For these schools you would need to be in the top 10 percent or above to have a good shot, also keep in mind that the majority would be in the top 5 percent.
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I see only UMASS as likely.
Thereâs so many great schools out there and you can do pre med anywhere.
Maybe a Miami of Ohio. Maybe an Indiana as a Wisconsin sub. Denver or more a high target low reach but U of Miami as a mid size. Brandeis is a bit smaller but better odds.
An Oregon or Arizona instead of Washington - or in addition to.
Really many great schools but you likely need to go lower in selectivity.
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Another approach if you want to aim high for your GPA and youâre sure you want a STEM-oriented education is to consider the STEM-heavy schools that are always trying to decrease their majority-male gender imbalance and thus are a bit less competitive for female applicants. Stevens, for example, would be a match Pre-Professional and Accelerated Programs | Stevens Institute of Technology, and RPI would be a high match Medical School Preparation | Science at Rensselaer. Clarkson would be a low-match/safety Pre-Medical Track | Clarkson University, and they have lots of health-related programs and an Early Acceptance program with LECOM. WPI would be a match/high-match https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/pre-professional/pre-health, and they have Early Acceptance with LECOM as well - plus theyâre in the same small city with UMass Medical School and its hospital, and thereâs even a cross-registration agreement with the med school. All of these schools would prepare you well for a science research career as well as for med school. The downside of a school like RPI is that the grading can be tough, which can make it harder to get the GPA you need for med school admissions. But youâd get a top-notch STEM education at any of these, and being female is likely to tip admissions decisions in your favor. And theyâre all highly-regarded destinations.
I also think Brandeis is a great suggestion. And if womenâs colleges would work, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, and Smith (ascending order of reachiness) could all be worth a look - all have consortium opportunities. To combine a flagship U with a womenâs residential college with very strong Women-In-STEM advocacy, mentoring, and opportunities, consider the Douglass Residential College at Rutgers. https://douglass.rutgers.edu/
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As a self pay premed CA resident, your best choice is an in state public, since med school may be well over 400k. Unless your class rank is top 5%, your chances at the schools your reaches mentioned are not grrat, plus they will cost you 90k a year.
Best to go to any public 4 yr in CA that you can get into, that suits you, get a high gpa and high mcat, while also assembling the ECs desired by med schools: research, clinical hours, volunteer work. You can get into top med schools coming from any 4 yr college,.
Remember, most premeds do not wind up in med school. Have a backup plan.
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Thank you for your detailed response and thoughtful questions.
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What size classes do you prefer? - As small as possible.
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What size school do you prefer? I realize I like a mid sized school, something not too small & nothing too big
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How do you feel about Greek life (fraternities/sororities)? I donât care about it. As long as itâs not a huge part of the scene - since I donât know if I would fit into that scene
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How do you feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports? - I am okay with that, but donât care much for sports.
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Will climate, politics, or religion play a role in your college decision? If so, how? I think I would prefer larger urban areas which I think might get a blend of ideas but I also want there to be some Asian/indian student body.
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Are there areas of the country you prefer, or prefer to avoid? None really, but Iâd prefer to be in urban areas, accessible to an airport that has direct flights to the SF Bay Area.
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Are there any other interests youâd like to pursue that you havenât mentioned yet? I love Indian dance, and if there is a team or club on campus for Indian dances, I would love that!
Iâm seeing many schools with a Bollywood dance team (hopefully I got that right) but they seem to be big - or outside your grades - MIT, Johns Hopkins, Purdue (you could get to but big - they won some big contest). You can see names below.
You can get mid size schools listed above from others and google them and for dance teams to see if they have. Purdueâs practices multiple hours a day, multiple times per week as an example- so itâs serious business.
âNew York â If the University of California unleashes its wildly popular Hindi film dance competition âBollywood Berkleyâ in February, then Harvard has its own âRaunakâ show. The South Asian student-run Tamasha festival in New York bills itself as the âgrandmotherâ of all free-form, Bollywood-style, fusion dance contests. It recently hosted a match-up with 11 teams with 10 to 20 dancers from Brown, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, Temple, Columbia and Dartmouth.â
Bollywood dance teams rank in first competitions | Campus | purdueexponent.org
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Bollywood dance teams/clubs seem somewhat more common than classical Indian dance teams/groups, but some schools have multiple styles, such as RPI:
RPI Rudras
RPI Bhangra
RPI Rounak
and Rutgers:
RU Natya
RU Tamasha
What type of Indian dance are you looking for?
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I was on my schoolâs Bollywood Dance team and thatâs what I am most interested in.
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A few more, in that case:
Brandeis Chak De!
WPI Rangeela
RIT Zindagi
URochester Rangoli (URoch would be a reach, but not an unrealistic reach; fantastic for life sciences research)
CWRU Kismat (Same as URoch - a reach but worth a try - demonstrated interest is very important)
Mount Holyoke Jhumka
Loyola Chicago Naach (Could be an appealing mid-sized urban safety)
UTD Laksh (UT-Dallas is very strong in STEM and is 40% Asian. You might be able to get into the Honors College.)
SUNY Buffalo Zeal (Another urban public U with very strong STEM and a great Honors College)
Cal Poly Pomona Tamanna (Check out CPPâs Biotechnology major)
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Couple of other options to explore (on the likelier side of the admissions spectrum):
- University of Utah, which is known to be good for pre-med, smaller than a lot of other state flagships, offers WUE discounts for qualified students (bringing the cost down quite a bit), and is a direct flight from a major airport back to the Bay Area.
- University of Minnesota, which is easier to access than a lot of other midwestern flagship universities, located in a great city, close to a major airport, solid research opportunities.
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If you want small classes, then you will generally either need a smaller school or to be in the honors program at a bigger college.
Most of these schools have already been mentioned (@aquapt has done an amazing job!), but I didnât want to leave you hanging after your thoughtful replies to my questions. Thus, these are some other schools that you may want to consider. Most of them would be likely or extremely likely admits, with only a couple of toss-ups in the bunch.
In order for me to list the school it needed to have at least 10% of its undergraduates identifying as Asian and have the geographic parameters you presented.
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Chapman (CA): About 7900 undergrads with 16% identifying as Asian
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DePaul (IL): About 14k undergrads in Chicago with 12% identifying as Asian
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Illinois Institute of Technology: About 3100 undergrads with 16% identifying as Asian and another 19% as U.S. nonresidents (aka international), many of which are likely to come from Asia.
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Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads with 13% identifying as Asian
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Loyola Marymount (CA): About 7300 undergrads with 10% identifying as Asian
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Pacific Lutheran (WA): About 2300 undergrads in Tacoma with 11% identifying as Asian
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Saint Louis (MO): About 11k undergrads with 10% identifying as Asian
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Santa Clara (CA): About 6100 undergrads with 21% identifying as Asian
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Seattle Pacific (WA): About 2400 undergrads with 15% identifying as Asian
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Seattle U. (WA): One of my original suggestions with about 4k undergrads and 25% identifying as Asian
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St. Catherine (MN): A womenâs college in Saint Paul with about 2400 undergrads, 13% of whom identify as Asian. Itâs also part of a consortium that allows students to take classes at other area colleges.
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U. of Portland (OR): About 20% of the 3400 undergrads identify as Asian
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U. of San Francisco (CA): About 26% of its 6k undergrads identify as Asian
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U. of the Pacific (CA): About 35% of its 3300 undergrads identify as Asian
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U. of Texas â Dallas: About 22k undergrads and 41% identify as Asian. This campus reputedly has a much more academicky feel than the other U. of Texas campuses.
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U. of Houston (TX): About 38k undergrads with 24% identifying as Asian.
I think youâd have a shot at honors at UTD and/or at UH.
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However, the pre-med courses will often be among the larger class sizes at a college, since pre-med is popular and biology as a major is popular.
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Itâs 3.8 (weighted uncapped) using this calculator and 3.7 (weighted capped)
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Since this seemed to be a definite preference for you, I went ahead and looked up the percentage of classes by size at the schools I mentioned earlier using this aggregator (and USNWR if the aggregator didnât include the schoolâŠgenerally the schools that have a info to a tenth of a point).
Itâs always best practice to check a schoolâs Common Data Set to verify info from an aggregator, and in this particular case itâs extremely helpful because youâll get even more of a breakdown, like fewer than 10 students, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, and then 50+. Since a class with 25 kids feels very different than a class with 45, it would definitely help to get a better sense of scale in the classes.
Also, there are ways that some schools try to âgameâ this calculation, but until youâre able to visit the campus and/or talk to students about what their experiences are really like, this is the best that can be done to get a sense of class sizes.
Sorted by percentage of classes with 50+ students (smallest to largest percentage)
| School | Classes Under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 44% | 56% | 0% |
| U. of Portland | 50% | 50% | 0% |
| Agnes Scott | 75% | 25% | 0% |
| Loyola Marymount | 57% | 42% | 1% |
| Seattle U. | 69% | 30% | 1% |
| U. of San Francisco | 43% | 56% | 1% |
| Pacific Lutheran | 51.5% | 47.4% | 1.1% |
| Seattle Pacific | 58.4% | 40% | 1.7% |
| St. Catherine | 77.8% | 20.6% | 1.7% |
| DePaul | 42% | 56% | 2% |
| Chapman | 46% | 51% | 3% |
| Loyola Chicago | 40% | 57% | 4% |
| Creighton | 47% | 47% | 6% |
| U. of the Pacific | 44.3% | 48.8% | 6.9% |
| Saint Louis | 39% | 54% | 7% |
| U. of Denver | 55% | 38% | 7% |
| Cal State - Chico | 37% | 55.9% | 7.1% |
| U. of New Mexico | 48.8% | 41.2% | 9.9% |
| Illinois Institute of Tech | 49% | 39% | 12% |
| U. of Houston | 34% | 45% | 21% |
| UT-Dallas | 21% | 52% | 27% |
Sorted by percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students (largest to smallest percentage)
| School | Classes Under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catherine | 77.8% | 20.6% | 1.7% |
| Agnes Scott | 75% | 25% | 0% |
| Seattle U. | 69% | 30% | 1% |
| Seattle Pacific | 58.4% | 40% | 1.7% |
| Loyola Marymount | 57% | 42% | 1% |
| U. of Denver | 55% | 38% | 7% |
| Pacific Lutheran | 51.5% | 47.4% | 1.1% |
| U. of Portland | 50% | 50% | 0% |
| Illinois Institute of Tech | 49% | 39% | 12% |
| U. of New Mexico | 48.8% | 41.2% | 9.9% |
| Creighton | 47% | 47% | 6% |
| Chapman | 46% | 51% | 3% |
| U. of the Pacific | 44.3% | 48.8% | 6.9% |
| Santa Clara | 44% | 56% | 0% |
| U. of San Francisco | 43% | 56% | 1% |
| DePaul | 42% | 56% | 2% |
| Loyola Chicago | 40% | 57% | 4% |
| Saint Louis | 39% | 54% | 7% |
| Cal State - Chico | 37% | 55.9% | 7.1% |
| U. of Houston | 34% | 45% | 21% |
| UT-Dallas | 21% | 52% | 27% |
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If you have the numbers handy, could you throw in Brandeis, MoHo, WPI, RPI, RIT, and CPP for comparison? (And maybe Rutgers, URoch, CWRU, SUNY-Buff if youâre feeling extra-thorough, lol⊠sorry, canât look stuff up myself at the momentâŠ)
Perhaps more useful would be checking each collegeâs schedule to see if it lists class sizes and what they are for typical premed courses like general chemistry, general biology, organic chemistry, general physics, and biochemistry.
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However, at a highly-resourced smaller college, even introductory biology classes may be capped at 30 students.
Your GPA is going to be your biggest hurdle unless you have a good reason for the drop in GPA in 10th grade that you can explain.
Having said that here are some colleges I would add:
Santa Clara (If you like this college ED has a big advantage here)
Case western (Since you liked Hospital close to Emory. Case has multiple hospitals close to it. ED will give a boost here also)
In state Cal Poly Pomona or some of the other CSUâs will be good. If you are in Santa Clara county SJSU can also me added as you get a location boost.
With the UCâs UCR and UCM are your best bets though you never know with the UCâs. This year some kids with lower GPAâs did get into some of them got into UCB if they had good ECâS
Good luck.
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Here are the additional schools that @aquapt requested. Same caveats about using an aggregator and how colleges report their class sizes.
Sorted by classes of 50+ (smallest to largest):
| School | Classes under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Holyoke | 76% | 24% | 1% |
| RIT | 48% | 48% | 5% |
| Brandeis | 60% | 30% | 10% |
| RPI | 54% | 36% | 10% |
| WPI | 64% | 24% | 12% |
| U. of Rochester | 66% | 22% | 13% |
| Case Western | 50% | 37% | 13% |
| Cal Poly - Pomona | 20% | 65% | 15% |
| Rutgers | 41% | 40% | 19% |
| SUNY-Buffalo | 40% | 42% | 19% |
Sorted by percentage of classes with fewer than 20 (largest to smallest):
| School | Classes under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Holyoke | 76% | 24% | 1% |
| U. of Rochester | 66% | 22% | 13% |
| WPI | 64% | 24% | 12% |
| Brandeis | 60% | 30% | 10% |
| RPI | 54% | 36% | 10% |
| Case Western | 50% | 37% | 13% |
| RIT | 48% | 48% | 5% |
| Rutgers | 41% | 40% | 19% |
| SUNY-Buffalo | 40% | 42% | 19% |
| Cal Poly - Pomona | 20% | 65% | 15% |
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But note that because large classes are larger, a student is likely to have a higher percentage of large classes than the percentages listed.
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