I’ve completed my applications but since I’ve decided not to apply to some of my safeties, I want to add another reach to my list. Now, 'm looking for a high-reach university to apply to.
Needs:
A private school that offers some merit-aid. (I will not qualify for financial aid).
A strong biomedical engineering program.
Relatively easy to switch between engineering majors.
Can’t Be:
A liberal arts college (parents have made it clear they won’t pay for it)
Nice to haves:
A creative-writing minor
Doesn’t require 2 SAT tests (I have one that’s 750+, but the other’s only 700+)
A sense of community, school spirit
It would be nice to have warm weather, but I don’t want to limit myself geographically.
Don’t know if it’s a reach since I don’t know your stats, but RPI fits all the points above except a creative-writing minor and warm (winter) weather. If you have high stats you’ll probably get merit.
Reach schools aren’t usually sources for merit because they are reach schools. They don’t usually need to unless you’re a student that is desperately wanted because you add ethnic or regional diversity or they want to poach you from an Ivy.
How much merit do you want? What net cost do you want/need?
What is your career goal with BioMedE? That’s a very limiting major. ChemE or MechE is more marketable and also works well in the BioMedE world, including BioMedE grad programs.
Duke might be worth looking into. They have fabulous merit aid for a relatively small number of students–ie, those it hopes to “poach from ivys,” as @mom2collegekids suggests. (Interestingly, elite southern schools seem to give more merit aid than elite northerns. Emory, Tulane, Vanderbilt, etc.)
Yup. I didn’t see your profile before I wrote–and @Lindagaf and @mom2collegekids are right. You probably won’t be in the running for merit at high reaches unless you’ve got a very special honor in your back pocket or something. (It is also too late to apply for merit at schools like Emory and Davidson which have earlier due dates for those hoping for merit aid.)
@AAloneOrchid High-reach colleges with very strong bioengineering programs: Stanford, MIT, Penn, Duke, Hopkins.
Hopkins has the best bionengineering program of these 5, but all these schools have top-10 bionengineering programs and also all of them are top 10 colleges.
Regarding writing, out of these schools Stanford and Penn have the best english programs. Both Stanford and Penn have a creative writing minor. Penn also has the Kelly Writers House, which you might be interested in looking into. http://www.writing.upenn.edu/wh/
It will be difficult to find many high-reach schools that offer merit-aid since most offer only need-based aid, they do not need to offer merit. As mentioned above Duke offers merit aid and probably Hopkins too. Stanford, MIT and Penn only offer need-based aid.
I don’t think you can get into an engineering program at a high reach school without a subject test in math and either Chem/Physics/Bio.
Edit: Harvey Mudd requires one in math and another in whatever you like. I would recommend checking them out, they have one of the highest return on investment (according to payscale)
Harvey Mudd would be great but is a very long shot. But since OP is asking for a high reach …
If you need merit than you (OP) have to aim for schools that are still very good but aren’t as selective as Stanford/MIT/Duke/Mudd and that are willing to give merit to attract good students. I mentioned RPI. WPI is another one. Case Western as well.
Thank you for the suggestions. I’ve mostly applied to public schools because they’re more affordable. But I think private schools can afford to be smaller, so I’m considering JHU, Rice, Duke and Stanford (since I live next door) as reaches. I’ve applied to USC and Case, but if my school’s Naviance is to be believed, I shouldn’t have too much trouble getting into them.
I need about 10K to attend most private schools. I understand that my SAT scores are a bit low. I’m hoping my extra-curriculars and essays can tip things in my favor.
I do have a Bio-E and Math 2 SAT subject tests. But I’ve heard that if the math 2 isn’t a perfect 800, it’s not worth much.
At this point, I really don’t have much to lose by applying to some schools-- even if I have a very low chance of getting in or being offered aid. At the same time, I don’t want to apply to a school I will never be able to attend. It’s better for me to apply now than to wonder “what if” later on.