I am currently a junior in high school. I go to a high school with 400 students, and because of the size we do not have any AP courses available. However, I am in a dual credit program where I am spending my junior and senior year at a local college taking classes for college credit and high school credit. By the time I graduate I will have an A.S. degree and a high school diploma. I have a 4.0 in honors/ dual credit courses and a 1350 SAT with numerous extracurricular activities, 250+ hours of volunteering, and the Eagle Scout award. I am currently looking for a college that will prepare me the most for medical school with a strong major in biomedical sciences, biochemistry, or biology. I am currently looking into UNC, UVA, University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa, University of Nebraska, Johns Hopkins University, UPenn, Case Western, University of Chicago, University of Rochester, Boston University, and Tufts University. I do not know if I want a public or a private university, but I do not want a small LAC. I would like a mid sized to large university with lots of research opportunities with great social life. If anyone has any information on the colleges listed, or other great premedical schools, please let me know.
You need to consider the cost of university, and budget for 8 years where the last 4 years will be very expensive. Thus if you are going to save somewhere the first 4 years are a better place to save money.
There are a LOT of universities in the US with strong premed programs. You don’t have to go to Chicago orPenn or UVA to have a chance at a very good medical school. Also, premed classes will be quite tough at pretty nearly any university.
How much SAT preparation did you do?
What state are you from?
Have you run the NPC on all of the schools on your list?
I live in Illinois. I did prepare for the SAT by going to my high schools SAT prep classes last year, however, I will be taking the SAT again in April. I am going to more SAT prep classes this year, as well as practicing with the SAT practice exams. I have not run the NPC on many of the schools I am interested in. However, I have checked the chances for merit aid at a few public institutions, such as University of Nebraska, where I will qualify for in state tuition based on my GPA and SAT scores. I want to go to an undergraduate program in the state as to which I will go to medical school, and during that time work to claim in state residency for the public schools. I would like to do this because I know that medical school is very expensive, but the price will be cheaper if you’re in state.
Looking at a few of the schools on your list, and just giving my personal opinion: Your SAT is low for U.Chicago, and from what I have heard maintaining a high GPA there is difficult. As such it seems like a poor choice if you intend to go on to medical school. BU tends to be expensive, and as such is probably also a poor choice. Tufts and U.Penn and UVA to me look like reaches. I would run the NPC on all of the other schools on your list.
Also, you have some very good choices in-state, with UIUC being the most obvious but probably not the only one that you should seriously consider. If you have the stats to get into UIUC, I wouldn’t go anywhere more expensive for undergrad unless you have at least $600,000 in the bank just to use for 8 years of university (with no ideas for other ways to use the money).
Have you looked at the Pre-Med & Med School forum? Go to the main page where all the forums are listed, and keep scrolling down until you hit it.
If you are still pre-med when you finish college, you will probably be applying nationwide, not just in the state where you happen to be at that time. In most states you can’t establish in-state residency while you are in college. Getting an in-state tuition rate as a scholarship break is not the same thing as being an in-state resident.
Your GPA and test scores put you in the range for a lot of the scholarships listed in the thread on Automatic Full Tuition and Full-Ride scholarships at the top of the Financial Aid forum. Scroll through that and look at some of those institutions.
My suggestion is to keep your school choices limited to those where you are in the Top 25% - Top 10% of stats on the SAT, particularly math score. I work in a public high school (math/science) and see oodles of potential med school students graduate. Those who are at or near the top of their stats (without being so overwhelmingly top to be bored) do the best. Too many of the others get to their freshman classes and get weeded out due to “not as good” of a foundational start. They may indeed be equally as intelligent as their peers at the school, but they get into class, find out they don’t instantly “know” as much as their classmates, and start to feel inferior. That, coupled with the whole change of going to college to start with, makes a horrid combination. One can be at or near the top in their high school, but once put in with kids who have a more solid foundation, it’s a shock to the brain. Occasionally someone rises to the challenge (putting more work in to catch up in time to not affect grades), but most often it’s demoralizing and they come back telling me they’ve changed their mind somewhere in their first year seeing they “couldn’t keep up.”
One can get into med school from pretty much any college out there, but one needs a high GPA and MCAT score (and oodles of extra curriculars). Go to a school that fits you and major in something you love. Those give you the best odds for a high GPA. STUDY for the MCAT. Get involved in things you enjoy. Most kids love the college they select. It doesn’t have to be a top name brand. It just needs to be a good fit. When you are a doctor, the only ones who will care where you did your undergrad are other parents/students who are looking to attend med school in the future. 