutes from campus. (My son came home from a visit knowing that’s where he wanted to go and loved every minute there.)
When you check out smaller schools, see what the profs specialize in to see if their projects align with what you like. Smaller schools offer research, but the variety is considerably more limited than the larger research Us. There’s nothing at all wrong with less variety. It just means be certain you like what they offer. More than one alumni from my high school has returned telling me their school only offered “boring” topics. This is something that needs to be looked at ahead of application and matriculation time if one wants to do research.
If cost isn’t an option, definitely just start checking out schools via their websites looking specifically at your desired majors. Then create a visit list.
^You’re, of course, going to need a range of Reach, Match and Safety applications. I would say, the NESCACs certainly present a core of reasonable reaches for you. Maybe, add Vassar to the mix. Then, maybe Brandeis, Oberlin, and Rochester for matches.
You can start out looking for a good solid safety school that you like that you know would take you. If it can be rolling admissions or EA, so much the better because you have your sure thing school.
With your test scores, your stats flagship would be the likely choice, but your grades are low for that. You do need to talk to your GC who can tell you how that GPA from your school will work for UMass-Amherst. It’s not ideal for you since you want a LAC, so you might want to start looking at those. Hartwick College, Trinity, Hobart-WS, st Lawrence, some local Catholic schools if you feel they might work. If you want to get out of the area, Rollins, Occidental, Austin, Lake Forest. A lot of small colleges in this country. Taking a look at the Colleges That Change Lives, will help with some ideas. Some of these will be more matches than safeties.
The NESCAC are reaches, yes. You can find some highly rated schools outside of the NorthEast with Colorado College, Reed, Whittier, Macalester, Kenyon Richmond College
You would do well to look at Naviance charts for your school, and again talk to your GC as to how your gpa can impact admissions for you. From some schools, I’ve seen kids get into top schools with that UW, but usually , that’s not the case.
I don’t think Tufts, Hamilton, Rice and JHU are reasonable even as reaches with a 3.35 unweighted GPA.
More realistic reaches could include Rochester and Vassar (as already mentioned), Bucknell, Lafayette.
Target schools could include some of the less selective NESCACs like Conn College and Trinity. Other potential targets could be U mass Amherst, Dickinson, Miami Ohio.
I like the safeties in post #11, also SUNY Bing and Stony Brook, St. Mary’s Maryland.