UMich, Michigan State, Rice, Pitt, Rochester, and Case

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone and thank you for taking your time in reading my post. :-)</p>

<p>Well, I'm new to this website and college in general (my parents come from a Middle-Eastern nation and I'm the first in their family looking at colleges in the US). We've been doing a lot of research, spending a lot of time, and speaking a lot about finances and the like, coming up with this list of colleges: </p>

<p>University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Rice University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, and Case Western Reserve University.</p>

<p>I'm sorry if this format is not correct for these "chance" threads--just copying the format off of someone else's!</p>

<p>Location: MI
Ethnicity: Middle-Eastern
Prospective Major: Mathematics. I might double major in Chemistry or a biological science. I'm also hoping to take courses in Arabic. Medical school, hopefully, is my goal after school.
"Un-weighted" GPA: 4.00
"Weighted" GPA: Unsure what this means
ACT + Writing: 35 composite, 10 writing
Class Ranking: Right now 1st out of approximately 350 students (this is subject to change because there are a lot of smart people in my high school. Hopefully I'll stay in the top 20 or 10!)
PSAT: 204 (National merit commended)
SAT II Subject Tests: 710 US History; Chemistry and Math II will be taken this year
AP Exams: 5 US History, 5 World History; Chemistry, Calculus BC, and English Language will be taken this year; Stats, Biology, Physics C, Spanish Language, and English Literature will probably be taken next year</p>

<p>Senior year courses: AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Physics C, AP Spanish, AP Lit, Calc 3 at our town's Community College</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
-Karate: 7 years, 2nd Degree Black belt
-Archery: 3 years
-Science Olympiad: 3 years, captain this year and will remain captain next year
-National Honors Society: 1 year, will be an official next year
-Teen Drug Abuse Help: 1 year
-Amnesty International Member: 2 years
-Astronomy Club: 3 years, official
-Research at our local hospital's Pathology Lab and at our town's research institute
-Translation work from Classical Arabic to English with early Imami Shi`i texts. Independent and partner research in the subject matter as well. (This is a job)
-Job shadowing in medicine</p>

<p>I also volunteered at our local hospital, at the psych med unit, at a nursing home, at a cancer center, at our local library, medical work overseas, as a tutor, and as a karate instructor. </p>

<p>Awards: Science Olympiad awards, Karate competition awards, Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition finalist for 3 years, local math competition winner for 3 years, top AMC scores in school, and "Harvard Book Award" (Should I put this down on my applications? I mean I don't really care about applying to Harvard--besides we can't afford it--so it'll be unnecessary right?)</p>

<p>Phew, that was hard to remember! I love doing it all nonetheless.</p>

<p>Thank you all very much for taking your time in reading this post. I'm really confused by the entire college thing so this will be a major help. Once again I appreciate it! :-) If you have any suggestions, comments, or anything at all, I would love to hear it. I need all the help I can get!</p>

2

<p>I think you are a shoo-in for all of them; the only one you will have any difficulty with is UMich because they have some outrageous standards.</p>

3

<p>You should be fine with all the school selected. I don’t see any problem getting to any of the listed schools.</p>

4

<p>First off, thank you both for responding so quickly!</p>

<p>Next, in regards to your opinions, you guys really think so? Even at Rice? </p>

<p>Well, does anyone have any opinions of whether I would get merit scholarships at any of these schools? What about getting into the Honors colleges at Pitt, MSU, and the University of Michigan?</p>

5

<p>I’m just a little skeptical about UMich because the average accepted GPA unweighted from my high school for that college is 4.53; anyway for Pitt you have a very strong chance for the honors program.</p>

6

<p>^How can you get a 4.53 GPA unweighted? I looked it up and it seems that a weighted GPA takes AP Classes and Honors classes into account. </p>

<p>At my school, GPAs are out of 4. Maybe they’re different at your school though.</p>

<p>Thanks for your opinion about Pitt!</p>

7

<p>I think you are almost guaranteed acceptance to all of those schools other than Rice University. I hate to ask this question, but are you a guy or girl? This has some prestige to schools. Additionally, I think you will be accepted to the Honors Colleges to those schools fairly easily. The only “reach” would be Rice. They are one of the more selective schools in the nation (as you have probably seen) and have a high national prestige. Your acceptance there is almost a toss up, but I’d bet on you getting in. Since it seems like finances is an area of concern for you, I would recommend University of Michigan because it is the cheapest (other than Michigan State) and provides the best education of the list of schools you provided. It is debatable on that last account, but per dollar spent, Michigan is easily the best. Then the whole discussion of merit scholarships comes in. I know quite a bit of people getting full-tuition scholarships to Pitt, Johns Hopkins, and a few other schools based on scores and financial need. University of Michigan doesn’t give a lot of money out at all. MSU gives quite a bit of money to students who have achieved (like you have). Pittsburgh gives more scholarships than Michigan. About Case Western, they are a research institution with a great medical school. I received a lot of aid there, but have decided to go elsewhere. About Rice and Rochester, I’m not sure what kind of aid they give. If you want the prestige and a good financial deal, I’d go to Michigan for undergraduate school, and then explore your options for medical school. Who knows what kind of deals you and your family get. You have a year to learn more and to see how you do academically. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>^That was so helpful, greenenergykid!
I’m male since you asked. I have no problem with any questions you ask whatsoever–unless they get too personal.</p>

<p>I really like all of these schools (would be happy to attend any of them) and I’ll hopefully be able to make a wise decision by this time next year. :-)</p>

<p>Oh, and finances are a concern because I don’t want to cause too much of a financial strain on my parents. Also, because I would like to pursue education after college, I don’t want to pay too much for undergrad and limit myself later. (Med School is probably going to be 200k+ after all!) Need-based aid is not an option for me, even at the schools that are most generous with it.</p>

9

<p>I meant weighted gpa in my previous post made that mistake again -_-</p>

10

<p>How do you calculate weighted GPA? My high school just adds .021 to your GPA each semester you take an AP class.</p>

<p>Which of the colleges can I consider a “safety”, a “match”, or a “reach”? Do I have a balanced list?</p>

11

<p>Any other suggestions or recommendations?</p>

12

<p>Anyone?</p>

<p>Well, if you consider honors courses as 4.5 and AP classes as 5, which I think is what most schools or universities do (I’m not sure), then my weighted GPA is 4.33. Does that help you guys?</p>

<p>Also, I might add the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and there’s a very low chance I’ll add UNC Chapel Hill to the list. I’m going to look more into these schools, but what do you think about my chances there?</p>

<p>EDIT: Never mind about UNC.</p>

13

<p>Weighted GPA’s are useless to almost all colleges because of the varying standards and policies that go into weighing a students score. In fact, if a school sends a weighted GPA to the admissions office, most colleges will actually use your transcript to calculate what your unweighted GPA would have been.</p>

<p>You should have no trouble whatsoever getting into any of the colleges that you listed. You would also be competitive to other more prestigious universities if you chose to apply. I would recommend you apply to any of the really good schools you “can’t afford” because a lot of them give insane amounts of financial aid which could make them even more affordable than the other universities you listed.</p>

<p>If you were to ask my personal opinion to where you should go (out of the colleges you listed), I would recommend University of Michigan hands down. Not only is University of Michigan an academic beast, located in an amazing city, but you will qualify for instate tuition which makes Michigan an amazing bargain. To make it even better, Michigan has an amazing medical school (top 10) that heavily favors its own undergraduates. Even if you aren’t planning on going back to Michigan for Medical school, it’s always good to have a great backup plan, and Michigan will provide you with nothing less.</p>

14

<p>You are practically a shoo-in at all of the schools you picked. I go to MSU (graduating in a couple days!) so I can answer any questions regarding the school. You are an automatic admit to MSU and its honors college - since you have an ACT of 33+ and a top 5% ranking, you also automatically qualify for a 2 year professorial assistantship (one-on-one paid research with a professor in your major field). If you apply by November 1st, you get automatic consideration for all of MSU’s scholarships (so definitely apply by then!). You will also be invited to ADS weekend (Alumni distinguished scholarship weekend) that takes place in February. You would take this exam that goes over all these random subjects and if you did well enough, you could get a full ride.</p>

15

<p>“Also, I might add the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.”</p>

<p>You could easily get into the honors program at the University of Minnesota. While I think the University of Michigan is more prestigious and sounds like the best fit for you, you should consider applying to Minnesota as a back up. The application process is easy (no essay, no interview) and you could probably get a nice scholarship.</p>

16

<p>KronOmega, thank you for your advice and the suggestions. The University of Michigan is a great school and I loved it while I visited–though I do like a bucolic scene a bit more than a college town one, since it fits in with my persona but Ann Arbor is nice, I must admit. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to make a decision with most, praying for all, colleges accepting me.</p>

<p>fa-la-la-lena, I know quite a bit about MSU since I’ve visited but I appreciate your willingness to help. I like a lot of the opportunities MSU provides for students like me. I’ll be sure to apply before that date. </p>

<p>I do have some questions:

  1. How did you like the honors college?
  2. Did you go into a residential college?
  3. How does the PA system work? How do choose your professor to work with?
    Thanks!</p>

<p>Papertown, yes, I also think University of Minnesota would be a good school to apply to.</p>

17

<p>Well, I think you should throw out some of the lower schools on the list and add in a few reaches.</p>

18

<p>Thanks for your opinion ImSoAmbitious, but my family and I aren’t in a position to receive financial aid or pay full price for top colleges, if I get into them. My aspiration is med school, which is expensive, but if that doesn’t happen, I would still like to go further in my education past college, and grad school tuitions are still expensive. I don’t want to limit myself in the future because of what I pay for undergrad. And I definitely do NOT want to take out loans. So, I’m looking for good schools that dole out merit scholarships and/or have low full pay tuitions. </p>

<p>Plus, I wouldn’t consider the schools I’m applying to as “lower.” They’re within the top 100 schools in the nation according to USNWR. Considering there are about 2500 4-year colleges, that’s the top 4% of schools in the nation. In relation to colleges like Cornell, U Chicago, Duke, Penn, Northwestern, Harvard, etc., then I guess they’re “lower,” but I don’t care too much about prestige. A good respectable college is fine for me. (But I wouldn’t consider Rice or U of Michigan “lower” than the colleges named, since I they’re peer schools to them–Rochester and Case are also top or near-top colleges, yes?)</p>

<p>If you have any suggestions, I welcome them. :-)</p>

19

<p>@DarkLink:

  1. I think the honors college is pretty great overall. You get first priority for class registration, get to make your own general ed requirements (substituting higher level courses with better professors/smaller class sizes for the boring integrative studies requirements/gigantic lecture halls), skip over a lot of prerequisites for courses, take honors options (which allows you to have even more close contact with your professors-more opportunities to establish relationships), and even take graduate level classes among others.
  2. Yes I am (graduating) from James Madison College. I’m guessing you would be perhaps interested in Lyman briggs - lots of pre-med students there. Don’t really know anything about it but if you post on the MSU forum there are a couple of CC regulars that could tell you more.<br>
  3. Primarily with the PA how you get chosen is professors who are in need of a PA look through your qualifications/interests (which you list down at one point and submit it to the honors college…been a while so I don’t remember exactly) and then they pick you based off what they are looking for/match you with your interests. It really depends on what major you are in, because liberal arts majors tend to get placed in really random subjects (As an international relations major, I got placed with an international relations/political economy professor who needed help editing and getting his books published so I just helped him with that). You don’t really have the option persay of choosing an exact research subject, but you can switch professors after the first year if you would like to. You are also under no obligation to do a PA in your major - you could choose a completely different subject to do a PA in. </p>

<p>If you are a sciences/engineering/computers major you tend to get placed in a lot more specialized fields, and might have the option of carving your own niche at one point, but I just went along with what projects my prof came up with. Since the PA is for freshmen/sophomores they tend to be a lot more aimless in terms of their interests so this is probably a good thing in many ways, allowing students to figure out what they like or dislike while still being involved in scholarly work. Some students end up presenting their own work at the undergraduate research forum that initially stemmed from their PA.</p>

20

<p>fa-la-la-lena,
Thanks for your response. Yes, I’m interested in Lyman Briggs because it I love how it brings the scientific and humanities realm together. As a fan of reading Bioethics magazines and such, that’s awesome. I also like how it shrinks the university down. I also like the idea of the PA program as well and would definitely pursue it if I decide to attend at MSU, probably in chemistry or in math. Same with the honors college because when I visited, I noticed that all the Honors students were very happy with their education and their opportunities to skip pre-requisites to take more interesting classes and to also take grad classes. Also, I loved the study abroad opportunities provided at MSU. I mean, what other school allows its students to go to Antarctica? </p>

<p>Do you know anything about MSU’s Arabic Language Instruction Flagship? How strong is it?</p>

<p>Does anyone know about UMich’s Arabic Flagship? </p>

<p>Oh, and I don’t think I’ll apply to U Minnesota. I’d be happier going to my other schools than Minnesota-Twin Cities, though it’s still a good school.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>EDIT: </p>

<p>What do you guys think about my chances in getting into UMich’s LSA Honors program and the UROP program there?</p>

<p>Also, I know MSU, Case, and Rochester have archery clubs. What about UMich, Rice, and Pitt? If they don’t, do their respective cities have a place where one can practice?</p>