@momofsenior1 Thanks! How soon do essays come out for next year’s admission cycle?
@gardenstategal I don’t ever recall mentioning that I am first gen. My parents are immigrants but my dad went to the University of Dayton. Although, my parents combined income is below 100,000 and we’re a 6-people household, so some of these private schools offer pretty good aid.
@Creekland Thanks for the suggestion of Rochester! I haven’t looked at there much, but they’re not too far and seem to have a good sciences and medicine program.
@MWolf I actually live in Ohio. Although, my parents deplore the idea of going to a school as large as OSU. I’m looking for schools with a sciences and medicine-focus with good research opportunities for med school. Overall, I’m thinking of a Biochemistry or Molecular and Cellular Biology major.
@JBStillFlying Thanks for the thorough advice! Is it a good strategy to visit all the schools on my list (once I change it) or visit more of the competitive schools for a feel of the atmosphere. The overall process is pretty expensive for my family. I’ve just started my college search with UChicago and Northwestern this past week and I know I’ll have A LOT to write about both schools.
@bouders Pretty much variations of Biological Sciences (molecular, biochemistry, neuroscience, etc.).
@privatebanker Thanks for the stats! Additionally, given my profile, do you believe that I should apply to some of my reaches under EA or ED or do you think that compared to stronger applicants, it’s better to apply to all of them under RD.
@brobdingnagian17 , sorry. I read "first of my siblings " wrong.
One that would be a satety, offers good aid, and aligns well with your interests is Earlham although it is teeny tiny compared with most on your list.
Common app essay prompts were announced: https://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/2019-2020-common-app-essay-prompts.
Please consider applying To Ohio State University. OSU Honors is worthwhile & the school offers a substantial amount of scholarship awards.
@brobdingnagian17 You can add everybody’s favorite safety in the Midwest - UMN. It’s smaller than UIUC, and it’s actually in a city. As for OOS, UMN is good at that. My kid’s stats are slightly lower than yours (lower GPA, higher SAT, or matching SAT if your ACT will be at 35), and they started offering money with the acceptance letter. Another in-state safety for you would be Miami University.
@Publisher’s idea of OSU Honors is also good, since it solves the issue of size, and it is in-state, so your tuition is starting at in-state, and any scholarship would reduce that even further.
While Publisher gave a list of Northeastern LACs, there are a number of really good Liberal Arts Colleges which are closer to home. I’m not a big fan of Oberlin, but it is an excellent school, as is Kenyon, and you’re not too far from Carleton in Minnesota. For better merit aid, Macalaster (also Minnesota) is a good choice. All four should be within the Match range or better. Over all, going to a LAC is a good idea for biosciences.
Of your reaches, I would keep Johns Hopkins and Northwestern, get rid of the rest, add Cornell, and leave it at that. But any of them are good for your intended major.
Good luck!!
Privatebanker, thanks for all the stats. One can draw 2 opposing conclusions:
It’s really rare to get above a 33, so why try?
Or
As rare as a 33 is, a 35 or above is significantly more rare, so if you can get it, you REALLY set yourself apart.
Either way, a heavy majority of colleges DON’T require all scores, just the highest. And compared to the thousands of dollars involved in applying to & attending college, the cost of additional shots at the ACT &/or SAT is a bargain. Furthermore, I said IF the OP really wants to go to the likes of Harvard, Chicago, Duke, then he needs to be aware just how ridiculously difficult it is to get accepted, & how everything he can do to improve his profile will help.
@brobdingnagian17… You are indeed impressive. Since we are all pushing our favorites you already have mine at Michigan. It truly has everything you want /need. They are also trying to increase their diversity and making strong attempts at that but their AA students is low, I have to admit.
Regardless of the discussing about Act’s, it just seems competitive OOS students have around a 33/34. Get somewhere around that and you should be fine. Getting a 36 (awesome if you can) can actually work against you at Michigan. They might think they are a safety for you. Most are finding out the last few years that Michigan is not really a safety to most, especially OOS.
I don’t blame your dad. My wife, a Michigan alumni, would not let my son apply to Ohio State no matter how much merit he might of gotten… Ha… Lol… That rivalry is for real!
:))
EA is never a problem. It’s often desired.
SCEA restricts applications to a single school (no EA or ED at other schools) but I think rolling apps are ok. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong about that. None of my lads did SCEA.
ED is for a single school you are committing to attend if you get accepted. While finances allow one to break that contract, it’s generally best to be sure you’re happy with the NPC for that school before choosing ED. No other ED applications are allowed.
All three give you somewhat better odds of getting accepted - how much varies among schools. For ED you have to be absolutely sure that school is your first choice. SCEA is pretty similar. EA allows you to decide later for as many schools as you apply to. Applying early also tends to give you the best chances for merit scholarships (though check for additional requirements for these).
Visit as many of your choices as you can. Every one on your list has pros and cons to it and whether a feature is a pro or con varies among students. All of them (and plenty of others) are suitable for academics. You can look online at course offerings and profs to see what’s available (research among profs can differ). Many students who know they are interested in research can pare down their list according to what they personally like in that aspect. Almost all pare down their list based upon the feel they get after visiting types (large/small, urban/urban w/specific campus/suburban/rural, varying emphasis on research, heavy Greek life or not, and even other seemingly mundane aspects such as “look” of the place). There really isn’t much wrong reason-wise with cutting a school from a list, but be sure all still on your list provide what you are looking for in terms of major. If one turns out to be your super favorite AND it’s affordable as per the NPC, then go ED. If there are plenty you like or finances aren’t certain, then go EA with as many as you can.
One other thing students tend to like seeing is where recent grads in their field have gone. That tends to require an email to someone in the department if it’s not posted online (check online first).
Another thing to consider can be ease of getting there and back for school breaks. We learned we liked having schools relatively near an airport, but even my lad without that enjoyed his school and still made it home for breaks with ride sharing (none of mine had cars on campus).
You can also mainly visit schools near you to get the size, etc, feel and cull some or add some further away based upon that. It can save some trips. I suggested U Rochester based upon CW and Pitt being on your list and knowing many students who like one like the others. 
Pitt wins if they also want big sports teams to root for and U Roc wins if they like more of a specific campus, but otherwise they’re quite similar. Only you can tell what appeals to you.
Where I work, many students apply to schools they like, then let finances determine where they go only really picking between them after applications if the finances end up in the same ballpark. It’s not a bad way to go about things - culling unlikely desired schools prior to applying. They might have had 20 or 30 they sort of liked and investigated, but only actually apply to the top 5-6 of them. It’s rare at my school to apply to more than 6, but it seems common on this site so other schools apparently have different norms. Only having a safety you like (acceptance and financial) is required. The others you choose to apply to are up to you.
“SCEA restricts applications to a single school (no EA or ED at other schools) but I think rolling apps are ok. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong about that. None of my lads did SCEA.”
For SCEA/REA the restriction usually applies to other US privates. You may apply to state (public uni’s) and I think non-US schools. This admission plan is offered by only a handful of tippy-tops. REA with ND, Georgetown and BC doesn’t restrict you from applying to other non-binding early programs (EA at UChicago or MIT is A-OK) but you can’t apply ED anywhere (ie UChicago EDI, Colombia/Penn/Cornell ED,etc.). Best to check your schools of interest for what their admissions plans mean exactly - and keep in mind that they could always change for next year!
Given the options, OP should figure out a strategy (ex: Harvard SCEA, UChicago EDII, everyone else RD or Penn EDI, UChicago EA/switch to EDII if deferred, everyone else RD). You’ll probably want to apply to the state flagships early in order to take maximum advantage of scholarship monies. However, not sure whether that rule should apply to Michigan given the huge number of applications that come in early (40K out of 65K total). @Knowsstuff might be able to weigh in on that.
I wonder if you should drop a couple of the rescues and add a couple more matches that meet need. There are some - not all are need blind, but being hooked will help. What about Carleton or Haverford?
Be sure you run the net price calculators everywhere you apply; I doubt UMN-TC (mentioned above) is affordable.
Absolutely apply to Michigan EA. Depending on your finances you can get merit being OOS(hard though) or Financial aid. Apply to financial aid even if you “think” you won’t get any. You might be surprised. I really do think Michigan is a great fit for you but you need to visit and see. I would suggest having a meeting with a professor /department or two in your field of interest. You can also use that in your essay. Nothing says I have interest then stating a professor that you went out of your way to meet. Also email your regional person for Michigan with some questions you can’t find on their website. Interest is very important for them. Doing it earlier like this means more then contacting at the last minute as a senior.
@knowsstuff given that about 2/3rds of Michigan applicants apply EA and they only accept half the class from this pool, is EA still a good idea? Looks like the admit rate might be a bit worse than overall; however, perhaps a deferred candidate with a strong LOCI has a better chance at regular round than a new and very strong application? Totally agree that showing interest is important.
Sorry to highjack this thread, just trying to offer helpful application strategies. OP should definitely consider Michigan, the question to me is one of timing.
Since Case Western is on your list, go ahead and add Emory, Vandy, Rice, and WashU as well as they are good pre-med/Biology schools.
I don’t see Michigan as being affordable for this student given the info they have shared.
And there are many pretty good bio - premed schools - I don’t see Vandy, Rice, Emory, or WashU as particularly reasonable adds for this student.