Note 1: Hello! Its been a while since ive been on here and I wanted to thank everyone for sticking with me. Since common app opened and I got more info, I feel a lot more comfortable and informed than I was on my last posts. Thank you!
Note 2: I am aware “premed” is not a major. When I mention “premed” im just talking about the path I plan to take. What exactly I want to major in is still up in the air but will prob be something like cell bio. Sorry for any confusion.
Note 3: I struggled with my mental health a lot fresh-soph year. Depression and anxiety run in my family, plus I was dealing with some stuff that prevented me from entering competitions or otherwise pursuing what I loved. My average was low 90s. However I have really worked on myself and I have grown a LOT, enough to actually get “un-diagnosed”. My grades junior year were my highest at 98-99% all around despite being my hardest courseload and taking up leadership in clubs and projects. I will mention this in the area that allows it.
Demographics
US citizen
State/Location of residency: NY, specifically NYC area
Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Private Christian, moderately competitive
Other special factors: Dad has no college degree, if that counts. And neither of my parents have a job involving medicine, chem, bio etc.
Cost Constraints / Budget
Income is 300k~ before taxes
Budget is 65k though “exceptions” can be made if it’s like 10k off and I really like the school.
Intended Major(s)
See top note
If I had to choose than probably Bio, Microbio, Cellbio, Stem Cellbio, etc.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: Around 94-95%
Weighted HS GPA: 96.7% (curve sucks at our school. Only like a 2% boost for taking all APs compared to academy classes)
I take as many ap’s as our school allows with the exception of one class that I didnt get into, unfortunately
English: Honors 9th, Honors 10th, AP Lang (5), AP Lit
Math: Geometry Honors, Trig/Alg2 Honors, DE Precalc, AP Calc AB
Science: Living Environment Honors, Chem Honors, Physics Honors, AP Bio
History and social studies: Honors 9th, AP World History (5), AP US (4), AP Comparative
Language other than English: Spanish Honors 9th, Spanish Honors 10th, Advanced Spanish Honors
Visual or performing arts: N/A
Other academic courses: Religion 9th Honors, Religion 10th Honors, Religion 11 (no more honors religion), Philosophy of God, Intro to Biomed, Human Body Systems, Medical Interventions
Awards
Principal’s List 9th, 10th, and 11th grade
National Honor Society
Will update since I prob have more just don’t remember
Extracurriculars
Regeneron 2024-2025 Science Talent Search Competition (currently working on a project on Antibiotic Resistance, however the due date and results don’t come out until like December
Biomedical Club: Leader, Raised thousands of dollars, represented the club during Open House and got 80+ signatures, significant presence within the school
HOSA school chapter, one of a few founders, starting this school year
Campus Ministry Leader: 300+ service hours; worked on many projects including but not limited to: Rare Disease Day, Retreats, Blood Drive, Food Drives and raising money.
Student Council: Represented the school for the pope’s funeral (rip), led a summer camp in teaching biomed alongside a school teacher in the lab for rising 8th graders, more raising money for various events.
Varsity Tennis, 2nd doubles
Kid’s Tennis Instructor
Babysitter
Restaurant Worker
Bakery Worker (extended family owned)
Attended a summer science class at Adelphi Uni, finished with a 4.0 GPA and featured in an interview
75 hours shadowing an emergency medicine doctor in the ER
Essays/LORs/Other (Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
LoR 1: Biomed Teacher/Club Moderator, 9/10
LoR 2: School Service Coordinator, 9/10
Essay: Currently in the very rough drafts, about growing up in a multicultural household and how it encourages me to see situations from multiple perspectives. Probably like a 6/10 rn.
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)
Currently considering…
Providence College (likely)
UPitt (likely)
UF (target)
BC (reach)
UNC (reach)
Thats it💀
What is necessary in a college:
Around budget
Northeast but not within 2 hours of NYC
Good opportunities nearby, including an on-campus or near-campus job and shadowing
Not necessarily prestigious but decent biology facilities/professors
What I would like in a college:
Good dorms, no communal bathrooms
More north the better
Pretty campus, “community” feel
Small or Medium sized
Edit: I am aware the schools I am currently considering may not meet some of my listed “requirements” I am just looking for more schools to add to my list that are more what I would like.
Edit 2: Im also a Science/Time Management tutor at our school! Put about 5 hours a week into coaching hopeful eighth graders, and kids averaged a 7% gpa increase
Don’t know how the dorms are but Christopher Newport has a highly rated campus and dorms. It’s mid Atlantic.
SUNY ESF has highly rated dorms - has environmental biology. You get Syracuse University in many parts with it but at a SUNY price. Small school within a big.
No idea if either is communal. Not highly rated dorms in niche in the NE besides ESF in the top 100.
My kid had shared with one kid at his school but it was south and big. Not sure how common that is. But you have UF. Doesn’t meet your criteria of Norrgeast . He went to Alabama and like the others above their dorms are highly rated. . UAH also had non communal bathrooms and it’s smaller. My son had 4 in 4 bedrooms plus living room and two bathrooms for the four kids. It’s the Honors dorm - Ridgecrest. But UAH had similar and a smaller school.
High point might be another but not quite Northeast - will have nice dorms but they get expensive as you get nicer ones. .
CNU might be a winner for you !!! Check the dorms.
I’d check mental health supports everywhere as well or the avail of private counselors as it’s tough to access school counselors.
Hard to find what you want in the NE at least using niche ratings - top 100 dorms.
Parents don’t want me at a suny lol. I already had to beg them to let me see Stony Brook (which I unfortunately didn’t end up liking) and they said no to bing. Im never gonna convince them to see it, though i guess at the end of the day they can’t stop me from applying
You can go look at last year’s UF admissions thread. There were a number of Out Of State applicants with strong SAT scores who were rejected. That one is likely a coin-flip for you.
UF ive made an exception for because I really like the school, programs, campus etc and it’s relatively cheap. I just hate that it’s in Florida. If it was in vermont or something id ED in a heartbeat.
Cousin goes to Alabama. Had fun visiting but I couldn’t see myself going there plus too far south.
High Point is a cult and id be lying if I said I wasn’t a little offended by you suggesting it. Will never forget my visiting experience… nobody could tell me anything about the biology classes, got hit on by like five 18-year-olds (was 14 at the time), and their main bragging points was that they got an award for campus food in like 2019 ??? Did some research since I thought I just had a bad day and turns out that they’re sorta in debt and Dr Quebin isn’t even a doctor but calls himself one and built the whole school around his name. No offense if you there lol.
CNU looks promising, thx
Edit: maybe I was a little harsh on HP, but it mostly comes from having super high (no pun intended) expectations from the school based on word-of-mouth and their webside, but it was a let down.
Bet. Thats what I thought but I visited and met up with a bunch of people from my neighborhood who currently go there and they said I wouldn’t have a problem at all. Who knows? I’ll probably still consider it a target since ill bag some more safeties.
I think you will be accepted by UF. I think, with your profile, that you should be accepted by UF. It is just that this process is so nuts, and UF has become such a draw to OOS applicants, that it is a closer call than it should be for you.
Yeah you’re right. It’s happening with almost every college, getting harder and harder because more and more qualified people apply and it comes down to gritty details.
I never want to look at a target school and think “ill very likely get accepted” because I know that at the end of the day it will probably be a coin flip regardless of data from a few years back, and I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. My target schools are “I probably will get accepted/waitlisted” and my reaches are “I will probably not get accepted/waitlisted but I really like the school and I should shoot a shot”
Maryland ($56k) and William & Mary ($65k) are on the border of target/reach for you. Both have low likelihood of merit, only likely at Maryland if you get into honors (my S24 is not honors but got a little after accepting and applying for a scholarship). The admitted students have about the same GPA/SAT stats but W&M is more selective. For UMD, you ~ must apply EA as they take almost everyone from EA. IF you visit AND fall in love with it AND you can afford it AND it’s the right school for you (only reasons to ED), then W&M might be a good ED option since the likelihood of merit is low anyway.
UDel ($55k) offers merit - you can put your stats in and you’re probably at $12-15k which puts the cost around $40-45k. Lots of majors. Campus prettier than we expected. Kinda of smaller big flagship like Pitt and UConn in size. But not as far as Pitt and not as out in the sticks as UConn.
Pitt is great. Were a Pitt fam. Its runs around $55k or more depending on the major. There is some chance of merit with scores like yours. Also apply EA and it’s rolling so you can actually apply now. S18 loved the city so much he stayed. Museums and art and food and more food and sports and downtown and neighborhoods and hospitals….every other building is a hospital. So, great options for clinical. Also has a guaranteed acceptance program for med schools. Known for science but a ton of great non STEM majors if you change your mind.
If Providence is OK, would you consider Loyola Maryland ($75k, across the street from Johns Hopkins) or St Joes in Philly ($67k)?? Cheaper, chance of massive merit (like $30-40k) which will bring the cost down to $30-40k. Help you save for medical school. Not top50 schools but more affordable and in cities.
UF has early action not early decision. You can apply EA and see what happens. You will get an admission decision sooner than RD.
UNC and UF are not in the northeast.
You will need to check dorm options at each college. It sounds like you don’t have a disability so getting a private bath just might not be possible at some colleges in the dorms.
With this income, you won’t be receiving need based aid anywhere. But $65,000 is a decent amount for many colleges…
Here are my suggestions.
I think Providence College is a realistic expectation. Since you are looking at that, would you also consider Holy Cross, Marist, Seton Hall?
You can major in biology almost anywhere.
Please put premed intention on the back burner for now. Your goal now should be for an undergrad education at a place you like and where you can do well…that is affordable.
New York is a big state. Would SUNY Buffalo be too close to home? For many in NY state, it would be more than a 2 hour drive. @aunt_bea can explain why this might be worth considering.
Please let your school counselor explain your grade issues. I think this was suggested to you in a previous thread also.
As long as you are happy with your sure thing colleges AND they are affordable…you are fine.
Have you run net price calculators on these schools to see what your possible net cost will be?
Sorry if this looks choppy: im on my ipad rn (lol) and its bugging out with quoting
About UF’s ED: I knew that they don’t do ED, I was just emphasizing how I loved the school so much but didn’t like where it was.
About the location: I know they don’t meet the “requirements” but I would like to add a school/s to my list that do meet those points, hence why I wrote “requirements”.
You’re correct that I do not have a disability, and I definitely wouldn’t rule out a school just for having communal bathrooms, I just mentioned it because im a very private and cleanly person, and walking around a dorm in a bathrobe carrying my 5+ shower necessities doesn’t sound too ideal, lol. Neither does being sick and having to waddle out at 3am.
Parents won’t let me see a suny, but they can’t stop me from applying
I adore providence. And I’m going to see Marist tomorrow morning, but I’ve leaned not to set expectations too high (see earlier comment about HP).
Noted the premed thing; im just very enthusiastic about biomedical sciences lol
Noted the guidance counselor thing, saved ur comment
Below are some additional colleges you may want to consider. Their list prices mostly will not fall within budget, but they all offer sufficient merit aid to bring the school within budget. That’s no guarantee that you would receive enough merit aid, but I suspect that at the schools in the likely or extremely likely categories, that odds would be excellent that all of these would fall within budget.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Emmanuel (MA): About 1900 undergrads and part of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium that allows students to cross-register and join together for clubs and sports.
Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads
Saint Anselm (NH): About 2k undergrads
Stonehill (MA): About 2500 undergrads
Wheaton (MA): About 1700 undergrads
Likely (60-79%
Clark (MA): About 2400 undergrads
Gettysburg (PA ): About 2200 undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Connecticut College: About 1900 undergrads
Dickinson (PA ): About 2100 undergrads
Mount Holyoke (MA): About 2200 undergrads at this women’s college. It’s part of the same consortium as Smith with Amherst, UMass, and Hampshire.
Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Bryn Mawr (PA ): About 1400 students at this women’s college but it’s part of the consortium with Haverford and Swarthmore which makes it feel larger. The campus is often considered a “Hogwarts” type campus.
College of the Holy Cross (MA): About 3100 undergrads
Lafayette (PA ): About 2700 undergrads
Skidmore (NY): About 2800 undergrads
Smith (MA): About 2500 undergrads at this women’s college that’s in the consortium with Amherst, UMass, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire.
You need to look more carefully at Providence. IIRC they have been test optional for ages and the merit is all about grades not tests. It’s an expensive school with a very steep merit curve - a lot get nothing - only if you have really high grades do you get merit.
We liked Marist a lot. The campus is beautiful, the experiential and overseas programs are top notch. We felt like that school would help everyone both get ahead and enjoy being there. Plenty of merit. The town isn’t great though a lot of student spend several semester off campus. Make sure to drive through town. Lunch or dinner at Cosimo’s right off campus is a good option.