Chance me for MIT or Columbia and other colleges (Junior) [3.9 UW, 1540 SAT, Biology/pre-med, TX student]

Also sorry if this is a random question but could I compensate for B in second semester pre-AP chemistry with As in both semesters of AP chemistry and a 5 on the exam?

I think it is important to do what you like, as you will be spending a lot of time doing it.

4 Likes

There might be two questions hiding here. Will this help you for admissions to MIT? That is hard to say one way or another. Will this help you in general to get admitted to a very good university? YES, absolutely for sure.

Also, doing very well on AP chemistry will help you to be ready to do well once you get to university.

2 Likes

Higher GPAs are always better but short of A&M, no one can predict you - but your list is heavy reach. .

And A&M has ETAM - so getting CS once there very difficult. In other words, admission into the major is not direct. You have to perform once there.

Hence you need more schools no matter how you do in school this year. You like urban - have you looked at Trinity in San Antonio ?

A d please determine a budget - how much can they afford ?

What if NYU is $40k but your parents can only afford $20k.

You said they make $100k-150k. That doesn’t tell me what they can spend.

1 Like

I’m not really sure what I like though, because the only subject I’ve really liked so far is biology and I don’t see myself going into academia or becoming a doctor. I do also really like math though

1 Like

We don’t have a lot of college savings and I have one other sibling so maybe we could afford 20-30k a year. Does 100-150k qualify for a lot of financial aid at most schools?

No need to rush.

You’ll take classes in school and learn more.

Maybe it will be public health or a non doctor medical career or pharmaceutical sales.

The exciting thing about life is the future is unknown.

But maybe an open curriculum might be good for you - so you can explore. A Rochester or Wesleyan or Hamilton or Grinnell - and on the high merit, lower cost level is Kalamazoo - which is urban. All fantastic schools - well Grinnell and Hamilton won’t be urban but 


No reason to make a life decision now at 17 or even 25.

2 Likes

If you’re not set on CS at UT, maybe consider applying to something less competitive like statistics or data science there instead? Or even biomedical engineering? CS at UT is very unlikely in my opinion due to your lack of CS-related extracurriculars.

1 Like

This depends on the college. For “most schools”, I would say no.

  1. For colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all, you probably will get some need based aid
depending on your assets. Income isn’t the only thing used to calculate awarding of need based aid.
  2. For colleges that don’t guarantee to meet full need for all, you could get some need based aid, and you might not get a dime.

Run the net price calculators on each college website for an estimate of your aid and net costs. Just keep in mind that for the 2027-2028 academic year (your freshman year in college if you are a junior now) will use income from tax year 2025. So either figure that out, or use as a very gross estimate.

3 Likes

What about data science (math+CS applied to sth) applied to biology? Or Bioinformatics if a college offers that? Or you could combine statistics and biology to create a biostatistics concentration. All are directly employable and much sought after.

1 Like

Yes, lots of top private colleges would provide a full tuition scholarship and some financial aid towards room/board - there’s been an initiative to guarantee at least full tuition to families that make up to 200k.
(Not all, of course - and public universities use merit, not need, and prioritize instate status, etc.)

Run the NPC (net price calculator) on Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, Davidson, Amherst College, Brown, U Rochester, Cornell. Which 3 have the lowest net cost for you and what’s that net cost?

1 Like

Just a general observation. There is an extremely wide variety of different professional careers available that can be both personally and financially rewarding for the right person. Most kids, and indeed parents, only really know about a fraction of these.

A great thing about good four year colleges is they have career offices that can help you explore all this. Professors, older students, and so on can also be very valuable mentors. At many colleges, you can wait to pick your major, or easily change it, as you get a better idea what makes sense for you.

All this means you really don’t need to have this mapped out before college. You do want to make sure you can comfortably afford it. It is good if it has a wide variety of good departments and majors, and flexibility about picking a graduating major. But then you can get started, and use all those resources to figure out what you really want to do next.

2 Likes

I recommend using the NPCs for the reach schools on your list. Any school that comes in above your target cost can be removed.

I also recommend looking for schools where you may receive merit. Applying to schools in your state is also a good idea.

You do not have to figure out a major or career path today
and career paths change all the time even a few years after college.

If you like biology you can combine it with statistics or math, as noted above. There are a lot of options, but they don’t need to be decided today.

I assume medical school is off the table and you do not want to be a physician.

1 Like

@supernova61,

I am a retired quant, and I have a child who is a quant. It’s important to know that quant finance is very selective, even from applicants graduating from a “brand name school”.

Most quant firms hiring undergrads require no finance knowledge (believing that smart people can learn finance quickly), and I will describe their hiring process here. There are three types of roles that quant firms hire undergrads for: quant trading, quant, dev, and software development.

  • Quant trading: These are the math superstars, who are so natural in math that they could ace the math section of the SAT while in grade school. These are typically the strongest Math/Statistics/CS/Physics students coming out of colleges like MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Harvard, and they often have demonstrated strength in math through awards like USAMO or published math research. As an example of selectivity, one of my son’s high school classmates was a very bright student who had a 4.0 GPA at Yale CS, and couldn’t get any interviews for quant trading.
  • Software development: These are the students who are exceptionally strong in CS, and can easily do leetcode medium and are comfortable with leetcode hard. Very little math knowledge is expected beyond say linear algebra, but AI knowledge is increasingly important. The Yale student mentioned above received numerous offers for software development roles in quant firms.
  • Quant dev: This is the middle ground between quant trading and software development, and the job is to create software to support the quant traders. Since this role requires understanding both the quant traders and software development, proficiency is required in both, but much less math than the quant traders, and significantly less CS excellence than the software development people. Most companies have a smaller number of hires for this role than the other two roles.
6 Likes

Thanks for joining the discussion hebegebe. As always, you have dispelled some myths re: quant jobs available for undergrads. Linking your prior AMA thread here: Math/CS Majors Interested in a Quant Finance Career? Get All Your Questions Answered by a Quant Investor

2 Likes

Here are 4 Net Price Calculators - all schools treat your finances differently.

But again, you need a budget first - what is the formal $$ amount you can pay for. That’s the very first discussion to have - so you can compare it vs. what colleges charge.

These take 10-20 minutes and your parents, not you, should fill out - and be honest - because all these schools will validate their info - by having you submit tax documents and other statements - when it is time to enroll.

You can find these for any schools. Note - that schools that are need aware will take the amount you need into admission consideration - ie if you need too much. Emory is need aware and well under half the students there get any need aid.

But please, please, please, find out from your parents what you can afford - that’s step 1.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

Net Price Calculator | Financial Aid | Case Western Reserve University

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

Net Price Calculator | Financial Aid | Vanderbilt University

1 Like

Your extracurriculars do not have to be focused on your intended major.

Indeed, you may write better essays if you indicate your true intended major.

1 Like

Apply to the major that you like. If it’s biology, that’s fine. You do not have to become a physician or teach. There are other options, especially if you combine biology with statistics, math etc.

Do you like CS and/or finance?

1 Like

I actually haven’t had much of a chance to explore CS or finance so I’m not sure yet, I got exposed to biology through my school’s science olympiad team

Yes, you are picking majors because they sound great - outcome/salary wise - but you know little about what is out there - and that’s FANTASTIC.

But this is where an open curriculum - from Brown, to Hamilton to Vassar to Wesleyan to Grinnell to Rochester and as a merit school and safety - Kalamazoo - can help you.

You can study around and experience different things.

There is no reason to be locked up at 17 - especially when you don’t really understand what different careers require in the day to day.

You have to run the NPCs to see if they will meet $30K or less for you - some may, or may not - so then you need to focus on schools that will achieve your cost - your in state schools - including UH, UTD, Texas Tech, whatever. OU/OSU, LSU, Arkansas/UNM/NM State likely will - i think all have border state deals.

Alabama ($22K or so), UAH, Ole Miss, Miss State, UT Chatt, Tennessee Tech, Memphis definitely will hit $30K and actually many of these less.

Florida State is a maybe - if you get an OOS waiver - it’s a target.

So run your NPCs - but to me, if none meet $30K, take a flyer on Kalamazoo - it has big merit and an open curriculum - a well regarded LAC. But if the schools like Columbia want $40K, and you can’t afford it, then you shouldn’t apply.

But your budget drives EVERYTHING. You said you probably could afford $20-30K - but you need to talk to your parents to find out a real #.

Texas A&M is over $30K, btw, per their COA. UT is right there. Other Texas schools will have merit aid.

1 Like