Hi! I’m going into 9th grade, and I want to be doctor when I am older. I am absolutely sure of this, and so, I was thinking about applying for BS/MD programs, especially Brown PLME, as well as top tier colleges such as, Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, and MIT. I was wondering what I could do in my high school career to achieve this and if there are any specific actions or programs or activities that would increase my chances in a significant way. Just for reference, I’m Indian, moved to America about 5 1/2 years ago, and live in DE. I would appreciate any and all advice, thank you!
Pre-med or otherwise, do the best you can in the hardest high school courses you can handle, being sure that you can complete the expected college prep base curriculum: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2055289-faq-high-school-college-prep-base-curriculum.html . Be aware that college courses taken while in high school will count toward your college record and recalculated college GPA for applying to medical school.
Be aware that getting to medical school is very difficult and competitive. BA/BS->MD/DO programs are highly competitive (top end grades, test scores, extracurricular achievements, essays, recommendations, etc.). Otherwise, you can go to a wide range of colleges to do pre-med (does not have to be a super-selective college), but you must achieve highly in college (top end grades, high MCAT score, expected pre-med extracurriculars such as jobs or volunteer work in clinical and charitable contexts, etc.). Only about 40% of applicants to medical school get into any medical school, most of whom get into only one.
Medical school is highly expensive, so consider cost in choice of undergraduate so that you can have more money or less debt for medical school.
If you live in Delaware, this is my advice: Go to the University of Delaware, make sure you fulfill all the medical school prerequisites, graduate with a 4.0, kill it on the MCATs, and apply to medical school.