Chance/Match [FL resident, 3.78UW, 1500 SAT, Biology, Strong ECs] <20k

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi! I know this is a very last-minute post for RD, but I got the feeling that I am severely missing out on applying to schools that might be a good match for me. A friend recommended that I make a post here, so here it is. Thank you in advance!

Demographics

  • US Permanent Resident
  • State/Location of residency: Florida
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public (Magnet- currently in Biomedical program)

Cost Constraints / Budget
15-20k

Intended Major(s)
Biology, Microbiology, Biomedical Sciences…

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.78
  • Weighted HS GPA: 8.16 (it’s an odd “honors” points system where D.E/AP/AICE classes have a 0.08 weight added to the UW GPA, while honors have a 0.05 added to your UW.
  • College GPA: * Not a transfer, but it’s a 3.85 (I have completed my AA in Psychology)
  • Class Rank: 5/142
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1500 superscored (740EBRW, 760 Math). 1460 was my highest individual attempt.

List your HS coursework

  • English: English Hon 1, English Hon 2, English Comp (D.E), English Literature (D.E)
  • Math: (taken in middle school but H.S level: Algebra 1, Geometry), Algebra 2 Hon, Pre-Calc Hon, AP Calc AB, AP Stat
  • Science: (taken in middle school; Issues and Physical Science), Biology Hon, Chem Hon, AP Chem, AP Bio, AICE Environmental Science, AICE Marine Science, AP Physics
  • Magnet Science Classes:
    Principles of Biomedical Sciences, Human Body Systems, Biotechnology 2, Biotechnology 3, Medical Interventions, Biomedical Innovations
  • History and social studies: AP Human Geo, AP World, American History (D.E), Government (D.E), AP Macro/Micro, Sociology (D.E), AP Psychology
  • Language other than English: ASL 1, 2, 3, 4
  • Visual or performing arts: Studio 2D Art 1
  • Other academic courses:
    (All D.E)
    Philosophy
    Public Speaking
    Medical Terminology
    Intro to Psychology
    Abnormal Psychology
    Psychology of Development
    Clinical Psychology
    Psychology of Life and Growth

Honestly, more than I can list. I have over 60 credits worth of D.E courses, most in psychology and others in random courses needed to fill my reqs. Please let me know if you want more info on the exact ones!

Awards
10th grade: 3rd in Florida for Intro to Social Media Strategy (FBLA)
11th grade: 4th in region for Community Awareness Campaign (HOSA), 2nd in Florida in for Social Media Strategy, Won Regional Silver Key for Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards in Short Story

Extracurriculars
President of a registered environmental non-profit with about 200+ members and 4 local chapters in Hillsborough county. Actively working with a larger district-wide school sustainability program along with a larger Tampa Bay based environmental organization. We’ve adopted a road, hosted workshops, drives, etc.

I did a research program (virtual, open-data based) last summer and got to present findings at a global symposium! My research was done on reversing epigenetic aging caused by adverse childhood experiences. The style of it was much more literary review than original research, but I got the experience to dive into two areas of passion (molecular biology and trauma research) and got some great essays written from this.

Local chapter reporter for the school’s FBLA chapter with nearly 350 members (largest club in the district).

I started a passion club for creative writing - not huge: about 15ish members, but the club is active and has held smaller writing competitions and workshops for larger competitions like Scholastic.

Help run a religious youth forum where we focus on service and creating a sense of community. Probably the most impactful thing I’ve done here is help newly immigrated families get used to the system and give teens/kids a support group and help build connections. Or even the other way around, helping kids who are disconnected from the culture reconnect.

I’ve been doing traditional Carnatic singing for 8 years. Nothing noteworthy, lots of performing at smaller venues and events. I am also an artist: nothing noteworthy, but I paint in my free time and have been building up a very slow portfolio over the last year. I thought I’d have it ready in time for my apps, but unfortunately was not able to.

I have over 250 volunteer hours. 100 ish from a local hospital where I regularly volunteer, probably around 50 from environmental activities, and the other 100 from school events, out of school events, food pantry, etc.

Essays/LORs/Other
My essay is pretty good. My school’s college counselor who’s reviewed admitted UPenn, MIT, and NYU essays in the past few years said it’s one of the best she’s ever read. If it helps my case, Reed admissions had a call with her as a part of my admissions process and let her know that my writing was very strong and one of their favorites to read through.

My 1st LOR is from a biology teacher that’s helped me a lot with the subject, and in return I’ve gotten to help him by designing labs for the class and even helping him build resources and curriculum in his first years teaching AP Bio, since I took it online and had to self-study.
My 2nd LOR is from the advisor of my environmental non-profit, and this one is much less strong. From the initial draft he showed me, it looked kind of GPT but I did ask if he could go in and make it more personal (and about how he’s helped me grow as a leader). Hopefully the revisions of it were better, since I never got a chance to see them.

Schools
The “toughest” schools I’ve gotten into so far are Florida State University, University of South Florida Honors (+BS/MD) , and Reed College.

I’m looking for schools that are affordable, either with merit scholarships or financial aid. I really want to go to a school that is both affordable and has a high med school acceptance rate, or at least is known to have good support and resources for pre-med students.
Ideally, I’d like for the school to be a little selective, but I’m ok giving this up for a school that meets both the above criteria. I’m trying not to be picky region-wise, but I’d like it to be not too far from Florida and more towards the coasts and less the “South”. Again, I’m totally willing to give this up for a school that meets above criteria. Really just looking for schools that work into my main criteria and I also have a good chance of getting into.

I’ve written more essays that I can count for EA, so please do not hesitate in recommending any schools that might have a more “essay-heavy” application process. I’m sure I’ll be able to rework something I have already.

Thank you again, and I hope this post is coherent enough! I’m writing this late and have been putting this off for a while, and I truly appreciate whoever takes the time to read and recommend any good matches :slight_smile:.

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Welcome to CC! I know you’re going to find people who want to help you. I’ll try to be one of them.

You’ve done a great job explaining your background, and now I know what Carnatic singing is :slight_smile:. It’s pretty easy to get a solid picture of you.

What’s more difficult to get a picture of, though, is what you want from your school experience, besides affordable + med school preparedness. If I had to pick two schools that are pretty much the opposites of each other, that could be South Florida and Reed. :slight_smile: I’d also be surprised that Reed would meet your affordability needs - I’m assuming you ran their NPC?

The standard message you’ll get on CC about med school preparedness is that any quality undergraduate institution will give you the opportunity to meet your pre-med requirements, and that successful students from any undergraduate school will have the opportunity to apply. It is generally the case that the more selective schools have a higher med school admissions rate, but that is at least as likely a function of the students than the institutions.

Maybe listing the EA schools you applied to, and what interested you, would help.

Assuming you also have University of Florida on your list, you’ve pretty much hit the right Florida public schools, and there isn’t much advantage to the other ones in the Southeast (and significant affordability issues, except possibly Alabama or Tulsa). I did look at the USF BS/MD program, I hadn’t seen it before - since it ties you to a specific major and still requires the MCAT, I wouldn’t give it too much weight - unless you really want to go there, it doesn’t seem like a reason to choose South Florida.

If you’re looking for schools that are more like Reed (and have similar admissions profiles) but are closer to Florida and have affordability initiatives (you’ll want to run the NPCs if you haven’t already), I might give Davidson, Richmond, especially Washington & Lee a shot. If you’re willing to go further North, I’d look at Conn College & Trinity (CT) as two schools that are generous with merit aid for students they want to attract, and Lafayette as a great option. I’ll think about other ideas overnight and I’m sure other people might have some.

One note is that many schools will want two LORs from academic teachers. I’m hoping you have a second one of those?

1 Like
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You already have some good options and some good suggestions above. I’ll add a couple more.

Your profile fits well with that of admitted students at Colgate University, a small (3100) liberal arts college in upstate New York. Like all similar liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, they say that they will meet 100% of demonstrated need. They elevated their profile in that regard just a couple of years ago with something they call the Colgate Commitment. Check it out on their website to see how your family income corresponds with what they will award for your need.

Two members of my family have gone to Rice (4600 undergrads). They seem to be particularly holistic in their admissions as we were surprised when our GS was admitted. It isn’t on either coast and it is in the South (Houston), but it’s different and is much more like a Northeastern university. In fact, they modeled their housing plan on Harvard and Yale with the specific intent of building community. They too have a published program explaining how they meet financial need. It’s called the Rice Investment. You can check it on their website to see how your need matches up. Rice is more selective than Colgate, which is in itself highly selective, but I think it’s worth a shot.

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Hi, thank you so much for the response!

Yes, and it is very much out of budget :sob:. I applied mostly because my college counselor really encouraged me to do so, and I lived in Portland for a little bit.
Thank you for mentioning your point about med school, it’s easy to narrow in on percentiles of med school acceptances.

I applied to most schools in the state for EA round, mostly due to Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship (which guarantees 100% tuition covered for any public Florida university). I applied to FAU, UCF, UF, and FSU. I also applied to URichmond and South Carolina’s Honors College (SCHC because a friend there encouraged me to do so, but I later really came to like their research opportunities for UG students).
Other than the criteria I listed earlier, I’m mostly just looking for a place with a lot of opportunities, both for EC’s and research.

I did apply to Richmond EA and I had Davidson in my list for RD. I’ll definitely look into Washington & Lee, along with Lafayette and the Connecticut colleges. I believe running the NPC gave me a fairly high number for Richmond and Davidson, though. Both were around 40k. I don’t think there are many LAC’s that will give a good amount of aid (especially being upper middle class), so I’m instead looking for smaller programs within schools (Like SCHC).

Yes, I do :). I mentioned both in my original post, and I also have a counselor recommendation I can send in case a third LOR is needed.

Thank you so, so much for all the suggestions and your time! I hope this post clarifies anything my original post didn’t.

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Hi, thank you so much for your response.

I’ll definitely look into applying at Colgate, but their NPC says I will be paying about 40k yearly.

I’ll look into Rice as well! It’s one of those schools that I didn’t really consider applying to since my profile doesn’t seem to be in their admitted range, but I will give it a shot!

Thank you again :))

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When I checked Rice’s common data set, it appeared to me that you are in their admitted range - although barely. As I mentioned, our personal experience was that they appear to be more holistic than most, so I thought that your writing, your large number of DEs, your ECs, your volunteering, your initiative, and your out if school projects would all be included in their assessment and would weigh heavily in your favor.

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Glad we were thinking similarly!

The NPCs at the other schools will tell you if your “upper middle class” status may mean they cost more than your budget. Lafayette is a good barometer since they commit to meeting 100% of calculated need. If so, you have two very solid in-state options.

Just digging into this - your first post lists an LOR from a biology teacher and from a non-profit advisor. Is that advisor also an academic teacher for a core subject? If not, then you might be missing one (or I’m missing something else).

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