So here are my stats:
I live in MD.
-Junior, female, white (Albanian; trilingual with Albanian, English, and Spanish).
-ACT: 30 (heavily anticipating 32 when I take it this June but who knows)
-3.85 UW, 4.54 W
- Plenty of ECs, volunteering at a hospital 10 hours a week, volunteering at a children's orphanage in Kosova (Albania) this summer for nearly 2 months every day, did volleyball/cross-country/outdoor track, Science/Spanish/English Honor Societies, active in numerous clubs etc. etc. etc. Bad part: no direct leadership experiences.
- Junior schedule: AP English Lang, AP Spanish Lang, AP Bio, AP World History, Honors Precalc, Studio Art 2
- Senior year schedule: AP BC Calc, AP Spanish Lit, AP English Lit, AP Enviro. Science., AP Physics (1 or C), AP Psychology, Foundations of Tech (need it for the credit lol)
-Looking to enter pre-med, so places with good science programs. Looking for places that offer good opportunities for internships/research.
-Trying to keep it in the North-East, near a big city/urban campus is a big plus. Living in/near Boston would be a dream. Love NYC too.
My list so far:
- Boston University (top choice but NPC predicts bad financial aid even if I can get in)
- Northeastern
- NYU
- Boston College
- UMD
- University of Pittsburgh
- UPenn (reach)
- Tufts (reach)
- Cornell (reach)
- Brandeis University
- George Washington U (not very excited about)
I would be thrilled to go to any of the colleges in the first four. I’m trying to tack on more safeties but am finding difficulty finding places I would enjoy if I had to go? I visited UMass Boston and absolutely hated it. Also was not a big fan of Brandeis but I feel like I could learn to like it? I haven’t liked any of the places where I would be considered a top-notch applicant and be guaranteed admission, like to the point where I would be miserable there. Can anyone recommend any safeties with my interests? Even matches?
I have searched my heart out but can’t seem to click with anything. Not as many options as I’m limiting the geographic area and I’m trying to avoid small schools (>4000).
Also am in need of good financial aid, but am willing to apply wherever just to test my chances.
UPDATE: Have been rigorously studying every day for the ACT (have taken 5 official ACT tests from the past so far, about ~2 hours studying per day and will be spending increasingly more time studying until test day).
Based on practice test scores, I’m now anticipating 33/34 on the ACT this June. I scored a 34 on the most recent test (which was released this year), but I’ll keep working to secure my score.
I could add more info about me as an applicant but don’t think it’ll help that much. I’ll add AP and SAT II scores when they come out.
Surprised this thread hasn’t gotten any responses. Any suggestions?
Hi shkodra14,
- Regarding BU, just remember that bad financial aid = heartache if you get in. Really take that into consideration when you choose your schools.
- IMHO, if you don't like Brandeis or GW, cross them off your list. You're just going to waste valuable time and energy on their applications.
Your current list is then…
Target - Pitt and UMD (College Park?) (although both could become high safeties if you keep up your grades and improve your ACT)
Low Reach - BU, BC, NYU, Northeastern - although NYU is not known for great financial aid packages
High Reaches - Penn, Tufts, Cornell
Obviously, if you apply ED to one of the schools, that would move everything in your favor.
You could add UMBC and St. Mary’s College as safeties as well.
Just out of curiosity, why are you looking for more colleges? With the list above, you already have 9 to 11 colleges. If you do your research on the schools, keep your grades up, build your EC story, and get the 34 on your ACT, I don’t see why you would have to apply to more schools - unless of course, you decide that you don’t like or can’t afford some of them.
Someone that I know with stats only slightly better than yours got into BU with no aid at all. It was a complete non-starter (there is no way that BU is worth $70k per year). Ditto for Northeastern. The good news is that the student’s response was just as much “no way” as the parent’s response.
I am surprised that you even visited UMass Boston. IMHO UMass Amherst is a much more attractive campus and a better school, and even UMass Lowell seems likely to be a better fit.
You may want to visit a smaller school as that could open up a lot of options for you. Muhlenberg has a good science program, gives merit and would be a safety. College of the Holy Cross has about 3,000 students, meets 100% need and has a very strong pre med advising program. It’s in Worcester, same town as where UMASS medical school is located.
@Shrmpngrtz
I’ve run the NPC on all of these schools. BU leaves me with about $65K (my heart broke but it is what it is). Northeastern is supposed to leave me paying around $16K per year w/out merit aid and the same goes for most of them (most leave me in the $18K-$24K range with a few exceptions that are even lower) with the exception of NYU (which is supposed to leave me with $40K).
I can’t really apply ED because of my financial situation. I am, however, applying early action to every school that offers it. BU doesn’t but quite a few of the others do.
I’m really just looking to have the most options available to me when it comes time to commit to a school.
@DadTwoGirls
Thanks for the tip, I’ll definitely look into UMass Amherst.
@wisteria100
Thanks for the tips!! I’ll look into those schools.
Get your ACT as high as possible (32-33+) if you want to apply ED to one of your reaches (Penn,Cornell,Tufts). These are the schools that will also offer the best FA. I am a student headed to Tufts this fall and from my knowledge already, (ik this might sound like advertisement lol) but the premed program there is great and on-par with some Ivies due to not only its unique small class sizes and strong undergrad focused teaching but also location near Boston, one of the world’s best medical systems, and direct access to MIT and Harvard and many grad schools, including its own Tufts medical center. Part of Tufts’ faculty also teaches at MIT and Harvard and Tufts also has one of the two only Allen Research centers in the country, the other being Stanford.
For financial aid, I got in ED II and my FA award was the exact same as my net price calculator award, in fact they gave me 500 more than what was calculated so do not hesitate to apply ED as long as you have done the FA calculator. For most generous to least generous FA schools on your list, I would rank them as
1.Penn
2.Cornell
3.Tufts
4.Brandeis
5.BC+BU
6.NEU
7.NYU and unfortunately I am not that familiar with the rest but I think 1-4 (and possibly BC) are 100% need based guaranteed. This is according to personal experience (off of the FA calculators I did myself and my friends at many of those schools) and I also got into NEU Honors EA, which offered me 20k/yr less than Tufts ED with its merit included. UMD would definitely be cheap for you as you are instate.
@Bjklw2a
I’m now expecting a 33/34 on the ACT in June.
I would absolutely love to go to Tufts - if I could get in, lol. NPC says Tufts would leave me with $18K after student loans and student work, which isn’t all that bad.
I’m definitely curious about the aid UMD would give me. I calculated my tuition on their site and it drops to around $25K per year, which is definitely on the higher end of most of the schools on my list.
Did the FA that NEU gave you match what the NPC predicted? Based on NPC, NEU would be one of my cheapest options but I don’t know how much to trust the estimation.
UPDATE: Got a 730 on the Bio SAT II test. I would have liked 750+, but I’m thinking it’s not worth retaking?? But I’m worried that it will look bad since I’m applying as a bio major.
I will take Math II and Spanish SAT II in August.
You said you are taking Honors Precalc this year and AP Cal BC next year. Are you taking AP Calc AB over the summer?
@tropicalmangos No I will not. It’s pretty normal at my school for kids to go from honors precalc to AP BC. They also have to be recommended to take BC by their precalc teacher, and this decision is very hard to change. I will be studying for BC over the summer though.
Update: Got a 34 on the June ACT.
Great for your efforts.
Do not go to BU as premed. It is a gpa killer. You should check it on the net, its all over the place.
Other than that, you should go to a school that your stats is in their top 25% of the class. Prestige does not matter in premed track, GPA and Mcat are all that matters. An example will be Alabama, with your stats, you could get an automatic full ride scholarship and its a great school for premed.
@artloversplus
Thanks for the tip. I think I’m still going to apply (its very possible I take my mind off the pre-med track by the end of 4 years so who knows) and make my decision later, but I’ll definitely keep that in mind.
Alabama seems like a great school but its in the south. I’m looking at schools in the north-east mainly. I know I may be putting too much importance on geography but I could never imagine myself going to school in the south.
I know it sounds like an insult but Towson State can be your absolute safety.
NYU will not give you enough aids try Fordum. And Hofstra has a good med school.
Have you thought about the direct med school programs? We also call it bs/md programs. There is an active discussion group on cc in the premed section called “multiple degree programs”.
To start here is a list of the programs.
directmedprograms.com
Don’t get fooled by the Minimum requirements of those programs. Any program on the list is competitive and your stats probably is at the low end of the accepted student of those programs.
@artloversplus
NYU leaves me with 40K to pay which is still too much but I figure I give it a shot anyways. I’ll check out Fordham though. I’ve also been checking out Barnard.
I’m not 100% set on med which is why I’m not looking to apply to the direct med school programs, but thanks for the suggestion.
Rochester gives a lot of merit to science majors. A kid I know went there thought it will be too cold for a Californian but she loves it, now a Rhodes scholar in Cambridge.
A good premed school.
AP score update:
Biology: 5
NSL (took last year): 5
Spanish Language: 4
World History: 4
English Lang: 4
The 4 in lang surprises me but I’m happy about the 4 in Spanish as I am a non-native speaker.
Any opinions on Barnard? I’m not sure I understand the whole system they have with Columbia.
Great scores!
You said you wanted to add schools. What are you looking for in a school?