Hi,
I am currently finishing up my junior year at a prestigious and selective high school. Unfortunately my GPA has been suffering lately- I expect to end the first semester of my senior year with a 3.7 unweighted (my school does not weigh courses), and not with a solid upward trend. However, my SAT scores are decent (800M/760CR) and I do have quite compelling extracurriculars, including original cancer research and several leadership positions. I also have over 200 community service hours. Considering the fact that most colleges take into account the fact that my school’s courses are much more difficult than those at most public schools, can you give me some examples of schools that I could consider “safety” and “reach” schools? Thanks in advance!
Home state?
What you and your parents afford to pay each year?
What is your HS curriculum? AP/IB or Dual Enrollment courses?
Intended major?
What type of schools are you interested in attending? Public or Private? Urban/Suburban/Rural? Large/Medium/Small school? Sports/Greek Life?
At the moment, tuition is not a concern. My school does not offer typical high school courses including AP/IB, but they are considered to be equally if not more demanding than many AP courses. This is something that most colleges take into account when considering applicants from my school. Intended major is undecided- possibilities include biology, BME, CS, or premed and I would happily go into any of these since I am interested in both health-related biology and computer science. I would like to attend either an urban or suburban school; otherwise, I am not picky since I am comfortable in both large and small schools.
I am not necessarily looking for a list that is attuned to my tastes, I just want to see what kind of schools I am capable of being admitted to.
Actually it is not just tuition but room/board, transportation, books etc… when it comes to finding afforable schools. You must have some kind of geographical location that you would prefer and some kind of budget? Is $65K/year too much?
You have competitive stats but with 3000 colleges in the US, you have give posters some guidelines. You can target some top 25 schools as Reach schools, but the Match and Safety schools are ones where you need to do more research. You need to start from the bottom up by identifying at least 2 Safety schools: Affordable meaning little to no debt to attend, almost a 100% chance for an acceptance and schools you are willing to attend no matter what. It is always best to start with your in-state schools so that is why asked about your home state.
Many schools direct admit into BME and CS and if they do not, then you need to pass screening courses before you are allowed to declare the major. Knowing these restrictions will help form your list.
What are you doing this summer? Can you shadow a doctor or volunteer in a hospital, to get an idea about medicine?
How about getting an EMT designation to learn more about emergency medicine?
There is a very good six year MD degree in at U of Missouri, Kansas City that is unique, if you are sure about medicine and want an MD . You can also look into physician assistant programs in Pennsylvania and New York State,
that are four year programs with a PA degree, very efficient if you are sure about medicine.
Here is the six year MD degree program-- you get right in as a high school student, no MCAT, no applications to med school, necessary. And its shorter than the usual 8 years required for a bachelors/MD combination.
http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/
If you are undecided in major, want a small academic school, Case Western Reserve U offers both BME and CS and no restrictions on changeling majors. Its located
on an urban campus near the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland Ohio. The computer science professors often work
on health care records and other health care related computer science projects.
Try to decide if you want a larger state school that will be strong in CS/engineering, with a lot of social life surrounding sports, or you would prefer a more focused research oriented academic school like Case Western.
Purdue might fit you, in Indiana, if you want a bigger social life and bigger state school atmosphere, with football games and other activities.
By the end of your first semester, senior year, you may not be able to include that GPA in your applications, depending upon where you apply. So, for people on this forum to give you an estimate, you need to be honest with your current GPA, not a future GPA.
Also, @Gumbymom asked some very pertinent questions which you have, somewhat, avoided.
Depending on your college choices, many schools gauge you according to GPA and SAT scores, in that order.
EC’s can be good supplemental applicant information if your GPA and SAT are in the range the school is looking to attract. If, however, your EC’s are “amazing” and your GPA is lower than expected, then the schools will assume that that either, you didn’t spend enough time in your academic endeavors, or that you couldn’t handle the rigor of classes and EC’s.
So, home state:
(Not to be nosy, but to refer you to your state universities, which tend to be more receptive to the residents, first.)
Budget for 4 years?
Urban or Rural college? There are 3000 schools out there, all of them-very different.
@Coloradomama I will be spending my summer doing cancer research, and I did volunteer at a local hospital last summer.
@“aunt bea” My home state is Illinois. I would not like to include my budget simply because there are a lot of complicated factors involved and I am currently just looking at possibilities. I will, of course, be doing my own research to see if the school fits my budget. I would prefer a school in an urban or suburban setting, but large or small is not a factor since I would be comfortable in either setting.
My current GPA, not including next semester or this semester (grades are not finalized yet), is a 3.67.
Out of state schools will prefer their residents first-like the UC’s-which charge $65K per year to non-residents and do not provide any aid to non-residents.
So, you could try schools like University of Chicago, which is in your state.
Some schools are so small or so large that it’s difficult to know how you will respond to them so you need to visit some private schools and some public schools.
“Fit” is about finding the school that is right for you, not how high up the USNWR rankings you can climb. You have been asked some helpful questions here which you should consider. In my case, for example, I did not want a campus life dominated by Greek life, so I looked at schools without frats. And so on. Best wishes to you!
Need to know your SAT scores. They are standardized. GPA can mean different things at different High Schools.
U of Chicago is not very likely match, but more of a reach, for an Illinois student with a 3.7 GPA. Its a very competitive school, and many Illinois students want to go there, and its small as well, so few seats. U of Chicago also has some of the toughest out of the box supplemental questions on the Common App. Its on a quarter calendar and offers the Chicago Core, which requires every student take a diverse curriculum of Western Civilization/history/ethics/english/math/science and a world language . The Chicago Core is one of the toughest liberal arts cores in the nation. Its not for most Computer science majors, but without knowing more about the OP, its hard to say if its a match. U of Chicago admissions will know his/her top Illinois high school, I bet and recruit the top students from that high school, with 4.0 GPAs. The Chicago area is loaded with top ranked high schools and not everyone can go to U of Chicago.
OP needs to find universities that offer engineering, premed placement and CS, that are not too picky about GPA.There are many but U of Chicago is not one of them, as it does not offer BME, or any real engineering, its more of a liberal arts college.
OR OP needs to make a choice, CS versus becoming a doctor, to find the right match. Its not easy to pick a career path in high school, but since engineering is one interest, that would eliminate most liberal arts colleges.
There are not that may schools that allow students to explore CS, premed and BME. Case Western comes to mind as one that may fit because they do not lock down students to either sciences or engineering, but allow fluid movement between various majors. They also may be OK with a 3.7 GPA , but its a bit low. Try to get your GPA up if you can. I think some schools inside Illinois may recognize the quality of your high school. Most other admissions offices do not care that much and they have a check box for minimum GPA, you may be on the edge for many, but consult your school guidance counselor. Any big state school in the midwest may be a sure bet, but they may not let you dabble in sciences, CS and BME, they may lock you down. Do you need a school where you can explore CS versus engineering versus a premedical major like biochemistry? Then you need a smaller school that does not limit transferring between engineering and the sciences.
Two of the schools that would be really recommended from my area are Pittsburgh (works well as a safety if affordable as they do rolling admissions) and U Rochester (esp since you mention research). Your stats fit both. Pitt is urban. U Roc is in Rochester, but a bubble campus (true campus). Both places have research hospitals right next to campus making it super easy to continue research while doing undergrad. Both offer merit aid. U Roc is better with need based aid (as per the CSS Profile).
Some kids also like Case Western, so I’ll toss that one in to check out too. IME merit aid can be slightly better there (not as good as Pitt’s top awards, but in general). Need based aid isn’t as good as URoc, but I have limited data points as not a ton of kids from the school where I work have the stats to get to those schools.
Safety/Match: UIUC, Pitt, URoc, CWRU, All the Midwest flagships(UW-Madison, OSU), university of Richmond, maybe schools like BU, BC, Northeastern, if you like the northeast
Reaches(low-high):UVA, Vandy, Norte Dame, WashU, Northwestern, Ivy level schools
Just some schools that I think are good overall.
Safety? Bu Bc northeastern with a 3.6. Sorry all reaches. NEU and bu low. BC a little harder. And no traditional aps. Doable of course. But definitely high match at the least. Bc a reach period.
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I would like to mention that because of my high school’s rigor, 4.0 GPAs are quite rare, and I am ranked in the top 25% of an already selective school. Many colleges are familiar with my school and do take this into account.
At least from my viewpoint reach doesn’t mean no at all. And all factors will be weighed including what you’ve mentioned but ecs essays recommendations and interviews all matter.
A reach means kids at your level can be denied and often are say a 25 chance. That means 75 percent chance of a no or wl. Match means 50 50. Or better. Safety means none statistically.
It’s all about healthy expectations going in. You should not be shocked or surprised when Richmond bu or northeastern say no. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get in. Not at all. As good as most.