Okay… so I’m really at that point in junior year where I should really have a clear idea of where I want to apply, and I thought I did. But most of the schools that interest me are the more prestigious ones with small acceptance rates and whenever I try to look at others, I find myself being very disinterested. I know this is an incredibly naive way of thinking, but I don’t know how to get past it.
My intended major is in Biochemistry (w/ a minor in Neuroscience) and I have accomplished the following:
3.89 GPA so far (4.01 weighted), top 5% of class
SAT: 1450 , ACT: 33 (+good writing scores on both)
Variety of ECs (including Vice Pres. of an active NHS chapter, Mock Trial, volunteer at great hospital)
Will have taken 3 APs by end of senior yr. (school does not provide many)
Thanks in advance for the help! Also, should I take the SAT subject tests? My guidance counselor is suggesting I take 2-3…
(I attend a NY public school and have little to no savings, dk if that means anything)
I would like to stay either in the East Coast or POSSIBLY make the jump to CA. I also would very much like to attend a larger institution in a city.
SAT subject tests… probably, but it’s too late to sign up for the one on Saturday and by the time you have to register for the next one hopefully you’ll know whether you actually need them or not.
As far as suggestions… what about finances? Have your parents talked to you about a budget?
Of the really selective places you like, are they big, medium, small, city, small town, etc? What factors matter most? Do you want Greek life? Div I sports? Do you want to stay on the East Coast? Move somewhere different?
My parents plan to send me to wherever I get the best scholarship, but that isn’t much to work with budget wise is it. They’re usually bigger and in cities (BU, Columbia, Northeastern, + Temple(not very selective but still)). Location matters a lot in that I don’t really want to be super far from home for expense purposes but still want the bustling city feel and size. Not very interested in greek life or going to college for sports
SUNY Buffalo would be a change of scenery, with a city, and still an in-state bargain for you. I agree with the Pitt suggestion - your SAT qualafies you for Honors, their life sciences are great, and Pittsburgh is a great city for college students. Rochester would also be great if the financial aid is good enough. If you like co-op schools, RIT and Drexel and U of Cincinnati. Also look at Case Western - Cleveland is a short hop from NYC and CWRU has a great urban location and top-notch STEM.
I would suggest looking at SUNY schools. They are pretty good schools with a decent price.
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Albany
Stony Brook
Binghamton
And the other small SUNY schools
Yes, the SUNYs will be your best bet financially, so look to apply to a couple of those.
Also run the NPC for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). It has a very hands-on, project-oriented approach. If that appeals, then check it out. If not, stop reading.
Beautiful New England LAC-type campus in a nice part of Worcester, about 5000 undergrads, city is transforming, about an our to Boston by commuter train. It is ranked higher than some might assume in the USNWR national university rankings. It has gotten much more competitive in recent years.
The school offers pretty good merit aid, more for women than men it seems, as it is working hard to achieve something close to gender balance, which seems to be largely the case for the last couple of classes.
Then before you go any farther in planning you need to get a real understanding of the financial situation. Stop everything else until you do this!! Otherwise you may be spending hours of time researching and building dreams of colleges you’re never going to be able to attend, while ignoring or giving short thrift to the places that you will be choosing from.
There are FAFSA estimators online, lots of articles on understanding financial aid, chapters in books on college admissions, etc. Don’t just pretend this goes away if you don’t think about it.
Once you understand what you can afford then you can start a more realistic search. If you have a very low EFC then a lot of colleges are open to you, and paradoxically many of the most selective give the best aid pkg. If you have a high EFC and you’re parents are not willing to pay up then you better focus on colleges known for merit aid that you are likely to qualify for. Several threads on the forum address the latter situation.
I’m sorry but Worcester is not a vibrant city. On the mend but not a bustling or vibrant place. IMHO. And I have been going there since there was a centrum and fire house bar in the 80s
Add Pitt to your list esp if you can get your SAT = 1490 to qualify for honors college and potential merit scholarships. My dds had similar goals and target college list (CWRU, BU, NEU, Columbia…) but have both had exceptional experiences at Pitt - opportunities for research are phenomenal.
When students tell us that they are looking for the biggest scholarships possible, sometimes that means that their parents really can’t pay anything for their educations. Sometimes it just means that they want to help out with costs but their parents can afford to spend quite a bit of money. Other students fall between those two extremes. You and your parents will be ahead of the game if you can talk openly about the money side of this, so that you know what they can afford. Run the Net Price Calculators at a few of the SUNYs and talk the results over with them.
Fortunately Biochemistry is available just about everywhere, and most places have a couple of classes related to neuroscience even if they don’t have a specific major or minor. If you find that you have to follow the money, you still should have a good number of decent options.
As for making the jump to CA… you could have a shot at USC, and they meet full need. Run their NPC to get an idea whether their idea of meeting your full need aligns with your reality. http://esdweb.esd.usc.edu/npc/ It’s a reach for you, but not a waste-of-an-application-fee reach (so long as you could potentially afford to attend)… and it definitely seems like it would hit the sweet spot as far as being a large, urban university with a “name.” I think this is the only west coast school that meets your parameters, as UC’s and UW-Seattle would not be affordable. Mudd and Caltech are too competitive, too small, and too suburban.
The only other West-Coast-But-Not-CA candidate is Reed, which is a high match for you. It is in the city of Portland (so, the equivalent of a non-east-coaster going to Boston when they’d had NYC in mind) which is a great place to be a college student. It is one of the best and most rigorous undergraduate science schools in the country (only Caltech produces more eventual life-sciences PhD’s) but the school itself is small (around 1400 undergrads). But since you say you’re not into sports or Greek life, maybe you would like the vibe at Reed, and maybe having a vibrant city with great public transit at your fingertips would meet the need for “bustling” without the school itself having to be large. Just a thought, as you have a realistic shot with your stats and they do meet full need, and you would not get a better biochem/neuroscience education anywhere. Again, run the NPC as your first step.