I put Classics first + Cognitive Science second (if you saw my other post lol)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: school doesn’t weigh, but I got all A+s
Class Rank: school doesn’t rank, but anecdotally I’m around 2/400
ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT
List your HS coursework
All 5s so far (excluding senior year of course)
English: AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: AP Calc BC
Science: AP Physics 1, AP Bio
History and social studies: AP HuGeo, AP World, APUSH, AP Macroeconomics
Language other than English: AP Latin
Visual or performing arts: Orchestra
Other academic courses: Research
Awards
Various National Latin awards
All-State music
Local research competition
Science Olympiad
National Merit, AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Extracurriculars
Music: competitive pre conservatory program, principal in local youth orchestra, summer festivals
Classics Club: founder & president
Classics internship @ a university
EMT: rode 911 calls, was the youngest @ my organization
Research: mentored by a PI from a top national lab, but no publication
Science Olympiad: secretary
Hospital volunteering: helped develop the music program
Misc. music volunteering
Misc. Latin tutoring
Varsity sport for 4 years (pretty passive though)
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR: I was SUPER close with both of my teachers, but I’m can’t definitively say how good they are
Essays: I’ve always been told my writing is really good, but it’s hard to gauge essays objectively. My supplements connect my interests in classics to cognitive science and emphasize my creativity a lot.
You have a great chance of getting admitted to Brown & a better chance of getting into the University of Rochester? So, what other schools are you applying to?
Thank you so much! I’ll probably apply to those liberal arts schools as well. I’m full pay, and URochester offers merit scholarships if you apply early enough.
So you are full pay but when you note this, I ask - does your family have a budget? Are they willing to pay $97K+ (Brown’s cost this year) x 4.
If not, then yes, you need to find less expensive schools - and while schools might offer merit (CWRU, U of R both do), you’d want to find a school to hit an assured cost.
Admission wise you’re in great shape but please ensure your budget with your mom/dad - i.e. are they willing to pay - maybe $425K by the time you are done.
I just read about medical school - so now you need $850K. Are your parents willing and able to cover that?
Where you go for undergraduate probably has little to no impact on getting into med school.
Here’s a couple items to look at.
Not all schools show the “where” but I found a few that do (UTK and UK). And then I put Vandy (equal in stature to your list). It shows over 3 years how many applied to med schools and how many got in - often 10% or less
Med school is very expensive. If you’re going to have to take significant debt, you may want to adjust your undergrad plan to a much more economically sensible school.
Yes, we discussed finances, and they’re completely willing to pay. I’m super lucky that they’ve been saving since birth, along with leftover from my sibling.
For medical school, my family is high income, so we can still cover that.
Only about 4,500 students (<0.03% of the U.S. high school population) take the AP Latin exam & roughly 50% score "4"s & "5"s. And the average SAT student of the AP Latin test-takers received a “5” is around 1500. This along with your Classics ECs & leadership demonstrate very high potential for a future Classics major.
Are you desiring to consider schools that reward that? Schools like UTD are known for cognitive science. Tulsa is the small school - one that normally gets kids that don’t get into a school like Rice. Their NMSF is not as aggressive as b4 (It’s still free tuition and housing) but the other year, 25% of their enrollment was NMSF or higher. They even started moving toward a “great books” type education the other year as an option - it might be a fine place to study classics. And the grand daddy of all NMF schools (from a population POV - 360 or so in 2025) is Bama - where you get 5 years tuition, 4 years housing, $4K a year and more - and they have enrichment with the McCullough pre medical honors. There are other NMF rewarding schools too.
From your list, it doesn’t sound like you are desiring an NMSF/NMF hot spot in regards to rewards.
But is that something you/your family will want to consider? Tulsa would probably be the most likely sub to your list. But given you are looking at state safeties, you can even blow them away cost/enrichment wise.
If you are looking for more Reach suggestions, I would look at Penn CAS with your combination of interests. Hopkins too, although I always hesitate to recommend Hopkins to possible premeds.
WashU is another strong option–I mentioned my S24 is a likely premed with a dual major in Computational Biology and Classics there, and Cognitive Science would be an equally strong choice.
For a Targety LAC with merit as a strong possibility, perhaps Macalester? Nice Classics department, and while Cognitive Science is what they call a “concentration” there, that might be perfect for your purposes. Like a premed with a major in Classics and concentration in Cog Sci sounds pretty perfect to me:
Macalester also has one of my favorite locations anywhere, in a super pleasant, super walkable area right between the two downtowns of the Twin Cities, also with easy access to the airport.
Finally, a Likely option you might want to consider is Pitt. They again have a nice Classics department, and also are very strong on Cog Sci, and in fact they have an ongoing relationship with CMU in that area, and you can also take some CMU classes as a Pitt student as desired (I wouldn’t recommend CMU itself for your undergrad experience, but that is a nice option). I note Pitt has OOS merit as a possibility, and a decent Honors program, and it includes the option to do a research-intensive BPhil (not necessary, but cool if your interests take you that direction). Pitt again has a highly enviable location right in the middle of Pittsburgh, which has become a fun student city.
But NMSF was brought up - so there are schools (probably in the NE too) that offer benefit. Maine used to.
Was just making them aware of the largesse avail for NMF and asking if that was something they were considering? For their list, it’s likely a non factor other than listing as an award.
That’s why I asked
I’m assuming not but don’t know the answer.
It’s obviously a huge savings toward med/grad school and can help keep a student solvent vs. having huge amounts of debt with a similar path to med school (they still have to get great grades in hard classes, a great MCAT and do all the other things).
I second considering Wesleyan and Vassar. Otherwise, you have a nice blend of reaches and matches here. Do you like your public safeties, or would you like additional ideas?
ETA: If you are not going to ED to Case Western, I strongly suggest showing them some love. They consider demonstrated interest strongly, as they are wary of being a backup.
Agree with the demonstrated interest. Take out the 263 Case acceptances, their yield is 10.27%.
I don’t buy the wary aspect.
Case has very low yield, for whatever the reason, year after year and while the school gets a lot of love and its profile is rising, it hasn’t helped the yield.
So they have to admit a ton in order to fill a class, whether they are wary of otherwise.
