Hispanic Female
School Type: Public
Location: Pennsylvania
Major - Biology
Class Rank: N/A
GPA:
Unweighted- 3.4
Weighted- 4.28
SAT Score (New):
1230
Math 610
Reading/Writing 620
Super-Scored:
1250
Math 610
Reading/Writing 640
AP Tests:
Spanish 5
Italian 5
Extra Curriculars:
National Art Honors Society
Peer Mediation - Executive Committee Member
Stage Crew
Have volunteered 50+ hrs
Worked as summer camp counselor at YMCA
Languages:
Can fluently speak English, Spanish, and Italian
I’ve Been Accepted To:
Cabrini University
West Chester University
University of Vermont
Temple University
Drexel University
University of Massachusetts
Do I have a chance?? Reach Schools for Regular Decision
John Hopkins
University of Pennsylvania
Northeastern -Already Applied
William & Mary
University of Delaware - Already Applied
I know I’m really reaching here…
Any suggestions for colleges where I have a good chance at getting in (regular decision) with my stats??
What do you intend to do with a biology major ?(it’s a major with one of the lowest ROI among alal college majors).
What’s your EFC? How different is it from your budget?
If you count (tuition, fees, room, board) - (scholarships, grants) =
What is the result for eaxh college you got admitted to?
JHU or Penn are out of reach due to your unweighted GPA.
You can apply to more selective universities than the ones that admitted you - yet are reachable.
For instance, St Lawrence, Hobart and William Smith, Wheaton MA, Simmons, Marist, Goucher, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Denison, St Michael’s.
Why have you nor applied to Penn State and Pitt? Or have you already (the priority deadline has passed).
With a biology major, I intend on going to medical school to become a dermatologist.
The average for each college is around 25,000 a year (w/room and board). With the exception of West Chester for 5,400 a year (commuting). And Cabrini at 13,000 a year (commuting). That’s taking into account scholarship and aid.
I didn’t like the vibe of Penn State and Pitt, since an overwhelming amount of kids from my school end up going there, would turn out to be like a second high school. I definitely know JHU and Penn are practically impossible.
Apply just to one to make you feel like you tried, but they want 3.75+ uw, 1450+ SAT, and national achievements. So… Basically send those on Jan 1st after you’ve sent the rest of your applications and forget about it because they’re not nearly impossible, you won’t make the first cut.
If your goal is med school, pick another major than biology. You can major in anything (as long as it’s the subject you’re best at) so pick a major that has better job prospects (English, Spanish, Italian all would. Spanish in particular would be very valuable for medical school).
Also, you’ll need a relatively nurturing environment that supports premeds.
Remove Denison and Dickinson from the list above (too reachy for a premed) and add Juniata and Elizabethtown. Run the NPC before you apply in order to see whether they’d be within budget.
With 40,000+ stusents you would likely never see any student from your high school - it takes deliberate planning even to see students you’re in class with. If you’d picked a living learning community outside of East you wouldn’t see them ever. But that’s okay.
What’s your EFC? How does that different from your budget?
Are those costs before or after you subtracted the loans?
For premed, UMass and UVM are very good universities, and will be quite demanding.
I am not familiar with the two schools that for you would be less expensive, but avoiding debt is a good plan if you intend to be premed. There will be plenty of opportunity to take on debt in medical school.
The EFC is about $9,191, we don’t really have a budget most likely whatever’s cheapest, because if I’m going to med school rather save my money for undergrad. Unless I really like the school.
The costs are before any loans taken out, federal loans are about 6000-7000
Public OOS universities won’t be affordable (also, they tend to weedout premeds-meaning that in any given class a majority of students will deliberately get a grade that makes med school impossible).
Colleges like Wheaton MA or Juniata don’t do that AND they offer good financial aid as well as good premed support so I’d apply there in priority. They’re well above both West Chester and Cabrini in prestige and selectivity.
Goucher would let you take one class per semester at JHU after first semester freshman year. Your trilingualism would interest them (they’re big on foreign languages and study abroad).
Did you apply for Honors at Temple? (Always worth a try although it’s a reach).
Federal loans for freshmen should be 5.5k.
Assume your parents’ budget is $9,000 - can your parents pay that from income and savings (say, $400 a month for 10 months from income, and $2,500 in a lump sum at the start of each semester)? Ask them. Make sure. They shouldn’t take loans for you.
Do you have personal savings? A job?
Haven’t applied for Honors at Temple, I am well aware that I most likely won’t get accepted.
I’ll ask them about income, but my personal savings are just below 1,000 won’t really do me any good.
Don’t have a job currently but aim on getting one for the summer.
Apply to Honors at Temple. Your odds are better than at JHU, Penn, W&M. Not high but worth a try.
Try to find a part time job in retail since you’re in the week stores always need people. Work a few hours and save the money. Stay on for 6-8 hours a week after that and save the money. Move to full-time over the summer.
Fill out the Request info form at Goucher, Wheaton MA*, Juniata. Add them to your dashboard in commonapp and start looking for ideas for the supplements.
there's another Wheaton elsewhere, hence the state next to it.
Dickinson, Denison, St Olaf are worth a shot and quite prestigious. Reaches but highlight your foreign language prowess as they’ll appreciate it. In the “why us” mention their study abroad for science majors.
Muhlenberg, Wheaton MA, Ithaca, Goucher would be good matches.
I don’t know anything at all about the costs of Duquesne University (a Catholic/maybe Jesuit school in Pittsburgh.) I do know a girl who goes there studying in a health-related field (can’t remember exactly which) and she’s very enthused about the school. I think she said there’s a relatively new science building that she likes, and said the school has a caring atmosphere…might be worth checking out. @MYOS1634…I respect your knowledge of schools (which is vast!) …what do you think?
USciences is expensive (high sticker price, terrible financial aid) and not better than the ones listed above, which provide better financial/merit aid. USciences is decent at what it does but won’t be affordable for a $9,000 EFC.
@elly710: have you run the NPC on any of the schools listed on this thread?
@MYOS1634@inthegarden - I have for some, in state they all sit around $17,000-$28,000 a year. Out of state for the ones I have already been accepted to, about $28,000-$34,000. The latter which is honestly too expensive for undergrad, if I’m planning on premed.