Match Me: 97.9% Junior White Hispanic Female Biology/Nursing [NY resident, ~94% unweighted 9th-11th GPA, <$65k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics
State: NY, specifically NYC
Highschool: Private Roman Catholic, no grade inflation (highest grade in my year is a 101%), about 1-2 kids go to ivies every year in a grade size of 250~ kids
Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: White Hispanic
Mom: Vice President Accountant, Bachelor’s from Scranton
Dad: Bartender, High School Degree
Middle Class

Intended Major: Biology or Nursing

UW Fresh-Soph GPA: 93.5%
W Fresh-Soph GPA: 95.1%
UW Junior GPA: 95.5%
W Junior GPA: 97.9%
Class Rank: N/A- our school doesn’t do one, I asked my counselor for an estimate and she said she can’t tell me
PSAT: 1350 official score, 1450 currently my highest practice sat score

Coursework

  • All Honors (with the exception of electives)
  • Biomed Electives: 91% into to biomed (issues w teacher) 100% Human Body Systems
  • 100% unweighted average in Physics, Religion, and Human Body Systems

APs:
AP World: 5
AP USH: currently taking, estimated 5
AP English: currently taking, estimated 4-5
AP Physics: test only, estimated 4-5
AP Bio: Next Year
AP Micro: Next Year
AP Calc AB: Next Year
AP Lit: Next Year

I take all APs offered to me except for AP Pre-Calc. I am enrolled in a Saint Johns precalc which gives me some credit but unfortunately i didnt get into the ap precalc class

Awards

-Clipper Society (basically our school’s personal honors, abt 10-15% of kids have it)
-NHS
-Spanish Honor Society
-NMSQ Qualifier
-Principal’s List 2023, 2024
-Freshman Academic Recognition Award 2022
-Voyager Award 2024 (school art competition)

Extracurriculars

-Biomedical Club 2021-2024, leader
-Clippers In Action/Key Club 2021-2024
-Campus Ministry 2021-2024, leader
-Will finish junior year with about 120 service hours, mainly thanks to retreats
-Adelphi Pre-College Science, Medicine, and Society, finished with a 4.0 GPA on an official transcript and got some credit
-Shadowing an Emergency Medicine Doctor at NYP hospital, will have about 20-30 hours by the time summer comes
-I write a blog called StudyDawn on testing theories, tips for highschool/anxiety/classes, and TACHS tutoring (Catholic high school entrance exam, got a 99.5 percentile on it which gave me an almost full scholarship to the highschool i currently attend). Nothing is currently posted but I have drafts written up. Will have everything done by mid march and id be happy to send a link! Really excited about this since ive been the school “study guide maker” since soph year and id love to publish my work for more people
-I work 3 jobs: restaurant busser, bakery worker (family business) and babysitting. I also used to be a tennis instructor for kids in 2022.
-Peer Tutor and 8th Grade Mentor
-Varisty Tennis 2021-2024, Second Doubles, 2023 City Finalists
-Member of a local charity that helps with hurricane relief and local food drives
-CPR and AED certified
-“Stop the Bleed” certified

ECs in the Making:
-The blog (home page is abt 75% done, put it above since I have a few posts already written out)
-Currently trying to work out a lab job or something with a cousin who goes to UMich for anesthesiology
-Applying for HOPP, probably wont get in its 2%
-Applying for a women-based science volunteer opportunity in nyc, probably will get in, basically the hopp backup
-Trying to start a business based on selling seaglass and candles centered around my hometown and hurricane relief, with a chunk of profits going to charity. Only issue is setting up a website since I dont know if I want to attach it to the blog

Essays/LORs/Other
-Extremely strong letter of rec from my biomed teacher, still debating on who will write a second one
-Strong essay planned

Other:
-I was diagnosed with CCAM, a rare and decently fatal fetal disease, and had major surgery for it. Only 5 hospitals in America treat it, and Im trying to start a program to pull more attention to rare diseases, specifically fetal ones. With the help of my biomed club as well as student council ive managed to raise a few hundred dollars in school
-I did a pre vet paid program in London, not only did I hate it but I dont plan on putting it down because it will make me look privileged and I dont wanna do prevet. I paid for it myself with my jobs but they dont know that.
-I can speak a decent amount of spanish, and I plan on visiting my grandfather’s hometown in Mexico sometime soon, but Ive been warned against talking about things like that in college essays. Which I don’t really mind since its for myself not for college.
-I can also sign a decent amount of ASL
-I had extremely, extremely bad anxiety freshman and sophomore year. I couldn’t do as much as I hoped since I was constantly in therapy and I struggled so much. I started recovering junior year and I think that’s evident in my GPA and new Ecs. I guess an upward trend is good but how cooked am i?

Cost Constraints / Budget

-65k a year
-I hope we r eligible for fasfa (??)

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety: Not sure
  • Likely: Bing, stony,
  • Match: Pitt
  • Reach: Boston, wake

Note: I am NOT looking for a Christian focused college despite my many service-related ecs. I am constantly bombarded with Christian college ads that only focus on their faith and not their student programs, classes, etc which I found really off-putting. Additionally please nothing like NYU thats in the middle of the city and nothing too big or too small

Thank uou

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Congrats on your accomplishments! I would use the NPC for BU and Wake to see if they are affordable.

I am confused about BU given it is in the middle of Boston. Pitt is also in a city but it has a defined campus- is that ok?

I would add another SUNY as a safety. Have you looked at the postings under the nursing major to get some ideas about direct entry programs? Do you prefer nursing over biology?

Recommendations could depend on the major.

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Thank you!

BU is a really good school imo and i can make exceptions for really good schools

Since pitt has a defined campus, I will take it. I just dont mean something like John Jay were you can look out your dorm window and its a city street. A city campus that has its own, well, campus is fine with me.

For another Suny maybe buff? Im pretty so so on it but good safety. Also udelaware? Providence?

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I feel those would be good schools for you to add.

What about the major? Are you looking for direct admit nursing? I suggest heading over to the nursing major and reading those posts.

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Debating between being a nurse and being a doctor

If nurse (CRNA) im hoping to go to a direct program

As much as its my dream to be a doctor, my family isn’t that wealthy. I dont know if I can go to med school when I have two little sisters that need stuff, one of them having special needs. My grandfathers are dead, and the only big “breadwinner” of the extended fam is my bakery-owning grandma who has 9 grandchildren me included. Its a lot cheaper to be a nurse, even if being a doctor wins out in the long run. Im not prioritizing money over passion- I am extremely passionate about biomed. But I cant act like we don’t live in a world where you need to put money in to get money out and sometimes that money just isn’t there. I hate it whenever I bring this up and i get responses like “oh so you only wanna be a doctor for money”.

I am still very fortunate. I eat 3 meals a day and we own multiple properties that can be sold in dire situations. I go to a private school (ablit on a massive scholarship). Ive saved up over 3000$ from working.

Thattttt aside, what would you recommended for crna nursing? If you aren’t sure thats fine youve already been super helpful

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I happen to teach nursing. Many of my students want to become crna because the salaries sound great. I can tell you that crna school is just about harder to get into than med school as many programs have single digit acceptance rates. You are at least 7 years away from even thinking about applying for CRNA school. There are other options such as perfusionist or anesthesia assistant.

If you are uncertain about path but considering nursing, apply to direct entry nursing programs. It is much easier to switch out and drop nursing to biology but may be impossible at most programs to switch from bio to nursing.

I would ask you to think about Jesuit colleges. Sure I work at one but I am not even baptized. I have Jewish and Muslim coworkers (gay and trans as well). The requirements are more about service learning and giving back to community versus pushing a religion.

Xavier in Cincinnati is more urban but obviously not NYC. The childrens hospital there I believe may be one that treats the issue you had. Excellent nursing program. They have biomed science as well.

Marquette University may be a good fit for you as well. They have an amazing biomed program and excellent nursing program. Biomed works with Medical College of Wisconsin and Childrens Hospital Wisconsin. New nursing building opens this fall. Project Beyond 2 gives support to diverse students. Tons of merit given. They also have a CRNA program.

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Any chance you confused BC with BU? If you are looking for mid-size and not in the middle of a city, maybe you should be considering BC rather than BU. BC is mid size on the city/suburb line and has a nursing program.

Are you trying to avoid Catholic/Jesuit schools? There are a number of them that are mid-size with nursing programs that also give merit scholarships. (BC gives need-based aid; use their Net Price Calculator to see how much.)

Any chance you might be eligible for the National Hispanic Recognition Program? I think College Board is sending out those invitations soon.

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BU is in the middle of the city with no defined campus (I went there). You will be looking out your window at a city street. And BU does not offer a nursing major.

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Others to consider:
U of North Florida
Quinnipiac
U of Iowa
Rutgers
U of North Dakota
Westminster
WVU

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This student is not low income and said they can pay up to $65,000 a year.

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Oops, misread, sorry.

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You might look at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, here, Nursing Major | Belmont University. Belmont has a direct admit to a BSN program, and appear to have good outcomes for their students. According to the website, it comes in under $65K, here,Tuition & Aid | First-Year Students | Belmont University . I know several people who have gone to Belmont, and enjoyed it; in fact one went there to study nursing, and ended up going to medical school.

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Just to note, all instructors/professors at Belmont are required to be Christian (and OP said that may be something they are trying to avoid).

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That is something that has never come up in any conversation that I have had with any Belmont student or parent of a student; I know that Belmont used to be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention but disassociated several years ago because of the heavy hand of the SBC. Whatever the faculty hiring, I would be rather surprised if religion were shoved down the throat of any student there. (Unless the school has changed dramatically over the past few years.)

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I only know as I worked with someone who taught there part time (and I thought about putting it on my sons list for music).
I don’t think it competes with Liberty U for example with religion, however, for those who want a more diverse teaching set, it may matter.

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If you’re looking for another safety, I would also take a look at SUNY Plattsburgh. In addition to nursing, it has biomedical sciences and medical technology majors, and other health fields, too. It has about 4k undergrads, so it’s a mid-sized school, closer in size to Wake Forest.

With your interest and skills in sign language, it might be a good idea to go to a school that offers a major in ASL or similar, as language skills are one of the things that you use or you lose. Looking at colleges that offer a major in ASL, sign languate interpretation or similar as well as a major in nursing, these are some schools you may want to consider. As I’m unsure which ones have direct-entry for the nursing major, that’s something you would need to check out.

Extremely Likely

  • Augustana U (SD): About 1800 undergrads

  • St. Catherine (St. Kate’s): About 2400 undergrads in Saint Paul and part of a consortium that allows students to take classes at other area colleges. This is a predominantly women’s college.

  • U. of Cincinnati (OH): About 30k undergrads

  • U. of Kansas: About 19k undergrads here and Lawrence has a reputation as a great college town.

  • U. of Louisville (KY): About 16k undergrads

  • U. of New Mexico: About 16k undergrads

  • U. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee: About 18k undergrads and would be easy to combine with a visit to Marquette, already mentioned above

Target

  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads

Additionally, you might receive some very significant merit aid from a number of the schools in the extremely likely category, which could then save you/your family money for med school or other life expenses.

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Well looks like im gonna keep running into the problem of people giving me colleges based on religion and not how good those colleges are. Sigh.

Also why the hell did they change my gpa to a 94%?

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I am not interested in asl. None. It was just some dumb thing i did when I was I middle that I still remember.

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Target? URoch? Seriously? Look I get you’re tryna be helpful but I dont know anyone from my school who didnt get into Roch and they are no rocket scientists. I know TWO seniors this year with SATs under 1100, gpas under 93, and virtually no extracurriculars. One of them is doing bio. I dont mean to question your judgment but I think calling URoch a target school for me is a little insulting