I feel like I am selling myself short

College Search & Lists
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<p>So after X number of months anticipating this very moment, I can honestly say I feel very underwhelmed. However, I still have some time to maybe make up for some of this emptiness. </p>

<p>So let’s start off with my stats</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian
State of Residence: Don’t wanna say because my state isn’t big at all, and it doesn’t send many students to top colleges, and I don’t want to risk my identity (hope you all understand)
ACT: 35
SAT IIs: 800s on both Math II and Bio M
GPA: 4.0 (We don’t do weighted but I have taken around 13 AP Classes and will test on 8 of them)
Class Rank: Top 1% out of around 700 (1/around 700 on my transcript, and probably still am 1 (just don’t wanna jinx myself))
EC’s: Hospital Volunteering (Volunteered at the pharmacy, oncology clinic, physical therapy, etc.) 400 hours, Doctor Shadowing 70 hours, Helped conduct research for local oncology clinic for about 100 hours, Attended some Medical Programs at the hospital for 40 hours</p>

<p>Clubs: President of Class, Leader of the chess club (I am a nerdy gangster), Captain of the Math/Academic team, Won some robotics competition in the state, won several regional academic and math competitions (not a big deal), came 2nd at a state Math competition</p>

<p>Awards besides from the ones I got from my club: I got several school awards for highest average in classes and leadership but it’s not anything major, AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>I didn’t get NMSF because, well, after my 10th grade score I thought I had NMSF in the bag, and consequentially I stopped studying, and unfortunately, I forgot the SAT is not the ACT and that you must revisit vocabulary words (huge run-on sentence; please ignore)</p>

<p>EFC: Well, I initially thought my EFC would be around 40K due to my parent’s income of around 150K, but it actually turned out to be 32K</p>

<p>Now, colleges I have currently applied/am thinking about applying for
NYU CAS(Strongly considering EDII after finding out you can withdraw application if FA is trash)
Northeastern University (RD)
Boston College (RD)
State University (Already secured a whole bunch of scholarship for)</p>

<p>I was planning on going to NYU if they gave me a good FA package (COA of around 35K), and if not, I would just go to my State University</p>

<p>As you can see, I have applied to 3 colleges so far and am going to apply to NYU soon.</p>

<p>I can see myself at NYU because it fits my type of personality (independent, liberal, open-minded, and my love for NYC), but my parents keep telling me that I have such great stats and that I am selling myself short by applying EDII to NYU. They think I should not apply EDII to NYU and instead start applying to Ivies and other high-reach schools. </p>

<p>My concern with this I have no idea about the Ivy League mentality. Of course, I know they are great schools, but I don’t know anything about their student body and how diverse it is. So, would you guys mind filling me in on the mentality at Ivy league and how it would blend with my personality (independent, liberal, open-minded, love the city, hate rural, extremely helpful (do not want to see anyone fail ever))</p>

<p>Also, suppose by the rare chance I get accepted into an Ivy, how hard is it to maintain a graduate worthy GPA. </p>

<p>I don’t know how this post sounds, but I guess everyone is just telling me that I am selling myself short (even teachers say, oh NYU, why not top 10 colleges). I was satisfied with just NYU, but now, I’m starting to second guess myself. </p>

<p>Any good suggestions on how I should handle the pressure, and also some more college selections? </p>

<p>Once again, I want an open community, big city life, academically challenging but also rewarding curriculum, and just an overall great time. </p>

<p>Plz halp :P</p>

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<p>Oh yeah, guys, because the questions are not obvious in the post, here they are</p>

<p>Here’s also a TL;DR - Want to apply to NYU EDII, people are saying why not reach higher and research more, I am now researching more :P</p>

<p>Also, realize I am by no means assuming I will get into a higher reach school or even NYU (let’s hope I get into NYU though :smiley: </p>

<p>1.So, would you guys mind filling me in on the mentality at Ivy league and how it would blend with my personality (independent, liberal, open-minded, love the city, hate rural, extremely helpful (do not want to see anyone fail ever))</p>

<p>2.Also, suppose by the rare chance I get accepted into an Ivy, how hard is it to maintain a graduate worthy GPA.</p>

<p>3.Any good suggestions on how I should handle the pressure, and also some more college selections?</p>

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<p>It looks like you have found a college that interest you and others are telling you that you should aim higher but you aren’t sure where and are not enthusiastic about this.</p>

<p>My concern about NYU is that I have heard from others that it is not the best with need based financial aid. The Ivys are known to be, so if you qualify for financial aid they may be better in that respect. This is something to get more information about as I not the most familiar.</p>

<p>It is good that you have your state college as an affordable option already, and you have some schools like Boston College and Norteastern where the chance of acceptance is higher than Ivys.</p>

<p>The issue is whether to apply ED 2 or take your chances. That is up to you. One thing that may change your decision is to investigate what your cost to attend NYU is. If it is not affordable then that may take it off the choices. </p>

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<p>I would say you’ve got a very good shot at NYU. Question is: if you don’t get enough financial aid, can you still go? And if not, are you happy with your state school option? Ivies do have the reputation for better financial aid. You might throw a Columbia or Penn in the mix (both urban, liberal, etc) - but the deadlines for RD are Jan. 1st I believe and both require supplemental essays so you’d need to get cracking. It does sound like you’ve got your heart set on NYU though … Good luck.</p>

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<p>Every Ivy League school has a different personality so it’s good that you are looking into that aspect of them. If you like NYU for the reasons you’ve listed I agree with 4Gulls that you should try Columbia University. Harvard is an option also, again given your list of reasons for liking NYU, although I’m not so sure they care all that much as a whole about success or failure of individual students, you might find a special teacher or two that you connect with who would care.</p>

<p>My opinion of the personalities of some of the Ivies - Harvard and Princeton are the most uptight, Brown the most laid back, Yale surprisingly close to Brown in that respect. My family’s experience with Dartmouth is that it’s just weird and very rural. Don’t know much about Penn.</p>

<p>I do think you might be unhappy with BC and Northeastern, how about other not quite Ivies, just in case NYU doesn’t work out financially? </p>

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<p>For sure, different Ivies have different personalities. </p>

<p>DS is at Columbia and he is having a great time socially but he and others also work very hard. He loves the core curriculum there and loves to talk about ideas, the readings everyone is doing. And, yes, he loves NYC.</p>

<p>Brown has an open curriculum and, purportedly, the most chill student body of the Ivies. Providence is not a big city but it’s a nice one and you can take mass transit to Boston, etc.</p>

<p>Penn sounds like a potential option, too. Philly is a good city, lots of music and art, and the area around Penn has a good college feel. It used to be an unsafe area but isn’t now. They have a strong orientation toward service and like people who cross fields in interests. </p>

<p>All have much better FA than NYU typically does. </p>

<p>Why not go for it? With your stats, ECs and geographic advantage, you are competitive. Just make sure you do a good job with the supplements or it will be a waste of time. Make them interesting, well crafted bits of writing and make sure you understand the qualities of these particular schools and what they’re looking for.</p>

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<p>You also might want to Google “USNWR colleges that meet full need” and see if there are other options beyond the Ivies that interest you. There are LACs at least near cities that offer great aid, and some other universities. </p>

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<p>You certainly should consider some Ivys, but don’t stop there. Some excellent non-Ivy schools to consider as well: Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, WashU (has a Jan 15 deadline), Carnegie Mellon. Run the NPC to see if the aid at these schools works out. NYU is not very good on aid.</p>

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<p>You are very likely going to get into NYU (can’t imagine that you wouldn’t if your essays are solid, etc.). I would not ED there. Do RD at NYU and some additional colleges. If you can get to the library today, grab a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges and read up on some additional options. I agree that Northwestern, Wash U, CMU all would be good options. See where you get in, what the FA packages look like, and attend some accepted student days before deciding.</p>

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<p>I’ll also add UChicago as a school you should consider applying to. As someone who grew up in NYC, I think that the city of Chicago has a similar vibe. College admissions at the ultra-selective level is a crapshoot, but you certainly have both the academics and the ECs/awards to be competitive at the highest level. If for no other reason than to compare FA packages, I think you are making a mistake to do ED2 at NYU. If you are absolutely determined to by in NYC, then give Columbia a shot. One of my kids went there and took advantage of all the city had to offer.</p>

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<p>nothing like letting this go to the last second. some practical considerations: admissions deadlines are next week for ivies. can you still get letters of rec and transcripts out of your high school over winter break? will any of the ivies accept transcripts and letters after their application deadline? </p>

<p>I’d agree with Columbia, Chicago, and Harvard. Secure that information about whether or not they will accept later transcripts and recs before close of business TODAY so you can work on your apps over the weekend.</p>

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<p>You can certainly get into NYU if you apply RD, but you shouldn’t let others dictate your decision. You could certainly apply to other schools RD and take the remaining time to do research, visit, and talk to current students. I imagine Colombia wouldn’t be too far of a reach, but you should pay attention to whether their curriculum appeals to you.</p>

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<p>Thanks guys for all the feedback! So much appreciated. I have talked it over with my family and they agree that if I am excited about attending NYU, then I should attend if offered acceptance and a financial package that is affordable. They don’t want me feeling stressed about being urged to go somewhere in which I know very minimal about. We also both agree that being in an unexpected, forced environment may not be good for allowing my mind to adapt and actually enjoy college. Also, I would be more than happy to go to my state school if things don’t work out with the financial package. </p>

<p>Also @amtc, I understand that I might be unhappy at Boston College but why Northeastern? I haven’t really did much research on Northeastern other than finding out that they give a reasonable amount of merit scholarship and that their average ACT/SAT equivalent score is around a 31-32. </p>

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<p>May I suggest the following strategy for pre med. Medical school acceptance is based on GPA, MCAT, Interview and demonstrated interest in medicine.</p>

<p>Med School is expensive, NYU medical school COA is about $78,000 per year. One good strategy is to minimize the cost of the undergraduate education. </p>

<p>SUNY’s are a good example of a lower COA college. Have you considered other colleges that would love to have your demographics and stats as part of their incoming class? How about University of Alabama, your stats would qualify you for a Presidential scholarship which would pay for your OOS tuition. Net Cost: Room and Board about $12,000. How about College of Wooster, Denison, or other CTCL and similar schools that would offer Merit Aid.</p>

<p>GPA: I suggest that you consider schools where you would be the " Big Fish in the little pond". I suspect that you are not the only pre-med attending NYU or an Ivy. I would imagine the competition to be severe.</p>

<p>Undergraduate research: I suggest looking at schools where you will have research opportunities. This will provide you a chance to build relationships with your professors and the advising committee.</p>

<p>There are so many different types of experiences and opportunities available. It is not just limited to a handful of colleges. Take the time to research and expand your mind to the many possibilities.</p>

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<p>Why bother with Northeastern and Boston College if your top two choices are NYU and the state university that you have already presumably been admitted to with “a whole bunch of scholarship”?</p>

<p>Have you run the net price calculator for NYU? A test run on it for income >$99,999 gave a net price of $51,757 after $10,150 in grants. See <a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/financial.aid/misc/npc/”>Estimate Your Cost; . Since this is significantly greater than your target net price, it would not be a good idea to apply ED, since you would have to back out.</p>

<p>However, NYU does have some merit scholarships. Applying ED may cause them to be less likely to give you a scholarship, since they may assume that they do not need to throw scholarship money at you to lure you.</p>

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<p>It is a bit of a pity to be doing this at the last minute. Since you have your solid instate option you could have more explored colleges that excite you. I don’t think it is a matter of selling self short–it is up to you to fin and take advantage of opportunities wherever you la d. But there are some bonuses about some of the schools in the top. And there is the matter of finding something really right for you rather than just applying where you don’t know too much. However, if you put a few extra applications in now, you will have a few months to explore those colleges and get to know them. An application isn’t a commitment unless you ED.</p>

<p>I don’t think you should ED at NYU because a) you will have to take or leave the financial package without comparing and they are well known for having bad packages except in certain specific circumstances which you don’t meet, and b) you will likely get accepted RD. But no guarantees. Did you run the NPC for NYU and the other colleges? Colleges don’t give you up to your EFC, that is just the federal figure. NYU doesn’t even promise to meet need, so you could be easily ‘gapped’ and left to pay the entire thing. Or you could just get crummy aid, or surprise decent aid. Run the Net Price Calculators if you didn’t.</p>

<p>As far a the culture of the school and student body itself, I think you would like Yale and Brown. But you might not like the location as much as Columbia, which would also seem like a no brainer for a reach school for you as long as you understand the Core. Some students do not want the Core. That also is an issue at Chicago, but the Core is done differently at those 2 colleges. There is also Barnard but you sound like a dude. Brown is a pretty good place to be a premed if that is where you are heading, they also have PLME the 8 year program where you are pre-admitted to the med school but I doubt you would have time to write those essays for that program. Brown has a wonderful cooperative culture rather than an ultra competitive one that is built into some of the way they administer the college as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the departments and that trickles down to student life. And there is abundant opportunities for undergraduate research because of the small grad school all profs work with undergrads on research. Brown is in a smaller city, but it is a city. Has access to Boston in one hour but not same as living there.</p>

<p>People seem to love BC, but if you like NYU you might like BU too. You might like Northwestern, but it is suburban with easy access to Chicago. Hum, so many colleges to discuss.</p>

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<p>I think you might like BU too. </p>

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<p>@BrownParent I just researched some more about Brown, and after researching, I just now applied :)… Will definitely do more research on it though. Sounds like a great community and something I would love to be a part of. </p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus, NEU may turn out to be less expensive (net) than NYU and more desirable than the state schools.</p>

<p>The calculus may change over the next few months so more options is better than less, IMO.</p>

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<p>You can always make more visits in the next couple of months. Get the applications in and go take a look at some more schools. I actually agree with those around you – you can do better than NYU.</p>