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

[anjuphobic]

Hi, thank you so much for the response!

@movingtothebeach

I’d also be surprised that Reed would meet your affordability needs - I’m assuming you ran their NPC?

Yes, and it is very much out of budget . 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.

@movingtothebeach

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

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.

@movingtothebeach

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.

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).

@movingtothebeach

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

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.