I am a high school junior from South Carolina. From what I understand, SC does not have the best STEM schools in the South other than Clemson (which is currently my first choice). I have a high SC W GPA and a perfect 4.0 UW GPA. My resume has been posted previously here:
I am currently thinking about some pretty selective schools, and I want to find out if there are any other slightly less selective options in the South (VA-SW TX) and the lower Mid-Atlantic (MD, DC, etc.) where I could maybe get some scholarship money because I am not filthy rich. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank y’all in advance!
Sorry didn’t say what major I am looking for. I am looking specifically for BME, but I’m sure any school with good math and biology programs would work just as well.
If you are in-state for Clemson, it will be hard to beat. If want to go out of state, Alabama will have the most generous scholarships and a good engineering program.
@Zinhead Yeah, that’s why it’s my top choice… Just want to apply to some other places other than Duke, Vandy, Rice, etc. that will almost certainly not give me much, if any, money.
With those stats, it will be difficult to get merit aid at any of the high end privates, but you might get need based aid. If you are looking for private school merit, you will likely have to look at schools like Elon.
Elon: Yeah, I’ve looked at it. I am interested in their biophysics program, but a 3:2 engineering program is not what I’m looking for, especially with a lot of dual enrollment credit accumulated through APs and DE classes.
Alabama: It’s a little far, but hey you never know if you don’t try.
Follow up question: are there any southern LACs that have good math and biology programs that I can get some good money from?
@mamag2855 I have looked at the first two, but I am not familiar with Rowan. I’ll have to give it a look! (edit: I have looked on their website, and their buildings look great and have pretty good academics. However, they don’t even have club tennis which is a deal-breaker because tennis takes up a good part of my life). Thank you for the suggestions, though!
@carachel2 Texas is a bit far for my liking, and if I wanted to go to a large public school, I would just stay in-state at Clemson. Really, the only reason I would consider Texas is if I got a scholarship to go to Rice which is unlikely. But thank you though!
So I did a little research, and I figured out some LACs/smaller universities that I would be interested in attending. Which ones, in y’all’s opinion, have the best STEM?
In State
Wofford
Furman
Coll of Charleston
OOS
Davidson
Elon
W&M
W&L
Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
For BME look at Johns Hopkins. Outstanding program, professes to meet 100% need.
According to Common Data Set your GPA, rigor, recommendations, and personal characteristics are weighted higher than test scores. Looks to be pretty holistic.
Outstanding research and internship opportunities.
@Nojotennis Of your SC/NC short list, I think Elon is not in the same tier as the others. Wofford & Davidson have highly regarded Biology programs; Furman is strong in all the sciences and has top notch research opportunities that are unparalleled for a school its size. W&M probably not as generous with scholarship money for non-VA (it is a public school). There are good merit money possibilities at all the rest but you need to be looking at those now. You will be able to use Palmetto money at Furman, Wofford & CofC which will not be available OOS. Competition for merit money is fierce but both Wofford & Furman have departmental scholarships that you should go after in addition to the general merit. Furman has the SOAR scholarship as well. Spend your time on the scholarship applications. Merit money is not a slam dunk but you are at least in the discussion at those LACs, particularly if you can get the SAT score up.
@Nojotennis Make sure your guidance department nominates you as a Furman Scholar and Wofford Scholar this spring. You have the stats and that is automatic merit money at those schools.
@JustGraduate JHU has been on my list for a while, but I am in the unfavorable position of needing a good amount of money to go to a private college and not demonstrating enough need to get scholarships. So while it is not out of the question, the prospects aren’t good.
@buddyparent That’s exactly what I needed! Thank you so much! I have been planning to take the SAT I in June and some SAT IIs in May, so hopefully the scores will go up then.
@Nojotennis You are correct they don’t have biomed but they do offer an option to creat your own major. You need to have stellar grades as as freshman and sophomore to qualify for this.
You work with your advisor to choose classes as a junior and senior that would give you that degree. You can see what other biomed programs require course wise. I would email UAH to confirm they still offer this option. They did in 2013.
UAB has a Biomed program. They also offer merit scholarship.