Hi, so I’m a senior that is most likely going to go to UC Riverside this fall for a major in biology. One of the biggest mistakes I made in high school was that I was too laid back my freshman+sophomore year and thus had to work much harder junior year to pull up my GPA but it still hurt my chances for college acceptances. I don’t want to make that same mistake again for college when applying for med school. Is there any advice you can give that I can start on my freshman year in college so I have a good chance at a top med school? I don’t want to settle for middle tier schools anymore, I really want to start aiming high.
Any advice is welcome!
-Thanks!
P.S: I’m majoring in biology and wish to specialize in neurology in med school, if that helps.
What would be the functional difference to a student between “settling for a middle tier school” and a really top med school?
Can you describe what the differences would be in say, Human Anatomy, or how the clerkships might be conducted?
Thinking about your future patients, could you tell us how they would benefit from your attending a “top” med school? Put it into their words, if you can.
Med schools will first ask themselves if an applicant can cut it academically by looking at an applicant’s GPAs/MCAT. Not counting the tens and tens of thousands who start off as “premed” and change pathways along the way, keep in mind that there are 1000s of actual applicants every year who can easily cut it but do not get accepted anywhere.
So having recognized the error of your ways in high school (being too laid back in 9/10 grades), what do you think you should do? Rinse and repeat? Or, how about go to class, stay on top of material (this will be hugely critical considering UCR is on quarter system and 10 weeks will go by in a blur), and do well academically from the get go. It doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a room and study 24/7 and not have a social life. Be ready from the start. Good luck.
Every freshman finds that they have to adjust upwards their academic efforts at college, no matter what HS they graduated from and their HS ranking.
On the ther note, you will need the top college GPA and a decent MCAT score no matter what Med. School you will eventually apply. The number of applicants at EVERY American Med. School is around 5000 for average of 150 spots. Only about 41% of applicants get accepted to at least one school and this is your ultimate goal - to get accepted ANYWHERE. Aiming at the top is a great goal, but getting ONE SPOT at any Med. School is a huge achievement, do not underestimate the effort that will be required for that.
To achieve this, your goal is an “A” in every single class. Do not set your goal at “B” or even “A-” for that matter. 4.0 may not happen after all, but it is a very good goal to have to achieve a high college GPA.
However, do not be aftraid to take some risks, broaden your horizons and grow personally. All of these is very important at college, that is waht UG is for - to see where you are, to find your limitations, everybody has them. Academic standing is the most important when applying to Med. School, but it is NOT everything, Med. Schools are lookiing for mature team players who can connect easily to people with to wide range of personalities and various interests…
Best wishes!!!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you need 24/7 studying and no social life to do well in undergrad you probably won’t be able to handle medical school (assuming you even got in since obviously 24/7 studying/no social life means no ECs)