What colleges do you think would be good for me to apply to?!!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I am a Senior from New York. If you guys could give me some advice and opinions about this I would greatly appreciate it. I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could go through the entire thing.</p>

<p>Gender: Female</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Black/African American</p>

<p>Income: $120,000 - 160,000 (Combined Parental Income)
Do you think I have any good chance of receiving financial aid ?</p>

<p>Parents Education:</p>

<p>Mother: Bachelor's Degree</p>

<p>Father: Associate's Degree</p>

<p>Location: New York, USA</p>

<p>High School: Catholic All-Girls High School</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8/4.0 Weighted</p>

<p>Rank: 67/206</p>

<p>ACT: 24 Composite (w|o Any preparation or use of review books)
(Plan to Retake in October)</p>

<p>SAT: 1690 with superscore.
( I know its very low but i'm working on trying to increase it as much as I can)
(Plan to Retake in October)</p>

<p>SATII: Math Level 2 - 590
Math Level 1 - 530
Chemistry - 580
Plan to test Chemistry, Math Level 2, and Spanish in November</p>

<p>AP Tests: Chemistry in May 2015
Studio Art in May 2015
Calculus AB in May 2015</p>

<p>Freshman Year Classes: Global I, Living Environment (Biology) Honors, Integrated Algebra Honors, English 9, Spanish 1, Freshman Religion, Freshman Physical Education, Studio Art, Technology</p>

<p>Sophomore Year Classes: Global 2, Chemistry Honors, Geometry Honors, English 10, Spanish 2, Sophomore Religion, Drawing, Health, Dance</p>

<p>Junior Year Classes: United States History, Physics Honors, Math 11 Accelerated Honors (Alg2/Trig/PreCalc), Advanced Computer Applications, English 11, Spanish 3 Honors, Junior Religion, Painting Honors, Junior Physical Education</p>

<p>Senior Year Classes: Law and Economics Honors (Receiving College Credit), AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, English Literature, Senior Religious Studies, AP Studio Art, Graphic Art Design, Senior Physical Education</p>

<p>My resume:</p>

<p>Activities Art Club, President ’15 09/2013 - Present
African Heritage/Caribbean Club, Secretary ‘14, President '15 09/2013 - Present
Yearbook Committee 09/2013 - Present
Medical Unlimited Club, President ‘15 09/2012 - Present
Concentration in Art 09/2012 - Present
Saturday Arabic Classes 07/2001 - Present
Junior Spirit Night T-Shirt Designer 01/2014 - 03/2014
Junior Spirit Night Step & Cheer Captain 01/2014 - 03/2014
Sophomore Spirit Night Step & Cheer Captain 01/2013 - 03/2013
Freshman Spirit Night Step & Cheer Participant 01/2012 - 03/2012
Adopt-a-Grandparent Club 09/2011 - 05/2012</p>

<p>High School Awards & Honors</p>

<p>L.O.T.E Honor Society (Language Other Than English - Spanish), Member 10/2014 - Present
National Honor Society, Member 10/2013 - Present
National Society of High School Scholars, Member 06/2013 - Present
Academic Honor Roll, First Honors 12/2011 - Present</p>

<p>Work Mount Sinai St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital., New York, NY 07/2014 - 08/2014
Experience Food and Nutrition Services Intern, 1199SIEU Youth Mentoring Program</p>

<p>American Comprehensive Healthcare Medical Group, Brooklyn, NY 07/2014 - 08/2014
Shadowing Intern, Pediatrics</p>

<p>Forward Transportation Services, Inc., Jamaica, NY 01/2013 - Present
Treasurer, Board of Directors</p>

<p>Volunteer Experience
Saturday Arabic Classes Assistant Teacher 07/2012 - Present
Tutor, Children’s Discovery Center Homework Help Program 10/2013 - 05/2014
Peer Tutor, Chemistry 10/2012 - 03/2014
Open House Volunteer, Tour Guide & Art Major Volunteer 10/2013 & 01/2014 10/2012 & 0/21013
Office Volunteer, Clerical Work 09/2011 - 02/2012
Volunteer, Adopt-a-Grandparent Club 09/2011 - 05/2012</p>

<p>Weaknesses: Tests, Poor subject tests scores, No AP scores, No Sports.</p>

<p>Strengths: Unweighted and Weighted GPA, Activities. Connection with teachers. A leader within my school.</p>

<p>Letters of recommendation: Guidance Counselor, Math 11 Accelerated Honors Teacher, Physics Honors Teacher, Visual Arts Teacher, 1199 Youth Mentoring Program Department Supervisor, Shadowing Physician</p>

<p>I would like to know which schools would be appropriate in accordance to these statistics and resume. I'm constantly searching for other resumes to match mine but this would help me better locate things I need before I apply.</p>

<p>I'm working on test scores and trying to get a good score. What score would be enough to get in and a good scholarship for both ACT and SAT?</p>

<p>This is pretty much everything that I have done over my high school years. I would really appreciate it if you guys told me what you thought, and what I can do to increase my chances. Thank you so much.</p>

<p>If you have any questions please fire away.</p>

<p>Majors of Interest: Biology, Chemistry, Pre-Medicine, BS/MD Programs
Career Goal: Pediatrician or Pediatric Surgeon</p>

2

<p>Don’t post this in any more places… one is enough.</p>

3

<p>Okay, thanks. @intparent</p>

4

<p>In response – you are unlikely to get need based aid given your parent’s income. Some college might give some a little at $120K (not many), you really can’t expect any at $160K. Your test scores are quite low for merit scholarships. I assume when you say you are a “rising senior”, you mean you are a senior now.</p>

<p>As you know, your test scores are quite low. Which is a problem if you really need merit scholarships. The question is, how much will/can your parents pay?</p>

<p>You could consider some test-optional schools. However, merit at those schools is harder to come by (but not impossible) if you don’t submit test scores. Here is a list:</p>

<p><a href=“ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest”>http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>“No sports” is not a weakness. Your ECs are fine.</p>

<p>Do not flood your colleges with letters of recommendation. Most ask for two core subject teachers (which you have) and your GC recommendation. IF they say they will accept additional recommendations, you can consider sending more. Generally it is not very helpful, though. These colleges have thousands of applications to review. Adding paper to the pile they have to review isn’t always in your favor unless they specifically say more recommendations are okay. And a shadowed physician can’t have been for more than a few days – that is not a good recommendation source, they barely know you and haven’t seen you really do anything.</p>

<p>It is hard to say what scores you need for scholarships without having any idea what your college list looks like. I assume you have a list by now (late Sept of senior year). What does it look like? What have your parents said about paying for them?</p>

5

<p>I shadowed my own pediatrician (since age 8+) who works at my mother’s job. He knows me very well and is familiar with my future occupational and educational interests. Also, I spent two months shadowing him, not just a few days. (Every Mon., Thurs, and Sat. this summer). Would you still suggest that I not request a letter of recommendation from him?</p>

<p>Prospective Colleges ( I need to narrow down my reach schools):</p>

<p>Columbia University - Reach
Cornell University - Reach
Emory University - Reach
Johns Hopkins University *** Dream School!! - Reach
Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education - Reach
Drexel University - Match
Howard University - Match
New York University - Reach
Boston University - Reach
SUNY Stony Brook University - Match
Nova Southeastern - Match
Siena College - Match
Spelman College - Safety
The College of New Rochelle - Safety
Georgetown - Reach
SUNY Binghamton - Match?
Quinnipac - Safety
Iona - Safety</p>

<p>My parents would prefer not to have to contribute a lot towards my education due to the fact that they are near to an early retirement hopefully within the next two years or so. They would prefer that I receive scholarships. Due to their high income (separate and combined), they are not expecting me to receive much need-based finical aid, especially since all my siblings did not either. They would prefer I do not take out any loans because I still need to pay for medical school as well. </p>

<p>@intparent</p>

6

<p>I don’t mean to be blunt, but I think the Ivies and JHU are too far beyond your range, even with URM status. I don’t know much about Georgetown and Sophie Davis, but I think Emory, NYU, and BU should be your reaches. Good luck in all your future endeavors!</p>

7

<p>I would still suggest that you not send in more letters of recommendation than the colleges ask for, and do not expect them to carry much weight compared to the ones they did ask for.</p>

<p>And… wouldn’t we all like to retire early…but the colleges would prefer that we continue to work and pay tuition, of course. They are going to look at your parent’s income this year as a baseline for awarding financial aid. Yes, if your financial situation changes (they retire and income drops), you will likely get some adjustment from most schools (improvement in aid), But not as much as you might think. We had a year sort of like that last year – a $30,000 drop in income. My kid got about $6,000 more in aid… so you can’t really count on getting aid to cover the income drop.</p>

<p>I agree that the Ivies, JHU, and Georgetown are out of reach unless you dramatically improve your test scores. And merit aid is most often for students with high scores at the schools that offer it (lots on your list don’t).</p>

<p>I would suggest that you look harder at what kind of merit aid is offered at the schools you consider matches and safeties. You can tell something about what % of students get merit aid and the average amount by looking in the Common Data Set for each school (Google “<school name=”"> Common Data Set") and you will find most of them. There is a section on Financial Aid, and in there it tells what % of students get non-needbased aid and the average amount. Then you can look at the test score ranges for the school, and see where you fall percentage wise in the accepted students pool. If 10% of students get merit aid, and your stats are in the top 10%, that is a good sign.</school></p>

<p>You might also check out the financial aid websites for each college for merit scholarships and see if any are focused toward URMs and/ or if any have specific extra steps or early application dates. Again, these likely don’t exist at your reaches, but maybe some of your matches or safeties have them.</p>

8

<p>I think you need to do some strategizing both on your list and how you present yourself. </p>

<p>First sit down with your parents and have a serious talk about money. You–and they–need to understand that you are unlikely to receive substantial need based aid. If the estimated family contribution indicated on the net price calculators is more than your family is willing or able to spend, then you should eliminate all need-only schools now. </p>

<p>Merit aid is tricky to predict, but I would agree that unless you’re able to boost your scores significantly, you’re not competitive for scholarships at more selective colleges. </p>

<p>Both you and your parents need to be realistic in your financial expectations, so talk through your options and if necessary take a scalpel to your list. </p>

<p>The good news is that you 're a high achieving URM who will be a person of interest to many good colleges. </p>

<p>I’d recommend that you pare down your EC list to focus on the two or three activities that define who you are. Your interest and involvement in medicine would be one, of course. </p>

<p>Another could be your interest and talent in art. Your essays and recommendations should expand and enhance these interests. At some schools you might submit an art portfolio, even if you don’t intend to study art. </p>

<p>Perhaps your counselor could shed flight on the discrepancy between your grades and scores in his recommendation. I think you have enough positives so that your weak scores can be overcome in admissions, but they will still be an obstacle in getting merit money. Sign up for a prep course now!</p>

<p>I’d also suggest that you look at some small liberal arts colleges that have strong sciences, offer merit aid and that have difficulty recruiting high achieving AAs. Look at Smith, Mt Holyoke, Grinnell, Colby, Kenyon. Maybe Bowdoin and Hamilton though I’m not sure about their merit awards. </p>

<p>At small LACs I would include the additional letter of recommendation. </p>

9

<p>Look, you’ve two problems. One is that you need money. The second is that all your test scores confirm that you’ll be one of the weakest students among the pre-meds at your reaches. You don’t get into med school when you’re at the bottom of the pecking order among the pre-meds; you don’t even get to apply to med school.</p>

<p>I highly recommend you find a school where you will be supported for who you are and not devoured for who you are not. Howard could be such a school, as could some of the other hbcus like Spelman. I know personally of the nurturance that hbcu faculty have provided to many who are today practicing physicians, dentists, professors, and lawyers. Any one of these hbcus could be much more affordable than any of your reaches. There will be plenty of competition at the hbcus, but there will be lots of support from your teachers. Might you also do well at a women’s college like Mount St. Mary’s, Notre Dame of MD, or Trinity (DC)? what about a Jesuit school like Fordham, Fairfield, St. Peters, St. Joes, LeMoyne, Scranton, Loyola U (MD)? CUNY has a 13:1 student to faculty ratio, is 77% minority, and has a freshman retention rate of 81%. Rensselaer Poly has a Black graduation rate of 87%. Stony Brook is another school with a great Black student grad rate, higher in fact than that of the white students. ULouisville also focuses on getting its minority pre-meds thru to graduation. I haven’t checked all these against your resumé but they’d be a match or safety at many of them. Prestige such as you have in your reaches matters not at all if you don’t graduate or aren’t happy or don’t get the letters of rec and GPA you want. Med schools won’t care about prestige but about your GPA, letters, interview, research, and MCAT.</p>

10

<p>I am sorry to be very frank with you. Your HS class rank and stats indicated that you will have difficulty in pre-med and the future med school apps. Unless there is a drastic change in your work ethics during your college years. Med school are looking for top students, they do not look at middle of the road students. Yes, Iona is a safety for you, but that school does not produce many med school admits.</p>

<p>I think it is better not to think medicine right now and go to a college, choose a subject and do nothing but A+ in grades, everything else will fall into place. Good Luck.</p>

11

<p>Xavier University in New Orleans has a track record of having the most African American students who finish medical school. It also has a pharmacy school, if med school does not work out. Very strong in biology.
<a href=“http://www.xula.edu/”>http://www.xula.edu/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/06/xavier_leads_the_nation_in_afr.html”>http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/06/xavier_leads_the_nation_in_afr.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>I have to echo the other posters here. With your test scores and GPA/class rank, all your reaches are out of reach. Going further, your matches are reaches and some safeties may in fact be matches. </p>

<p>My daughter has a similar GPA and her initial test scores were higher. Your reaches and several matches were never even considered because, well, they were unrealistic out of reaches. Even when my daughter raised her ACT by four points, her score may still be at or below the 25th percentile and these are still not realistic schools.</p>

<p>Also as someone who attended a mismatched college, you really don’t want to do that. (My grades and test scores were actually in line but as a student I had definite weaknesses) You do not want to be among the weakest admitted students in the class. This means almost everyone else is more successful than you at getting high marks. </p>

<p>I will be blunt. Throw out the brand name schools. Look for schools where you are among the stronger students. Will these be the top twenty universities and colleges? No. Will they be good colleges? IF you do the proper research, yes. </p>

<p>None of my child’s schools break into the USNWR top fifty (I think). Most are firmly in the 100’s. We’re both okay with that because they are schools where she will get a good education and support she needs.</p>

13

<p>I agree that you have a couple of different problems. You need to increase those test scores. Your admission to colleges that will give you the merit you need depends on it. Make sure that whatever major you choose at the school you do attend is one that you like and can support yourself with if you don’t get into med school.</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay? You can only borrow $5500, $6500, $7500, $7500 per year (for freshman, soph, junior, and senior year). At your family income level, you won’t get any Pell or TAP, so unless your parents come up with ~$15k/year (for a SUNY) or you increase your test scores enough to get a lot of merit, what you can afford is likely to be a commuter school. </p>

14

<p>The OP is a senior, so advice to improve her test scores in any meaningful way strikes me as somewhat irresponsible. She can retake the ACT and SAT tests, but it is almost October. Deadlines are approaching, and her time is best spent now in formulating a realistic list, writing good essays, and having a great senior year. Any college that won’t possibly accept her with her current scores should be scratched immediately, because an improvement of more than one point in a single ACT seating is statistically improbable. Apply to less selective schools and test-optional ones. If the OP wants merit aid, then she will have to look at non-selective colleges. Most parents experience severe sticker-shock now, and groan when their EFC appears on the screen at the end of the FAFSA process. She is obviously a diligent, motivated student, and I hope that her parents are willing to support her at the best college she gets into, but she is going to have to make some compromises and accommodations. I will also go out onto a limb here, by saying that some African-American students are fed a steady diet of how “easy” it is for them to get into elite institutions. This goes all the way up to the White House, with lots of people suggesting that the President and First Lady lacked the basic qualifications for admission to Ivy League colleges and Harvard Law. African-American students may, on average, have lower test scores than White or Asian students, but they do not get into Ivy League colleges without very solid academic chops. I doubt that anyone gets into an Ivy League college with an ACT of under 27 or 28.</p>

15

<p>I made some corrections.</p>

<p>Columbia University - Don’t waste your money on an application </p>

<p>Cornell University - Don’t waste your money on an application</p>

<p>Emory University - Don’t waste your money on an application</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins University- Don’t waste your money on an application</p>

<p>Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education - Reach</p>

<p>Drexel University - Match</p>

<p>Howard University - Match</p>

<p>New York University - High Reach</p>

<p>Boston University - Low Reach</p>

<p>SUNY Stony Brook University - Low Reach</p>

<p>Spelman College - Safety (Not if it isn’t affordable)</p>

<p>Georgetown - Stratosphere</p>

<p>SUNY Binghamton - Low Reach</p>

<p>Quinnipac - Safety (Not if it isn’t affordable)</p>

<p>I’m sorry to be so blunt OP, but you should consider some test optional schools. I would add Wesleyan, Ursinus, American U, Ithaca, and Bard College.</p>

<p>For some schools in general, consider adding Syracuse, University of Rochester, and Hofstra.</p>

16

<p>I would look at the smaller SUNY Colleges as well as Stony Brook and Binghamton and might go with Albany over Binghamton. And definitely look at test-optional colleges although most are private and cost much more. Personally I think premed is a horrible major but if you are interested in science you could consider Physical Therapy Pharmacology, Exercise Physiology, Physician’s Assistant, etc. These are no walk in the park but might be more to your liking than premed.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>