Hi All,
I’m a rising senior trying to narrow down my list of colleges to apply. So far, I already do know what colleges I will be applying to as a reach/dream school. I’m trying to find good match schools and safety schools. Here’re some of my stats. SAT 1570, ACT 36, UW GPA 4.0, AP National scholar (I have taken 8 APs, 3 scores of 4, rest are all 5s). In terms of curricular, I have 200+ service hours. As it is summer, I’m currently interning at a cancer research institute which allows me to get wet lab experience (time commitment about 40 hours/week). Piano (multiple state awards), Golf (2A State, my team placed first and I placed 17th individually). I do a lot of volunteer for a blood bank. In terms of other extra-curricular, i’m a member of my schools robotics team but isn’t a leader in the club. I’m interested in pursuing Med school later so schools that would be able to prep me for this would be awesome. Possible majors: Biology, Neuroscience etc. I would genuinely appreciate any suggestions/comments that you guys have, finding a good match or knowing more about safety schools would be extremely helpful!
What is your budget? What regional preference? Size? You will find pre-med courses available just about anywhere, so do you have other academic interests you’d want to pursue in addition to science?
Budget isn’t a concern for me. I do definitely want to major in a science related field. Preferably on either west coast or east coast. Right now, i’m really liking medium/larger schools compared to small ones. Thank you 
Hey @wahs0720 welcome to CC. One big question that would help a lot is did you make National Merit? If so it opens up even more options for you.
Hi! as far as I know, national Merit hasn’t been finalized yet. However, I have 1500 PSAT score with an index of 224 from WA state, I’m not sure if this would make it
@wahs0720 Well it’s not set but you should anticipate making it. That opens up some great options for full rides which would be ideal for potential med school. Plus most of those school would give you credit for your AP scores unlike many top schools.
The reason I asked about a budget is that you asked about “safety” – and a safety isn’t safe if it turns out you can’t afford it. But let’s say you come from a family that can afford $250,000 for your Bachelor’s degree. Your grades make you a match/safety at Cal Poly, Santa Clara, USC, possibly the Claremont schools (or at least a couple of them) University of San Diego, Willamette (OR) Gonzaga (WA) Reed (OR) Occidental College. (Note, the latter two are on the small size.) I’m sure there are others, but that’s a start. Every one of these schools will offer pre-med requirements and good science programs.
Based on your criteria as stated, the University of Rochester would be a nice match for you.
Yes, URochester especially for the STEM/premed+music combination.
CWRU + Cleveland Institute of Music also.
Perhaps neither is as “coastal” as you would like, but that’s probably the whole reason they’re not hyper-competitive reach schools.
How about U of Miami as a match/safety? It’s certainly on a coast, has conservatory-level music at Frost, and I assume it must be a great place for golf.
Maybe Wake Forest… or Tulane, if Gulf Coast counts…?
BU would probably be a safety.
If you’re female, women’s colleges would make great matches and low-matches. Barnard has all the resources of Columbia plus you could study music at Manhattan School of Music or Juilliard.
UF might be a great place for you. They have an awesome pre-med program and they do tons of research. You would easily get into their honors college and acceptance into it comes with a tuition waiver. They have a very good music program to if you want to continue with that. Since they are well-known, you’d be in a good position to go to a top med school.