Thanks for all suggestion! I will definitely adjust my list. My dreaming school is JHU and hope I can pass the pre read and get a slot! But my sport there is very competitive
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Have you visited ?
Itâs neither small nor rural.
Here is the net price calculator. Very important your family fills these in. If itâs affordable, great. If not itâs not the dream school. Itâs a nightmare.
Your dream school is one your family can afford, that can give you an outstanding education. All these schools will get you to med school.
If you like the âvibeâ of JHU, then itâs good youâre looking at CMU too, although CMU might not be quite as generous aid-wise. Hopefully you are running the Net Price Calculators for every school you are considering, yes?
But donât make the mistake that many students do, of thinking that JHUâs medical reputation means that going there will improve your med school prospects. It can be a steep path, because youâre competing for a Committee Letter with so many equally-talented and ambitious students.
I didnât suggest CWRU the first time because I thought it would be too urban for you, but if JHU isnât too urban, then CWRU probably isnât either. Itâs another ânerdyâ D3 university thatâs very strong for both pre-health and engineering; and there are no barriers as far as choosing/changing majors which can be very helpful when youâre not 100% sure about engineering. Another in the elite-nerdy genre, with very generous aid but also very competitive, is Rice, but theyâre D1 for sports. And you could consider UChicago - their only engineering major is Molecular Engineering, but that might fit your interests, and it is very much a nerdy D3 school. (Again, urban, but that seems to be a compromise youâre willing to make.)
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Use the net price calculator on the web site of each college of interest to check affordability.
You school likely has dedicated college counselors who are knowledgeable and well connected to college admissions offices. They should be able to tell you which colleges are more and less likely to admit you.
But you and your parents need to check net price calculators for the various colleges of interest to make sure that they are affordable.
Well thenâŠif you want guaranteed financial aid, look at University of Alabama (and consider it even though it doesnât fit your âsmallâ criteria), Miami University in Ohio, University of New Mexico (again not rural or smallâŠbut affordable possibly). University of Tulsa (again not small or rural, but affordable as a NMSF).
What about Denison in Ohio? Kenyon, Grinnell?
Maybe Reed?
If you want rural and smallâŠcheck Bowdoin, Bates, Middlebury, Colby. Look at the Colleges That Change Lives list.
You can do premed at any of the above colleges. I will suggest that you put medical school on the back burner for now. The vast majority of entering premeds never apply to medical school. Find an undergrad school where you will do well, and where there are at least a couple of majors you find interestingâŠbecause many students change their minds.
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Your initial list is the opposite of âsmall and ruralâ. Thatâs OK, you are still exploring and sometimes kids will thrive at both large/urban and small/rural. You are probably looking for the right academic fit.
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With your stats and resume, and the rigor of your high school, there are many schools that would love to have you.
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For Match/Slight Reach schools, as Merc81 pointed out, Rochester may really fit the bill. It isnât small, but it is quiet and nerdy and a match for your interests.
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If you apply ED to Case Western, you would likely be admitted. Another potential great match.
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UMiami (honors), Emory (Oxford, small and quiet), Binghamtom (your counselor may recommend this).
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You will definitely pass the pre-reads.
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Many LACs have 3+2 Engineering programs where you can get an eng. degree from another institution like Case, Columbia, Dartmouth, etc.
Lafayette has bioengineering within its integrative engineering major:
https://inte.lafayette.edu/bioengineering/
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I would urge you to give very strong consideration to U. of Tulsa. Though itâs not rural, Iâd describe it as a small school (about 2600 undergrads). You would get a full ride at Tulsa, so it would be guaranteed affordable. More than 1/4 of the entering class has been composed of National Merit Finalists the last two years, so thereâs definitely a strong set of peers at the school. The people whoâve toured the school have come back with very positive things to say about the campus.
If your school counselor said that, I 100% agree.
If you can let us know what the budget is for your college (per year), then that will help us find other potential schools that can serve as safeties for you. When looking for safeties, you want those schools to have three qualities:
- Extremely likely to accept you
- Extremely likely to be affordable for your family
- A school that you would be happy to attend for four years
The third part is really important. All too often we will have seniors come on the forum in the spring because their only option(s) are their safeties, and they donât like them. Theyâre trying to find other options at the last minute or already planning their transfer strategy before theyâve stepped foot on campus or theyâre just feeling like theyâve been sentenced to four years in Siberia rather than feeling happy about the adventure theyâre about to embark on.
None of us want that to be you. If you donât like U. of Tulsa, there are other schools we can suggest. And frankly, I always recommend that a student have at least two sure things, because then theyâre guaranteed the option of making a choice come senior year.
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Looking at what you want, these are some additional schools that you may want to consider that would be extremely likely to admit you. Since I donât know your budget, I donât know whether theyâre extremely likely to meet it, but one of the schools would probably cost $13k and another $17k, and the third would likely do its best to be competitive. Theyâre all very well-respected in their fields as well.
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Missouri University of Science & Technology: About 5500 undergrads in the town of Rolla (population 20k) and about 45m from Mark Twain National Forest. ABET-accredited in 16 different disciplines and offers a major in biomedical engineering. Sticker is $44k, but if your weighted GPA is a 3.85 or higher, then you would get $20k/year in merit here from its Groundbreaker Scholarship. Its NMSF package covers $12k of tuition, plus $7k toward housing for the first year, plus $1500 at the bookstore for technology and books. Since NMSF canât be combined with the Groundbreaker, you might want to speak to an admissions official as to whether the NMSF comes with a waiver of out-of-state fees. If so, in-state sticker is about $26k, so the $12k off tuition would bring this to $14k, and be only $7k the first year with the housing award. You would also be competitive for its Distinguished Scholars Award for out-of-state students which covers $30k/year. Thereâs also the Kummer Vanguard Scholarship which appears to stack on top of other scholarships, providing $1-3k/year (the scholarship estimator thinks you might get $3k). If you participate in its honors program, thereâs an additional $1k/year. Plus there are departmental scholarships you could apply for. So, depending on what your budget is, this could definitely be extremely likely to hit your price point. Iâd highly recommend reaching out to an admissions official to help figure out what your price might potentially look like.
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New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology: About 1200 undergrads in Socorro (population less than 10k). ABET-accredited in 9 different disciplines. Its B.S. in Biomedical Sciences might be of particular interest as it combines a science option (between biology, chemistry, or neuroscience) and engineering (biochemical, bioinformatics, biomechanics, or biomaterials) within its course of study. The major also includes a semester-long research project in science and a semester-long engineering design project. Sticker price is around $36k. You would receive the Presidential Scholarship ($6k/year) and I suspect would be extremely likely to receive the âCompetitive Scholarshipâ which would waive out-of-state fees (source). If you receive both then you would be looking at costs of about $13k/year.
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South Dakota School of Mines & Technology: About 2200 undergrads. ABET-accredited in 12 different disciplines, including biomedical engineering. The town has a population of less than 80k and is a gateway to Black Hills National Forest and is only about an hour from Badlands National Park. South Dakota has used a lot of its oil boom money to subsidizing higher education, so the sticker price is less than $24k/year. You would also qualify for an additional $7k in merit aid (source) bringing this schoolâs costs to about $17k/year.
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Thanks so much for all information.
My school is extremely competitive and a feeder school for IVYs and T5. My counselor thought my GPA and ranking is not strong enough because I spend too much time on my sports and chamber music so I need include some safe schools.
My parent can afford up to 40K a year. My hope is to get some help of FA or scholarship if possible. Thanks
And thatâs why you need to run net price calculators.
So the Ivies all meet need - and if theyâre not possible, others mentioned that next tier - the Case Westerns, Rochesters.
They all meet need. I also saw above suggestions like Grinnell (merit and meets need), Lafayette (merit and meets need), Rose Hulman (merit and will meet some need).
In my mind, you go to a school with engineering so you donât give up that option (or have to do a 5th year with years 4 and 5 elsewhere). But you have to decide.
At $40K, a ton of schools will work - not of the ilk you want - but tons will work - and those are worst case.
Heck, in your situation you can save the $160K at Tulsa - which has always been a solid school - sort of like Rochester is to Brown, Tulsa has been to Rice.
But you really need to decide what you want. Just because your school feeds to the top names doesnât mean you should go - in this sense - you want small, rural and nerdy - Columbia, Penn, Brown, Harvard, Yale, etc. - JHU as well - they are not that.
But first things first - whatever your schools, your folks need to do the net price calculators of each school. They are time consuming but if Harvard says you have to pay $80K, then you know you canât apply.
If they say you have to pay $20K, then you know you can.
So thatâs first thing.
If your folks make $80K, Iâd assume they have other income / savings to help - because otherwise I donât see how they can afford that much. So you might want to triple check with them.
But please use the net price calculators to help you determine the worthiness of apps to certain schools.
And please truly consider what you want - because if you donât like urban, why would you want to spend four years, day after day, in an urban environment - just because the name is big?
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But each college defines âneedâ its own way, so you need to run the net price calculator for each college to see what the likely net price will be.
Yes - thatâs why you need to run it for each.
for OP, hereâs a list of schools that meet need. Itâs 3rd party so itâs likely 96% correct but you can check each.
And match up with who has engineering.
For LACs, big names will be Bucknell, Lafayette, Union, and Trinity that come to mind.
Hereâs Every College That Offers 100% Financial Aid · PrepScholar
When you mentioned that you attended a top boarding school, I assumed your school was a âfeederâ for those types of schools. As top boarding schools can also be quite generous with financial aid, I wasnât sure of how much your family would be able to pay. Youâre very fortunate that your parents say they can pay $40k/year.
One thing to note about a âsafetyâ is that it will rarely have the same cachet as some of the other schools on oneâs list. The schools that most âtopâ kids want and that are on all of their lists? They all have tiny admit rates because of that. Then you have schools on the ânext tier down.â Those are schools that might be as high as a toss-up for you, but theyâre not necessarily a likely. Additionally, many of them are need-aware, meaning the amount of financial aid you need might affect whether they offer a decision of admission.
When youâre looking for your sure things, you need to be looking at schools that accept the majority of their applicants (and most colleges accept most of their applicants). You want to find the schools that either have a low sticker price and/or that have scholarships that you will automatically qualify for in order to ensure that a school is extremely likely to be affordable.
But take a look at the outcomes of the schools I mentioned. Or take a look at the outcomes of almost any state flagship. Look at the outcomes of other schools, even if you havenât heard about them. Top students will end up going places.
Youâve mentioned med school as a potential interest. Most med schools look at your GPA and MCAT scores (plus clinical experiences). The name of your undergraduate institution means very little. Med school, however, is extremely expensive (youâll probably be looking at $100k/year), and scholarships are virtually unheard of. So spending less on undergrad in order to have more for medical school is a very reasonable (in fact, often the recommended) action.
Okay, you have a budget of $40k. UMich should be eliminated. Realize that UIUC will be a big reach to get that price point, as will Georgia Tech and Purdue. They offer few merit scholarships, and their sticker prices are all north of $40k. If the NPC at UVA doesnât come back as affordable, then eliminate it, too.
Some additional options you may want to investigate include:
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Bucknell (PA ): About 3800 undergrads in a more rural area of Pennsylvania, but not necessarily a âquietâ school.
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Gannon (PA ): About 3100 undergrads in Erie (pop. under 100k)
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Miami U. (OH): About 17k attend this âpublic Ivy.â The town of Oxford has a population of less than $20k.
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Michigan Tech: About 5700 undergrads in the upper peninsula of MI and youâd probably get at least $17k in merit here.
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Mississippi State: About 18k undergrads in rural MS and youâd get very big merit aid here
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Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5900 undergrads in a suburb of Albany.
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Washington State: About 23k undergrads and your NMSF recognition means that you would get free tuition. Pullman has a population of about 32k.
Youâve also been given a number of other great recommendations that you should check out, especially Rose-Hulman and Clarkson.
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There are many options with an up-to-40K budget. Many OOS publics wonât discount enough (GT and UMich for example⊠Purdue might be possible but itâll more likely land above 40K). But some definitely will. If you donât want to go too far from home, you should have good options in the SUNY system. SUNY New Paltz, for example, is a smaller campus (6000 undergrads) in a lovely rural-ish small town setting, and they have solid engineering programs in several disciplines in addition to life sciences. They participate in the Tuition Match program which includes NJ, so the cost would be the same as Rutgers at most, and additional merit is possible. (And the smaller SUNYâs have their own D3 athletic league, which can be great in terms of keeping travel obligations manageable.) SUNY Binghamton is a smaller but excellent flagship university (14K undergrads) with a small but excellent engineering school (300-something grads per year), in a rural setting. They donât participate in the formal flagship match program, but theyâre almost certain to offer you enough merit with your stats.
Another full-ride possibility, closer to home, is the University of Maine, where the Presidential Flagship award goes up to a full ride for National Merit Scholars. UMaine is rural and has under 10K undergrads, with a well-respected engineering school. Popular premed engineering options include biomedical engineering and engineering physics; thereâs a Pre-Medical Studies Minor that covers the med school prereqs.
How much would the most generous full-need-met schools cost you - would the price be up near your 40K maximum, or significantly lower?
If your long term goal is medicine, keep in mind that minimizing med school debt will have an impact on your quality of life for years to come. If your parents are willing to bank that up-to-$120K undergrad budget for your medical education, it could really make sense to take advantage of one of the full-ride options that you have earned with your National Merit level test score. It seems as if some of them might allow you to compete in your sport too, although of course I canât tell without knowing whether these specific schools have your sport and if theyâd be a fit recruiting-wise. But certainly check out those possibilities.
An in-state option to consider, if youâre sure you want medicine, is TCNJâs 7-year BSMD Seven-Year Medical Program | Department of Biology Major options for students in the accelerated program include biomedical engineering and CS.
Your interest in chamber music highlights Rochester and CWRU as great places for non-major musicians. (But itâs hard to say how theyâd look affordability-wise - run the NPCâs.) Of course, JHU has great music opportunities too, which Iâd guess is one of the reasons it appeals to you. Keep in mind, though, that a pre-med engineering student with both athletic and performing arts commitments is likely to need a clone⊠reality is that you probably canât do it all.
Top prep schools have great college advising, but the counselors may grow accustomed to full-pay students who arenât price-sensitive, whereas being price-sensitive, even within your budget range, may make a lot of sense for you⊠and you have some very good options that would be free or close-to-free.
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That was exactly what I was coming here to say.
WPI would be small, nerdy and a safety. Not rural, though. You might get merit+FA within your range. Depending on your sport, you have time to contact coaches as they donât recruit very early. Itâs also a place where walkons arenât unheard of.
St. Olaf is small, nerdy and rural and probably within budget with FA+merit. Good for pre-med/bio but engineering is just a general engineering studies concentration (non ABET). Depending on where you go to BS, it may actually seem too small (It did to my BS kid).
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