Chance / Match me, Ohio HS Junior

Demographics

US citizen in OH, junior at private high school

Cost Constraints / Budget

As much financial aid as possible

I don’t know details

Intended Major(s)

Neuroscience (not premed)
I plan on getting a master’s and potentially a PhD

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.7

  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.21 (Regular classes worth 4, honors worth 4.5, and AP worth 5 with no + or - system)

  • Class Rank: no ranking system

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 or 36

List your HS coursework

  • English: AP English Lang, AP English Lit

  • Math: AP Stats

  • Science: APES, AP Bio

  • History and social studies: APUSH, AP Euro, AP Gov, AP Psych

  • Language other than English: AP Spanish Lang

  • Visual or performing arts:

  • Other academic courses: AP Comp Sci

11 total APs with 7 scores by apps

I got a 4 in both APES and APUSH. Before applying, I’ll have 5 more AP scores (all 4s and 5s)

Awards

I will have a Spanish fluency award (as a second language)
One of the AP awards

Extracurriculars

Orchestra (8 years)

  • 1st cellist - I help teach younger students and organize events

Theater crew (4 years)

  • stage manager - I direct shows for the high school, middle/elementary school, and some dance performances

Mock Trial (2 years)

  • part of my school’s founding team

Debate team (1 year)

  • I founded debate team

Teacher’s Assistant

  • TA for my English department head (who has 6 classes)

Other

  • Neuroscience summer program @ Wake Forest

  • NHS

  • International Thespian Society

  • Volunteering

    • Student led group playing music at nursing homes and hospitals

    • local animal shelter

    • building sets for theater

    • service trip where we built a house for someone who couldn’t afford one

Essays/LORs/Other

Two LORs - one from English department head who I have a very good relationship with and one from AP Bio teacher (also good)
Essays will be my strongest quality

Schools
If any have EA, I’ll do that. I don’t know probabilities but my current list is:

  • UConn, UMass, Syracuse, Fordham, URochester, Pitt, Lehigh, Boston University, William & Mary, JHU, Northeastern, Wake Forest, UChicago, UPenn

Main ones I want to know chances of

  • UPenn, UChicago, JHU, Northeastern, Wake, Boston University, Rochester, Syracuse?

I have very little hope for these 3

  • UPenn, UChicago, or JHU

I want to go to school in the Northeast, ideally a city or close to one, any class size above 5k undergrads, and having a 5 year master’s program would be nice. If there are any schools like that not on my list, lmk. Also, if any of those schools are notoriously bad or unlikely, lmk so I can remove them (I didn’t do much research for the easier schools).

If you are eligible for financial aid, the best publics to apply to are your in state universities.

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Is there some reason why the Ohio State University isn’t on your list? You have other colleges on your list that are not in the northeast. tOSU is a terrific flagship, research university.

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I don’t want to stay in Ohio. I’ll probably apply to 1 or 2 Ohio schools as safeties, but they’re not my goal

The first thing I would do is firm up a budget. I recommend using the NPCs for each school on your list and asking your parents if the number is affordable. Your final list may include schools that provide enough FA and schools that might provide enough merit.

This list has a lot of very costly privates, high reaches, state schools that might not be affordable, etc.

Are your state schools affordable? They should be on your list.

Did you take the ACT? You reported 35 or 36 which makes me think you are giving a possible score, and not an actual score.

You need a budget and a realistic list.

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You attend a private high school. Have you met with the college counselor there? Who crafted this list with you, and on what basis were the colleges chosen? I would suggest reviewing this with your school counselor…who might have an idea of your chances based on past similar students from your high school

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Weighted GPAs are calculated so differently that it is difficult to compare them, so I tend to go from unweighted GPA.

3.7 is quite good. However, to me this makes U.Penn, JHU, and U.Chicago, unlikely. To me Northeastern looks like a reach. BU is probably also a reach. When I was in university across the river BU would have been likely with an unweighted 3.7, but my understanding is that it has become quite a bit more difficult for admissions.

Another issue: Let’s suppose that you do get into one of U.Penn, JHU, or Chicago. You sign up for classes. You walk into a required class for a neuroscience student that also happens to be a class full of premed students (the required classes will overlap quite a bit). You walk into class and sit in the front row. You look to the left of you and to the right of you. There is a pretty good chance that you will be sitting next to students who have never had a B in their life, and premed classes will be academically very tough with lots of homework, lots of reading, and tough exams. Both daughters had majors that also overlapped with premed classes so I have heard lots of stories, and have met at least one fellow student who had never had a B in his life, and another who had only had one or two B’s in her life (both of these friends of a daughter are now MDs).

But there are lots of very good universities that you will get accepted to with an unweighted 3.7 GPA, including many that will be very good for a neuroscience degree and that will prepare you very well for graduate programs.

Of course the total cost of attendance is that matters. We found that in most cases the schools that would cost more also gave more aid, so that costs came out relatively similar in many cases. One exception was in-state public schools that tended to cost less. Another exception was NEU and BU that for us would have been by far the two most expensive schools that either daughter was accepted to (your results might differ). Other than this plus universities in Canada everything else ended up being quite similar in cost with the amount of merit aid offsetting the original difference in costs.

And all of this brings up two issues: One is that if cost matters then you are wise to avoid ED. Instead you apply EA and RD and see where you get in, see what each school would cost, and then figure out where to go. The other issue is that you should include an application to your in-state public flagship. The Ohio State University is a very good university, and it will prepare you very well for graduate work at any one of a wide range of universities (including very highly ranked ones).

You definitely can get a bachelor’s degree at the Ohio State University and then go on to graduate work at one of the very good universities in the Northeast of the USA. One daughter is currently getting a PhD in a biomedical field at a very good private university up here in the Northeast of the US, and the other students in her program come from a huge range of undergraduate universities.

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So you go to a private - they have counseling - first place to go. A 3.7 there might be top notch whereas a 3.7 at a public may not be.

You don’t have an ACT it sounds like (similar to @thumper question.

Aid: much as possible means nothing - you need a firm budget. With your “perceived” stats, there will be schools in the $20K range with auto merit - meaning a 3.7 with a 35 will get you big money - although maybe not in the NE…but schools like Kansas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Central Michigan, WVU will be in the $20-30K range thanks to your stats. Others are $100K.

A school, not you, determines the price so your folks should fill out a few net price calculators - here’s an example, If a school says $60K and mom and dad say nope, then you know you shouldn’t apply.

So a school like Pitt (not far from the Ohio border by the way), it’s not going to be low cost.

So general statements - like I need a lot - don’t matter. Until you have a firm budget, you can’t make a list.

All that said, your school should know where kids like you get in.

So let me ask about your academics in regards to necessary rigor for top schools:

  1. What science do you have beyond APES and bio. Do you have chem and physics at any level - because the top schools will want.
  2. Math - any Calculus AB or BC - same thing?

Hope that helps - have your family fill a few of these out because if a school (like Wake) is $90K, you don’t qualify for aid and your parents don’t want to pay $90K, no reason to have it, etc. And schools check by asking for actual statements which they have you upload - so be honest in the answers.

The other thing you might look at is - I want to go int he NE, in a city or close to one - UCONN likely not the right school for you nor would be William & Mary - unless close to means within 40 mins to an hour. Why Chicago? It’s not in the NE.

Honestly, until you firm up a budget and determine if the schools will meet the budget, the list doesn’t matter. Many kids stay home (literally) because of the budget. So your family needs to give you parameters. Some parents set strict budgets, even if they can afford more (I’m one of them - I gave my kids $50K a year so anything that was going to be 100% above (like most of your list) wasn’t allowed.

Come back with that - and then we can better evaluate.

Clear Cost

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

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Because you need “as much financial aid as possible” I assume you attend a private HS on scholarship. As a resultw UConn, UMass, Pitt, W&M won’t be affordable (no financial aid for OOs students).

Add Brandeis, excellent for your academic field of interest and near a city; Case Western is in a city,and topnotch for science, though in Ohio. Since Wake is OK, what about Emory? Have you looked into AU and GWU?

Fordham may not be affordable even if you’re NMSF. If you’re not, odds are low it’d be within budget.

The 5,000 student requirement removes a lot of generous meet-need colleges from contention. What’s the rationale behind it (D1 sports, wanting a mix of lecture halls& seminars, a large campus …?)

Penn, JHU, UChicago are all “roll the dice” schools. If they’re affordable (run the NPC) you can apply ED and see.

Lehigh, URoch, Northeastern are reasonable reaches (reachable reach = stats make it possible, acceptance rates make it unlikely, but not impossible - odds are against you but you have the profile they want, after that it’ll come down to intangibles between you and others who also have the profile they want.)

Idk how many people will see this, but me saying “as much financial aid as possible” just means that I”ll choose the school that gives me the most. I’m not paying anything insane like 100k per year, but I’m not choosing in state just because they’ll give me more financial aid.

What will your family pay? That is where you need to start.

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What’s your SAI?

Your instate schools aren’t likely to be the least expensive unless your family is full pay or makes 150k+ a year. If your family makes 80-100k there are many colleges that will be less expensive than your in state universities. And if your family makes 300k then many universities on your list will be 100k.

However OOS public universities are not going to give you financial aid (aid based on parents’ income&assets). They do offer Merit Aid (aid based on your rigor, GPA, test scores regardless of parents income/assets) and that might be what you mean?

Have your parents given you a budget?

We need to know your SAI (the list would look VERY different if it’s negative or if it’s 40,000) and how much your parents have said they can afford. Your SAI will help us figure out if you need need-based aid or merit aid.

OK - so are you willing to pay $50K a year to go to the NE….or would you rather pay $20-30K but go in the South or Midwest. That’s only the cost because they buy kids like you in - and have tons of them. The NE schools are more expensive, etc.

If you are full pay, you can eliminate most your list if you’re not paying anything insane - if insane is - pick a # - $70K or less.

So you have to give a starting point - which you haven’t.

Saying this - means nothing - without a formal figure - and rather than saying it yourself, let mom dad tell you what that is.

“I’m not paying anything insane like 100k per year,”

You seem to want rank - and low cost. For a full pay person, those two things often don’t come together.

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Schools will not simply give you FA. You have to qualify based on that school’s criteria.

Same with merit. I would not count on it at schools such as UConn.

Again- your current list consists of high reaches, costly privates, and costly OOS publics that will not provide significant merit for you.

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Can you ask your parents to use the net price calculator for each college of interest and tell you if the net price is affordable?

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RE the Net Price Calculators…they are currently set for students starting college in 2026 and that isn’t you. You will start fall 2027, right? So, use the NPC results as an estimate only. But they will give you a ballpark.

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The good news is that you have a well-balanced transcript and resume. The bad news is that some of these schools would not give a discount to a homeless orphan. Few of these private schools will beat the OOS costs of the publics listed. Nothing in the Boston area is affordable. NYC region, maybe Rutgers meets your criteria. Philly, you could look at Temple or Drexel, those would be in city. Closer to Ohio, SUNY Buffalo or RIT could be options. Good luck

First of all, with an intention to major in neuroscience, it is a very reasonable plan to intend to go on to graduate school and to keep this in mind. This is a major where some form of graduate school is very possible, and probably likely if you stay in neuroscience. There are of course lots of other related biomedical fields where some form of graduate school is also possible. I have several family members who majored in some biomedical field, and the number of graduate degrees matches (one graduate degree is still in progress).

There are a lot of universities which are very good for a pretty wide range of biomedical fields, including neuroscience.

If you look at the various graduate students at a highly ranked university in pretty nearly any highly ranked graduate program in biomedical sciences, or psychology, or neuroscience, they will have come from a huge range of undergraduate programs. A few will have come from Harvard or Columbia or JHU or NEU or somewhere similarly ranked, but most will have come from a huge range of other schools. “All over the place” is one way this has been described.

What will these graduate students have in common? Several things. One is that they did very well as undergraduate students, and had shown up at university on day 1 ready to work hard and take all of their classes seriously. You can do this at any university. They will have found good research or internship or other related experience. You can do this at a very wide range of universities. They want to do it. Getting a PhD is for example a rather long path that takes quite a bit of determination.

Another thing that they will have in common is that they can afford to do it. If you take on a large debt to get a bachelor’s degree this can make it difficult to afford to attend graduate school.

Looking at the students at a particular highly ranked biomedical PhD program, I see quite a few that have a master’s degree, but probably just as many or perhaps slightly more that do not have a master’s degree. You can in some cases go straight from a bachelor’s to a PhD. You will need very good grades, very good references, very good research experience, and a good explanation of what you want to do and why, but again students from a very wide range of undergraduate universities manage to pull this off. One big advantage of skipping the master’s degree is that a PhD in a STEM field is usually fully funded, whereas a master’s degree is not. Thus a two year master’s degree might very well cost a student something like $200,000 (and that is today, five or six years from now it will be more expensive). For a student in a PhD program, the university will often (usually?) pay your tuition and fees, provide health insurance, and give the student a stipend that is enough to live on provided that you live very frugally. What this all means is that if you can get through a bachelor’s degree with no debt, and with good results (such as grades and research experience) then while it is a very long and challenging road to get a doctorate, it can at least be financially possible.

I by the way would not allow my daughters to take on any debt at all for their bachelor’s degree. One daughter was frustrated by this. She got into NEU and BU with offers that were not affordable. She went somewhere else. She got a great education (and two bachelor’s degrees, one of which was in neuroscience). She got a dream job, but a dream job that paid badly. It could pay badly because it was that attractive as a job. She could only take the job because she had no debt. This job led to a second job, which provided experience and references that helped her a lot in her graduate school applications. At one point she was frustrated that I would not let her take on debt for her bachelor’s degree. Five years later she thanked me (twice) for not allowing her to take on any debt. She is very much aware today how much better off she is because she graduated with no undergraduate debt.

You should find out from your parents what they can afford without taking on any debt. Then you might want to have your parents run the NPCs for a few schools on your list and see what they are likely to cost, if you get accepted.

You should make sure that you apply to at least one university, and even better two universities, that are very, very likely for admissions and also very, very likely to end up being affordable without taking on debt.

Earlier you mentioned that you would like to be in the northeast (which is where I live and where one daughter is currently studying for a PhD). Certainly apply to universities up here. See if you get in and see whether they will be affordable. I am just trying to encourage you to make sure that somewhere around about 12 or 14 months from now you will have at least one very good affordable option to choose from. Given how excellent the Ohio State University is, and given that you are in-state, I think that you should apply. That does not mean that you will go there. It means that you are that much more likely to have at least one affordable option at a very good university when you are looking at offers in about 14 months. Then you can think about which of multiple offers to accept.

And if your goal is to get to a graduate program at Harvard, or BU, or NEU, or Tufts, or JHU, or Columbia, or at some other excellent program up here in the northeast, any of the universities that have been discussed on this thread can provide the undergraduate education that will help you get there. Whether you can get accepted, and whether you can graduate with a bachelor’s degree and still be in a position to afford to attend graduate school, might vary depending upon which schools you apply to.

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That’s a bit of a shame since a 36 on the ACT would get you a full ride: President's Ohio Scholarship Program | Honors and Scholars Center .

I would consider adding Tufts, Brandeis, and Case Western.

As an OOS public, UConn probably won’t be affordable, and I don’t think it’s as good as UMass for neuroscience opportunities, either.

Look at Naviance data and talk with your counselor to see if an ED to UChicago would be realistic.

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