Wow! That is nice…
Check to see if any of the schools that you were interested in offer their own application. May take a little more coordination with your school to get recommendation letters and transcripts but this well solve the common app limit problem
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I don’t recall @Andygp saying his kid wanted to be pre-med.
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Take a look at SUNY New Paltz. Bigger than Geneseo in terms of enrollment but has a LAC vibe about it. It should be around the same cost—a couple of hours from Manhattan and the two big international airports. Also, if you get a chance, check out the town of New Paltz. Here is a recent NY Times description:
If New Paltz were a Tinder profile, a lot of people would be swiping right. This town about 80 miles north of New York City, in southern Ulster County, is sporty, brainy, cultured and beautiful. Cradled by a mountain range, surrounded by meadows and forested preserves, cut through by a river, anchored by a state university and speckled with historic houses, shops and galleries, it attracts athletes, day-trippers, art lovers and now Covid-19 refugees.
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That is true. He wants to do research in Biochemistry or Biomedical engineering as of now.
Thanks. If required we can an account with another application aggregator. But I feel now fatigue has set in so not so sure unless we get shockers over next 1+ months.
Andy, don’t make the research constraint harder than it needs to be. Freshmen do research (if they are interested) at virtually every university in this country. And it doesn’t need to be biomedical engineering or biochemistry to be useful-- there are cool topics in genetics, “basic” research in any of the sciences, which would be fantastic for your son. As he becomes more skilled in a lab-- and takes more of the core science pre-requisites- he will be more valuable as a junior and senior.
He may think that he can only achieve his goals if he focuses immediately on his “true” interests. But that’s not how research works. It is highly interdisciplinary (biomedical engineering is going to have applied math kids, bio kids, psych kids, comp sci kids- plus professors from each of these disciplines).
I’d focus more on affordability right now. A kid with initiative is going to be able to do research!
One of my kids provided statistical analysis on his first research assignment. He needed to learn two new programming languages that he hadn’t been exposed to yet (a plus) and was teamed with grad students who came from all different departments. Was it the romantic “curing cancer” research every HS kid dreams about? No. But with no statistical guardrails in place, the research is totally without value. The results won’t be replicable, will never get peer reviewed, and probably violates the terms of the contract so won’t get funded.
Every researcher needs a solid math kid on the team!
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He didn’t but often someone in biochem will have similar interests - for a cohort like group. Not for shadowing, etc. but for common interests, mindset, and to be surrounded by other highly driven kids.
I assume you’re pointing to the medical scholars - medical scholars include researchers and others just interested in the sciences like that.
The McCollough Scholars forms a living-learning community investigating big picture questions about the art of medicine. The program focuses on academic excellence, leadership, community service, and undergraduate research.
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You don’t need an account with another aggregator. You can just go onto the college website and apply directly a lot of places. My child did this at Clemson, Alabama and Auburn because none required essays. They took probably 30 mins to complete, including self reported grades and scores where requested.
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and with Bama (and UAH) and probably some more, they don’t even take common app - and yeah, they are quick.
Arizona a tad long but easy to do on their own.
Some colleges - if you were on their email list - Minnesota, School of Mines that sent to us - plus there’s others like E Kentucky, Murray State - they were sending us their “fast apps” - no essays, recommendations - but my guess is you have to be on their info list.
100% agree with what you are saying. My son has already done some statistical analysis research in area of internet addiction and done a few courses on coursera in genetics. I am sure he will be able to figure out once he gets into a place where undergrad research is available and encouraged.
Do they accept self reported transcripts and recommendations? The school he goes to doesn’t make it easy for students to apply to places where multiple uploads are required. Unfortunate but that is what it is. It will require lot of parental maneuvering.
To @blossom point - that’s mainly everywhere. You just have to ask a prof who is doing research. One will let you in the door. My son’s GF has been doing research since early at Bama and while he has zero interest. They even send out flyers.
I’m sure it’s the same most everywhere.
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Looks like Bama takes common app now and put the scholarship app into the app. Bama is auto merit but they have a scholarship app for even more (my daughter went from 24K to 28K).
I would set up an app and see. You likely have to send a transcript - but the app itself is very easy.
You could always ask the school as well how to handle if you are in a difficult situation - if they require an official transcript now.
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Bama seems to be an amazing place that we are leaving out. My wife who did her undergraduate in Penn State as a transfer student is bit uncomfortable with the history. Let’s see.
I do believe thanks to this group’s guidance we do have some financial safeties now.
Will choose between Olaf and Kalamazoo over next couple of days depending on communication with admissions office. Hendrix, FAU honors and Geneseo have been already done.
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A lot of the discussions on here are focused on affordability. While I can get the point of why applying to Mizzou & VTech is a good idea, the other ones you are considering will not provide many opportunities for meaningful research. As I said, focus on R1 schools with a lot of NIH funding.
University of Alabama at Birmingham is the best Alabama campus for medical research.
If you want a true safety that is affordable within your budget of $30K and has decent undergraduate research, consider Texas Tech University.
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What is “meaningful research”? To be at all useful for complex and sophisticated research projects, a student has to learn the basic blocking and tackling first. This kid isn’t a doctoral candidate- he’s a high school student!
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Meaningful research for most selective PhD programs looking for students is being part of an NIH funded group or similar as an undergraduate, being exposed to techniques and approaches used in their respective graduate programs, participating in journal clubs and group meetings to test and evaluate hypotheses, attending national conferences where you get the opportunity to hob nob with future grad school faculty and finally, getting your name on 1-2 high quality peer reviewed paper. On top of all of these, one will need solid recommendation from a name that is recognized in the field.
The top graduate programs in the country in biomedical sciences are not hurting for talent. And frankly, going to a sub-par PhD program will basically cause a lot of trauma and distress downstream.
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I’m a research prof at a med school. I have taught at all levels. You can do research pretty much anywhere and you do NOT need to be at a major research institution to do any of the things you need for a career in research. People overestimate what undergrads can do for research, and what kind of school you need to be at to prepare well for grad school or a career in research. Any of the schools mentioned on this thread will be fine.
You can get into a great PhD program from a no-name school. Far more important is that you have done ANY sort of research and done well in your program (wherever that may be). Heck, when I read letters even for applicants for faculty positions, I don’t care about the name or fame of the person writing the letter. If I know them, great. If I don’t, it doesn’t hurt the candidate at all.
Almost nobody at smaller schools is funded by the NIH. And yet those schools successfully send tons of students to fantastic PhD programs. Getting your name on a paper as an undergrad is super impressive, but is far from expected. Anyway, at a middling SLAC where I once taught, you were just as likely to get your name on a paper there as you would have been at a bigger school.
Go to a research institution if it’s the right fit for you. The vibe is very cool if you’re into that sort of thing! That’s where I did my undergrad. But don’t go to one if it’s not the right fit, just because you feel like the undergrad research isn’t as good.
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We are talking about a 17 year old teenager. Nobody is dooming him to a sub-par PhD program, let alone causing trauma and distress downstream.
But your implication that unless a student is at an NIH funded group, his/her career in the sciences is over, is observably false.
There are no skipped steps in the sciences. Nobody is getting their name on 1-2 high quality peer reviewed papers without having paid their dues LEARNING.
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