So many REACHES I think I strained my back...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I was wondering if anybody had some suggestions for schools that might fit me/as safeties. I'd appreciate any advice as to what schools i should also add or remove, and if I even have a chance at half of these..Thanks!!</p>

<p>I think I wanna do something in biotech, but I'm still not too sure. Business looks pretty nice to me also...</p>

<p>My list so far is:</p>

<p>Early:
-Princeton ED
or
-Harvard EA</p>

<p>Normal:
-Stanford
-UPenn (going for the biotech program, maybe wharton?)
-Caltech
-MIT
-Dartmouth
-Brown
-Northwestern
-Johns Hopkins
-Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>My family is pretty poor (<40,000) and blue collar. Both of my parents came from Asia, and got their citizenships...I guess I'm a typical asian overachiever.</p>

<p>I got into a decent private school, ranked in the top 20...</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT I (old): M - 790, V - 800
SAT II: Chem - 800, Writing - 800, BioM - 780, Math IC - 760 (eheh...)
(taking new ones october =P)
GPA: 94% (around 3.9?), top 1 or 2 in my class, but school doesn't rank.
Taking hardest courses possible, school doesn't weight classes or have GPAs.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Varsity Swimming, all 4 years
-Yearbook Club
Chief Layout Editor: Sophomore/Junior Years
-Math Club
Elected President: Senior Year
-Youth Aux. @ Local Hospital (volunteer opportunities)
President: Sophomore/Junior/Senior Years
-String Orchestra/String Quartet
Co-Concertmaster
Lead Violist
Founder of School's String Quartet
-National Chemistry Olympiad
2004: Top 25 in region
2005: 1st in state, Local and National finalist
-Physician Shadowing
80 hours shadowing a local pediatrician</p>

<p>Work this summer:
-Tutoring English/Math to about 10 students, ages 6 through 12
-Local YMCA, lifeguard and swim instructor</p>

<p>Volunteer Hours:
-mebbe total of around 200 hours, mostly from local hospital and special olympics
-requirement at my school is 20 hours (its boarding, but I go there as a commuter, cuz its cheaper that way)</p>

<p>I don't really know much about which schools are medium and which would be good safeties; I'm new at this, and I have about two months (until October 15th?) to figure this out. </p>

<p>Once again, I'd appreciate any advice you guys could give me. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Biotech could mean a biology major or biomedical engineering major. Which? Does U Penn have a biotech major? Many of the more selective colleges lack a business major, but they have econ. Does the college have to offer business?</p>

3

<p>I read somewhere that UPenn offers a joint program between the school of engineering and the school of arts and sciences with biotech...not sure, think I saw it on the website. </p>

<p>I really don't know. I heard biochemical engineering is more challenging, and it seems like I would like it more, but it really doesn't matter overly much; I'd be just as fine majoring in biology or chemistry. I'm pretty unselective when it comes to that; I like them both. And as for business or economics, its just an interest, the school doesn't have to have any degree, I just think I'd like to take a few classes. I like to think I'm pretty well rounded, with some strength in chemistry and interest in biology, and I think a less techy school than MIT or caltech would be best, but if I could get into those schools I don't think I'd mind. (to say the least). Also, my ambitions arent quite clear, so I'm worried that if I go to a school like JHU for bio and didn't like it, I'd be stuck....</p>

4

<p>Your stats are great and you will proabably qualify for a very good aid package. You have a shot at all your reaches.</p>

<p>i would suggest you look at LAC with good science depts (Rochester? Wesleyan? Haverford? Harvey Mudd? etc-- look at top 25 LACs) for matches and some highly ranked state schools for safeties. If you can find any with rolling admission (like U Michigan?) do that for an early safety. </p>

<p>You can probably narrow your list of reaches by looking for the personality/fit and finding which of them give you the best in that dept.</p>

5

<p>Would Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore/Carleton (all 4 of which are very good at sciences apparently) be reach schools? Any of the slight reaches/matches?</p>

<p>UVa, Tufts, Pomona, Harvey Mudd as matches?</p>

<p>UMich as a rolling admission safety? Should I apply to Rutgers?</p>

<p>Again, any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!</p>

<p>I think I'm applying to MIT and Caltech just because of their reputation. The thing is, if I got in they'd be VERY high up on the list because of the quality of their technical education...but I'm a bit worried that I'd only be taking science/engineering courses and my right brain would wither away...should I not apply to them, even though I'm interested in their science programs?</p>

<p>Should CMU be on my list? Aren't they only good in compsci or something? (by no means an insult, I just haven't heard of how CMU's other programs; just rave reviews about the computer science, which I don't plan on majoring in..)</p>

6

<p>What's the difference between EA and ED?
And can you use your SATII writing score for the new writing section on the SATI...because you got an amazing score on that and I wouldn't want that to go to waste.....i'm sure you don't either
Great stats by the way...</p>

7

<p>As far as MIT goes, students are required to take 8 humanities/arts/social sciences classes to graduate, meaning at least 1/4 of your classes would be non-science. Moreover, most majors don't take up all the rest of your available class slots, so you'd be free to take more humanities classes if you really wanted to.</p>

8

<p>I would say they are all slight reaches statistically because they all accept so few applicants. Also, many of the just-a-tick-down schools are wary of being used as safeties or backups (aka the Tufts Syndrome.) Carleton is probably best bet of the four.</p>

<p>I suspect Mudd is a match. UVa & Pomona are at least slightly reachy due to selectivity (Uva is very hard out of state.)</p>

<p>The main thing is pick your top reaches, some reachy matches, a couple of matches and a couple of safeties so you can focus your applications and visit the schools, show them you care, etc. You have as good a chance as many to the uppermost tier but it is to some degree a crapshoot.</p>

<p>CMU does have incredible theatre arts, so you will probably have some balance there. MIT & Cal Tech I am not sure.</p>

<p>Now, forgetting reputation , biotech, etc-- what do you want socially? Politically? Size-wise, urban rural, atomsphere, type of kids, etc?</p>

<p>Then we can narrow the list down to schools-- reaches to safeties-- that will be right for you on all levels.</p>

9

<p>molliebatmit - Sorry, I didn't know that about MIT, I assumed that it was HARDCORE engineering and science (not that they arent), and nothing else. But thinking back to how they do have a #2 business school, that was probably a bit naive of me. Is it possible to get through MIT without devoting yourself to the library? Does it depend on how many courses you take/what major your in? (I'd imagine that Engineering at MIT is somewhat harder than English.) Correct me if I'm wrong, though!</p>

<p>As to what environment would fit me...</p>

<p>Socially, probably closer to nerd than frat, but with enough frat to be fun. (did that make any sense..I guess I mean sorta like stanford. leeway on either side is OK though)</p>

<p>Politically I couldn't care less.</p>

<p>Size doesn't matter, though I lean slightly towards a smaller school because of my high school experiences at a 500-student high school.</p>

<p>Anywhere except in the middle of of an enormous city (essentially only columbia and NYU)</p>

<p>Atmosphere, any. preferably about 70% nitrogen and over 10% oxygen.</p>

<p>And I'm pretty comfortable around any type of kids except racist ones, being a minority and all...</p>

<p>As you can see, I'm not that picky, which is probably a downfall when it comes to narrowing down my options, but I care more about the quality of education and the resources I have available. </p>

<p>To make matters even worse, it's not like im 100% committed to biotech...I haven't had enough experience with the field to know I would enjoy it, so...for all I know I could find myself infatuated with Judaic/Russian Literature in two years.</p>

<p>Another thing. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is apparently decent in science, and has rolling admissions. Would that mean I could get a acceptance/rejection/waitlist letter from them, like, october? Could I still apply to (insert school here) early action/decision? I'm really a bit confused about the college process.</p>

<p>Einstein said, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax."
I guess he never lived through 21st-century college applications.</p>

10

<p>You can definitely get through MIT without living at the library (although you're right, it is somewhat dependent on major). I'm not going to say it's not hard, but it's more "if you work diligently you'll do fine" rather than "if you're naturally a super-genius you'll do fine" (although the super-geniuses do seem to do pretty well :)).</p>

<p>Keep in mind that much of MIT's difficulty lies in the choices MIT students make for themselves -- like I said earlier, you could probably get a degree in a science or engineering major while taking 1/3 humanities classes (or somewhere in that neighborhood), but most people take more engineering classes because that's what they like. (Actually, we're even free to take any and all of the classes we want to at Harvard, too.)</p>

<p>Also, some obscene percentage of people (me included) graduate with two bachelors' degrees, or a bachelors' and a masters', just because, no matter how much we protest and complain, we secretly like to work hard.</p>

<p>Socially, the campus is on the nerdy side, but we have twenty-six (?) frats, so there's really something for everyone.</p>

<p>You might check out the student blogs by registering at the Admissions</a> site, if you want a better feel of what students are like.</p>

11

<p>I'm just worried I spent more time being well rounded than beefing up my sciences and awards. Would that act against me trying for MIT? (or, for that matter, caltech...)</p>

<p>PS. Is that your blog I see? =P</p>

12

<p>Oh, btw, my mother's max education was high school, and my dad went to Trenton State but is currently unemployed. would this help or hurt me in applying to highly selective schools?</p>

13

<p>I looked into caltech and if you dont wanna sleep and wanna be doing work all the time then its the place for you but if you want to have a life outside of the classroom or just sleep at least 5 hours a night i wouldnt suggest going there. your stats look supurb so i think you have a chance at getting into any of the schools you want to go too. I know most schools like well rounded students more than students who specialize in things. thats just my opinion</p>

14

<p>I'd be careful with most state schools, U Mich, if you need financial aid. They are often very stingy. If aid isn't critical, U of I Champaign has an extremely selective Bio medical engineering program.</p>

15

<p>other colleges strong in biology and chemistry
LACs:
Amherst
Bates
Bowdoin
Bucknell
Carleton
Williams
Swarthmore
Reed
Hamilton
Colgate
Harvey Mudd
Lafayette
Macalester
Pomona
Haverford</p>

<p>universities:
U of Rochester
Cornell
Duke
U Chicago
Tufts
Washington U St Louis
Emory
Yale</p>

16

<p>
[quote]

I'm just worried I spent more time being well rounded than beefing up my sciences and awards. Would that act against me trying for MIT? (or, for that matter, caltech...)</p>

<p>PS. Is that your blog I see? =P

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Haha, yeah, that's my blog. As far as well-rounded vs. heavy in science/math awards -- admittedly, it's easier for people with major science awards to get in. But at the same time, the adcoms are looking for well-rounded students. </p>

<p>Personally, in high school I did theatre, marching band, and show choir (and no sciency stuff), and I know lots of other kids here like me. The adcoms really want you to show passion for something in your ECs, but if that's not science, so be it. (As I understand it, at Caltech, this is not so much true. They are really looking more for people with already demonstrated math/science amazingness.)</p>

<p>WRT your parents, it will probably help at least a little bit.</p>

17

<p>It sounds like the general enviornment you want means good fit could be found at some different schools. Let me approach from the non-biotech angle because as I said I am not well informed about specific science depts.</p>

<p>Have you considered Brown? Excellent sciences: they have a PLME/Med program-- plus the overall environment not competitive, not pressure cooker, but very learning-oriented. Plenty of fun. 5500 kids and a great location at the edge of a small city.</p>

<p>Maybe a strategy to narrow things down would be to really take a hard look at your reaches, narrow <em>them</em> down, then find matches & safeties that mimic what you like about the reaches. For the work/fun balance you seem to want, I'd say from your current list Princeton & Stanford are the most like that. Dartmouth is another good place, though the isolated location is not for all. Wash U is a good match for you in that vein.</p>

<p>Finally, I think you could apply to U Mich essentially right now and get a reply in Oct. CHECK THE RULES to see if it messes you up ED or EA. I think rolling is usually considered "RD" and is allowed but I am not sure how each individual school views this.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
I know most schools like well rounded students more than students who specialize in things. thats just my opinion

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I disagree. The ultra-competitive schools like specialized students who are well-rounded in everything else. The typically well-rounded kids are rejected.</p>

<p>By the way, your views of Caltech are stereotypical and false, at best. Read more about Caltech in the forum. What you've heard of from whom-ever doesn't cut it.</p>

19

<p>What do you think: Early Harvard or Princeton.</p>

<p>I'm positive some of these are in the wrong category, and that a few schools on there aren't THAT good at biotech/biomedE/chem, and that I'm missing a few schools with AMAZING programs. Feel free to help me change the list!</p>

<p>I'm looking to narrow it down to less that ten. Any of these schools stingy with financial aid? I'm looking at UMich, and the total tuition seems to be around 10,000...Is that right?</p>

<p>ED: Princeton
Rolling Safety: UMich</p>

<p>Normal
Reach:
-Harvard
-Yale
-Stanford
-MIT
-Caltech
-Duke</p>

<p>Slight Reaches (what goes in here?)
-UVa
-UPenn (feeder school =P)
-Dartmouth
-Brown
-JHU
-Berkeley</p>

<p>Match:
-Harvey Mudd
-Tufts</p>

20

<p>tranman,</p>

<p>First, love the title of this thread....</p>

<p>If you are out-of-state at UMich, the tuition is more like 27K+ for one year. Refer to <a href="http://www.finaid.umich.edu/financial_aid_basics/cost.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.finaid.umich.edu/financial_aid_basics/cost.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Another school to consider would be UCSD.</p>