Suggest some schools for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Im a junior that goes to a top public school in the Houston metro area, pretty competitive, 50% asian, over 30 national merit semifinalists, etc, etc.</p>

<p>My freshman year and part of soph. year I really screwed up (only two honors and mainly Bs). Now I have 4 honors and 2 AP with all As so i have a very good upward trend in my grades, although it really hurt my overall gpa and class rank.</p>

<p>UW gpa: 3.5
W: approx. 4.0 [my school doesnt give us our weighted gpa on a 5.0 scale]
SAT: 1360/2040 (going to retake this fall, hoping for ~2100 )
-CR: 620 :(
-MTH: 740
-WRT: 680
ACT:
- took it in april but i am expected at least a 30, will see in a week.
Class rank: ~27% (may be slightly different) :/
State: Texas
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Income: ~100,00-150,000
**Brother (senior) and sister(soph.) both attend UT Austin, brother is extremely well known in math dept and is attending MIT this fall for Phd. (this may help a little bit)</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
Calculus BC AP (already took AB this year and have a 97, should have taken BC...)
Statistics AP
English IV College Now
Eco./Government
Chem. II AP
Comp Sci II AP
Decathlon Honors (academic competition)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-3 years of track (1 varsity)
-3 years of cross country (1 varsity)
-Gay Straight Alliance (2 years)
-VP of school charity
-president of japanese NHS
-member of NHS, Serve Sugar Land, Interact, Youth Expanding services (over 150 volunteer hours)
-Decathlon team for 2 years (our team is top 10 in state) Octathlon (1 year)
-Peer Tutor
-Part time job at clothing store for 6 mo. of junior year; camp counselor summer after junior year</p>

<p>SUPER stretch (i know):
-Rice
-Brandeis
-U Chicago (DREAM school, looooong shot though)</p>

<p>Match:
-UT Austin (UT accepts many lower class ranks from our school because of its rigor, but still may be a high match because of this)
-Texas A&M
-Virginia Tech
-U Minnesota Twin Cities
-CU Boulder (i am in love with colorado)</p>

<p>Safety:
-Texas State, Texas Tech (automatic admission)
-Colorado state</p>

<p>What are your thoughts on my choices? I really want some good suggestions of similar schools! My intended major is either Biomedical Science or Biochemistry (definitely love math and science above all else). I really want to be a veterinarian but may instead pursue Phd in biomedical something,etc.</p>

<p>NO COMMUTER CAMPUSES or community colleges please :).</p>

2

<p>So, mid-sized schools, primarily urban but with a campus, strong in the sciences and math: Any other criteria? Is financial aid important? No interest in the liberal arts colleges (LACs), right?</p>

3

<p>No interest in LACs, strong in science and math, must have a campus, mid size or larger but the location doesnt need to be urban necessarily. As far as financial aid is concerned, due to my parent’s high income i dont think i will receive much if any but i guess merit aid would be a plus. But i definitely cant afford a 40 to 50k school unless they give aid.</p>

<p>Any type of undergraduate research opportunities would be a great bonus.</p>

4

<p>Consider Utah State University. Your stats would get you $12,500/yr for 2 years. Mid sized, residential campus. Strong biochem, lots of UG research opportunities, just started a program with the vet school at Washington State University where you start at USU and finish through the WSU vet school. A lot like Colorado, except the line for beer is shorter.</p>

5

<p>[WFU</a> | Admissions | Student Financial Aid | Merit-Based Scholarships | Scholarship Descriptions](<a href=“Student Financial Aid | Wake Forest University”>Student Financial Aid | Wake Forest University)</p>

<p>Merit Aid @ Wake Forest University.</p>

6

<p>I’d add Tulane (probably a high match/reach) and maybe Clemson.</p>

7

<p>Take a look at Clemson! Take a visit and you’ll love it here. Let me know if you have any questions!</p>

8

<p>Thanks, I had not really considered Tulane and Clemson. Any other words of wisdom for someone who has not yet started the application process?</p>

9

<p>Case Western, Rose Hulman for science / math. Colorado College as an excellent LAC known for good science, with the bonus of Colorado thrown in.</p>

<p>

[ul][<em>]CONSIDER YOUR ABILITY TO PAY - don’t take a ton of loans, Do have a very frank discussion with your parents about money - what they can afford, what FAFSA thinks they can afford (go to FAFSA Forecaster).[</em>]Do pick safety schools that 1) you will be accepted at, 2) you would be happy at, 3) you can afford[<em>]Read the heck out of their websites.[</em>]Get suggestions from other people but do the research yourself.[<em>]start on your essays early.[</em>]Do ask someone older & wiser for advice on your essay to make sure there are no glaring problems in theme or statements[<em>]DON’T allow your parents or other adults to edit all the joy and “your voice” out of your essays - they need personality, not like the business documents your parents write at work.[</em>]Consider ability to pay, especially if your EFC doesn’t match what your parents think they can pay, and if the schools don’t meed financial need (most of them DON’T).[/ul]</p>

10

<p>Btw, just got my ACT score—33 :)</p>

11

<p>Does this improve my chances at some of my mentioned universities?</p>

12

<p>It definitely does, a 33 on the ACT is a very good score!</p>

13

<p>I realize that ,relative to my new ACT score, my SAT is not that great. Would it be worth it to retake either?</p>

14

<p>Why don’t you just send your ACT score? Every college accepts the ACT score and if that’s your best why retake the SAT if you can just submit that?</p>

15

<p>Even if 95% of people send in SAT at the particular school (V tech)? It makes sense not to retake the SAT but do you think it is worth it to retake the ACT in case i could get a 34/35. I am really relying on my test scores because of my relatively low gpa obviously. I would wait until early fall of senior year to take it again.</p>

<p>And i assume SAT subjects would be kind of useless unless the particular college required them…?</p>

16

<p>I got a 35 on the ACT and that was the only score I sent with my application (I had a 3.06 GPA as well). I got into virginia tech, clemson, purdue, pittsburgh, northeastern and umass amherst. If you’ve taken SAT Subject Tests and you’ve done well, I would send them as well if they are not required. </p>

<p>That’s just my opinion, if you feel like you can do better than that ACT score, retake the ACT or SAT but send the best score no matter what the test is.</p>

17

<p>Thank you so much!!! You have been beyond helpful, really :). Plus alot of the schools you got into, i am considering as well, so a bit of hope. I think I am going to try one more time on the ACT :slight_smile: I have not taken any subjects tests and probably wont unless i really want to apply to a school that requires them.
Thanks.</p>

18

<p>Okay sorry, one more thing. What do you think your strongest factor in getting into those schools was? Your act i assume…?</p>