I’m a 2nd semester sophomore with a cGPA of 3.88 and a science GPA of 3.85 (6 science classes, 5 were weed out classes with averages in the 60s and no curves) at SUNY Binghamton. Apart from studying I volunteer as an EMT at an ambulance agency 6 hours a week and I do walk in tutoring for Chem/Bio/Writing 10 hours a week for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, the school pays me. I’m applying to Harvard, John Hopkins, Tufts, Brown, Boston University, Cornell, Columbia and NYU. I can probably get into NYU and Boston University without a problem but what do you guys think are my chances to get into the others? Pretty anxious right now and I want some realistic opinions.
test scores?
Why transfer? You have a solid pre-med GPA going. I wouldn’t mess with avoid thing if you want to get into med school.
I want to transfer bc I’m not happy with Binghamton. I don’t want to get into detail about it. It’s just not a good fit for me.
My test scores from highschool aren’t that great bc I was a pretty unmotivated student. I had something like a 3.2. On the SATs I got 780 reading 640 math and 550 writing (I’m not great at grammar). I got 5 on ap macro micro 4 in environmental and 4 in euro. I doubt my highschool scores are still relevant after 2 years of college.
Getting into medschool is no joke. With your GPA I would stay put. There will be no advantage just because you have an Ivy degree. In fact my guess is that if you transfer and your grades take a dip then you have no chance for medschool.
Save the money for medical school it’s very expensive.
I would not normally agree with the suggestion of staying in a school you dislike for the sake of grades but in this case I guess I’d second the idea of staying if you can stand it. I’d say that staying makes sense only if you are absolutely sure you are medical school bound. Since you have probably already taken all the killer pre-med classes and survived, transferring to a place like Harvard would probably not hurt your GPA any. I’m just not sure that it is realistic to think you’d get into Harvard. They’d probably be concerned about your performance on the MCATs given where you have been and the fact they would have no evidence of strong performance on similar tests (something that would be less true if you were transferring from Columbia to Harvard, for example). Same for most of the Ivy’s and JHU. I could be wrong but I think they are a stretch. Last year Harvard had 1432 applications. They accepted 13 and 12 enrolled. Brown had 1788 applicants and accepted 88. You have a better chance with Columbia which had 369 applicant and accepted 109. But these schools may be loathe to accept someone who they can’t be certain will nail the MCATs.
Also, as you did not mention money, I assume you can afford any school. I assume you are at the one you are attending because your high school grades were poor and you lacked motivation.
Yes, your high school stats are still relevant, albeit less so. I second, the staying put but if you do transfer do not go somewhere that will jeopardize your gpa. For example, Boston University is notorious for grade deflation, so it really is not the best idea for a pre-med. You need to think before making the decision to transfer, (assuming you get in somewhere, which you probably will) since you’re going to be potentially giving up a stellar gpa, as well as your chance at medical school if you can’t keep up. If you think you can transfer somewhere and still keep your amazing gpa, go for it, since a degree from a more prestigious university certainly can’t hurt, but keep in mind what you’re potentially giving up.
Agreeing with @sgopal2 and @intparent. For a start, drop JHU: it’s famous GPA killer. I know some very hard working JHU students and recent grads and they all took a hit in their first year as they got used to how JHU works. You would be doing that in what is usually the toughest year of college.
Also, is money even a tiny consideration? then drop NYU- you don’t need that debt going in to med school. If money is more than a small consideration, think about Stony Brook or Hunter or Baruch. If it’s a change of scenery that your really need.
If you are looking for an ‘upgrade’ for prestige reasons fair enough, but if your goal is med school, you are off to a good start where you are. You can get into med school from Binghampton or Stony Brook.
Money is an issue for me however I get a good amount in financial aid.
I was an unmotivated high school student and got mainly B+'s and A-'s freshman through junior year; however, senior year I started to put effort into school. I took 3 AP’s that year and received a 4.0.
Could you please elaborate on schools being hesitant to accept me because they don’t know how I’ll perform on the MCATs even though I have a stellar track record in my last year of high school and in college at a well respected school that is known for its difficult pre-med track? I received 100% on the Gen Chemistry II American Chemical Society’s test and have consistently been in the 97th+ percentile in tests in chemistry and biology and physics to a lesser extent in classes of 300-800 students. So I’m pretty sure I can “nail the MCATs”.
I want to leave Binghamton because I am unsatisfied both academically and socially. I don’t enjoy the party school atmosphere. I’m not 100% set on an MD and my GPA doesn’t mean everything to me but I am confident that I can do just as well at other universities.
On the other hand certain schools are known for giving out A’s like candy and so a high GPA is pretty meaningless. Just saying this is true about some schools so a lower GPA at a better school could result in a better outcome.
transfer3199, I don’t know that my comment is true in your case or not. But colleges are tracked in terms of their admissions rates to medical school. I don’t think you listed your SAT or ACT. If they are high, schools can assume you do well on similar multiple choice tests. When they accept students from other highly competitive schools they can be pretty sure the student had good credentials (and of course they do look at the credentials) . But your school’s graduates include about one third of its pool from community college-no scores. And the scores for others are not necessarily included in the published profile so many students at the school you want to leave have very low scores. If yours were high, then this is not a concern. But despite students who believe otherwise, scores across these tests are highly correlated. So a student scoring low on SATs is likely to do similar on MCATS despite a 4.0 average at that school.
If you are applying with almost any other goal in mind, then the GMAT is obviously not a concern.
IMO, colleges looking at transfers are not going to evaluate you on how well you might do on the MCATs. Why would they? you are a bio major who says s/he is interested in med school. Do you know how many bio majors say that? and how many of them actually end up applying? The transfer AdComms will want to be sure that you can do well in their school- not med school. You are a good transfer candidate, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to swim in a deeper pool.
But if med school is a live possibility, keep $$ and GPA in mind in choosing your transfer school. You get good finaid where you are- but that may not be true at your transfer school (JHU, NYU, BU in particular come to mind).