Okay, thanks. I’ll strongly consider. Should I do their summer programs to get a feel for the campus?
Do you work at Penn?
No, but I’m an alumna. It’s just a great place overall, and a great place for you, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned.
Do any summer programs you can get into, for learning, getting inspired, broadening your horizons, and a side effect will be that it builds your resume, tells an admissions officer that you won’t crash and burn. With every one of these summer institutes that you get into and succeed at, it gets easier to get into the next one.
Touring a campus or even attending a summer institute there cannot really give you an accurate, complete feel for a campus. Best thing is to go visit a friend who is in college there, for a few days, stay with them in the dorm, go with them to class, go with them to all their activities, and to the clubs/activities that you might like. From South Jersey, this is totally feasible for you for both Penn and Princeton, even Columbia/Barnard (both great options for you), maybe even Yale. You will have friends one or two years ahead of you who are at Penn, I bet, when you’re making your list, so you could definitely do this. You could also do this at Harvard and Brown, but I don’t think that you need to go that far to get what you want. I don’t think that Brown can offer you anything that Penn has, and as for the 8 yr medical program at Brown, if you do well in college, as an AA, you might get a free tuition offer from another prestigious medical school, like Columbia or NYU. And if you don’t do well in undergrad at Brown, they won’t allow you to go on to their medical school anyway. BTW, you can and should major in anything you want as an undergrad - foreign language, any humanity, anything, and as long as you do well, and do well in your science prereqs, and get a high MCAT, you will get into med school. Believe it or not, as an AA student, the Brown 8 yr program is actually limiting options for you, since you’d be committed to Brown for med school, when if you were to apply to other schools, you’d be likely to get in, maybe with free tuition - and if your grades aren’t good enough you wouldn’t be continuing to med school at Brown, anyway.
Penn has a lot of supportive AA sororities, that have as their primary focus supporting each other for academic success. As an outsider, I thought their traditions were ridiculous at best, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that they served a very important purpose for AA girls, a sort of “posse” function, of group support. There’s also an AA culture college house. But I had an AA roommate who stayed as far away as she could from these organizations, and she did just fine, found lots of friends and excelled outside these organizations.
For right now, focus on doing the best you can in school. Choose the highest level, most rigorous classes in the disciplines that you enjoy, with the best teachers, and as long as you do the required number of years of each academic subject, you’ll be fine. Do the ECs that YOU want to do, not what you think would be best for med school admission some day. Read a ton, to improve your vocabulary and written English. Look for summer STEM institutes that you can attend - as an AA woman, they are ALL looking for you! Don’t get fixated on any particular college at this point - it is of no value to you right now. Spend today looking for and applying to summer programs for this coming summer, get out all the applications that you can until school picks up again, then focus on school achievement, and extracurriculars in and out of your high school.
When it comes to research and shadowing opportunities for undergrads, you just cannot beat Penn for breadth, depth, and proximity of opportunities.
1 Like
Oh, BTW, audition for the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra on both violin and viola, and if Curtis has a pre-college program, audition for that, too. Ivies LOVE to see those high level music programs.
2 Likes
I was considering auditioning for Rowan’s and I’m deciding between the two right now.
1 Like
OP here is a description of Brown’s PLME program. It does offer some unique opportunities, flexibility and access to Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical school. I would suggest you do your own diligence around this program via the school.
Unlike most similar programs or curriculum it offers and encourages the study of humanities subjects while following a traditional Pre med track.
1 Like
Brown is pass/fail I believe so all I would need to do is not fail.
I’m also fine with going to Alpert for Med school and if I got into, I wouldnt plan on applying out.
1 Like
Can your family afford full tuition for medical school, in addition to full tuition for undergrad? You do realize that you could be passing up the possibility of a full-tuition scholarship for medical school?
In any event, it’s just too soon to be focusing on this. That’s a spring of 11th grade issue.
Definitely not full tuition but they’ll try and if I have to I guess I’d do a work study sort of thing.
I’m not even sure if I could get a full tuition sort of thing just based on my race, a scholarship maybe?
How stressful is the Penn environment?
Yes, you can. AA friend’s child got a full tuition scholarship for medical school at Columbia, and the family is VERY financially well off, all on the books, no tax evasion.
You cannot earn your way through medical school. You and maybe your parents would probably have to take ginormous loans. So you can see how valuable it would be to maintain flexibility. If you do well, you will have many, many options, possibly including full tuition scholarships (or even full rides). If you don’t do well, I guarantee you that Brown would rescind their offer, or “counsel” you out of the program. I’m sure that they have some some sort of bar that even the 8 yr admits have to pass, in order to continue on to med school. And that opportunity to explore and major in humanities, as long as you do your premed prereqs? You have that at virtually ANY college, unless, perhaps, you go to an engineering college, where they don’t really have humanities majors.
I don’t think I want to stress over the MCAT besides it’s guaranteed. I won’t take classes I think i won’t do well in.
Other than it being closer to home, I don’t really see that many benefits when it comes to Penn. It’s in a city with a rising crime rate and it’s apparently a stressful environment.
The city’s nice but I doubt I’d deal with it every single day.
I’ve already talked to my mum and she had investment properties/loans she’s willing to take out, so I’m not sure about what’ll happen with money.
If your township has a volunteer ambulance corps, you might consider reaching out them about joining, rather than planning on taking college courses.
Initially, you’ll just be able to “ride along”, while noting signs and symptoms, collecting medication lists, maybe assisting with writing “charts”, learning the state online incident reporting system, proper radio protocol, etc.
Then, one summer (maybe sophomore year), plan on dedicating 6 weeks or so in an intensive EMT program, that your ambulance corps will likely pay for. Be prepared to have tests several times a week - each one pass/fail, with a next-day make-up to stay in the program.
This will introduce you to the rigor of a medical program: The expectation that you will do what you need overnight to come up to speed. The program cannot stop or slow down at different times for each candidate.
Especially the anatomy part of the EMT class will give you a good idea if this truly “up your alley”. It’s far different from taking classes in Biology.
And, you’ll also learn about all the other “mundane” stuff - such as legal frameworks, HIPPA, professional liability,… all things that are a routine part of the medical profession but you might never think about.
Once you are a state-licensed EMT, you’ll be able to have direct patient contact, but will also learn to manage a scene, deal with concerned, “helpful” relatives/neighbors/friends, or distraught ones, but also deal with patients who can’t decide what’s best for them.
You’ll get to know the operation and some of the nurses of the emergency rooms at your local hospital(s) and trauma center. You’ll work hand-in-hand with local police and fire personnel - and might find yourself coordinating their assistance at the scene, while you are in charge of the patient, their care and transport.
2 Likes
I admire your fandom for Penn but I am not sure how familiar you are with the Brown PLME program. I took the liberty of asking two current Brown PLME participants. We have several Brown students (my kids housemates) staying with us.
They are not aware of any student who was even remotely close to having an offer rescinded or being taken out of the program. The PLME program is so competitive that it attracts the best of the best. These kids are fully vetted, prepared and supported to succeed.
I think Penn is a great school!! Respectfully, I don’t think it serves OP to advocate for it at the expense of another outstanding school and program.
3 Likes
Respectfully- the grownups here should be encouraging this teenager to be the best self she can be… within the financial limitations of her family.
So much moving of the goalposts on this thread. And some magical thinking…
3 Likes
I have been DMing with the OP and suggested much of that. In fact I have encouraged her to have fun, do things she enjoys, take chances, don’t be afraid to fail and grow confident.
In time all the rest will fall into place.
She is a very impressive and a mature person beyond her years!!
I looked into it and there is a local one. Would I have to call them to apply?
Do you also know other local things I’m able to do? Thanks
You can audition for all three - Rowan, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and Curtis - and see where you get in, and what kind of offers you get. If they really want you, sometimes they offer merit scholarships. In fact, you’re actually close enough to audition for the NYC programs (Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes precolleges). We saw very strong success for the graduates of Juilliard precollege, for both conservatory admissions and non-conservatory universities.
3 Likes
Well - that might be the easiest, even if there might be some basic information on their web site or facebook page. They’ll likely invite you to attend an informational meeting where both sides can get their questions answered. They want to make sure that you know what it entails so that both of your times will be well spent.
In the case of my daughter, it was quite common for a good number of high-schoolers to join local emergency services, as the school recognized the volunteer hours for honor societies, or students wanted to build up their ECs.
Consequently, the local emergency services all had active recruitment programs for “junior membership” customized for high-school students. Oftentimes there is even a dedicated officer acting as a liaison.
You might also find, that there are already other upper-class(wo)men from your school, or recent alumni, who are currently serving.
The departments benefit, because it increases their coverage for calls during the afternoon and evening hours, when regular members might be at their day-jobs or commuting - and of course for weekend shifts and during vacation times.
And after graduating high schools, college students returning for summer and winter breaks will be a welcome relieve to regular membership.
1 Like