Recommend a safety for me??

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a rising senior and have a pretty good list of schools I want to apply to, but am still trying to find a safety Here’s a bulleted list of what I’m looking for/about myself:

  • Ability to double major, I'm thinking of Biology + public health/international relations
  • a decent pre-med program
  • Between 5-15 thousand students is ideal, but anything above or below is fine. I just don't want super small, or a giant state school.
  • I have a UW 4.0 GPA and have taken the max AP credits I was allowed
  • 32 composite on ACT, 10 on writing
  • Preferably near an urban center, anywhere in the US or Canada
  • not sure if this is helpful, but a brief overview of my ECs are creating charity events/clubs, being president of clubs/charities, Varsity athlete, and several academic/leadership awards
  • Qualifying for an honors college would be a bonus (is that even realistic for me?)

I hope this is enough information! Thank you for any advice/recommendations.

2

Probably all the smaller Ohio Us would give you a waiver for OOS charges (not OSU, maybe Miami U).

3

Your list of criteria says Tulane, Pitt, and URochester to me, but you probably know that and are looking for less-competitive safeties to back up these matches. TBH I doubt you’d get shut out if you applied to all three of those, but… maybe CU Denver as a safety? It has all of your areas of interest and a lot of cross-talk with the CU med school to which it’s adjacent… right # of students and urban environment, and an honors program with a leadership focus. http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/honors/uhl/Pages/default.aspx

4

Where are you located? Are in state publics an option? Also, any financial considerations? Do you need merit aid?

5

Check out st Olaf, Ithaca, SUNY Geneseo, UDenver.

6

One of the three important attributes of a safety is that it is affordable (the other two are that you are assured acceptance and that you would be happy attending). Do you have an idea what your family can spend on your education. It is necessary if anyone is to make meaningful suggestions.

7

Do you want daily urban or access to urban? Valparaiso University meets all your other requirements and you would qualify for merit. Public transportation to Chicago is available. My DS16 has used it and says it works well.

8

I am in NJ, but I would prefer to be out of state. Tuition, fortunately, doesn’t matter. But, since it’s a safety, I wouldn’t want to spend a lot (sorry I can’t give a specific number). Since I’m considering med-school or a graduate program, it would be nice to have my undergrad be relatively inexpensive to save the money. Thank you all for your suggestions!

9

If you are primarily interested in being a biology major because you wish to apply to medical school you might consider a change in tactics. I would instead consider being an international relations or public health major and completing the prerequisites for medical school. That would narrow your options to those schools that have those majors. Most schools will offer courses needed for medical school. Most urban areas will have hospitals with opportunities to shadow doctors.

You will need to check to see if they have the degree options you are looking for. A school that pops into my head is the University of Dayton. It in the middle of the size you are looking for, in an urban area (if not a large urban area, and has a major medical facility nearby and another withing driving 20 minutes driving distance. You will have to check if they fulfill your major requirements.

If you want to study biology then you may find the road challenging as the majors will most likely be within different schools within the university each having their own graduation requirements. If can be difficult to complete both degrees in four years.

10

@ivvcsf thank you for the insight!

11

Great advice from @lvvcsf. I’ll just add that med schools also like to see many hours of community service, including a lot in the medical field, i.e. EMT volunteer, etc. I believe one pre-med advising meeting suggested 1400 hours total (and often students do some of this the year or so after graduation, while applying). So consider that. It’s great to get an early start.

In my mind, for a high-stat student, like yourself, it would generally work out that a school with a 40% acceptance rate, would be a safety, or nearly so, unless there was a specific advantage or disadvantage (like geography, etc.) that made it a little more difficult or easier. Holy Cross would fit your academic interests very well. Great for IR, great for pre-med. Overall acceptance rate is in the high 30s, though RD is lower. So probably more of a match, but your stats are high end of range and being full pay would be an advantage. But anyway,

What about Miami of Ohio, mentioned above? Here’s last year’s merit aid chart. Note that it super-scores for admission AND aid. So if you could get to the top line, you’d be ELIGIBLE for very significant aid.

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

Two out-of-the-box ideas, because, why not:

Creighton University: Right next to downtown Omaha, which is a dynamic, prosperous (Warren Buffett) city with a very popular historic entertainment district (Old Market) and med school, so you’d have access to internships, etc.; mid-sized university; terrific basketball and they play the College Baseball World Series there every year. Not sure about financial aid, terrific midwestern school and you’d be a strong candidate

University of Kansas: Outside the most competitive state flagships (UNC, Michigan, UVA, etc.), it strikes me as an interesting choice. Lawrence is a great college town, nice campus on top of a hill overlooking plains all around, school has a medical school, though not in Lawrence, Final Four basketball, has honors program:

https://honors.ku.edu/first-year-experience

Good luck!

12

“anywhere in the US or Canada”
“UW 4.0 GPA”, “32 ACT”
“a decent pre-med program”

A lot of universities in both the US and Canada have very good premed programs. My understanding is that there is a joint / cooperative accrediting of medical schools between the US and Canada so that if you are planning on medical school in the US, you do indeed want to stick with either the US or Canada for undergrad.

Being in NJ, Rutgers is an obvious safety and quite a good school. I have worked or studied with several very strong graduates from Rutgers.

The Canadian “big 3” (McGill, Toronto, and UBC) have a reputation for grade deflation. This means that getting a medical school worthy GPA could be difficult. Anything else in Canada should be a safety with your stats. Also the top 3 schools plus many of the schools in Ontario tend to be a bit more expensive for international students compared to other Canadian universities. There are quite a few other very good universities in Canada with strong premed programs. U.Victoria and Simon Fraser in British Columbia are very good but a long way away from New Jersey. Ditto for U.Calgary and U.Alberta, and U.Alberta has very cold winters. Concordia in Montreal would be closer. Dalhousie in Nova Scotia would have the advantage of being convenient to the Halifax airport and a short nonstop flight from Newark. We quite liked it when we toured a couple of years ago. Most of these would have a total cost of attendance that is about the same as your in-state costs at Rutgers (don’t forget the exchange rate).