Chance Me: SC resident, first gen immigrant, Average student looking for good premed school [32 ACT 1410 SAT, 3.66 UW 4.63 W, possibly psychology major; <$40k]

[peachshampoo]

Demographics

• SC resident
• Female
• Big public school in a good area
• First gen immigrant from Belarus

Cost Constraints / Budget
40k a year max

Intended Major(s)
I am thinking about psychology just because I like it and expect to do well, but I am not hard set on any specific major. More focused on premed pathway and good internships in the area

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

• Unweighted HS GPA: 3.667/4
• Weighted HS GPA: 4.63/5.875
• Class Rank: 101/~450
• ACT/SAT Scores: 32 ACT, 1410 SAT and retaking in August

List your HS coursework

• English: English 1-4 Honors [3 As, 1 B], expecting to take Dual Enrollment English Composition Il (ENG 101-102) senior year
• Math: Alg 1 [A], Geom[B], Alg 2[B], PreC[B], AP Calc AB[C]/BC[B, 4 on BC exam and 4 on AB subscore], (had the same teacher for Geom/PCalc/AP calc and I wouldn’t expect a good LOR if I had to submit math teacher, Alg 2 teacher left the school), expecting to take AP stats senior year
• Science: Bio H [A], Chem H [B], AP Bio [A, 3 on exam], Expecting to take AP chem senior year.
• History and social studies: World History H [A], APUSH [B, 4 on exam], skipped history junior year and taking DE American Nat’l Government (PSC 201) and DE Principles of Microeconomics(ECO 211) senior year
• Language other than English: Russian 1-4 [All A], French 1-2 [All A], expecting to take DE Elementary French (FREN 121), DE Basic Proficiency in French(FREN 122) senior year
• Visual or performing arts: Drawing 1 [A]
• Other academic courses: Fundamentals of Computing [A], Public Speaking [A], Gym/health [A],AP compsci [A, 4 on exam], AP psych [A, 5 on exam], AP art history sr year but wanting to change it to ap environ (ap art history requires shuttling to another school which would cause me to miss 30 from that class and 10 from another)

Awards
AP Scholar with Distinction
Ambassador Level for National Community Service Awards (given for 100+ hours)

Extracurriculars

Clubs:

• Diversity Club (Soph, Jr, Sr): Brainstormed and helped plan a school diversity festival, made posts for the club’s Instagram
• Beta Club (Jr, Sr)
• Arts Honors Society (Soph, Jr, Sr)
• Science Olympiad (Jr): Attended with no awards

Volunteering (almost all in Jr year):

• ~140 hours through the same school I got my Russian language credits from (teacher assistant for Kindergarten group), plan to continue September of my sr year
• Tutoring math in school through Beta (4 hours), tutoring English through SAT Bootcamp (10 hours)
• other (~15 hours)

Hobbies:

• Art/Painting (personal decor, gave as gifts to friends)
• Scrapbooking (focused essay on this)

Summer Activities:
week-long Biomedical engineering at Clemson

Essays/LORs/Other
Had a college essay advisor rate it as strong
Asking AP bio for LOR (consistent good grades, helped out cleaning her room and organizing a few times after school), not sure who else (thinking AP psych, eng 4, and director of where I got 140+ volunteer hours as options)

Schools
Applying EA for any school I can, hoping for scholarships to OOS schools. Lots of schools on the list, need help bringing down the number before applying. Wanting a school connected to a med school for more research opportunities and maybe higher chance of acceptance to med. Location doesn’t really matter, but in/near a semi-big and safe city. Also wanting to study abroad for a year. Do I have a chance at any reach schools? how will my chances increase if I get my sat to ~1480+?

Safety:
Furman University
Miami University of OH (applying to honors college as well)
Winthrop University
College of Charleston
Target/Match:
Clemson University
Furman University
USC Columbia (applying for honors)
Purdue University
Texas A&M
Stony Brook University
Reach:
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Washington
University of Texas at Austin
Davidson University
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Florida
Georgia Tech University
Florida State University

[tsbna44]

Congrats on your success.

Thanks for providing a budget.

I don’t think you need a school connected to a medical school to do research - and not sure which here are.

Have you run a net price calculator - for example at Davidson - to see if you have need.

I assume you’d try Honors at C of C. They also have the Fellows program in Honors - you’re unlikely a candidate but you never know. And it’s close to MUSC. My concern with this list is the schools are different - Miami is rural and beautiful…where as C of C is small and urban.

Have you had a chance to visit? They are vastly different and not everyone will see them the same way, but as an example, mine who goes to Charleston, got into Miami…but was a hard no once we visited due to the environment.

Just making sure you understand the type of campus you want - because next I see Clemson and sort of the same dynamic vs. Charleston.

Will you apply to Honors at other places - like Clemson, U Mass, wherever. You should check each Honors program. They’re all different and you might not be interested in all.

Here’s my thoughts - and it doesn’t matter 1410 or 1480…or med school which you don’t need.

Safeties:

Winthrop and C of C are safe both for admission and cost. Note - when you move off campus, the cost at Charleston goes up greatly. Of course, it has MUSC although I can’t speak to shadowing.

Furman and Miami are both safe (not Honors at Miami) but achieving cost, while possible, is not assured.

As for targets,

I think Purdue and Stony Brook are likely. Purdue will be right at budget. Stony Brook you’ll need merit.

U of SC and Clemson will both be 50/50 - it could go either way. Maybe a deferral.

I would lose A&M - you asked to cut your list and you have no shot of hitting cost here. I might eliminate SBU too - most say it’s a suitcase school and given its location, it makes sense.

As for reach:

UIUC - is possible - but not to hit budget.

UW is also possible - but not to hit budget.

No chance budget and little chance to hit admission at UT - but it’s possible at UTK (the other UT)

Davidson - have your family run the NPC to see if you can hit budget. It’s unlikely.

UMASS - little chance to hit budget but you’ll get in.

UF - I don’t believe you’ll get in nor does it hit budget.

Ga Tech - no and no to budget.

FSU - no but it will hit budget

So a few thoughts / concerns:

1. I want to ensure you’ve been to schools or know what you want - because a few are vastly different

2. I want to ensure you have "choices’ because some of your schools don’t give you choice.

Schools that would make budget with your stats - any of the Alabama schools - Alabama, UAH, UAB (which has a well known medical school). Auburn may not. Why would these make cost.

At Alabama, you’d right now get $24K off the $32K tuition. If your SAT goes up 10 points, you’d get $28K off. So right now, you’re mid 20s and it can go lower. And they have the McCullough Medical Scholars you could apply to. It’s a pure sub for UF (and even FSU). UAH would be about $20K all in and UAB will also come discounted. Mississippi State too will be well under.

Other large publics that may hit budget include Ohio U, WVU, U Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, URI, Kansas, Kansas State, LSU and more. Then others would be longer shots - but not impossible to hit budget - like a Delaware, Ohio State, Michigan State, etc.

Other “C of C”, Winthrop size schools to look at might be Christopher Newport, UT Chattanooga, Millersville, and Marshall - all should hit budget - you’ll have a more regionalized student body.

Then the Davidson choice is interesting in that it’s an LAC.

There are LACs that could (maybe) hit $40K based on merit - such as Wooster, Kalamazoo, Depauw, Juniata, Ursinus, Allegheny and more.

If you have need, then a Franklin & Marshall, Sewanee, Denison, Union Lafayette, and more - have your family run the net price calculator to see if you’d get need aid. These all are reaches (except Sewanee) and the environments are varying but they’d be easier than Davidson.

So - I think you can cull your list but I also think you can make it more efficient - schools that you’d get into and can afford vs. having schools on your list you have little chance of affording, even if you get in.

But I also hope you have the chance to visit some schools - because the campus types and sizes you have are very different and you might prefer one over the other. Not just environment but size as you had tiny Davidson and enormous A&M.

Best of luck to you.

Program Description – McCollough Scholars (ua.edu)

[parentologist]

Keep in mind that you can get into med school from any 4 yr college. The important thing is a very high GPA, and a high MCAT score, and that you amass the EC record that they’re looking for - volunteering, clinical hours, research. So you need to consider what your odds are of getting that very high GPA, at the school you choose to attend. Point is, it may be easier to get that high GPA at a somewhat less selective, somewhat less competitive school. The MCAT score will be more a result of how effectively you prep for it, than a result of how much/well you were taught in your basic science courses. So yes, coming out of an extremely selective, big name school can help slightly, but the higher GPA you’re likely to get at a less selective school will help a lot more.

Med school is very, very expensive, so you’re better off preserving your resources for med school tuition, rather than spending it on undergrad.

If you would have options where a higher score would get you more money, then that’s where you should be expending your effort, right now. Also, some people are better suited to the ACT than to the SAT. Your ACT score is quite good - just a bit more work on it, depending upon what your breakdown was - might bring you up into the more money range. What was the breakdown?

While it is nice to be able to do clinical work/volunteering during the school year at a nearby major hospital, you can get these hours during the summers, too. Don’t cross off a good rural college at a good price, just because it’s not near hospitals. There may still be volunteer opportunities at clinics near the school.

Psych as a major is fine, but if you fall off the premed track, as most do, it doesn’t lead to good employment opportunities, unless you go on for clinical psych, which is very competitive. However, your foreign language skills can be an extremely valuable resource for you, could absolutely serve as a backup career option.

[twogirls]

You do not need to attend a school that has a medical school in order to do research. As far as shadowing and volunteering- you can do that during school breaks and summers. There is no guarantee that a school with a hospital on campus will allow shadowing or volunteering for everybody who wants it.

[thumper1]

@parentologist

Keep in mind that you can get into med school from any 4 yr college. The important thing is a very high GPA, and a high MCAT score, and that you amass the EC record that they’re looking for - volunteering, clinical hours, research

This…over and over and over. I’m not sure why you have all of those OOS public universities in your list. At most, you won’t be able to reach your budget.

[acurtis1120]

Wofford will likely give you lots of merit and has excellent med school placement.