I think you have a good shot at St Olaf -and their net price calculator was pretty spot on for us (so try that out and see if it works for you). My daughter had similiar stats and need -and she was accepted there with generous aid. It’s a nice school option.
I don’t think I can take accurate guesses at the others. But definitely look at Net Price calculators –and figure out if you do better at schools that use the CSS and FAFSA or just those that use the FAFSA. If you find the CSS schools are better -then add more of those.
Is Michigan in-state reasonably priced because both of your Michigan options are really great schools (although obviously quite large).
I think your ED plan is good - especially if the NPC are solid.
You still have the summer for recommendation letters. Is there no other teacher you can use for that second letter? Even if you have to do two STEM teachers that would be better than a mid-letter.
What about a letter from a non-academic source? Do you have a strong letter for that? Maybe from research or your activities?
ETA: Mount Holyoke can be hit or miss with aid. Keep it on the list, but keep that in mind.
So the issue then will be - do they want to cover you $80K plus. As a need aware school, they can decide that even if you make the cut academically.
At $9K, you likely attend CC near home or a four year near home or, for example, UM has the go blue guarantee - but that’s just for tuition. Not sure if a Grand Valley or Mich State types have similar.
Talk to your HS guidance counselor.
The #1 issue with college choice is budget. So apply to those you want that could meet budget (Laf and BM) - but you might also want to apply to need blind schools - schools that won’t look at your finances in making a decision - schools like Amherst, Wash & Lee, Vassar, Davidson, Swarthmore, and more - but not BM or LAF.
Run the net price calculators for all schools you have interest.
I would definitely love to go to these, but admission for me is quite unlikely. Thank you for the suggestions, though- I’ll definitely seek out more need-blind schools
Based on what you described, I certainly think you are on track to have a reasonable chance at Bryn Mawr ED. Bryn Mawr is test optional, but based on their recent CDS, a lot of successful applicants did submit a test score. So as high as you can reasonably get would be good. As a final thought, ordinarily it isn’t really meaningful to try to convert a 4.33 GPA to a 4.0 GPA, so was that 3.87 a school reported thing, or your own calculation?
Otherwise, I do think it would be a good idea to see if you can find more colleges as backup plans that actually seem likely to be comfortably affordable. Lafayette is another reasonable application, but also pretty selective. It sounds like DePauw is a solid keeper as well, but in your position I would want some more possibilities.
So I am just going to sort of shotgun ideas at you, and then you can check NPCs.
Trinity University in Texas has a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major you might find interesting. It is also a very wealthy school, similar to Bryn Mawr. I’d definitely see what it says in terms of NPC:
Earlham in Indiana is again quite wealthy, in the same range as Trinity and Bryn Mawr, and it is really strong in your areas of interest (like they are a top per capita feeder to Bio and Chemistry PhD programs). They don’t have a dedicated Molecular Bio major, but you could do Biochem which at Earlham would seem appropriate for you:
Richmond is an even more wealthy school with a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program. It is kinda a fit school but probably also worth checking out:
Colorado College has a Molecular Biology major, and a block schedule some people really like. It is not quite as wealthy as some of these other colleges, but actually is in a similar range to Lafayette, and I would think it worth checking their NPC:
OK, so the remaining schools I will name might not get on budget with pure need aid (although you should check NPCs), but they have robust merit programs. Could be worth a shot.
Kalamazoo has what they call a concentration in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and is another relative PhD feeder sort of college:
Ursinus again is a relative PhD feeder with a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major:
Juniata is yet another relative PhD feeder. They don’t have majors but they have what they call programs of emphasis, and they have a POE in Molecular Biology:
And the last on this theme I would suggest checking out is Hendrix, which once again is a relative PhD feeder and has a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major:
If you don’t get the results you are hoping for from Bryn Mawr (or Lafayette), it might be worth applying to quite a few of these colleges with robust merit programs. It is hard to predict which might come through with a big enough award, so it is potentially worth applying pretty broadly.
So I have good news and bad news. The good news is selective colleges like the ones we are discussing are used to dealing with all sorts of different grading systems, and they should get the information they need to evaluate your transcript in context from your counselor.
The bad news is it is basically impossible to meaningfully compare your GPA to the 4.0 GPAs you will see being discussed in social media and such. If you knew a class rank, that could help a bit. But if you don’t have that, well, you can’t reliably assess how your transcript will be evaluated by these colleges as compared to transcripts on a 4.0 system.
And that just means you need to make sure to apply to a decent range of suitable schools, which is a good idea anyway.
So the basic issue is selective private colleges can process and evaluate transcripts however they like. We also don’t know what grades led to a 4.16. Like, that could be around half As and half A+s. Or it could be around 3/4 A+s and 1/4 A-s. And so on. And again, we don’t actually know what any given college would do with either of those scenarios when forming an internal assessment of the OP’s transcript. We in fact don’t have the sort of school report/counselor information the colleges will have to help them.
So my two cents is kids in this position really should not be guessing at all. Of course some colleges publish how they calculate GPAs, and you can use that guidance where appropriate. But for colleges which don’t, I think you are just introducing noise/error to try to convert to a 4.0 scale for comparison purposes.
Thanks for your insight on this. so sorry to ask again, but just to reiterate, you do think i have a shot at BMC?
as I said I’m really worried about it/would do just about anything to increase my chances at this point (like working all summer to get a 75th percentile SAT score {1500 for BMC})
Based on what you told us, yes. I do think the higher you can reasonably get your test scores, the better. But keep in mind that even just around the reported median for Bryn Mawr, those are in fact people who were admitted to Bryn Mawr! And a median is way too high for that to be explainable by a lot of hooked applicants.
So do your reasonable best. And actually, if you haven’t already, maybe check out the ACT, to see if one or the other is notably better for you. But don’t actually ruin your summer! Indeed, make sure you are using ample time and energy this summer to keep doing other things you find rewarding.
All that said, of course a shot is different from a guarantee. And with holistic review colleges like Bryn Mawr, you can never really be sure if you will fit into their plans for that class given the other applicants that cycle. So that is why you need other good options.
But as long as things continue on this path, and if Bryn Mawr remains your favorite, I would go ahead and apply ED. Because I see no reason to think it isn’t a reasonable application for you.
I’m going to go back to what I said. I did not say don’t apply to BM and ED is fine. But you have to be realistic. This is directly from the BM website - so yes, go for it but find that assured and affordable school. It is more important than BM. Given you need far more than the average student gets, it may be a headwind you are facing but don’t dismiss it bcuz someone gives you the optimism you want to hear. Even if you achieve the stats, BM is likely a reach.
Is Bryn Mawr need-blind?
No. Bryn Mawr College is need-sensitive. This means that the amount of aid a student requests of the College may affect the admission decision.
Sourced from the Bryn Mawr College website: How to Apply
OP, just a note about need-aware colleges. Many colleges have different approaches to being need aware. Some are need aware at the margin, meaning that they don’t necessarily look at the amount of need for most applicants, but for those on the bubble (meaning that they’re not sure if they should admit or not) then they look at the amount of need as a factor in admissions. When Haverford went to need aware in 2016, they explicitly stated that this was the approach they were taking.
I don’t know what Bryn Mawr’s approach is, but perhaps it’s worth reaching out to ask them? I would suspect (guess) that they operate similarly to Haverford, but I have no evidence of that. It might give you a better understanding of where you stand from an admissions standpoint.
The WSJ put out an article the other year that discussed Lafayette - who showed how they do it. They have a pool of money. Rather than spending it on one, they like to spread it.
I don’t think the process and all that matters. I think OP wants BM - and it’s fine to apply there. They’ll get in or they won’t.
But they need that assured - and they have to work hard to find it - like we see too many kids, they get excited for the unlikely and don’t pay much attention to the necessity….is all I was trying to say.
It’s 7 years old but go down half way, and it might give you insights on Lafayette and aid. It opens for me. I’m sure there’s a lot of commonalities, even today.
so not many options for me there.