Hi, all.
This is my current college list. Most kids at my school have been applying to 8-12 schools (yes, probably excessive). So far I have 7 schools that I am mostly looking at and I was planning to apply to 8. I think I need another match, though I would be happy at any of the below listed schools… even the safeties. So should I go for broke and apply to one more reach school, or does anyone have an idea for a match? Thanks!
Super reach: Duke
Also a super reach but maybe less so: Vandy (Peabody)
Low reach/high match (or am I dreaming about high match?): Emory and Davidson
Match: Wake Forest
Low-match/safety: UFlorida and UMiami
If I don’t get into the above, I am an auto-admit to local state school’s honors program which has rolling admission. ideas for other schools? I have also looked at Georgetown, UVA, Penn, uChicago, Princeton, Swat and Haverford, which would all be reaches and/or super reaches. Should I apply to one of these or look into other matches? Any ideas for matches? Only really want to leave the south if it is for a school of the caliber just listed.
My stats:
I’m a URM
ACT: 34 // SAT 2s: all mid 700s
Grades and rank (my weakness): 3.56 UW // Top 6% rank
Note: a definite upward trend with almost all Bs in freshman courses and essentially all As In junior year. Also note that I’ve taken the most rigorous program available with 10 APs and 6 dual enrollment classes.
Extra and Co-curricular:
*Have a Child Development Associate Certificate which enables me to teach preschool as a lead teacher and involves 1000+ hours working with kids (took a 4-course sequence as an elective)
*President of Future Educators of America at my school (2 years) and district-level representative (2 years). As part of club, I tutor elementary-aged English language learners among other things., including State-level awards and have organized education experts (nationally known) to speak to club.
*One summer working In a child development research lab
*One summer spent working at. A preschool
*Babysit at least once weekly for people from my church as part of a babysitting program I started
Other ECs not related to my core interest:
*VP of Chemistry Club
*Junior Youth Leader at church (run media, camp counselor, missions trips each summer to orphanages)
Thanks!
Duke, Chicago, Penn and Princeton are obvious reaches but you could get lucky.
Have you considered Sewanee as a match? They have a great psychology dept, and some students can spend a term doing research at Yale. (To move it from a match to a safety you should visit campus and demonstrate substantial interest; applications apparently increased pretty dramatically this past year.)
Just big schools?
How about Hendrix, a small LAC in Arkansas? You’d be a candidate for merit. Or Alabama. Ditto, but a big school.
UNCCH? May be more of a reach since you’re out of state I assume.
What is your budget?
What is your major?
Your GPA and ACT do guarantee admission for you at a number of places in addition to the local ones you listed, and in some cases also guarantee you a lot of merit aid. Read through these threads to find your truly safe options:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1562918-updated-list-of-schools-with-auto-admit-guaranteed-admission-criteria-p1.html
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Your list looks good to me 
As happymomof1 said, if you’re looking for significant merit aid, we could point you to a few schools, and if you tell us your possible major (if you’ve selected one or two yet), we may also point you to a few other schools. Otherwise your list looks fine.
Good Luck!
Sorry… I copy and pasted my stats from a different post and forgot to mention that I’m interested in developmental psych and/or neuroscience and I am thinking I want to be pre-med. finances are not a huge concern but obviously merit money would be appreciated.
Thanks for the insights so far! Never heard of Hendrix… Just recently heard of Sewanee and i think I’ll look into that too. I was also considering UNC. I’m in-state in Florida.
If you are serious about pre-med, talk with your parents about the money issue. Will they help pay for med school if you go the cheap route for your undergrad degree? Remember, med school admission is almost entirely numbers-based. Your GPA and MCAT score will be what matters.
UNC-CH would be good for psychology/neuroscience, but getting merit aid from them may be tough.
Rhodes College, an excellent LAC in Memphis, may be worth a look also.
You might want to check out Furman University along with the other schools you have listed. Strong in chemistry, psychology ( taught as a hard science) and health sciences. Furman has a great med school placement record. With your stats you would be able to apply for their top scholarships, Duke and Lay.
Best wishes!
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If you are serious about pre-med, talk with your parents about the money issue. Will they help pay for med school if you go the cheap route for your undergrad degree?
Remember, med school admission is almost entirely numbers-based. Your GPA and MCAT score will be what matters.
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Both points are very important. Since GPA seems to be an issue, I would not recommend going to a school like UChi, Duke or similar. You could end up with a GPA that’s not med-school-worthy. There’s a mom on CC whose DD went thru the med school app process this past year (from UChicago) and her GPA was a 3.5 with a strong MCAT. She DID NOT GET ANY interview invites, so no MD med school acceptances. I’m sure she wishes she had not gone to a school like UChi, when a “lesser” but very good school would have likely yielded her a med-school-worthy GPA.
I’ll second Hendrix which also has good med school placement. Check out their Odyssey program. You would be a candidate for a Hays, though they are pretty competitive.
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I’m in-state in Florida.
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do you qualify for Bright Futures? If you do, do your parents mind that you’d be giving that up to go OOS?
Have your parents said that they will pay $55k-60k+ per year?
My parents have enough saved to very comfortably contribute around 40k per year, more would be possible but I’d def have to consider how that might eat into Grad school funds at that point. I think I would get merit aid at UM based on friends who did.
UF is looking very attractive as I do have 100% Bright Futures. Because I’d be pretty happy at UF, I think i have some room to gamble a little with more selective schools.