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

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?

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