Where do I belong? College Search!!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>First of all I would like to thank you in advance for coming to my thread and taking time to read and provide advice. This is beyond helpful and I am very grateful for this community.</p>

<p>In short, I am a rising high school senior, beginning to look into colleges. I am interested in majoring in most definitely sciences. Most likely biology, chemistry, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, psychology, or the like. As of now, like many other young inexperienced people, I see medical school in my future, so I would like to keep that in mind during my college search. However, it is also very important for me to go to an university with a wide variety of colleges, just in case I discover my passion for another subject. However, I am focusing on sciences because I am almost 100% sure that I will NOT major in literature, history, agriculture, etc etc.</p>

<p>Some colleges that come to mind, but PLEASE feel free to add to this list as well as rank (safety, match, low reach, high reach), it is very important for me to go to a school that has a good pre-med/bio/chem/engineering(kinda) ranked program. ALSO please include any schools that may be "matches" but where I will have a good chance in earning a full merit scholarship!</p>

<p>UNC Chapel Hill (possibly merit scholarship?)
Georgia Tech (awesome BME)
Vanderbilt
University of Southern California
Emory
Duke
Dartmouth
University of Chicago
John Hopkins <-- ehh heard the student life is bad? please feel free to comment on this!
Stanford (UTMOST DREAM SCHOOL.... possible? eh most likely not :( )</p>

<hr>

<p>My Stats:</p>

<p>GPA Weighted: 3.94
GPA Unweighted: 3.63</p>

<p>SAT I (Super Score)- 2020
780 Math
640 Reading
600 Writing
8 Essay</p>

<p>ACT- 33
32 Writing
33 Math
33 Reading
34 Science
7 Essay</p>

<p>SAT II-
740 Math 2
740 Biology E
750 Chinese</p>

<p>Course Schedule-</p>

<p>Middle School
Honors Algebra I
Honors Geometry
Honors Spanish I</p>

<p>Freshman
Honors Algebra II
Honors Biology
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish II
American Gov/Health
Band</p>

<p>Sophomore
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Chemistry
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish III
AP World History (5)
Band</p>

<p>Junior
AP Calculus AB (first semester had a 79 unweighted and 86 weighted, worried about this)
AP Biology
AP Lang
On-level Physics
On-level US History
Band</p>

<p>Senior
AP Stat
AP Chemistry
AP Lit
AP Micro/Macro
PE/Internship
Band</p>

<p>ECs-</p>

<p>Club (# of years in by graduation)</p>

<p>Student Council Representative (4)
Beta Club (4)
Marching Band (received varsity letter) (4)
Tutors in Action (2)
Winterguard (1)
Science Olympiad (1)
Pep Band (1)
Medical Society (1)</p>

<p>-regular volunteer at local library
-peer education at a local AIDs center
-part time job as of summer 2011</p>

2

<p>I’d actually say you have a shot at all of your colleges, even Stanford! You did WAYY better on the ACT, so I’d use those scores. You’re a wonderful candidate for any potential college! Stop stressing! :)</p>

3

<p>Check out Boston University and Virginia Tech.</p>

4

<p>Since you’re looking at Ga Tech and Emory as well as other Southern schools, are you a Georgia resident? With your stats, interests, and financial concerns, it would seem like a no-brainer to aim at Tech. My son, also a rising HS senior, has similar stats and interests. Being a college Geek, I’d love to do campus visits with him to Vandy, Duke, Northwestern, etc., but free tuition at Tech (given GA residency) seems a no-brainer.</p>

<p>Stanford’s worth a shot - maybe ED. It’s a long shot, but that’s the case for any applicant. And if the fallback is BME at Tech with free tuition, then life is good! :)</p>

5

<p>UNC merit aid is extremely competitive and I don’t think you’ll get it. They do meet full need. Will that help you? What is your home state?</p>

6

<p>I’m a Georgia resident, so getting aid at UNC will be pretty difficult. I know that they sent aside special scholarships for instate students.</p>

7

<p>USC has full tuition scholarship available if you apply by their December deadline. No additional application.</p>