What colleges should I be considering?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey! I’m an Asian-American female high school junior who has no idea what colleges I would have a good chance at. Please let me know based on my stats below:

GPA: 4.1 UW (0.33 boost at my school for A+'s) 4.41 W–> recalculated on a 0.5, 1.0 boost scale gives me a 4.7 W

SAT: (one sitting) 1500- 770M 730EBRW (will retake; hoping for 800 math and way better EBRW score)

Class Rank: Not calculated at my school, but I am safely in top 5% in a class of 155 and I could be higher

Subject Tests: will take Math 2, Chemistry, and Spanish with Listening

APs:
AP Calculus BC- 5
AP English Language and Composition- (current)
AP Chemistry- (current)
AP Biology- (next year)
AP Psychology- (next year)
AP Statistics- (next year)
AP Spanish (next year)

Course Load: pretty rigorous, but not as hard as I would like it to be. Some people have similar amounts of APs and honors, but not the same combination of classes (e.g. an AP science, AP english, and post-AP math vs. AP english, AP history, and AP statistics)

School Type:
Private School Northern Virginia

Extracurriculars:
Photo Editor- School Newspaper for three years
Founder- Poetry Club starting this year
Radiology Intern last year at a local hospital- no poster or publication though
Founder- elementary school Math Club for three years
Poetry Editor- Literary Magazine for three years
Inclusive Leadership Council- Member (form of student government; will be president next year) for two years
Volunteer at local hospital for three years
Volunteer at American Cancer Society for five years
Will Intern at hospital research lab this summer (choosing from several acceptances so far to determine which program)
Science Olympiad- Vice President starting this year
Varsity Tennis member since Freshman Year
First Violin at local orchestra in 10th grade
Part-Time Tutoring Job; was unpaid for two years and paid for two years

Awards: nothing major

National Latin and Spanish Honor Society, Headmaster’s List since Fifth Grade (straight A’s), Classical Association of Virginia Latin Tournament 1st Place Winner, various 1st place awards in Virginia Latin competitions, National Latin Exam 2-Time Perfect Paper recipient and 1 Gold Medal, National Spanish Exam 2-Time Gold Medal and 1 Silver Medal, First Place in School-Wide Poetry Contest, 7 Poems Published in School Literary Magazine

In Progress:

  • publishing poems in various journals
  • will use research from internship this summer for Siemens and Regeneron Science Talent Search

Let me know what you think I need to improve as well as what places would be a good fit for me! I’m concerned that my courses and extracurriculars are really generic, and I have not done anything to stand out. I have no idea what I am going to major in, but I will definitely concentrate in Pre-Medicine.

2

Your goal is to go to medical school? How much can you afford to pay for undergrad college? Your aim should be to go someplace where you can be very academically successful and where you can graduate with little or no debt. So, step #1 is determine how much your family can pay.

3

Big question you need to consider is how much your parents will contribute toward your college costs, and what their financial situation is so that you can run colleges’ net price calculators.

4

I agree with the first two comments above. If medical school is a possibility then you need to try to avoid debt if at all possible for undergrad, and hopefully keep some college money in the bank if it is possible.

You are lucky to live in a state where the state flagship (UVA) is so strong. It is very much strong enough that if you do well there it will give you a great chance at a very good medical school. Also, your great stats make it look like you could keep up a high GPA there. I will admit that we live much further north and thus haven’t looked hard at UVA, and thus I don’t know specifically what it has for premed but am going more from its overall excellent reputation plus the fact that I am pretty sure that it does have a medical school.

“Let me know what you think I need to improve”

I think that you are doing very well.

5

You are a very strong student who wants to major in something that is in every college. You need to narrow something down.

How far away from home to you want to be?
Do you have any special needs (e.g., medical) that would cause you to be nearer to home?
Do you prefer urban/rural/suburban?
Big, medium or small school?
What can your parents afford?

If you want to go pre-med then think about:

  1. The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
  2. The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
  3. Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
  4. Success in graduates getting into med school
  5. Options if you don’t go to med school
6

William and Mary is excellent, too, and VCU has it’s own medical school.

Look at private options U. of Richmond and Washington & Lee, which are both known for excellent merit- and need-based aid. The Johnson Scholarship at W&L is especially generous: full ride (tuition, room & board), and your record is impressive enough that you would be a serious candidate.

7

"Its,’ sorry.

8

Between UVA amd W&M, you have two outstanding in state academic institutions. The neat thing is they are vastly different (other than the fact they attract really top notch students). Size, feel, sports, focus on greek life, etc. It’s almost like VA set up a system where they said, if you’re this type of kid, go to UVA, if this other type, go to W&M.

Think of UVA as an incredible state flagship across the board. Think of W&M as a more intimate LAC type school with the focus on small classes, intimate professor / student relationship, etc. Just very different feels. They have both been considered among the very best state schools in the country for a very long time (like 30+ years) and are well regarded all over the world.

If med school is the final destination, it would be hard to turn either of these low cost state schools down. Now you may very well get a bunch of merit based aid based on your stats. That’s a different conversation. I would visit both and see which you prefer and then start looking at schools that are more aligned with that preference. You are lucky to liv ein such a great state.

9

We don’t know that she LIVES in NOVA. She goes to a private school in norther Virginia. She could live in D.C. Does Virginia give in-state tuition to anyone who graduates from a high school in the state of Virginia regardless of their permanent residence? New York does this.

10

You’re right! Sorry for not elaborating; I do live in Northern Virginia.

11

Humility ? 800 Math & way better EBRW when your scores are 770 & 730.

12

Since you are pre-med you do not need any high SAT scores unless for qualifying for scholarships at in-state supported universities & colleges.

13

Really? I just noticed that at a lot of colleges, my math is near the 75th percentile, but my ebrw falls below or at the 25th percentile, which I think isn’t a very good sign. I’m not sure if that’s going to have a big effect on anything, but I might as well try again anyways, since I did not sleep well before the first sitting.

14

If you only took the test one, take it once more and ignore the above.
The good news: You’re an excellent student. You have everything and if you keep going you’ll have lots of choices.
The bad news: there are literally hundreds of thousands who are excellent like you. (look for Lindagaf’s thread about ‘average excellent’ students). One more strike is that you come from an area densely populated with high achievers, not all of whom can go to UVA or W&M.
So, apply widely within Virginia.
Talk with your parents about costs - how much can they afford from income and savings. Run a couple NPCs - w&M, UVA, Barnard, Carleton, Pomona, Bowdoin, Grinnell, Brown. Those are all rather different schools and they calculate net costs differently. Compare results and discuss them with your parents.
Then get a Fiske guide and find 10 schools you’ve never heard of yet sound interesting.
(Having dream colleges is easy. The real work is finding matches and safeties that you like and can afford. )
Read up on the colleges above: which sound good to you? Which don’t? Why? Come back and post your findings and we’ll help you from there.

Note that pre-med isn’t a major. You can major in anything (preferably not biology because there’s such an oversupply of unemployed biology majors right now), being premed means being able to be top 10-20% in your chosen major while also being able to handle the pre-reqs and being top 10-20% in those too.

15

Thank you! Yes, I’m aware pre-med is simply a concentration, and I am currently uncertain as to what my major will be. I ran the numbers for a large number of those schools, and I will not have a problem with tuition fees. Are the schools that you listed for me matches or reaches for my stats? I am also looking into VCU, but I will definitely expand my choices after talking to a college counselor at school next week. Also, I read the thread, and I was wondering what you think would push me into a higher tier of excellent students. I have applied and gotten interviews for internships at some of the best research facilities in the country this summer in order to develop something that separates me from others with similar stats, but I don’t know what else would push me into a more desirable group of students for other colleges.

16

Take an internship and do a great job there.
But then, you have to remember part of it is being able to read what the colleges want and part of it is luck - whether you meet an institutional need better than another excellent applicant.
I guess that, beside the internship, i’d recommend you work on your essays. Those can make a difference when all others things are equal.

17

As a pre-medical school student, you need to focus on getting stellar grades & preparing for the MCAT.

The reason that I suggested that you do not necessarily need a higher SAT score unless vying for scholarship money is that you should have multiple full tuition options with your current numbers.

Unaware that your one sitting for the SAT was after a sleepless night. Retake in that case OR consider taking the ACT if shooting for competitive colleges or universities. Can give an advantage in that if neither is a standout score for a particular targeted college or university, check US News to determine whether that school reports SAT scores or ACT scores & send in the other.

18

I completely understood your viewpoint. My reasoning for taking another sitting for the SAT is simply because I felt that I could have done better. The ACT is not a test I am compatible with, solely because the time management component on the test is not ideal for me. I like to check my answers frequently, and I never found time for that on the ACT practice I did. Thank you for commenting!