Need advice on my college list!

College Search & Lists
1

Demographics
US Citizen (Domestic)
Private, Rigorous, Catholic High School
Male/Asian

Intended Major
Neuroscience (Pre-med track)
Also considering engineering

GPA, Rank, Test Scores
UW → 3.9
W → 4.52
(plus 0.5 for honors, plus 1.0 for AP)
SAT → 1530 superscore (1520 720 EBRW/790 Math)
ACT → 35 superscore, 34 single sit

Coursework
AP World - 4
AP CSP - 3
AP Macro - 5
AP Physics - 4
AP Lit - 5
APUSH - 5
AP Psych - ?
AP Bio - ?
AP Calc AB - ?
AP Lang - ?
AP Gov - ?

Awards
Commended Scholar
AP Scholar w/ distinction
Outstanding performance in Pre-Calc
Outstanding math student of the semester
Best Witness in State Mock Trial tournament
NHS (VP)
National Spanish Honor Society

Activities
Internship at law firm

helped organize vaccine distribution

lead volunteer at local after school program

have more, but they’re too specific

Essays and LOR
probably 8/10 all-in-all

  • don’t need financial aid, however thoughts of grad school make any type of merit aid attractive

Safety
Saint Louis Univ
Loyola Chicago
Ohio State
U Pittsburgh

Target
CWRU
Boston College

Reach
Georgetown
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Vandy
WashU
Harvard
UPenn
UMich

*visited most of these schools

*would be open to new suggestions, but also open to narrowing down. Thanks!

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What are you looking for in a college besides major? Size, location, financial aid, merit aid, Greek, or anything else that appeals or doesn’t?

It’s tough to advise when we don’t know what appeals to you. The schools you listed are all good schools.

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that’s a good list. :+1: You’ll likely get some merit at your safeties as well as at CWRU.
Wherever an application for Honors College is required, don’t forget to send it :slight_smile: and do make sure your parents are ok paying what the NPC indicates for each college.

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A medium sized campus would be best (5000-10000), and at larger schools like OSU, I’m hoping the honors college might be able to shrink the school. In terms of location, The farthest west I’m looking is St. Louis, Missouri, and pretty much anywhere on the east coast is fine. Also, within an hour of an urban city would be nice. Not into Greek life, not a problem if it is present though. I’ve run the NPCs for all schools and I won’t get any need-based aid, I don’t need any merit aid, but obviously, it would be nice.

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You can take a look at the University of Rochester if you like research. Students from my school who like CW and Pitt have also liked UR. UR tends to win as top choice if they are looking for a campus bubble vs a more integrated into the city campus. The others win if they prefer the latter.

One way you can look at weeding or ranking them if you’re interested in research is going on professor’s pages (online) to see what research they are doing. Don’t get hooked on any one prof as they may retire, move, or their project may be full, but if you find a school with several you like vs schools doing things you’re not as fond of it can be useful to know. It’s helped several students I know figure out their preferences.

That’s if research interests you, of course. If not, apply to many and choose among your acceptances based upon where you want to live or which one is better financially.

They are all nice schools on your list.

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@Camelbak - It’s a great list, it’s very similar to my sons. Two suggestions, first apply to your state flagship university. Regardless of whether you would chose to go there or not it as good baseline to compare to.

Second, If Gtown and BC are high on your list, you may want to consider other Jesuit Universities. Since you are leaning toward the NE, maybe a Holy Cross, Fordham, Fairfield, Scranton, St Josephs.

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I likely know what High School that you attend. Based upon that, everything becomes relative to tOSU. Are there any schools on your list that you would never attend given that you will get into tOSU? I would put UMich to that list. I don’t see the value for the extra $160k. H is likely a very large reach. The school I am thinking about normally sends 0-2 (non athlete) students to HPY. You are likely outside of the top 10 students within the HS. That is going to make it difficult to get the LOR’s for the very top schools. If you have a very amazing EC that you don’t want to disclose, that could change.

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I love Ann Arbor and the Mich campus, although I agree that it wouldn’t be worth the exorbitant price increase. I’m not disputing that it is a high reach, but why would it be difficult to get LOR’s for Harvard? My GC recommended I apply.

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I’d listen to your guidance counselor. They have the full context.

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You can certainly can apply to Harvard if you want. My point is that if I have you HS picked correctly, to be one of the 0-2 that get accepted to HYP every year, you need to get the LOR’s that says you are one of the top few students this year. Based upon your description (3.9 gpa, not NMSF, school awards) it implies to me that you are not the very top of the school. The good news is that you likely have a reasonable chance at Notre Dame. The school sends many students there each year.

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Ahhh I see. Thank you for the clarification and helpful advice.

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FINAL Update with Results:

Safety
Saint Louis → accepted w/ full-tuition scholarship
Loyola → accepted, withdrawn
OSU → accepted w/ Honors and 3k/yr
Pitt → accepted w/ Honors and 5k/yr

Target
Fordham → accepted w/ 20k/yr
Case Western → deferred, waitlisted
Boston College → accepted
Villanova → accepted

Reach
Georgetown → accepted
Notre Dame → accepted
Northwestern → denied
Vandy → denied
WashU → waitlisted
Harvard → denied
UPenn → denied
UMich → accepted
Brown → denied

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Great acceptances! Please let us know your final choice. Lots of good options here!

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