Need help finding a school that is a good fit for my son. He is quiet, studious, and non- competitive. 1440 SAT, 3.9 GPA, estimated 32 ACT. Some AP classes, mostly GT and honors classes. Played JV & Varsity Ice Hockey while also playing on a private club team. Some volunteer work for a food charity. No other EC’s. Interested in being EMT for student ambulance service or local community while in school. Wants a strong language (talks about Doctors Without Borders) program and options for majors if pre-med doesn’t work out. Prefers volunteering and interning over a research universities. Doesn’t want an isolated campus. Hoping to get some merit aid to get out-of-state and private school tuition somewhat close to the full cost of a state university. Will apply to UMD-CP and UMBC. We have looked at a lot of schools but he is only excited about Middlebury and University of Vermont. (Loved Burlington, VT). OK schools - BU, Bucknell, Union, Hamilton, William and Mary, WPI, Georgetown. Did not like Virginia Tech (liked school but too isolated), Northeastern, Colgate, GW. We tried to give him a taste of a lot of different types of schools to narrow it down. It hasn’t helped and now he doesn’t want to look at any more. Feels that he will fit in and do well anywhere. I still want him to look at UNC Chapel Hill, Davidson, and Wake Forest. Possibly a few schools in PA. We need suggestions for small to medium non-ivy east coast schools that will prepare him for med school but that he can actually get into. Want a balanced academic/student life. Cooperative-not cut throat. Need a good fit socially. Hoping for school suggestions and/or advice an narrowing (getting a list) together soon so we can get applications done. Sorry for the long post but I’m pulling my hair out. Thank you.
The college of New Jersey would fit your parameters. Very good academics, has a highly rated science department.
Small to mid size with s club ice hockey team
Campus is very nice
Unfortunately, it will be hard to find any school whose campus and athletic facilities will match up to Middlebury.
Good luck
Not East Coast, but meets all other criteria (strong languages/study abroad/international opportunities, supportive for premeds, small town near large metropolis, hockey, merit aid): St Olaf in Minnesota.
What about Skidmore, St Lawrence, Muhlenberg, Dickinson?
University of Richmond?
College of the Holy Cross would be a good school for your S to look at. Very strong pre- med program, big focus on community service, and great hockey teams as wells. Should be a match for his stats. Bates is another possibility.
Muhlenberg has a good pre-med program, would be a safety and he would likely get merit money.
Hamilton, Bates and Franklin & Marshall appear on an online list, “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs,” and would offer him a range of selectivity options.
The same list (#5) can be reviewed for schools that may offer merit scholarships for your son.
Holy Cross would be at the bottom of any list I made for premed.
My guess is the OP is unaware of the committee letter supplied to med schools by many colleges (typically privates but not large publics). Some schools will write as strong a letter as they can for anyone requesting one, but many schools do not and some apparently use the letter to manipulate their med school admit rate.
Holy Cross is one of these schools. They will only write a favorable letter for their stronger students and they make no bones about doing this.
Applying with an unfavorable letter is futile, and med schools assume that if you don’t submit a letter from a school offering them you are hiding something. So in effect Holy Cross controls who applies to med school. Consequently this lets them get a high med school acceptance rate (they claim 80%) . To the kids who paid $200K to attend Holy Cross and were then blocked from applying to med school, I guess them’s just the breaks…
All you really need to know is in this chart: https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf Let me write the committee letters and I could get any college in the country a 80% rate. It’s no surprise that a school like Stanford has a great admit rate since they start with top kids. But when you see a college that admits average kids boasting an impressive med-school admit rate you are much more likely to have found a school playing the numbers than one turning lead into gold.
Dickinson gives merit and seems like it might be a good fit, but not sure it would bring it down to your in-state level.
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Hoping to get some merit aid to get out-of-state and private school tuition somewhat close to the full cost of a state university.
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So, you want the net cost to you to be about $25k per year?
Is that 1440 SAT from the new SAT? If so, that’s just below an ACT 32, so if he gets an ACT 32, that would be better.
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need suggestions for small to medium non-ivy east coast schools that will prepare him for med school but that
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colleges do not prepare students for med school…not at all.
Just find a good school that he likes that maybe writes Committee Letters and has an established pre-health advising office.
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Dickinson gives merit and seems like it might be a good fit, but not sure it would bring it down to your in-state level.
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True…it’s very hard to get a private school down to state cost level thru merit unless it’s a lowish level private or stats are higher. Many privates are running in the $60k-70k+ per year range…to get down to - say - $25k per year instate would mean merit would have to be $35k+ per year. That’s hard to get at more “known” schools without higher test scores.
Perhaps Ohio State? Denison? He won’t get any merit aid at UNC so you should run the NPC to see what the bill would be.
He might qualify for merit aid at Fordham and lots of volunteer opportunities there.
Try Hobart. They have a special program for premeds with good stats. $30K award plus the chance to compete for a place at a med school (can’t remember which). I understand from folks on this forum that med school is an even field.
You may want to take a look at Eckerd College. Guaranteed merit aid, excellent mentor/professor program, pre-professional health track program with guidance and committee will support every student who applies to medical, dental and veterinary school. Emergency response team training and program on campus to assist in EMT certification, also emergency sea search and rescue. Strong emphasis on service learning that is built into graduation requirements. http://www.eckerd.edu/prehealth/ https://www.eckerd.edu/safety/ecert/ https://www.eckerd.edu/about/ Field hockey, only, LOL, no ice hockey.
Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. We are checking them out and liking what we see - even in Minnesota.
I have nothing to add except your son sounds like a great kid and the college he attends will be lucky to have him.
I lived in Worcester recently for sabbatical and my family spent a lot of time at WPI. The students seemed bright, motivated and interested in work/life balance. Ice hockey culture there. Good luck!
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He might qualify for merit aid at Fordham and lots of volunteer opportunities there.
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Unless he’s a NMF, it’s very unlikely he’d get substantial merit from Fordham. Almost certainly not enough to get costs down to instate public.