Match a confused intl. student to US colleges [4.0 UW, 1520 SAT for Biochemistry or BME]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics
International student

  • Type of high school* Medium sized private school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Middle Eastern
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None

Intended Major(s)
Biochemistry/Biomedical engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.5 junior year, 4.17 cumulative.
  • Class Rank: Salutatorian
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 (770M/750RW)

Coursework

Already taken: Honors Precalc 11, Honors Chemistry11, Honors English 9/10, APUSH, AP Biology, AP English Lang. (No APs offered until junior year).
Registered for AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics 1, AP English Lit, AP CSA, and AP Psych my senior year.

Awards
Best Delegate at 2 national MUN conferences.

Extracurriculars

President of school’s medical club.

Volunteered at a children’s hospital.

Raised $48,000 to donate health supplies and living necessities for those in need in a 1 month long fundraiser project.

Summer Camp counselor

Shadowed an oral and maxillofacial surgeon

Participated in 2 international MUN conferences (Harvard MUN, THIMUN) and around 6 national conferences

Essays/LORs/Other

LOR from bio teacher (10/10) taught me for 2 years, and knows me extremely well.
LOR from chem teacher (8/10) same as bio but not as close to him.
LOR from surgeon (8/10) might add this as a supplemental letter, not sure tho.

Cost Constraints / Budget
-No budget, our government pays for us in full

Please match me and give some advice and recommendations to improve my application.

2

Not enough information.

  1. Do you want a large or smaller college?
  2. Geographically, where would you like to be?
  3. Urban/suburban/rural….what is your preference?
  4. What do you hope to do with this major?
3

I’d prefer smaller colleges but large colleges are also fine. I am not looking at any states in particular, and location is not a priority for me. I would prefer urban areas though. I might either continue to earn a PhD, but there is a slight chance that I might study medicine later on if I decide to (back in my country probably).

9

That’s not a slight problem. It’s a huge one. You need to make sure you will be able to do this. @WayOutWestMom might be able to comment.

Please help guide us here. There are 3000 or so colleges in the United States…

10

The New England region, California (SoCal specifically), Pennsylvania, and maybe even Michigan are areas I’d like. Med school is very unlikely to happen though, and if I want to go I can just attend the med school in my home country because I understand that entering a US medical school as an Intl. is almost impossible.

1 Like
11

Courtesy of another poster, you might want to use this resource and look up BME, as it is not the sort of thing offered everywhere:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jonboeckenstedt/viz/BachelorsDegreesAwardedin2022/Dashboard1

Biochemistry is tricky because it can be a concentration rather than a major, or go by different names. But I believe all the colleges I name below have both available in at least some form.

OK, so smaller colleges, urban, and BME is going to be a tough combination.

One (popular) idea would be Pitt, which is not really small but at least not too big, strong in Bioengineering (with various tracks) and Biochemistry, and in a great location in a cool city. Your fields are also very big at Case Western, which is medium-sized and in Cleveland. Rochester in the city of the same name, also medium-sized. Marquette in Milwaukee, again medium-sized. Delaware is in a college town, Newark, but very easy to get into Philadelphia. Drexel is in Philadelphia.

Boston University is a leader in BME–tough admit because it is in the Boston area, but still might be a good choice for a reach. CMU, also in Pittsburgh, tough admit just because it is a very highly-ranked school. WUSTL, in St Louis, again a tough admit just in general. Rice in Houston, same deal. Hopkins and Penn, obviously very tough admits.

So those are some ideas I think worth checking out.

1 Like
12

Congratulations on your strong profile so far! @NiceUnparticularMan has already provided several suggestions that I think you would do well to look into. I focused on schools that are likelier (i.e. I think you would have at least a 20% chance of admission, and for almost all of these, significantly higher chances than that). Many of these are in big cities, and if they’re not, then they’re in locations with most modern amentiies (i.e. not in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization).

  • Case Western (OH): About 6k undergrads in Cleveland
  • Duquesne (PA ): About 5100 undergrads in Pittsburgh
  • Fairfield (CT): About 4800 undergrads
  • Illinois Institute of Technology: About 3100 undergrads in Chicago
  • Lehigh (PA ): About 5600 undergrads
  • Marquette (WI): About 7500 undergrads in Milwaukee
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology: About 9k undergrads
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5900 undergrads
  • Santa Clara (CA): About 6100 undergrads
  • Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ): About 4100 undergrads and just across the river from New York City
  • Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads
  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
  • Worcester Polytechnic (MA): About 5200 undergrads
4 Likes
13

URochester is a particularly strong prospect here. Not only is it a very strong school for both BME and life sciences, but it also has an unusually high percentage of international students (about one in four undergrads are international). URoch relies on full-pay international dollars to fund their financial aid for domestic students, so a student like you, with both a strong record and full government funding to attend, will be an attractive candidate there.

Northeastern is another school that favors full-pay international undergrads. It’s reachier than Rochester (mostly because the Boston location is in higher demand) but certainly possible with your stats. The co-op model would allow you to access US work experience. And they have a combined Bioengineering/Biochem major that could be a good starting point - you could stay in the combined major, or shift into either of the single majors if you find you prefer one over the other. Bioengineering and Biochemistry, BSBioE | Northeastern University Academic Catalog Great urban setting; it’s a little larger (16K undergrads), but with a very manageably-sized campus. Also in the Boston area, Tufts could be a great reach school as well, and they also have a combined-degree option https://engineering.tufts.edu/bme/current-students/undergraduate-program

Lots of great smaller options if you don’t need to keep the engineering option open, but tougher to find BME at smaller schools. AustenNut already mentioned some of the best options in that regard. There’s also Trinity College in Hartford, CT, which offers a general engineering major with a BME concentration. This is another urban school, with about 2200 undergrads.

Marquette was mentioned - there’s also Milwaukee School of Engineering in the same city (which has a lot to offer!) with around 2600 undergrads - great for engineering, and they have both BME and chemical/biomolecular engineering, but they do not have non-engineering life science majors.

Good luck! Lots of great possibilities for you, if you can narrow down what you’re looking for.

4 Likes
14

Why is potentially wanting to study medicine later on a huge problem?

15

You need to find out if holding a bachelors degree from HERE will preclude you from enrolling in medical school in your home country in the future.

@WayOutWestMom

16

Why is potentially wanting to study medicine later on a huge problem?

Not all countries offer a graduate entry option for medical school.

In many (most?) countries, students begin med school immediately after finishing high school.

There may also be an issue with their home country’s med schools recognizing/accepting an undergrad degree from the US.

US medical schools will not accept undergrad degrees earned outside of the US or Canada (The US and Canada share an accreditation system.)

17

You’ve gotten some great suggestions for schools. I think you should also check out Syracuse. It’s in a city, it’s mid-sized, it offers a lot of student support, I think you’d be accepted, and it offers your majors of interest.

1 Like
18

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.