<p>I'm in 9th grade and I know I have a long way to go but I am preparing for college from now...I'm taking all honors, i have straight A's...and I plan to continue. I am confused as to how this "undergrad, bachelors, etc. works" (I know...im sorta slow) but I really want to be a doctor and I know that John Hopkins and Harvard have the best medical schools. Any tips/advice on how to go through high school so i have a chance of getting accepted into an ivy?</p>
<p>keep up the work with getting all A's, practice for the SAT I and IIs, participate in extracurriculars, community serivce. undergrad is the 4 years before you get a bachelor's, if you wanna be a doctor, you'd probably need to take lots of sciences in high school</p>
<p>1) Don't worry about getting into an Ivy. It's waaaaaaay to early to limit yourself to 8 schools. Lots of universities and liberal arts colleges will get you into the top medical schools. </p>
<p>2) Keep your GPA as high as you can, and take the most challenging courses available (including AP/IB if it's offered). If you're interested in medicine and/or science, take a variety of science courses, but a well-balanced curriculum is important. </p>
<p>3) Participate in extracurricular activities. Quality over quantity- colleges prefer a few ecs with in-depth participation (i.e. leadership roles) rather than superficial participation in many. </p>
<p>4) Take the PSAT if it's offered. It's good practice for both the SAT and PSAT (for National Merit your junior year). </p>
<p>5) Start deciding what factors are important. Do you want a large school, or a very small liberal arts college? Would you prefer to go to college in New York City or in the middle of Kansas? These factors are important.</p>
<p>6) After you have a vague idea of important factors, get a copy of College Board's college guide and the Fiske Guide; they're very helpful. </p>
<p>7) Look for summer programs/camps. There's plenty available, and CC is a good place to start looking. </p>
<p>Most importantly, don't stress out about it. It's great that you're planning ahead, but you've still got plenty of time to decide where you want to go and exactly what you want to do. :)</p>
<p>undergrad means you're studying for your 1st college degree. The first degree is a bachelor's degree, and is either a BA or BS (bachelor of arts or science). After that you're in grad school. There are 2 main types of grad schools; professional and academic. Professional schools are schools that give masters or doctorates in fields like law, medicine, business, engineering etc. Academic programs give a masters or doctorate in academic areas such as history, psychology, math. </p>
<p>Since you're considering medicine you should get a book on med school admissions from your local library so you have an idea of the road ahead. You DON'T have to be a science major to get into med school, although there are some required math/science classes. One of the unofficial requirments to get into med school is experience in the medical field. You could start that now by getting a volunteer job somewhere to explore if medicine is really right for you. </p>
<p>Note, too, that "doctor" is not the only job in medicine. There are hundreds of other jobs that differ in years of training required, hours people work, and pay. For example, x-ray technician, physical therapist, nurse, hospital administrator, accountant working in health-care field, physician assistant, medical researcher, pharmacist, etc. Depending on your strengths and interests there may be a job in the medical area that is a better match for you than "doctor"; a problem a lot of kids have is they get fixated on a glamorous job without having a real understanding of what the job is like or if it is something they'd actually enjoy.</p>