Schools I want to visit this summer: help me modify

Parent Cafe
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<p>University of Utah
Cost: ~$18,000
Why I'm Interested: They offer tons of languages, have an affiliated pharmacy school, I know people here, accessible dorms, great snow (), could probably get good merit aid/honors college acceptance
Reservations: Brother didn't like it, I've lived here before, Salt Lake is expensive to live in</p>

<p>University of Michigan
Cost: ~$36,000
Why I'm interested: Highly ranked, residential college, pharmacy school, have a good shot at getting in if I apply early
Reservations: expensive, doesn't offer much merit aid, very big, can't really see myself in Michigan</p>

<p>Cornell
Cost: ~$40,000
Why I'm Interested: It's an Ivy, it's cold, great reputation, I have an actual shot of getting in here
Reservations: Horribly expensive, known for massive grade deflation, said to be in a boring town, it's in NY (the state),</p>

<p>Dartmouth
Cost: ~$40,000
Why I'm Interested: Has it's own ski slope, is an Ivy, great reputation, supposedly excellent for foreign languages
Reservations: drinking school reputation, too expensive, has core curriculum, probably couldn't get in here to begin with </p>

<p>University of Washington
Cost: ~$26,000
Why I'm interested: highly ranked, could get a good amount of AP credit, it's in Washington, good reputation for sciences
Reservations: Huge class sizes, probably couldn't get into Honors program, too expensive (?)</p>

<p>University of Montana
Cost: ~$18,000
Why I'm Interested: Pharmacy School, apparently a decent Japanese program, great disabled student resources site, snow, could probably get merit aid/honors college acceptance
Reservations: Mom keeps saying Missoula's "a pit," not highly ranked, too much money for too little? </p>

<p>John Hopkins University
Cost: ~$40,000
Why I'm Interested: Great writing program, great science, and health programs, highly regarded
Reservations: No undergraduate Japanese program, expensive, horrible food (apparently), said to be cut-throat, don't know if I could get in</p>

<p>Ohio University
Cost: $22, 671
Why I'm Interested: I automatically qualify for a good amount of merit-aid, lots of Japanese classes available, a good, individually focused Honors Program
Reservations: I don't know if I could get into Honors Program, and I don't know how I would feel about the regular school, and I don't know much about Ohio.</p>

<p>Case Western Reserve University (Ohio)
Cost: ~$38,000
Why I'm Interested: Great merit-aid offered, highly respected school, currently looking for more humanity-based kids but has good science offerings as well, residential colleges
Reservations: Still a bit expensive, I don't know much about Ohio</p>

<p>University of California-San Diego
Cost: ~$33,000
Why I'm Interested: residential colleges, good reputation, has a Japanese program, San Diego seems like a nice place to live
Reservations: expensive school and city, Japanese program seems quite limited, could I get in?
(This school is the one I'm least enthusiastic about).</p>

<p>Stanford
Cost: ~$39,000
Why I'm Interested: great reputation, great Japanese program
Reservations: expensive, I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in, it's in California</p>

<p>Indiana University
Cost: ~$25,000
Why I'm Interested: Seems to teach every language under the sun, good reputation
Reservations: No pharmacy school, very limited Japanese offerings, expensive, don't think I could get much aid</p>

<p>Northwestern
Cost: ~$40,000
Why I'm interested: Great school, great city, all-around good programs
Reservations: expensive, doubt I could get in</p>

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<p>wolfpiper, </p>

<p>Your list is really far-ranging. Do you have any instinct about the "feel" you want in a college? Larger/smaller, intense/laidback, frats/no frats--? These schools do not seem to have a great deal in common.</p>

<p>Have you seen the threads on "fit?"</p>

3

<p>wolf, </p>

<p>a lot of these are great schools, I checked out a few myself, but it would help to get an idea of your academic background to figure out which schools might suit you better. Do not worry about them being far-ranged; my top couple choices were in some ways complete opposites, yet I loved each for its strengths.</p>

<p>That said, GO DARTMOUTH!</p>

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<p>I think Ohio U has a bigger drinking reputation than Dartmouth.</p>

<p>If you could get merit $ at CWRU, then it wouldn't be expensive (esp compared to other private schools).</p>

<p>Based on your comments, you might want to look further into these schools too: Rice, URochester, Tulane, UMiami OH, McGill, Queen's (Canada), and the state schools in VA (ie, William & Mary, James Madison).</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>Wolf - Dartmouth does not have a core curriculum in the spirit of Columbia, it does have distribution requirements. I agree with SBMom, I don't see the connections between these schools - ?pharmacy, ?snow - I remember from some of your other posts that you have physical issues that may require accomodations? Perhaps schools with better services for students with disabilities is a place to start. Unless you are absolutely sold on pharmacy, I wouldn't use that as a litmus test.</p>

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<p>"Reservations: Mom keeps saying Missoula's "a pit," not
highly ranked, too much money for too little?" </p>

<p>I have to disagree about Missoula being a pit...I think it's a very nice college town! If you are into the outdoors, it is a wonderful place to go to school offering many recreational opportunities - skiing, hiking, fishing etc. Missoula also has a pretty strong art/cultural community, if that interests you. </p>

<p>I agree about the school not being very highly ranked, in general, but I think if you looked specifically at the programs you're interested in, they are quite highly ranked. I'm not sure where I read it recently, but I think the Pharmacy School had quite a high ranking and is well respected. </p>

<p>It's out of the way, but I think northwest Montana is worth a visit.</p>

7

<p>wolf-</p>

<p>I would definitely visit Ohio. We (whole family) liked the place a lot. My son will start in the Honors Tutorial College in September. One nice thing about OU is that they have rolling admission (and for-certain merit scholarships - assuming you qualify), so you can be admitted as early as November or so. For the HTC, you'll have to wait longer - if you make it to the interviews in January, they'll let you know by early February. That's still early enough that if you don't get into HTC, you have plenty of time to decide about all of your choices.</p>

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<p>For those of you that wanted to know:
What I want in a school:
I like snow and cold but loathe heat and humidity. I don't want to go to school in the South, and I want to go a National University (not a LAC). I want to study pharmacy or some other health care science. (My decision on this is a mixture of past experiences [friends] and job outlook reasons, though my parents are strongly against it.) I want to take some Japanese classes , so I want some place where I won't test out of all the classes. I love languages, so the more baord the offerings, the better. I am politically liberal, but I'm definitely not one for smoking or drinking. I like the idea of residential colleges as well, though that's certainly not a deal breaker. Prestige matters in a way, but I'm finding a lot of prestigious schools hold little appeal for me. I DO NOT WANT TO GO INTO DEBT. (My parents won't give me an exact number, but I believe they can afford around $20,000-$25,000 a year). I don't expect much in need-based because Dad's relatively well-paid, and I save all my money (really, I rarely, rarely buy stuff). </p>

<p>(Stats)
4.0 GPA (should remain the same this semster)/can't remember weighted
25/1195
33 ACT (will retake)
APs
10th:
World History (5)
11th:
English Lang. and Comp.
APUSH
Art History
Psychology
Human Geo (self0study)</p>

<p>12th:
Government
Econ
Biology
European History
Stats</p>

<p>College
Italian 101: A</p>

<p>(Schedule)</p>

<p>9th
Algebra I A/A
Honors ICP: A/A
Japanese I: A/A
PE/Ag: A/A
Honors World Geography: A/A
PreAP English I: A/A
Theatre (fine arts requirement): A/A
Health/Speech: A/A</p>

<p>10th
Geometry: A/A
PreAp Biology: A/A
Japanese II: A/A
AP World History: A/A
Technology (tech requirement): A/A
Ag: A/A
PreAP English: A/A (tough class-few A's)
Japanese III H: A/A</p>

<p>11th
AP English: A/A (very, very few A's)
Japanese IV H: A/A
PreAP Chemistry: A/A
AP Psychology: A
Algebra II: A/?
APUSH: A/?
Japanese V H: A/?
AP Art History: A/?</p>

<p>12th
AP Biology
AP Statistics
AP English
AP Economics
AP Government
AP European History
Japanese VI (not usually offered at my school-taken through special arrangement)</p>

<p>(My math/science placement was messed up the past, but I'm fairly good when it comes to anything but Geometry.)</p>

<p>The Japanese program at my school is very well regarded. The teacher is on the AP board, and we frequently dominate speech contests and regional Japan Bowls. Last year, a teeam even won nationals!)</p>

<p>EC's:
NAHRA Rider of the Year Nominee (10th)
Interact Letter (9th, 10th, 11th)
Interact Director (11th)
Interact PR (10th, 12th)
Interact Perfect Attendance (9th, 11th)
Interact Top Ten Point Club (9th)
Interact High Point Award (10th, 11th)
Japanese Club (second semester of 9th, all of 10th and 11th)
Japanese Club Newsletter/PR (11th)
Japan Bowl Level III Team (11th)
Japanese Speech Contest-5th place (11th)
Japanese Club Letter (11th)-I think.
Literary Club Letter (9, 10th, 11th)
Academic Letter (9th, 10th 11th?)
Horseback Riding (approximately 1 hr/week)
Top Hands Horse Show 2005 (2nd English Equitation, 5th Trail)
Aikido (5-7 hrs. per week, 11th, also get outside pe credit, yellow belt)
Girl Scouts (doing Gold Award now, trying to get it done before applying)
Internship (United Way, this summer, ~80 hrs)</p>

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<p>Maybe, as not taking on debt is of paramount concern to you, you should cross reference schools with great Japanese depts & schools that offer significant merit aid.</p>

<p>I found this link for schools offering Japanese:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/univ.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/univ.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Your stats are excellent; clearly you will have a very good shot at many wonderful schools.</p>

<p>You may also want to see who has great exchanges abroad. </p>

<p>I don't know if it still so, but back in my days at Brown there were fantastic study abroad opportunities in Japan; one of my friends wound up learning Japanese at Brown, doing a program in Tokyo for her junior year, going back after graduation, and then working for Fuji for several years before finally becoming a consultant to firms doing buisness with Japan.</p>

<p>If you reconsider LACs, some of them do give great merit aid too.</p>

10

<p>Again, check out Ohio: good Japanese program, a pharmacy school, and you automatically qualify for these scholarships: Presidential Scholar (full in-state tuition amount - leaving only the out-of-state surcharge) and the Gateway/Trustee Scholarship (another $3000 or $3500 per year, almost half of the remaining tuition). Plus, with your stats, you have an excellent chance at HTC.</p>

11

<p>Wolfpiper, do I remeber from earlier posts that you are from Texas? If so, have you totally ruled out UT? They have Japanes and pharmacy.</p>

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<p>Wolfpiper, I am impressed with the work you have already done, the results and analyses that you have presented. You are way ahead of most kids, and you are doing this yourself which is most impressive. I recommend you check out your state programs for pharmacy programs. Also Duquesne U and Pitt are some possiblilities that I know in that field that may net you some $$. Don't know about the availability of Japanese there. Good luck on your search. I think you are well on your way.</p>

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<p>Digmedia, I don't think that Ohio has a pharmacy school. Case does not have a pharmacy school and neither does Indiana.</p>

<p>I could be wrong but the only pharmacy schools in Ohio are are OSU, Cincinnati and Toledo. The only pharmacy school in Indiana is Purdue. Michigan does have a pharmacy school.</p>

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<p><a href="http://rxinsider.com/schools_of_pharmacy.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://rxinsider.com/schools_of_pharmacy.htm&lt;/a> That's a website of pharmacy schools - cross reference that with the Japanese programs site listed above and you can find schools with both criteria.</p>

<p>I was also going to mention Purdue - excellent pharmacy school. You have great stats so I think you're in line for more merit $$ than you think - even out of state for the state U's.</p>

15

<p>Dartmouth does not have an undergrad program for pharmacy . It is done at the grad level through the school of arts and sciences. Their requirement for admission is an academic degree in a biological or chemical science from an accredited institution of higher learning. The applicant's background should include adequate preparation in chemistry, biology and mathematics and a demonstrated proficiency with the English language. </p>

<p>Are you looking to go into a 6 year PharmD program or just do an undergrad degree in chem or bio and having a second major in japanese? If that is the case, you can take chem and bio at any school so you should focus on finding schools with strong japanese programs . At Dartmouth it is the Dartment of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies which also offers a study abroad.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Edamell/programs/japanese.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~damell/programs/japanese.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Here's a link to Ohio's undergraduate Pre-Pharmacy Major:</p>

<p><a href="http://main.chem.ohiou.edu/undergraduate/prepharmacy.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://main.chem.ohiou.edu/undergraduate/prepharmacy.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

17

<p>I bet you will get merit money from Indiana.</p>

18

<p>Check out Wisconsin. Most languages taught of any school, good pharmacy school in brand new building, great campus, national student body, highly ranked for sciences and overall. Cheaper than Michigan.</p>

<p><a href="http://languageinstitute.wisc.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://languageinstitute.wisc.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.pharmacy.wisc.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pharmacy.wisc.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>