<p>First things first, I go to the top public school in the top school district in California. It's ranked 86th in the nation by Newsweek. (Campolindo if you want to look it up.) They don't tell students their rank, and I have no idea what mine is. That being said, I have a low(ish) GPA for someone considering top national universities: 3.5 UW 3.86 W, 4.0 W w/o Freshman year. However, the average GPA / SAT scores for people accepted into UC Berkeley from my school last year were 3.81 W (as opposed to 4.1 state-wide) and 1303 respectively, if that gives you an idea of how much students from my school are weighted by the fact they went here. I took Alg 2/Trig/Pre-calc Honors Freshman Year; AP Euro and AP Calc AB Sophomore year; and AP U.S., AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP EnvirSci, and French 4 Honors Junior year. I'm taking six more AP's Senior year. </p>
<p>As for standardized testing, I got a 2310 SAT I (is it worth retaking?), 800 Math II, 780 Physics, 780 U.S. History, and 5's on all of my AP exams (see above.)</p>
<p>EC's aplenty have I: 4 years Lettered Men's Varsity Volleyball, Club since 2003 (Junior Olympics twice, last year we placed 15th in North America.) Orchestra and priate violin lessons since 4th grade, including some leadership positions and awards. I also picked up piano the summer before junior year. UC Berkeley Academic Talent Development Program (Summer 2003-2007.) Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (Summer 2008.) Acalanes Union High School District Gifted and Talented Education (Spring 2010.) Last Summer I took 2 College Science classes at UC Berkeley which can be used for credits if I attend.
This Summer I'm living in San Francisco and volunteering at UCSF Cardiology Department, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, AIDS Research Center, and SFGH (San Francisco General Hospital,) 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. (I have some good connections at UCSF.)</p>
<p>I'm looking for a school with a good pre-med program where I can get a strong science education. MIT would be my top choice, but I know its a very long shot. Where should I apply / What are my chances of getting in?</p>
<p>Try the CC college search tool? Or the collegboard one? I’m not sure if MIT would be a good choice if you’re specifically looking at pre-med, since many tech schools have grade deflation and so on…</p>
<p>MIT has one of the best pre-med programs in the country. Whereas 54% of all med school applicants get rejected from EVERY school to which they apply, applicants from MIT only get rejected 6% of the time. Also, MIT and Harvard consistantly share classes, and good pre-meds from MIT have a much easier time matriculating to Harvard Med.</p>
<p>I got into NMSF, but I dont think I’ll get into the finals. My parents never told me about SAT’s and such, so I just showed up and took the test. Same with the SAT, (as in I didn’t study or buy any books on it or anything,) but I did a bit better. One of the reasons I asked if I should retake the SAT is that i’m fairly confident I could much closer to a 2400 if I put time in studying for it.</p>
Not sure what you mean here. If the SAT is above 2000 it is usually good enough to get to NMF (if you get all your paperwork in). 15/16 NMSF make it to NMF. </p>
<p>Sorry, I made a mistake. I confused the recognition thing with the semifinals. I got to send my scores to two colleges, but they havn’t actually announced the semifinalists yet. That happens in September.
I know this next part should probably be in a different thread, but it’s kind of relevant, and you asked earlier: My parents are divorced and I live with my mom who makes next to nothing. My dad, who lives 3000 miles away, makes well into the six-digits, but she’s had to sue him multiple times just over child support payments. My mom can’t afford to put me through college, and my father may choose not to spend a penny. Because he’s my father, and he makes so much, I think i’ll be disqualified for any need-based financial aid, even though neither of my parents would suport me. Where do I go from here?</p>
<p>You can try for FAFSA only schools (like UCB and UCLA). They only consider the parent you live with most of the time. Unfortunately top schools like Ivies consider all parent’s incomes.</p>
<p>What was your PSAT score? The cut off last year was 218 for NMSF.</p>