Just stopping by to mention that Maryland is getting TWO new medical schools: one at Morgan State University in Baltimore and another one at Meritus Health Center in Hagerstown.
So if the OP’s daughter decides to pursue the traditional pre-med path, she now has more in-state options for med school.
Based on the OP’s concerns, it seems that HWS and Juniata are better fits than Rhodes. They’ll be academically oriented and nurturing, with solid premed advising and academic preparation, close to a lake.
@DadOfJerseyGirl some posters here continue to have excellent suggestions for the OP to consider. Hopefully she is reading, even if she doesn’t wish to respond or have a dialogue.
The 3-semester “Great books” requirement sounds like it is a problem for the family. Since there are 2 other good colleges without that requirement that offer similar opportunities to learn about groups different from one’s own (a requirement for med school), I figure it’s probably easier for the family to skirt the issue and look into the other 2 colleges, since all 3 are apparently affordable. In terms of premed preparation I think all 3 will offer the support the family are looking for and definitely the academics.
I hope we learn where the student ended up and especially how she made her choice, since her situation is similar to many who want to be premed (minus the “no Great Books” program).
This post is mostly to help other people in the future who are searching for scholarships and show results.
I am not going to answer anything about DD’s decision or reasoning (we do not have it yet and will not put it on public display anyway.)
DD applied to 20 schools. Only George Washington is left.
DD also applied for 2 BS/DO programs (we still do not have results from the second one and I will not tell what program it is at this point).
State - MD
SAT combined 1430 (Math750)
Most schools applied TO.
GPA at time of application 3.98 unweighted ( I do not remember weighted, but pretty much very high - all classes honor, AP or college level).
30 credits DE in Community College with GPA 4.0 (including Calc 1, Physics, English, Bio 1, Psychology, Chem, English etc.)
Had very focused EC (including 2 years of internship in a hospital and doctor’s office), and organized a significant club in school for helping people in the community (sorry for staying vague. This club was the main reason she got all her scholarships! ), plus normal girl things like volleyball and dancing, honor societies, school activities etc. Again success is basically attributed to community service.
She got accepted (or waitlisted) at all schools but CWRU (was denied EA - we suspect that this is the school’s punishment for her older sister not taking a very big scholarship there a couple of years ago .) We find this hilarious.
Listed only merit, since FA is different for every family. I do not list COA again because it is very different. (Order of my spreadsheet - do not try to interpret it.)
Nova South Eastern -22K (accepted to BS/DO program)
Ursinus -35k
St. Mary’s Maryland -6k (this is in state school)
Juniata - 39K
Miami of Ohio - 34K
Dickinson - 35K
Gettysburg - 43K (Eisenhower Scholar)
Rhodes - 28K
Muhlenberg - 34K (invited for Shankweiler)
Hobart and William Smith -40K
George Washington - TBD
UMD - ILS Honors, Dean’s Scholarship -4.5k for 2 years.
Washington and Lee - waitlisted
Case Western - rejected EA
Richmond - accepted
Lafayette - accepted
University of Rochester - accepted
Bucknell - waitlisted
Furman - 28K
University of Cincinnati - some ridiculously small scholarship, and not accepted into Medical Science Major. DD applied solely to get a taste of BS/MD interviews for future MD interview experience and get a feeling of what medical applications can look like. Was not invited for an interview. I would say never bother with this school unless you are from Ohio.
Advice for the future - do not apply to 20 schools! Stop at 15. You do not need 4-5 safeties. 2 are enough. Do not spend too much time visiting schools. It is waste of time. Your child will change his/her mind over senior year. Favorite will become - “I do not like that one anymore”, and some lukewarm may become favorite at the end. If you really like some small schools - interview there. Apply EA everywhere it is possible. Do not sweat showing interest too much with other things (schools have so many applicants these days, they do not care anymore.) DD did not do anything special for any of the schools above. She did not attend any webinars, info sessions etc. She simply did not have time for that. We discovered that she did not even activate some portals like for Lafayette (all emails went to spam…) If school loves you and fits your needs - love it back.
Correction. Apparently not activated portal was Bucknell… So ask your children in the future check Spam folder regularly
Disagree about showing interest, it can be very important at schools that indicate it’s a factor. Yield is important. This could explain the waitlists and/or denial.
Not really. CWRU was the first school we attended during the summer. Went on a tour. Asked a lot of questions. I think even sent some emails (was interested at that point but lost interest later…) She was very interested in W&L. We absolutely loved school. This is the only one that I really liked from her list :). So denial and waitlist for these two had nothing to do with interest. Bucknell maybe. We had never visited and she did not interview there.
We will see. As of now, since it is the local school to us, she is not interested at all… She said " I do not want to be catcalled for 4 years in college" - GW does not have a campus and is in the middle of DC. She said that when she went there with friends they got way too much attention… She came home and said: “GW over my dead body.” When she applied, she was interested. I told you, a lot of schools fall out of favor…