<p>Live in the south, looking for schools in the north or northeast
ACT: 33, planning to retake it
GPA 3.95 unweighted
I'll have taken 10 APs by the time i graduate
2 varsity sports all 4 years of high school
assortment of clubs and community service
2 leadership positions (president of one organization and captain of sports team)</p>
<p>I have plenty of reach schools but I really need some good safeties, and maybe some reaches too. I'm interested in the science field, pre-med especially, so any suggestions for schools with good science programs w/good med school acceptance rates would be appreciated!</p>
<p>There are dozens of schools with good pre-med prep in the NE and E. What are your other critieria? Size, culture, urban/rural/suburban, FA, etc…</p>
<p>money isn’t a MAJOR factor, but I’m steering away from the tiny super-expensive liberal arts colleges. as far as my other preferences, i would prefer a liberal arts but it’s not a set in stone requirement. Size: preferably small to medium. Location: urban/suburban - not in the middle of nowhere. i don’t want a school with a big party scene; i’m mostly interested in a quality education that will set me on the right track for med school.</p>
<p>*Your natural safety would be your in-state flagship. How much can your family afford? *</p>
<p>Have your parents told you how much they’ll spend? If you don’t know, ask. You may be able to get them to help with med school costs if you don’t spend too much for undergrad. :)</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>*i would prefer a liberal arts but it’s not a set in stone requirement. Size: preferably small to medium. Location: urban/suburban - not in the middle of nowhere. i don’t want a school with a big party scene; i’m mostly interested in a quality education that will set me on the right track for med school. *</p>
<p>Don’t let the “party school” image mislead you about any school. That concern is over-blown and should not matter to those in the more challenging majors… </p>
<p>Who cares if students in easier majors in buildings across the campus have time to party? How does that affect you? If you’re in a challenging major, your classmates are going to be more serious-minded like you are.</p>
That would be most of them. LACs are inherently more expensive that in-state schools. The most expensive seem to be at the top of the rankings or in high price locations.</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross-great pre-med program with new $70 million science building. HC is one of the few non-Ivy schools that has produced Nobel Prize winner for Medicine. Holy Cross has nice campus-1 hour from Boston.</p>
<p>Pitt: medical/bioscience campus is right with the undergrad so that volunteering, shadowing and research opportunities are easy to take advantage of. Med school is top 10-15 in the nation, NIH funding is #5, almost all bioscience and health science programs are ranked in the top 20 by US News, as well as its medical center (UPMC), which is one of the largest in the world (and also has international locations, e.g. Ireland, Italy). It is urban, but has large lawns and is adjacent to a large wooded park (as well as the city’s major museums). Pitt likes out-of-state students for geographical diversity purposes and has been reported on here to recruit them and offer aid, and has a large endowment and overall good reputation for merit awards (average SAT fall 2010 is 1275, middle 50% composite ACT is 26-31, 3.87 GPA; Honors requires 1400 SAT, full tuition awards reported on here start around 1450 or equivalent ACT score). It is larger (~16,000) so there won’t be as much hand-holding as smaller schools (student:faculty 15:1), but the resources for padding the med-school application with the surrounding medical/health science facilities are among the best anywhere.</p>