(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)
English: AP Lang, AP List
Math: AP Calculus BC, AP Stats
Science: AP Physics Mechanics C, AP Bio, AP Chem
History and social studies: AP HUG, APUSH
Language other than English: 4 years Chinese - AP Chinese
Visual or performing arts:
Other academic courses: Biomed Academy
College Coursework (Transfer Applicants) (Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)
General education course work:
Major preparation course work:
Awards
Won HOSA Anatomy Competition for DC for three years in a row. Also placed 2 or 3rd in other categories.
Extracurriculars
Head of HOSA club for three years.
Head of Lighting Department for all High School Productions for three years.
Swimming Team both travel and school.
Essays/LORs/Other
Solid reader and writer.
Schools
Looking for a bigger school with strong biochemistry/chemistry/pre-med. Good sports is a bonus. Does not want super urban - wants to have access to nature - hiking, kayaking, camping. Not looking for super competitive but solid academics. Her siblings both went into engineering so I’m less familiar with pure science. She doesn’t love the midwest but there are some solid optiosn there. List includes right now:
U of Washington
UCs - San Diego, Davis, Edited: Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara
So U. of Minnesota, Pitt, UW=Seattle are all okay in terms of their urban-ness for her? Is she essentially just eliminating places like GW and NYU?
Just note that the UCs will be about $75k+/year and give virtually no merit aid to out-of-state students. U. of Washington gives little to no merit aid for out-of-state students as well.
The first school that came to mind is Indiana University. This link about Bloomington includes resources on some of the nearby hiking and lake opportunities. Students can rent equipment, participate in club outings, or even take classes for credit through IU Outdoor Adventures. It’s got Big 10 sports, a world-renowned music school (which results in tons of concerts and recitals), and the food is actually pretty cosmopolitan in B-ton (Tibetan, Thai, Indian, Afghani, Moroccan, etc). And it does all of this with a town population of less than 80k.
These are some other possibilities she may want to consider:
Binghamton (NY)
Colorado State
U. of New Hampshire
U. of Vermont
U. of Massachusetts (which is part of the 5-college consortium with Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Hampshire)
U. of Montana
Montana State
U. of Idaho
Clemson
U. of Tennessee - Knoxville
Virginia Tech
U. of Maine
U. of Nevada - Reno
U. of Utah (and many students can get in-state residency if they stay the summer after their first year)
So right off the bat, you want inexpensive and not urban - so I see:
Washington - not inexpensive and urban
UCSD, Davis, Santa Barbara - all $80K expensive
Santa Clara - it’s Jesuit and can get merit - but not cheap.
Wisconsin - $60K+ and nothing says midwest like Wisconsin.
UNC - $60K+
Illinois - likely - but again, high cost. And nothing says midwest like Illinois.
UMN - uber urban - very urban but about $40K. And nothing says midwest like Minnesota
Pitt - urban and $60K-ish
PSU - expensive
It’s like you gave criteria - and then completely ignored the criteria.
You can go to schools like Alabama, Ole Miss, Ms State, UAH and more - for under $20K with your stats. My son went to Bama and hiked, kayaked, and camped - some a bit of a drive. They also have the McCullough Medical Scholars.
Budget first - pick a # - and build a list around that.
If keeping costs down = $60-80K, then your list is great.
If she is happy with UMN and you can afford it, it’s a great safety. Although it is urban, there are lots of recreational activities near by. Lots of opportunities of internships.
Someone mentioned Colorado State, which will come in at the same price with merit and honors as UMN. The outdoor opportunities can’t be beat, and DS23 is living his best life there, but I have heard parents with kids looking to take a pre-med track that internships are hard to come by.
UVM has a hospital right on campus, a good honors program and tons of access to outdoor activities. Another safety that should be in the same price range with merit.
It looks like UDC is in a suburban area next to a large park. In-district tuition is about $8k, with cost of attendance as a resident student totaling to about $32k.
This is what I was thinking. One daughter was pre-vet at UVM, and many of her friends were premed (the required classes are the same). It is a very good university with a good premed program in an attractive location. It does have some merit aid for out of state students. For us the NPC did predict merit aid and was spot on. Some of her friends did premed shadowing at the hospital which is right on campus.
I also wonder about the various SUNY’s, but do not know enough about them to know which one.
I would also think about U.Mass Amherst.
Colorado State is in an attractive location and has the interesting feature that it has a superb veterinary medicine program. Thus the premed classes are likely to be full of strong pre-vet students (who would be competing for the same grades but likely won’t be competing for the same shadowing opportunities).
I agree with other comments that the various Universities of California will be quite expensive. They are also a long way away for you (and for us).
I don’t know much about the south, but would look at UVA.
Oh definitely - and she is not planning on pre-med - it is simply a possible option. She’s leaning towards other paths right now. My mother is a doctor so I am wary of the whole process.
Sorry - meant Santa Cruz. Which doesn’t really apply to her. I’m mixing my children up. As far as California - my kids love the west coast. We have spent many summers road tripping and camping across the US. My oldest daughter is out in Seattle already.
Welcome back to CC and congratulations on your D’s accomplishments. I will only comment on the UC’s.
Please note that the UC’s are test blind so her excellent SAT score will only be used for course placement and not for admissions or scholarship consideration.
Also be aware, the UC’s require 1 year of a Visual/Performing arts course as part of the UC A-G course requirements.
The UC’s calculate 3 GPA’s based on the A-G courses taken the summer after 9th to the summer prior to 12th grades only.
As an OOS applicant, she will receive an extra honors point for AP/IB or DE UC transferable classes only in the calculation. Here is the calculator and if you can repost her 3 UC GPA’s it will definitely be helpful.
So academically, you seem to have a good handle on public research universities with excellent Biochem. As others have pointed out, though, it is not clear all of those are great choices given your other criteria, although that really depends on exactly what you want/need.
If you wanted some more non-Midwestern school to consider, though, I would suggest checking out Rutgers and UMass-Amherst. Stony Brook also has a very strong, very popular Biochem program, but not so much the sports thing.
Is your daughter thinking about biomedical research as an option? This is the direction that my younger daughter has taken (she is currently studying for a PhD).
One issue is that relatively early in a bachelor’s program, or at least in the first two years, it is likely to be helpful to either decide to be premed (and look for medical shadowing opportunities) or pre-vet (and look for veterinary experience) or research oriented (and look for opportunities to work in research). Of course there are also lots of other “health care professional” jobs that do not involve getting an MD nor being called “doctor”.
But this is something that a student can figure out after they start university.