Suggest colleges and help with ED DILEMMA !!!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Male
Asian
From California
Public School with over 2,000 students
Not sure about class rank i think i'm borderline top 5%</p>

<p>STATS:
SAT I
Reading: 760
Math: 740
Writing: 690
Total: 2190</p>

<p>SAT II
Math 2: 800
Chemistry: 750
US History: 730</p>

<p>GPA:
-Unweighted: 3.92
-Weighted: 4.30</p>

<p>AP Scores
US History: 4
Chemistry: 4
Calc BC: 5 (AB Subscore: 5)
World History: 5</p>

<p>Extracurricular's (pretty weak):
7 years piano
2 years swim team
Co-founder and Secretary of TOMS Campus Club
4 years speach and debate
interact club
latin american gastronomical society</p>

<p>50 hours volunteering at local children's museum
Currently filling out a TOMS shoes application for a nonprofit organization to work with TOMS to donate 10,000 shoes to needy children in vietnam. I expect it to go through.</p>

<p>Senior Course Load:
AP Biology
AP Gov/ Econ
AP English Language and Composition
AP Statistics
Ceramics
Journalism</p>

<p>I'm leaning towards a major in neuroscience but I'm not someone who knows what he wants to be in the future. I'd like a college that would allow me some freedom and allow me to explore other fields and interests to find out exactly what I want to be.</p>

<p>Definitely will apply to
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
USC
Johns Hopkins (ED?)
Northwestern (ED?)</p>

<p>Considering
Rice
WashU
Duke
NYU
Emory</p>

<p>I pretty much need opinions on the colleges out of California and those that I am considering. Any suggestions on what I should add or remove from my list. I'm not sure which colleges are matches and I don't even know if I have any safeties, so any suggestions on those would be especially appreciated.</p>

<p>First I'd like to say i am very interested in JHU because they have a great UG neuroscience and you don't have to declare a major until after sophomore year, so i can explore my interest in writing and any other classes i deem interesting enough to take. But I'm also turned off by rumors everyone being pre-med and that contributing to a cutthroat attitude towards academics, causing the social scene to suffer. This and the local feel aren't something I can gauge from a campus visit, so it would be great if anyone could share their thoughts on JHU.</p>

<p>Now on to my dilemma</p>

<p>I know ED is supposed to be used when you have a clear first choice college. My problem here is that the college that I'm most drawn to is Berkeley. Both my parents went there and I've been to the campus a bunch of times. I'm a big time fan of their sports teams (I've been to a bunch of football and basketball games). But of course UC's don't offer early decision. Now ED is great because there is a higher chance of being accepted into a top university and I would be able to relax for the second half of my senior year. Right now I'm strongly considering applying ED to JHU and I think it's not completely unrealistic that I get accepted. I'm going to visit the campus the second week of August, so maybe by then I'll know for sure if I want to apply ED or not. But there's also the chance I'm still on the fence considering I don't know how the social life and atmosphere is from a simple summer campus visit (I know the Berkeley vibe from experience). Considering I have no clearcut first choice, should i still apply ED to increase my chances of going to a top school and a better school than Berkeley. And even if I decide not to, I may very well get rejected from Berkeley anyways =o. </p>

<p>Then I'll be wondering what could have been for the rest of my life, which would suck major balllllsss.</p>

<p>Thanks hosses</p>

2

<p>ED (where you commit to attend if admitted) is only appropriate if the school is your first choice and you are certain to be able to afford to attend it.</p>

<p>If you want to check your chances at Berkeley, calculate your UC admissions high school GPA and compare it to the campus profile and admissions stats (but be aware that it gets more competitive every year):</p>

<p>[University</a> of California - Freshman admission profile](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/berkeley/freshman-profile/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/berkeley/freshman-profile/index.html)
[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu)</p>

<p>However, Berkeley admissions has some sort of holistic process in it, so simply going by numbers may not be as accurate in predicting admissions as with some other UCs, or CSUs.</p>

<p>As far as freedom to explore other fields and interests, be aware that it is often more of a function of your major. Some majors require starting off with the prerequisites from your first semester, while others can be started in your fourth semester without delaying graduation. Pre-med can be done around any major. Berkeley does not have a neuroscience major, although it does have a cognitive science major. Remember that most pre-meds do not get into any medical school, so consider your other academic and career interests as well when choosing your academic path.</p>

3

<p>What’s your money situation like? Have your parents given you a budget, and have you run some estimators to see what kind of family contribution schools like Northwestern and JHU would expect?</p>

4

<p>ucbalumus- Berkeley has a undergrad neurobiology major, which is think is interchangeable with the term neuroscience, though I’m not exactly sure. Other than that, I don’t exactly know what pre-med means. How does it differ from non pre-meds and can you still go into medical school without doing pre-med?</p>

<p>SlitheyTove- I did ask my dad to fill out the EFC calculator but he didn’t want to do it for some reason or another. He did say “Don’t worry, we have 60k for your college”… I’m not sure if that is alot or not and I’m not familiar with the financial aid process. My dad is the only one working and I don’t know how much he makes. Should I push him to fill calculate the EFC and is 60k enough for a private?</p>

<p>Any suggestions of which colleges to weed out or add would be welcome thanks.</p>

5

<p>60k per year or 60k for all years?</p>

<p>Many schools are 50k/year with the room & board, books, etc.</p>

<p>If it is 60k for all years DO NOT apply ED! The admission boost is not worth it if you can’t afford to attend and graduate from the school.</p>

6

<p>Yea I think he does mean 60k for the total college fund. I was scratching my head about how that can pay for a full private college education but my dad didn’t blink an eye when I told him the private colleges I was planning to apply to. So considering that you can’t compare financial aid offers, I don’t have enough money to apply ED? The ED agreement let’s you back out if the schools initial aid offer isn’t enough, but I don’t know the consequences of doing that.</p>

7

<p>Might look at Tufts and Holy Cross both very good science programs in the Boston area.</p>

8

<p>JHU is probably close to $60K per year when you figure in your cross-country travel costs.</p>

<p>I think that ED is great for the super wealthy who know where they want to go. For everyone else, it fits into the “putting all your eggs in one basket.”</p>

<p>I have posted this lots of places, but what you think you want now may not be what you want ten months from now. Give yourself the gift of choice. And do your applications early so you don’t have them hanging over your head the second half of the year.</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>Pre-med refers to the set of courses that most medical schools require before applying. There is some variation, but the usual set is:</p>

<p>1 year of general chemistry with lab
1 year of organic chemistry with lab
1 year of general biology with lab
1 year of physics with lab
1 year of English writing
sometimes calculus and/or statistics
sometimes other courses (e.g. psychology or other behavioral science)</p>

<p>Due to the variation, you need to check every medical school. Also, policies on AP credit vary – in most cases, you won’t be allowed to count AP credit on pre-med requirements (although calculus is sometimes an exception), so if you skip introductory courses, you likely need to take more advanced courses in those subjects instead. This type of thing also needs to be checked at every medical school.</p>

10

<p>RiceCooka, ABSOLUTELY you need to have your dad run one of the estimators. He’ll have to do this regardless if you are applying for any type of need-based aid. </p>

<p>As others said, most of the private schools you named currently run upwards of $50k a year before financial aid. The UCs (assuming you’re living on campus) are around $30k. Let’s assume that you’ll take out a Stafford loan ($5k a year) and will work part-time and during the summer (let’s hope for another $5k a year). With your college fund and that additional $10k a year, you are up to being able to afford $25k a year. There’s a gap of $5k-$25k between what you could pay, and what the schools will cost, without considering tuition and cost of living increases. </p>

<p>Now, it’s possible that your Estimated Family Contribution (using the so-called Instititional Methodology, which considers all assets e.g. home equity and non-retirement savings) will perfectly match what your family says they can afford. But it’s also possible that your EFC will be far more than what your family has budgeted. In that case, you probably won’t be receiving need-based financial aid and will have to search out merit-based aid…or look for a cheaper school.</p>

11

<p>

Therefore don’t apply ED anywhere. You should compare FA packages from schools that you just “like.”

You don’t need to be certain you can afford it. Here is the rule:

<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If the ED school does not offer enough FA to support attendance, you tell them thanks but no thanks, and apply elsewhere.

There aren’t any that matter.

It’s an option for anyone with a dream school, not just the wealthy.</p>

<p>But again, ED doesn’t seem appropriate for the OP since Berkeley is the top choice.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Absolutely, everyone has the option of applying ED. However, so many young people today fall in love with a school and once the numbers come in they are crushed because they really cannot afford the dream school. I would not allow one of my children to apply ED although we are certainly not getting a dime of FA; we do not even put in the paperwork. </p>

<p>I think that the way young people change their minds they owe it to themselves to have a choice in April. ED is an option; I just don’t think that it is a great one for a whole lot of young people.</p>

13

<p>If there’s a dream school, maybe it’s better to be crushed in December, giving time to recover before making the big decision in April. And if the dream school is not a safety, ED generally increases the chance of acceptance somewhat. If denied RD at the the dream school, I wouldn’t want the burden of having denied the ED chance at a school we can afford.</p>

14

<p>You will most, most likely get into Berkeley, and also JHU ED.
JHU is not cutthroat. Students work very hard but love it there.
Your decision is more about money than anything else. Your parents may have a plan in mind that you don’t know about. Have the discussion with them.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the replies guys.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s definitely the kind of problem I’m having. I don’t really know if I have a real dream school, because my only knowledge of Hopkins is the stuff I’ve researched and read, so I’ll definitely have to visit. Berkeley may not really be a true dream school either as I’ll explain.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>So you think I’ll be able to make it in to Berkeley and JHU ED? And could you elaborate a little more on life at JHU, as I don’t think I’ll get the chance to visit when school actually starts, as I’m all the way in CA. I already know it’s great academically and I’ll be able to see the beauty of campus myself, but the life and atmosphere is one of my biggest doubts about JHU right now. Any insights on that would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Well I talked to my dad a little about money and he said he’d fill out the EFC calculator when he had the time to find the tax return forms. I did talk to him about possibly not being able to afford a 50k private with our budget, but he said very bluntly that we can afford any college I wish to attend and that it shouldn’t play a role in my research or decision. He did mention that I need to be sure of where I’m going to go if it is ED though.</p>

<p>To those of you saying I shouldn’t apply ED since Berkeley is my top choice, I may have been a little overzealous in my love for Berkeley. It really is my first choice because it is the only college I’m really any familiar with (my dad talking it up as an alumni kinda helps). But really it’s the only campus that I’ve gotten to know, so it is pretty much first choice by default. I don’t want that to be the reason why I forego ED. I’m going to visit Hopkins soon so hopefully I’ll have a solid impression then. But also it’s a summer visit with information and tour sessions. I don’t know how many students will be around and whether or not I’ll be able to get a feel of undergrad life.</p>

<p>But my dad was EXTREMELY insistent that I can afford to go to any college I want (I don’t know if he’s just saying that or not). He said that 60k is just a starting pint and more money’s going to be put in at time. So I guess that’s not a factor then? He doesn’t seem view EFC calculators as a must do kinda thing so…yea.</p>

<p>But Berkeley and Hopkins aren’t the only worthy colleges around, so suggestions are always welcome =].</p>

16

<p>Make sure that your father knows that full price of some private or out of state public universities can be more than $200,000 for four years.</p>