Please rank and rate the colleges on my college list.

[j814wong]

Greetings good folks of SDN. I am a current high school senior from New York. Please rate each college (Only ones that you have researched or know sufficiently about) using the following categories. Please also recommend eastern colleges that are doable for a person of my academic standing. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

1-Weeding of pre-meds(1 cutthroat and very harsh weeding - 10 very friendly and no weeding)
2-Biology Department (1 worst - 10 best)
3-Research opportunities (1 no opportunities - 10 many opportunities)
4-Pre-med advisory services (1 not helpful at all - 10 very useful and helpful)
5-Breadth of Biology major courses (1 little depth and detail - 10 great amount of detail and breadth)
6-Environment and other students (1 cutthroat competition - 10 relaxes and friendly. I personally like a balance of both)
7-Financial Aid for sub-$25,000 income OOS applicant (1 horrible or no financial aid - 10 100% financial aid guarantee and no loans for very low income students)

-University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
-Emory University
-SUNY - Stony Brook
-University of Maryland - College Park
-Tufts University
-University of Massachusetts -Amherst
-Johns Hopkins University
-University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
-University of Michigan
-Cornell University -I'm going to apply to them for Early Decision.
-Duke University
-University of Southern California
-University of Washington - Seattle

My basic stats:
-GPA
---Unweighted: Informal GPA of 3.78. Official GPA TBA.
-Ranking
---21 of senior class of 958
-SAT: 2210 superscore.
---700 Reading
---740 Math
---770 Writing
-Classes:
---8/9 Total APs classes.
---Senior Year: AP Physics, AP BC Calculus, AP US Gov, AP Eng Literature. This is as much APs allowed due to a new limit on the total amount of periods of classes I can have. The four aforementioned AP courses and a single period Gym class add up to 7 periods per day which is a limit for seniors (I'm not sure if the limit also applies to lower grades)
-Extracurriculars:
---Piano (10-12)
---Mountain Biking (9-12)
---Teacher Assistant at my church on Sundays (11-12)
---Key Club (10-12)
---FBLA (10-early 11) I left after deciding business was not for me.
---Health Occupation Students of America (12) I joined after I finally decided my future goals will be in pre-medical then medicine not because I wanted to pack my application.
---Tutor students formally in school and informally online (11-12)
---Autodidact in the Asian languages of Japanese and Chinese(11-12). Each day, I learn more words and grammar rules. With Mandarin Chinese, my theoretical grammar is intermediate leveled based on my Cantonese abilities.
---Constant reader of political, medical, and technological news? Yeah I'm not actually going to put this on my application. It's more of a hobby to be honest.
-LOR:
---Great letters of recommendation from teachers.

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[RTN]

If you can get into Cornell, then that is probably one of your best bets financially, as I know Ivy League schools generally provide very good need-based aid. However, if you apply ED you will be locked into them and may have trouble getting out of it if you can't afford it. I had similar stats in high school and would really recommend that you look into schools that will give you a significant merit based scholarships. Since you already mentioned some southern schools, you should check out other state flagship schools like Alabama, Louisiana State, etc. where you could get a full tuition scholarship. If you are National Merit, you would get a full ride from Alabama. Med schools don't care about prestige of undergrads and these schools will allow you to graduate with little to no debt, while still getting a quality education. Good luck!

 

[nabilesmail]

I go to USC

1) 6- Decently smart students, some class (Gen Chem1 average curves to a C-, Gen Chem 2 curves to a C, Ochem curves to a B-, same with physics, so its okay0
2) Not sure, transferred in, Bio seems alright, alot of people complain about Bio tests here
3)8- Easy to get research- Had 4 offers, with no experience
4) Haven't used'
5) Some detailed, some not
6) Other students are helpful, EXTREMELY good looking class body lol, I would consider every 6-7/10 girls I see to be pretty
7)Financial Aid=Alright, I have 0 EFC and I got 40k grants with a 60k COA

 

[j814wong]

I go to USC

1) 6- Decently smart students, some class (Gen Chem1 average curves to a C-, Gen Chem 2 curves to a C, Ochem curves to a B-, same with physics, so its okay0
2) Not sure, transferred in, Bio seems alright, alot of people complain about Bio tests here
3)8- Easy to get research- Had 4 offers, with no experience
4) Haven't used'
5) Some detailed, some not
6) Other students are helpful, EXTREMELY good looking class body lol, I would consider every 6-7/10 girls I see to be pretty
7)Financial Aid=Alright, I have 0 EFC and I got 40k grants with a 60k COA

Smart and good looking girls? Haha.

USC seems good. However, even 40k of grants with a 60k COA is too much for my family. My parents probably have 0 EFC as well and my brother, who is one year younger than me, will also be attending college in a year so taking out loans of any sort would be a unnecessary burden. Especially since I intend on going to medical school after undergraduate studies, taking out loans is further out of question unless the incentive to do so is very, very enticing. As such, unless I get lucky and get at least 55k in grants with a 60k COA, which I highly doubt, I will not be attending USC. Thanks for the information.

 

[j814wong]

If you can get into Cornell, then that is probably one of your best bets financially, as I know Ivy League schools generally provide very good need-based aid. However, if you apply ED you will be locked into them and may have trouble getting out of it if you can't afford it. I had similar stats in high school and would really recommend that you look into schools that will give you a significant merit based scholarships. Since you already mentioned some southern schools, you should check out other state flagship schools like Alabama, Louisiana State, etc. where you could get a full tuition scholarship. If you are National Merit, you would get a full ride from Alabama. Med schools don't care about prestige of undergrads and these schools will allow you to graduate with little to no debt, while still getting a quality education. Good luck!

I don't concern myself too much about Cornell's financial aid.
http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend/financial-aid-initiatives
My family's income is well below $60,000 so I can, according to the aforementioned website, receive an aid package without any loans which is certainly a very attractive offer for an top-tier university let alone an Ivy League university.

I just took a look at those universities you've suggest but I'm not interested in them. I prefer to remain on the east coast states that actually border the Atlantic. USC is the exception to this preference. Also, I would really like for the universities that I plan on applying to to have an Asian population of at least 10% but a population of at least 20% is optimal.

 

[SolarLuminosity]

I go to Tufts:

1) I would say 25% of pre-meds will not end up as pre-meds by senior year due to classwork being too hard. That being said most of the remaining ones will be able to get into med school.

2) 6, some classes are terrible, others are awesome. You can minimize the bad ones. I majored in biochem tho partly because chem had better teachers overall.

3) 10, you can easily find research freshman and sophomore year.

4) 7, the dedicated pre-med people arent the best, but you can find a great advisor to help you out with stuff.

5) 10, very challenging and rewarding classes

6) 7, more friendly than cutthroat for sure.

7) I have heard this is very good but dont personally know much.

Another important thing: there is an early program to go to Tufts med. It is difficult, but if youre smart and have a good attitude, you can apply and get in. You dont have to take the MCAT and you know youre in at the end of sophomore yr, it makes things very easy.

 

[j814wong]

I go to Tufts:

1) I would say 25% of pre-meds will not end up as pre-meds by senior year due to classwork being too hard. That being said most of the remaining ones will be able to get into med school.

2) 6, some classes are terrible, others are awesome. You can minimize the bad ones. I majored in biochem tho partly because chem had better teachers overall.

3) 10, you can easily find research freshman and sophomore year.

4) 7, the dedicated pre-med people arent the best, but you can find a great advisor to help you out with stuff.

5) 10, very challenging and rewarding classes

6) 7, more friendly than cutthroat for sure.

7) I have heard this is very good but dont personally know much.

Another important thing: there is an early program to go to Tufts med. It is difficult, but if youre smart and have a good attitude, you can apply and get in. You dont have to take the MCAT and you know youre in at the end of sophomore yr, it makes things very easy.

Thanks for your reply. Out of curiosity, were those 25% of the initial group of premeds people you considered to be hardworking and high achieving in the first place? Were they students that went into Tufts with high GPAs (3.8+) and high SATs in the first place? For a biology major whose going to take pre-med courses at Tufts, what about those "bad" classes are bad? No need for specifics. Just a general idea will suffice. Do the teachers teach badly? Do tests cover topics that were not explicitly taught?

 

[SolarLuminosity]

Thanks for your reply. Out of curiosity, were those 25% of the initial group of premeds people you considered to be hardworking and high achieving in the first place? Were they students that went into Tufts with high GPAs (3.8+) and high SATs in the first place? For a biology major whose going to take pre-med courses at Tufts, what about those "bad" classes are bad? No need for specifics. Just a general idea will suffice. Do the teachers teach badly? Do tests cover topics that were not explicitly taught?

Some of the 25%, yes. Their hs just wasn't challenging enough and they couldn't take a much more rigorous program. Others weren't or didn't want it enough or thought partying was more important.

As far as bad classes, the first intro class is unnecessarily hard. Some call it a weed out course. But basically they take a bunch of A students and spread them out. The only other bad bio course I took was one with a bad teacher. The other 3 bio courses I took were phenomenal and I have heard great things about many other courses. The tests have almost always been fair at Tufts in every class. They definitely take basic concepts and make them hard though so not everyone gets an A. This is a good thing because that's the kind of logic you need for med school/usmle/MCAT etc. But I have very very rarely had a class where something was on a test that wasn't taught. Tests are already hard enough that most teachers will just test you on only lecture material and will make this clear. If you put in the work, you will always be prepared for tests here.

 

[j814wong]

Thanks a lot for the information. Tufts definitely seems to be a great college.

 

[I'm No Superman]

I go to UofM


1-Weeding of pre-meds: 2-3

2-Biology Department: 8

3-Research opportunities: 10

4-Pre-med advisory services: 7

5-Breadth of Biology major courses: Depends on which classes you end up taking, I assume that if one were to get a Bio degree at any college, they would learn a fair amount. Also, remember that you don't have to major in biology to go to med school.

6-Environment and other students: 6 (but it probably depends on the field of study, I've found that the pre-med students are surprisingly laid back, and the business students are very cut-throat)

7-Financial Aid for sub-$25,000 income OOS applicant: I don't know enough about this to make an informed ranking. I'm OOS but didn't need any financial aid.

I hope this helps.

 

[nabilesmail]

Yeah for USC- I think there need based aid caps at 39k- so unless you have scholarships over that amount, that prob the most amount of grants you'll get

 

[j814wong]

I go to UofM


1-Weeding of pre-meds: 2-3

2-Biology Department: 8

3-Research opportunities: 10

4-Pre-med advisory services: 7

5-Breadth of Biology major courses: Depends on which classes you end up taking, I assume that if one were to get a Bio degree at any college, they would learn a fair amount. Also, remember that you don't have to major in biology to go to med school.

6-Environment and other students: 6 (but it probably depends on the field of study, I've found that the pre-med students are surprisingly laid back, and the business students are very cut-throat)

7-Financial Aid for sub-$25,000 income OOS applicant: I don't know enough about this to make an informed ranking. I'm OOS but didn't need any financial aid.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the information. I look forward ot applying to UofM. Though financial aid is quite a worry.