What schools should I look at? NJ Resident, 92 UW GPA, 1280 SA, undecided major, maybe public health or political science

College Search & Lists
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident)
  • State/Location of residency: New Jersey, PA secondary
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Nigerian American female
    Edit: I forgot to mention I’m LGBT (closeted) so like the area kinda does matter to me
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): athlete, not sure if recruitable though

Intended Major(s)
Premed, I like business but probs won’t pursue. Not 100% sure but intending on premed
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: my schools on a 100 scale and I think it’s 92 unweighted. I put my grades in a GPA calculator and it said 3.68
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): I forget but the calculator said 4.02
  • College GPA (for transfers): right now it’s a 4.0
  • Class Rank: 45/480ish it dropped a lot since last year from 10
  • ACT/SAT Scores: I took the paper SAT in October and got a 1280, retaking SAT next Saturday and taking ACT

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))

3 on AP seminar exam, I took APUSH 1 and 2, AP Lang, Calc AB. I took medical terminology, nutrition, psychology, and I’m currently taking abnormal psychology and philosophy

My GPA mainly dropped because I had a lot of GI issues and ulcers and I went to the hospital a lot especially the latter part of last year. Mental health also played a role. Not it’s mostly just mental health.

Awards
I am a girls state potential nominee, decisions come out Monday, I was a deca state finalist last year, I won my schools VFW writing competition freshman year, got student of the month once, I don’t really have awards that are impressive

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

I’m in NHS which I don’t think does much, I volunteer at VBS with kids becuase I truly like that, I’m a student board of ed member, I did a paid medical program at this medical school, I do sports, I was good at cross country but I quit due to mental health but it was probably dumb I might go back, I published a book in 7th so I actually like writing but I can’t stand my creative writing club and quit. I’m not sure I have extracurriculars either

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

My AP lang teacher adores me so I’ll probs ask a LOR from him, he also taught me seminar; he teaches a love and literature class I might take next year

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
My mom will pay for it. She said worst comes to worse she’ll sell a home

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

I’m really not sure where I’d fall into any of them but the schools my mom has approved so far has been NYU, Emory, Barnard, Amherst, Brown (or any Ivy), UConn, Howard, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt. I may have forgotten some

Anything helps. I’m eligible for NJ Stars and I don’t mind that but I probably won’t be allowed to participate due to my mom

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Congratulations on your accomplishments!

I feel as though you have a bunch of reach schools on your list. Have you thought about adding a few NJ state schools or possibly a SUNY (look at the tuition match schools)?

You indicated that your parent would sell a house to pay for college. Does your family own more than 1 home?

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Yes, they do. I wanted to apply to Brooklyn College but she said no. SUNY is a hard no for her. She doesn’t like Rutgers and Montclair state either. She’d only let me do Rowan for a BSMD or if I utterly disappoint her. Idek. I just want to go to Europe but she said no

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You need to really need find some safeties and build your list from there. Start with some of the NJ schools. If your mom “approves” of UCONN, why not Rutgers or any of the other state flagships? It seems like that list was put together by seeing some “top” school list, but those schools may not be the best schools for you. I think the first step might be for you and your mom to do some research on how important it is to have an academic safety that is financially comfortable.

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Yeah I totally agree. And she’s on all of those college rating sites. I’m trying to find a way to talk to her abt other schools. I’ll probably tell her I’m applying for a BSMD and when they inevitably reject me due to their 1% acceptance rates I automatically have a safety ig (ik some programs let you still attend if rejected from BSMD)

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Do you think your mother would look at CC? I mean, there are a lot of really smart parents on here that have already gone through the process.

I’m just worried that you may end up at a college that is completely wrong for you when there are so many great choices out there. Especially if she is expecting you to go to med. school.

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You tagged “first generation.” Was that intentional?

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She says it’s fake college and only for stupid people or high schoolers. I obviously don’t hold this view but God would it solve half my problems.

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No not at all. I was scrolling to see if there was an appropriate one but I probs mis pressed

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Most of these colleges are reach schools for you right now. I think you need to find some realistic sure things for admission FIRST, and build your list up from there.

You can take the required courses for medical school admissions at just about any four year college (arts conservatories excluded). I would suggest you take medical school possibility OUT if your college search equation. Find a college where you will ve happy, do well, and thrive during your undergrad years.

Right now, both your GPA and SAT scores do not make most of these colleges sure things for you…they are reaches. You absolutely need colleges on your application list where you will have a good chance of acceptance. Right now…you don’t.

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No problem. I removed it.

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Where in particular in Europe are you interested in? (You could prioritize schools with strong ties or satellite campuses in your country of interest.)

As we just discussed on your other thread, I feel like Spelman hits the sweet spot here. Atlanta is apparently okay, because Emory! And Spelman is unique in that it has well-established domestic exchange agreements with a long list of schools that Mom would be excited about, so you could sell the idea as best-of-both-worlds. You mentioned that she’s ambivalent about women’s colleges, but maybe if you’ve already sold the Barnard idea, you’re halfway there in selling Spelman?

She’s good with UConn? That’s a start, anyway, in the public-flagship vein! How about UMass Amherst?

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I think he means would your mom read CC (College Confidential). I don’t think he means community college. Is that what you thought?

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This is moreso my moms list. If she didn’t push me so hard freshman year maybe this would’ve been possible now but I’m so burnt out. I wanted to go to Europe and pushed for it but she denied it. Now I’m just tryna go to college and work and figure something out to make me actually happy. I don’t care where I go. I’m not doing politics or law or smth where I need influence

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What is this?

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In this case CC was referring to College Confidential, rather than Community College.

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I mentioned that to her but she like didn’t really like, care for UMass. I’ll just tell her it’s Amherst lol.

For Europe Belgium and Spain and maybe Scotland or something: I don’t know if it’s foolish for me to go somewhere new straight from high school but anywheres better than home I think. Maybe that’s just me being a naive teenager though

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Something. I’ll try and stop using abbreviations from here on out

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Oh I understand now. No, I don’t think it’s a good idea: especially becuase I’m not supposed to have social media to begin with lol

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Oh, haha, I thought you’d mis-typed Smith, which is also not a bad idea!

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