I assume you’ll be cutting Oregon and St. Olaf since they don’t offer bioengineering?
By UW, I assume you mean Wisconsin? And yes, if you are considering med school or any other kind of grad school, it is wise to keep your undergraduate costs down.
College is not a destination. It is not your future, it is a bridge to your future
University of Washington! I am in state
NU is very tough and very fast paced.
And school spirit around sports? At Northwestern? There is more enthusiasm and support for the arts here.
There is school spirit around sports at Northwestern. Maybe not at the same level as other Big Ten schools, but it’s there, and was even in the days when Willie the Wildcat wore a tie to games. Purple Pride is a thing.
Cut two - I agree.
But make sure your school has engineering. So no St Olaf. No Oregon. But yes Oregon State and it has WUE.
Then you have St Olaf and Oregon State and that’s where you need to figure out - large or small etc.
There are a few schools where, if you succeed in a particular major, you have an easier path to the school’s medical school. University of Cincinnati is one - look at the medical sciences major. I don’t know where that stacks up in pre-med coursework, but as you probably know there are a lot of factors that go into acceptance (even a gap year). UC also has an excellent engineering program.
Related UC anecdote - my husband, with chemical engineering and law degrees from UC, attended with a literal genius who took his last year of chem e and first year of med school together. He only showed up to the engineering classes to take the exams, which he aced. It was humbling for the rest of the class, lol, and I’m not sure how he worked it out.
Great advice in this thread so far.
OP: You asked two main questions:
How to get more awards and how to strengthen your application to Northwestern University.
No need for any more awards. Meaningful awards are the results of exercising one’s passion matched with one’s talents. Therefore, if you have to ask, an appropriate answer would be “don’t bother”.
Essays geared specifically as to why you want to attend Northwestern University should enhance your Northwestern University chances for admission especially when combined with an ED supplement to your application.
With respect to your listed schools, you have enough. (If you were my child, I would have suggested that you focus on Northwestern and the University of Washington at Seattle.)
I agree with @tsbna44 that Georgetown and Emory could be eliminated from your list since you want to double major in biology and engineering and neither Georgetown nor Emory are engineering schools.
Do you want to be an engineer or a doctor?
Engineering is usually a harder admit, so I would recommend applying Biology unless you actually want to be an engineer. Also, engineering is a very hard major as a premed, so it’s generally recommended to have a different major if you definitely want med school. Just something to consider. A lot of the private schools will let you switch easily to engineering if you get to the school and decide you’d rather do engineering than med school. At large state schools it is generally much harder to switch into engineering. As others have said, you can only ED one place and it sounds like Northwestern is your #1, so Penn should be RD. Georgetown should also be RD because they only have REA, not EA. If you get denied from Northwestern ED1, then Tufts or WashU would make a good ED2 choice. Emory also offers ED2. Good luck to you!
I would like to be a doctor! However, I know how common it is for premeds to never make it to med school and have been advised to have a back up plan instead (which is where the engineering focus comes in). I was hoping a degree in either chemical or bioengineering would be a little more flexible in career options if medicine doesn’t work out. However, I am not sure how to successfully approach this when applying to schools
In most cases, apply to engineering.
It’s easier to go from engineering to out of engineering . But often not easy to go into engineering.
For some of your list it may be school specific so you just need to see. Some schools may provide an easy oath but not typically. And course plans are long.
A bio or chem degree by itself could work but the career outcome is iffy. Engineering is safer.
I see. Yes, it is wise to have a Plan B when med school is being pursued. Good thinking.
Engineering is rigorous, involves a lot of hard work, and is therefore challenging for achieving high grades. That’s not a problem if someone has a goal to become an engineer, but it may be problematic in achieving the gpa necessary for med school admission. Nonetheless I admire you for setting your sights high and looking for ways to contribute to the well being of society. We need more people like you!
Thank you! This is what I was thinking too - what route do you think would be most advisable for my top choice (Northwestern)?
Look at course flows but engineering is so over the top I’d assume to start there.
“Worst” case is you go to UW (Washington) or WAzzou, get a great education, hang with your friends, and save a ton of money. Evanston will always be there. You will crush it regardless.
I think you have the potential for a strong story/spike in terms of your passion for helping those suffering from addiction. If cost really isn’t a concern, I would advise looking at need aware colleges other than CWRU where your full pay status would be an asset
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