Please help an indecisive junior find an ED! [CA resident, 4.0 GPA, 1540 SAT, $25-30k parent contribution; psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science]

Chance Me / Match Me
41

No, I don’t believe people should lower ED target and settle for a school they may regret.

Using Stanford as an example, your stat sits between their 25-75% tile, so you do have a chance. Not a great chance since it is a sub 5% acceptance rate school. But I bet “if” you get in, then there is no way you turn it down or regret giving up any other school.

IMO, ED is for people who know there is that ONE school they would happily give up everywhere else to go and not just because some published data showing a higher acceptance rate. Worse, some people just want to get into a school early.

Yes, there are a lot of stress involved with RD, but that’s also the game.

42

Stanford has REA. If they get in, it is non-binding and they could still see their RD acceptances.

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43

More of the reason to look at Stanford.

However, many other ED schools will not allow simultaneous application to them AND Stanford.

But my point to OP is not settle on a school to ED, just for ED sake.

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44

Similarly,

You would need some HIPAA certification for this.

This is actually the one that REALLY jumped out at me. As a former cancer patient, no one but a registered nurse or a MD had ANY access to my lab results and certainly were not giving me any lab results. That was VERY much a HIPAA requirement first of all and second should not be done by anyone without medical knowledge as cancer patients tend to have a lot of questions about their labs - they are literally life and death for us and can be very confusing. So this is not generally something a high school student can do. Did you get a HIPAA certification? Did you receive some medical training to be able to do this? Or what exactly did you do?

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45

like the papers in envelopes, sorry like i said, i phrased a lot of things poorly. i’m not allowed to legally access patients data, i just helped carry it over to them/ carried things from the labs to patient rooms and vice versa

46

You may want to consider Rice University.

It’s one of the few? schools that track demonstrated interest and applying ED does seem to give applicants an increase in admissions outcomes. Not sure if this matters but Rice’s student body is probably one of the most diverse in the nation. And of course it is a T20 school.

Cost to attend/Income Range (typical assets):

$140K - $200K
Half Tuition

$75K - $140,000
Free tuition

$75K & BELOW
Full Tuition, Fees,
Room & Board covered

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47

No. ED schools let you apply elsewhere to other non-binding admission plans. For example, you can ED to NU and apply EA to UChicago.

However, Stanford’s REA rules won’t allow OP to apply to other private schools (therefore ED to NU or Williams would be out)

48

Op will need a lot of polishing before submitting her app. It’s basically youthful inexperience. This is why rich parents pay consultants the big bucks and the savvy ones seek help here.

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49

OK, then you need to make that clear. The way it is phrased it sounds like you have access to the results. That is a very different thing. So it is VERY good that you are getting feedback - you will know what to rephrase so that you don’t unintentionally raise undeserved red flags.

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50

Okay thank you so much! I dont receive counseling or anything so I basically know nothing about the process lol.

51

It’s fine - you are here to learn and that is what you are doing now. That is a smart thing to do!

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52

UCSD sets a high bar, in terms of its CogSci department!

It sounds like you have run the NPC for Northwestern and determined that the projected cost is affordable, so that’s a good sign.

If a smaller school would interest you, Vassar has the longest-established CogSci department, a great reputation, and generous aid.

Pomona has an excellent CogSci major, and Scripps students can choose this major also, as an off-campus major. It’s particularly good for students with an interest in Linguistics, since it’s a shared department, but students can also emphasize CS or other aspects of CogSci. (Philosophy, Human Centered Design, Psych, etc.)

WashU has great Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychological & Brain Sciences majors, and also this first-year “ampersand” program: Mind, Brain, and Behavior | Arts & Sciences

For a more computation-heavy CogSci major, Carnegie Mellon could be worth a look. (Historically, they have a reputation for being less generous with need-based aid, but this seems to have shifted for the better, so run the NPC and see, if you’re interested.)

Another more computational option is to do a combined major at Northeastern: CS or Data Science in a combined degree with Behavioral Neuroscience. For a less computation-heavy option, Behavioral Neuroscience + Design, or Behavioral Neuroscience + Philosophy, with the option of a Linguistics minor.

The Engineering Psychology major at Tufts has a slightly different focus, but some students who like CogSci find it appealing, and of course the regular psych major is strong too.

The URochester Brain & Cognitive Sciences department is great. Carleton is excellent too (My CogSci kid found the monkey research off-putting, but ymmv! She ended up attending Rice, which is another good option to look at.) Wesleyan has a CogSci concentration for psych majors.

If you say more about which aspects of CogSci interest you most, and what you hope to do with it… and also which programs are more or less appealing… maybe we can help narrow it down more.

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53

Also to make a comment here. Sometimes applicants with high stats get rejected and they complain.

In truth, I suspect many of them are rejected because they were not careful or just didn’t know something they wrote just doesn’t jive with the AO. When there are thousands of files to read, this gets you tossed pretty quickly.

54

Okay thank you so much!! I really appreciate all your help

55

Thank you! I will defo look more into it :slight_smile:

56

Actually, it is Stanford’s restrictive EA that has the rule that applicants not apply ED anywhere (also not apply EA to a specified set of other schools). ED schools generally do not care about other applications other than not applying ED to more than one simultaneously.

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57

yup! and I’m definitely not applying REA anywhere

58

Congrats on your accomplishments. I would run the NPC and show the number to your parents…for all schools. I would also make sure to have affordable safeties and targets.

A few things need to be reworded so as not to raise suspicion:

  1. You taught people how to draw blood? This assumes you are a licensed phlebotomist. I would use the exact wording for the certification that you have, with precise wording for what you are permitted to do.

  2. You assisted nurses with patients? What, exactly, did you do? Be precise.

  3. Do you work for the Red Cross? If not, you did not give people volunteer opportunities within this organization.

  4. Helped deliver lab results to patients. That needs to be reworded. It sounds like you explained results to patients.

You are a strong applicant, but please be careful about wording. Words matter. Congrats again, and good luck!

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59

Yup I understand! thank you so much for the clarification

60

Would NU or Williams be highly unrealistic for ED?