Supplication before the CC oracles

College Search & Lists
1

Hey guys, appreciate the community here so much. I was wondering if I could get some help with refining my list of applications. I’m nothing crazy on paper but pretty competitive anywhere, I suppose. Guess I should start with my main goals.

I want a life with a lot of doors open to me, where I’ll be able to pursue something interesting at a high level and support my (future) family. I’m big into the “world of the mind” side of life and want a school that can keep me stimulated. I appreciate medium-big schools for the diversity of interests and large-community feel. Wouldn’t call myself a city kid per se but most of my top schools are near a city, because city breeds opportunity in my mind. I know that’s not a fully legitimate premise but I’m somewhat flexible. Also not a big fan of campus life (I’d love an apartment to myself haha) but I value when it’s done “right.”

My interests are eclectic, but I am strongly invested in neuroscience research, love philosophy and psychology, and have tons of experience with CS and computer engineering. I’d love an opportunity to study between these fields, as long as it keeps me competitive intellectually and in the jobs market. I want a Ph.D., in some related field to the above.

I’m from metro area Maryland. East coast or thereabouts for my school is strongly preferred. Eastern Canada works, Illinois/midwest works, the South works too but I’d need some convincing.

I’m upper middle class, seems like I’ll be paying around $40k/yr after student aid for colleges asking for $60-70k total. Hate spending money, so really weighing the costs here. I’d pay anything for YHP, not sure about the others. Big fan of the low cost and high quality of UMDCP instate and McGill.

I don’t like talking about my stats, but:

35 ACT, 1 take (36m/36w/35r/31s)
1540 SAT, 1 take (790r/750m)
retook SAT, expecting 1590/1600
3.9 GPA, around the hardest courseload possible, 11 APs taken so far, only big one I won’t take is Bio (I HATE high school science courses, I’ll self-study for the exam though)
Top 5%, 500+ kids in my class, but many people have higher GPAs than me. Very few have equal courseload difficulty.
National Merit Finalist (can practically taste the money too c;)

ECs: paid position in neuroscience lab, continuing as a volunteer during school year. Nothing groundbreaking (yet) but I work my ass off and know a lot.

500 hours or so volunteering at a day camp, happiest I’ve ever been

VP of science national honor society
VP of italian honor society
Member of math and national honor society
VP physics club (lots of tutoring)
President premedical club (guest speakers just talk about their career paths)
VP east african club (i’m white tho, just super passionate about east africa, unironically)
Pres of a competitive chemistry team
Private tutor
7 Cups Intern / volunteer (site that provides listeners for people in emotional need)

Massive interests in literature, CS, computers, skateboards, yoyos that won’t translate much to college apps.

My ECs are my achilles heel, mostly unstimulating. Still, I never once thought deeply about college until last week and would much rather do things for me than for an app.

Anyways, my list so far is as follows. Is it reasonable, are there other options I should explore, am I just not getting into anything but UMD?

Definitely applying:
Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, MIT, Brown, UMD College Park, Chicago, Mcgill

Likely applying:
Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern

On my radar:
Toronto, U mich, UVA, Notre Dame, Cornell

Thanks for making it through my wall of text. Not really sure if I missed anything important, wrote it up as fast as my fingers would go. Appreciate you guys!

2

Is there any way you could get someone to review your essays and the tone of your writing on the app? Someone you trust, who knows you and who ideally has experience with college apps would be fantastic.

3

I have talked to a family member who is big into that stuff, and he’s impressed. I have a few options though and sort of lean towards an essay that’s not considered my best by 3rd parties. I dunno. They are solid all around, and very strong supplementals.

4

I don’t think a single school on your lists will give you a penny.
UMich OOS with a 40k EFC will cost you 65k.

5

#1
have your parents explicitly OK’d you applying to all of those colleges? Since at most of them they are likely to pay 40±60K/ year for your education. Have run/they run the financial calculators for each college? Cause YOU aren’t the one who is going to be forking over that money each year.THEY are.

2

I dont see any state side real safeties for you.
So unless you will be MORE than happy to go to a U in Canada, I suggest you find some colleges where you are more than likely to go AND will offer you merit $$.

you may want to start here
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

Dont make the same mistake as this family did-thinking their son would surely would be accepted at at least ONE of the reachy reach colleges.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-the-pieces-but-what-went-wrong-p1.html

6

Which of your colleges do you consider matches and safeties? I think those are the hardest to pick.

7

I agree with milee30 & others who mentioned the need to have someone read your essays. I’d have a guidance counselor or someone else who does not know you well. If you are applying to schools that require interviews, you may want to also find someone who does not know you well who knows what college interviews are like and who is willing to interview you.

8

Before I read your list of schools, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what you are looking for and it seemed reasonable. But after reading that list, I wonder if you are really just hunting prestige. Dartmouth? Not near a city and all about campus life. You listed all the Ivies but they really are very different schools.

If you are really looking for the kinds of colleges you describe, I would add NYU, BU, Northeastern, Fordham as a safety, Brandeis. I’m sure others can help as well.

9

“I have talked to a family member who is big into that stuff, and he’s impressed.”

Your family loves you; they’re not who you need to impress. I should clarify that the recommendation to have someone review essays is to have someone who is independent give you objective, possibly tough love feedback.

10

@Eeyore123 maybe so, but national merit money is what I referenced! Obtusely, to be fair.

@menloparkmom yes, they have, to both questions. And I appreciate your concern, I’m not very worried about my chances to UMDCP, though. If I get across the board rejections I have a backup plan.

@austinmshauri I consider UMDCP a safety, McGill a match, all the rest are reasonably considered reaches.

@lostaccount I appreciate both of those points of advice. My guidance counselor is quite nice, and has read my essays. Got glowing reviews, got told they were the best in however many years, etc. Definitely looking for more critical perspectives.

@gallentjill Dartmouth sure is an odd one out for me, but I’m applying for personal reasons there. I’m hunting the best educational experience for me, but I appreciate your concern. I like BU and Northeastern, I’ll consider them more strongly, I’ll look into Fordham and Brandeis. Thanks.

@milee30 Fair enough, but the person in particular I was referencing is an incredible private admissions counselor who helped get the rest of my family into their dream schools. I trust him to be objective. I’ll gladly look for further opinions, though.

11

I concur with @Eeyore123: none of the schools listed are likely to give you money for being a NMF, because they don’t need to do that in order to lure students to attend their schools.

Also, @milee30 mentioned this: “to review your essays and the tone of your writing . . . .” Focus on the tone.

12

Your interest match well with my D class of 2017. She wanted that ‘life of the mind’ and strong rigor with an end game being a PhD or MD/PhD in Neuroscience. She too was NMF and we had an EFC or 40-45Kish. She applied to 15 schools ranging from safeties to reaches. Here are some highlights for you to consider:

Pitt - rolling admissions, merit. You can apply right away and probably hear back in 6-8 weeks or so depending on the crunch. Good chance for merit with possible full tuition scholarship. They have one of the older Neuroscience departments and they offer a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in which you do original research, write a thesis and defend it to a 3 panel multi-university panel. Great preparation for grad school.

Fordham - Lincoln Center - Full tuition merit for NMF. Really cool sounding Honors program. Brain Science major. Great location in NYC.

BU - nice city location, merit possibilities including 33K a year for NMF.

WashU - merit possibilities. Their Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program seems pretty cool - https://pnp.artsci.wustl.edu/

USCal - merit with at least 1/2 tuition for NMF.

Her top 3 UChicago, Princeton, MIT as she thought they were the best places to prepare her for post-graduate studies. Princeton has the best need-based aid in the country and your EFC ends up about 15K less than expected.

13

I’m not sure why all the comments about your writing. I would just make sure you don’t lose your voice in your essays with outside feedback. You don’t want to lose the authenticity of who you are.

14

I agree that this list is way too reach heavy and unless you would be overjoyed with UMD CP, look at substituting out some of the reach schools with some matches.

15

OP, I gotta say, you sound amazing. (and you’re getting good advice on what schools to choose). You’re going to be a real asset to the college that chooses you.

16

You’ll get into UMDCP with honors college and $8k - $16k merit/year. That I’m almost certain. You also could get into some of your others, assuming the intangible parts of your application (essays and recommendations and interviews for those who have it) are as good as the stuff listed.

You’ll also get into the Canadian Universities you mention, but merit aid will be less then UMD.

You’ll most likely receive little merit aid at the elite US as you are as exceptional as is everybody else, and less exceptional then some, they admit.

Obviously for schools that have ED (Like UChicago) your chances are much better if you pursue that, but that kinda defeats the “definitely applying to all these schools.”

My son (UChicago) was a National Merit Scholar (not just a finalist) and walked away with a one time $2,500 scholarship. If he would have wanted to use that at any of the large publics that have such a program, then he would be “tasting the money” (do you really know where that’s been?) See South Carolina, Florida International, Arizona State, etc.

17

Good advice above from @BrianBoiler for National Merit money. Spend some time in the Financial Aid and Scholarships section of CC (specifically National Merit) to find the schools that give lots of money to NMFs). You don’t have any on your list yet! Also, I’m confused about how you know you are a finalist already? You may know you are a semifinalist (and can perhaps can assume you will make finalist), but they haven’t been named yet for this school year. I liked reading your post – I feel you come across as authentic. If you do that in your essays, you will be fine! Just know you have lots of schools on your list that are reaches for everyone. Consider adding some matches and safeties at which you will be happy (including some that give good money to NMFs). My NMF daughter is happily attending USCal – which offers half tuition scholarships for all NMFs who are admitted, plus often some additional money. Or perhaps consider Fordham as @Dolemite suggests?

18

As others have mentioned you really need to investigate schools better for fit and not just apply due to prestige/rankings. Once you determine which schools are a better fit you’ll also have a better idea how to tailor your application for each school. For example, if you do determine that MIT is definitely a good fit and you explore their Course 9 (Brain and Cognitive Studies) you might notice that 80ish per cent of the students that chose that major are female so if you are male you’d really want to emphasize your Neuroscience background and desire to major in that thus not getting the gender penalty most males get applying to MIT and possibly getting a gender bonus.

19

Add some LACs. You have a 75-150% better chance of getting into one of them and most offer the same kind of residential, life of the mind, experience as the Ivies. They are particularly adept at preparing STEM majors for graduate degrees:
https://www.wesleyan.edu/ideas/

20

Consider adding Rice to your list, despite your caveat about “needing convincing” to head south. Houston is a diverse and dynamic city, with a major F500 corporate presence and astounding research opportunities available at the Texas Medical Center (home of MD Anderson, etc.), which is literally across the street from Rice’s beautiful, self-enclosed campus. In terms of atmosphere, Rice does a great job of combining the intimacy of a LAC (3900 students, residential college system instead of frats) with the resources of an elite university, while avoiding the culture of cutthroat competition that plagues some peer schools.

On a more practical front, you might well qualify for merit money there. If not, you could probably reap the benefits of Rice’s just-announced upgrade to its financial aid program, an upgrade designed in part to make attending easier for middle-income students. Cf. the Rice website for more details.