<p>Sorry, I don't know if this is the appropriate forum for me to post in.
A short decscription.
GPA: around 3.94. SAT: around 2270-2400 (most likely 2300-2350). 10 AP's at the end of this year, 5 on all except 1 or 2. 2 time USAJMO qualifier, 4th place at New York State Math league. , play varsity volleyball and violin (school and outside youth orchestra). Internship this summer at a Laser lab (best local opportunity), also for 4 weeks at a cardiologists place, and at a hospital in India for 2 weeks. Likely president of math team, officer in FBLA, participated in chess team. Founder of Mu alpha theta in school most likely. Mentored middle school math team as well. 90ish volunteering hours at 2 hospitals, around 20ish other assorted volunteering hours. Asian (Indian) male in NY.
I'm looking for safety schools that are preferrably in the northeast (as south as virginia and as west as Ohio, michigan) or the west coast (not Arizona). Most important factor would be merit aid (at a family income >200K not much financial aid is expected) and grade inflation. Would also prefer it to be a strong pre-med program. A high(er) female/male ratio and more attractive girls would be also a minor plus. There are hundreds of schools to look through, and non top-tier schools are harder to find. If some of you would suggest safety schools for me that fit my criteria (or at least some of them) I would then research more about these specific schools. Thanks a lot for your help. </p>
<p>Howard in DC offers an automatic full ride with your GPA and a >=1400 SAT CR+M.
<a href=“http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman”>http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman</a></p>
<p>Other automatic large merit scholarship schools suitable as cheap safeties are listed here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16451378”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16451378</a></p>
<p>University of PIttsburgh, rolling admissions - apply very early - the whole processes is done by November. World class medical center. They award a fair number of full rides to high achieving students - tuition plus housing.</p>
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<p>Most important factor would be merit aid (at a family income >200K not much financial aid is expected) and grade inflation. </p>
<p>Would also prefer it to be a strong pre-med program. A high(er) female/male ratio and more attractive girls would be also a minor plus.
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<p>what was your psat score?</p>
<p>Why the location restrictions?</p>
<p>how much merit do you need? how much will your parents pay for a safety school?</p>
<p>what do you consider to be a “strong premed program”? (this common request from high school kids mystifies me. what do they think being pre-med means?)</p>
<p>The most gorgeous girls are in the southern schools…no doubt about it. (and I’m from Calif! but I am blown away by the drop-dead beauty of the girls at southern schools! a young man recently said to me (ha ha), “I would drink their bath water.”</p>
<p>if you can relax your geographical limits, a school with good merit aid, strong science (including premed), and apparently very pretty girls is St Olaf (well, if you like girls to be tall and blond). It’s in Minnesota. Same thing but southern, with strong connections to hospitals: Rhodes College, in Tennessee.
Within your geographic limits, but no idea on the “girl prettiness” scale, you have Dickinson College. Strong in the sciences, in Pennsylvania, merit aid.
For all three, go to their website and fill out the “request information” form right away. They know they are “top tier backups” and don’t like to feel like a safety. So, “expressing interest” would go a long way to keep you from the waitlist.
In NYS, Geneseo would be a safety.
Hobart&William Smith but not sure how strong it is in math&science for someone with your profile.
In Ohio, Wooster or if sports matter to you, tOSU. In PA, Pitt (you’d be competitive for their Honors college). </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids my PSAT scores was 232. I don’t strictly have location restrictions, but I’d prefer the northeast (as I live there) or the west coast. I guess I don’t need any merit per say, but again, the more merit aid I can get, the better especially for safety schools (my parents have agreed that finance won’t be considered if I get into Ivies or Ivy-level colleges). My parents will help to fund my location, but for safety schools I would not like to burden them too much or have to take out many loans. I guess for pre-med programs what I’ve heard are qualities that judge how good they are (I know no “pre-med” major exists per Se) are how easy it is to get good grades which play a huge role in med-school admissions, how helpful/good their counseling is, and how many research/shadowing opportunities they provide, along with the prestige of the school playing a small role (all factors being equal, a student from Harvard would be preferred compared to a student from a state school for example in med-school applications. Are there any other factors I should consider? I
Might keep a more open mind towards southern schools I guess but things like the vestiges of racism left there, heat (I get headaches in the summer in NY and college dorms often don’t have AC, maybe they’re mandated to have AC in the south?), distance from home, and likely on average fewer outside opportunities in the south have discouraged me from thinking of the south. Girls will likely play only a small role in determining my college. I’ve also heard many public schools in the south offer full-rides or lots of merit aid for students with my qualifications, but is this only for in-state applicants? What about private schools? Thanks for your help,</p>
<p>If you make National Merit Finalist (or even other statuses like Semifinalist in some cases), there may be additional safeties with automatic large merit scholarships for National Merit Finalists:
<a href=“NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
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<p>Howard, mentioned above, is a private school. It has a medical school on campus, so pre-med extracurriculars should be readily accessible.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus thanks a lot for your help. I’d never really heard of Howard much (or at all) before and it now looks like I college I should seriously consider. And I should most likely get national merit semi finalist (my PSAT score is well above the cutoff) and hopefully finalist (do most semi finalists get finalist; I’ve heard conflicting things on this?). I’ve heard this does help to upon up doors. Thanks a lot for your help.</p>
<p>15000 students become NMFs out of 16000 identified as NMSF. The ones who don’t usually have something spotty in their record (bad grades, behavioral issues) or don’t fill out all the paperwork (remember to send a confirmatory SAT score to the NMSQT office).</p>
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guess for pre-med programs what I’ve heard are qualities that judge how good they are (I know no “pre-med” major exists per Se) are how easy it is to get good grades which play a huge role in med-school admissions,
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<p>??? It isn’t easy to get a good BCMP GPA at any good school. I dont know what this “huge role” is that you are talking about. Adcoms know that the classes are tough at all good schools, they know that these are weeder classes, therefore they know that any high GPA was earned and not some fluke.</p>
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<p>find out if they do committee letters and if it is hard to get one.</p>
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<p>virtually all good univs will have research opps. ask your science profs if you can assist them with research or in their labs. apply to REUs for the summer.</p>
<p>shadowing is done with doctors, not by the school. Often during the summer, you just ask the doctors that your family uses if you can shadow. or ask other doctors in your home town.</p>
<p>while shadowing is fine, too many kids do this too much …and it is a waste. you dont need to rack up hundreds of hours with this. Shadow a few different specialties. My son shadowed a family doctor, a general surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, a dermatologist, and a gerontologist. these were either doctors that we had seen or were the parents of his friends. </p>
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along with the prestige of the school playing a small role (all factors being equal, a student from Harvard would be preferred compared to a student from a state school for example in med-school applications.
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<p>there might be a small nudge, but less likely. H doesnt do ANYTHING unique to prepare students for med school. And, they dont do anything to prepare for the MCAT. NOTHING. If there are two similar students, one from H and one from a state school then they will interview both, and then either take both or let the interview decide. </p>
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<p>Where you pay the least so you have money to pay for med school…unless you have rich parents who will pay for both.</p>
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<p>where in the US are there not some vestiges of racism? certainly not the NE or Calif…that is for sure. Southern schools are not bastions of racism…not at all.</p>
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<p>School is from fall to spring…you would be in NY in the summer. and every dorm I’ve seen in the south has AC.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I know that getting a good gpa is difficult at nearly any school especially difficult schools but the standard varies and a lot of schools have grade inflation (at least in comparison to other schools) that makes the task more manageable and Med schools don’t seem to know or care about this. Hence why admission rates to med school are higher from grading inflating HYPS than MIT or say caltech whose student bodies should be equally strong. I also thought/heard that the quality of counseling varies at different schools and that the counseling can help students choose courses, help get research and other beneficial EC’s, and choose proper medical schools to apply for but perhaps I’m wrong on that. I also did say that merit aid/cost would be the most important factor for me in choosing a safety school so it’s definitely something I’m considering. At my family income >200K I doubt I qualify for any significant financial aid so merit aid or cheap cost would be good. There is certainly some racism left anywhere (really In the world), but it tends not to be that much anymore, but I think few would argue that it’s not stronger in the south. Also distance from home would discourage me from going to the south as a factor. While school is only from fall to spring I presume it’s still very warm in the later parts of spring or early fall and I may spend some summers at the campus doing research or an internship I presume. Thanks for the help anyways.</p>
<p>The amount of racism that one encounters in the US probably varies more by what race others see you as rather than region. Black people probably encounter the most racism, while not-obviously-Hispanic white people probably encounter the least racism, in most places (of course, specific situations vary).</p>
<p>theanaconda: investigate the schools I listed above (St Olaf, Dickinson, Rhodes, Pitt, tOSU, HWS, Geneseo, Wooster.)
You can add Juniata (essentially a pre health prep college), Clark, UNC-W, Virginia Tech (not as good for grade inflation as the first 3 listed above), Goucher;
Macalester and Grinnell should be considered but would not be safeties per se though, just a bit easier than Top 20 schools. Same thing for UMiami (but South). Tulane would be closer to a safety (but in New Orleans… and lots of drinking so perhaps not best choice for a premed who won’t need 24/7 distractions and hangovers).
If money doesn’t matter as much, UMaryland Honors, Penn State Shreyer (great advising and research opportunities but no hospitals nearby) - apply in August or September for your best shot.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I certainly will and thanks for your help. This thread was mostly to find out some suggestions as looking through 1000’s of schools is diffucult. I know a little more about upitt as several students from my school applied there early as a safety and a few ended up going there. I think it was relatively generous as well.</p>
<p>I’d just like to mention that while Howard is a fantastic school that fulfills many of your requirements, you should be aware that it is an HBCU - Historically Black College/University. You are still allowed to apply, attend and compete for scholarships - they do not exclude any students - but you should be aware that you would definitely be in the minority (by a large margin) as an Indian-American.</p>
<p>An Indian American will be a member of a minority ethnic group at just about any college in the US (even colleges with a high or even majority Asian American student population will not have Indian American students as a majority).</p>
<p>From my school in collaboration with RPI, I won a $60K scholarhisp (over 4 years) there provided I get in. I will almost certainly apply there now, and I’ve heard that sometimes you can get other schools to match scholarship money one school is giving (the price). Is that possible? What range of caliber of schools would likely match the price of education at RPI? Is there a chance colleges like MIT or stanford or berkeley would even lower their cost based on negotiating with the cost of RPI? </p>
<p>Bump</p>
<p>Congratulations on the scholarship. I can’t tell what you really want. Your scholarship will cover about 1/4 the cost of RPI. That’s still puts it at about the same price as OOS publics. If you want serious merit money close to a full ride, you have University of Pittsburgh, University of Alabama, University of Kentucky, and University of Texas at Dallas. University of Pittsburgh is associated with a world class medical center. </p>
<p>Rochester will give you significant merit money too.</p>
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<p>No, there is no chance of that.</p>
<p>One “safety” strategy to consider would be colleges with direct-entry med school. One that I know of is Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), but there are others. You apply for the program when applying for undergrad and then med school entry is automatic (as long as you make reasonable grades). UAB would also give you a big merit scholarship, so that would allow more money to go towards med school. Research and many other perks are automatic as well. Of course admission to these programs is highly competitive.</p>
<p>Have you thought about LACs? There are many that would be safeties for you and would give you merit money. Rhodes College would be an example, and others have already mentioned St. Olaf. Higher quality LACs are generally thought to be good for med school prep. Most of the CTCL would be safeties for you and would give you merit scholarships: <a href=“http://www.ctcl.org%5B/url%5D”>www.ctcl.org</a></p>
<p>I would also take a look at Fordham - they give full tuition scholarships to students with your stats.</p>