BS/MD and BS premed chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone, I am a rising senior, and I’d really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to read the following and gauge my chances of getting into BS/MD’s and some BS colleges I am considering :

high school that doesn’t rank.

GPA: 3.96 (UW) 4.80 (W) UC GPA , 4.58 cumulative GPA
Class Rank : School doesn’t rank. But based on GPA will be among the top 3 students in school out of 700+ students.
SAT I: 1580
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chem.

AP’s by time of application: AP Calc AB (5), AP Biology (4), AP Calculus BC (5 with a 5 AB sub score), AP US History (5), AP Lang (5), AP Euro (4).
Senior Course Load:
AP Statistics
AP Chem
AP Micro/Macro economics
AP Government
AP Lit
AP Psychology

Taken the most rigorous course load my school has to offer.

Race: Asian (male)

Awards (only couple to speak of, and this is my “weak” point): State award for FBLA. Most likely a National merit semifinalist/hopeful finalist. (perfect PSAT score).

Courses outside school :

A couple of summer Bio technology courses @UC Berkeley (scored A’s).
Neuroscience Course at UC Berkeley in summer and another semester credits worth neuroscience course in a liberal arts college. (scored A, credits transferable and grade will appear on HS transcript).
“Introduction to medicine course” at BU

Medicine related EC’s :

Volunteered at a couple of hospitals during the summers.
Volunteered at a Parkinson’s care home (high patient contact) for the past 1.5 years (roughly 250+ hours total).

Volunteering outside medicine : Built houses in Mexico over last 3 years. (200 hours). CSF hours (75).

Research with a professor on Parkinson’s. (300 hours) Presented a research poster to the class of under graduates.
Besides this submitted a paper which hopefully will be published in Oct . Working on a couple of more papers on sleep Apnea which hopefully would get published by the end of the year.

Have around 200 hours of physician shadowing. (cardiologist, and different doctors in ER, observed surgeries)

Entrepreneurship/leadership :

Running a successful and popular for-profit tutoring company for many years.

Clubs :

Founded a club related to medicine.
Member of Hosa for a total of 3 years.
Member of Deca 1 year.
Treasurer FBLA - 2 years

Other EC’s :

Varsity Track for 2 years.
CM Piano level 10.

Following are BS/MD programs considering to apply :

Northwestern, Rice/Baylor, Brown, Drexel, Rutgers, BU, Case Western, URochester, UPitt, RPI/Albany.
Please let me know if the above list is too aggressive ? should I drop some colleges from above and replace it with any other lower tier school ? Please advise on my chances.
BS pre med programs :
UPenn, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Tufts, USC, UC’s,
I am not sure if i should apply to Stanford and Vanderbilt. Please advise on which other match/safety programs i can apply which are not “cut throat” and don’t have grade deflation ?

2

Are you a CA resident for the UC’s?

3

Yes I am

4

As an ORM and a CA resident, your chances are as good as any other applicants. Be prepare to fly all over the place to get interviews if you want to go with the BS/MD route. My friend’s S did just that 10+ years ago and spent $$$ to be interviewed by many programs all over the USA and did not get in any. He ended up in UCB and was able to be accepted by Case COM. Even after he is a full fledged board certified physician, he still resent the ordeal he had in the BS/MD quest from the HS years.

5

Any or all your inputs on the below or other possible colleges are most welcome. I seem to like colleges that are either in city/urban setting or suburbs that have close enough access to them. I don’t enjoy small liberal arts colleges or colleges that are in the middle of nowhere or in remote settings.

  1. Emory ( I hear it is cut throat, so worried about it.
  2. Northeastern. (don’t have a lot of idea on how good its for premed).
  3. University of Washington , Seattle ( large public university, and i am guessing the fight for resources , classes, access to professors, harsh grading will be same as UC’s. So, if i were to chose between UW and UC, i might opt for UC, since it would cost me lesser).
  4. UNC at chapel hill . (not a safety or comfortable match for OOS ).
  5. NYU. (too big ? dont know how it would be for premed. Also, i dont think this can be treated as safety by anyone).
    Basically, I realize my list is full of reaches or high targets and I am running out of options.
6

I agree. I understand it’s extremely difficult to get a BS/MD admission and sometimes is a bigger stretch goal than the IVY’s and hence have my expectations low on them. I am hoping that I place in at least a few of the BS Programs like Case Western or RPI to have some options to choose from for the traditional route, if i dont get into any of the BS/MD’s.

7

Congratulations on your achievements, your experience is great and will serve you well regardless of your path.

Have you looked at schools that have early assurance programs where one typically applies end of sophomore year? Some LACs have these, eg amherst, Hamilton, Bates, bowdoin, Colby, and more. Other schools have similar early programs for admission into their own med school, like Georgetown, u Rochester, Tulane, among others.

Good luck!

8

IMO… you check almost all the boxes you need to have on the academic stats and the doc hours stats etc. to make you a competitive applicant to the BS/MD schools you have listed. Obviously, you also check the Asian Male ORM box but you just have to let the chips fall wherever they maybe. The parts that will determine whether you are in or not with these programs will be - #1) Personal Essays - the “Whys” - why do you wanna be a doc… why do you think BS/MD is the right path… why do you think you fit into our school (and why our school)… think of the hours you have spent in the healthcare setting, how do they change who your are (or make you understand who you are) in relate to your personal goals and growth etc #2) Interview - the intangibles of fit, the “person”, the presentation (such as level of maturity, thoughtfulness, kindness) matter… Then you need to consider finances IF you are not able to attend the BS/MD programs and you have to “settle” with the regular UG. Again, you academic stats are strong, and you should focus on TOP schools w/o taking the risk of being “yield protected”. Have fun and good luck.

9

Thank you ! When I compare myself against many in Cc i worry that the fact I dont have as many fancy awards might bite me. About the EAP programs, I believe all these colleges have tie ups with Tufts, GW and U Rochester school of medicine and since i am directly applying BS/MD colleges I thought i need not apply to these different colleges. Even if i get rejected for BS/MD , my hope is i may get admitted to their under grad programs in which case i can apply EAP to the same colleges.
I forgot to mention I am considering Tulane as well but i hear mixed reviews. I prefer not to go to small LAC’s since i seem to like colleges in urban settings better.

10

RE: EAP

URochester doesn’t accept students under EAP from its own undergrad–only from partner colleges (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colgate, CUNY Hunter, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Williams, Xavier University of Louisiana).

Tufts’ EAP ONLY accepts students who are Tufts undergrads and only accepts Maine Track EAP students from Tufts partner colleges in Maine – Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and University of Maine.

Georgetown’s EAP ONLY accepts students from Georgetown’s own undergrad.


Consider applying to Swarthmore--lots of resources, excellent med school admission record and it's not rural. It's in the leafy suburbs of Main Line Philadelphia about a 20 minutes train ride (or car ride) from down town Philadelphia.
11

Thanks a lot on the details ! I visited swarthmore and loved it but the problem then would be that it would be yet another reach or high target college on my list ! I am trying to shortlist a couple of solid matches ( similar to case western) and a couple of safeties !

12

Thanks a lot for your encouraging words Mickey2dad . I would be v happy if I get into any of the top colleges on my list but right now I am trying to close out the final 4 colleges which would be my solid safeties and matches ! All your points are well taken regarding bs/md and essays and I will try to do what best I can on the essays and interviews !
Do you have any suggestions for good medium sized urban private universities with a solid premed program ?

13

FYI, in the aggregate, of course, Tulane’s reviews are not terribly “mixed.” Here goes from Princeton review:

Best Quality of Life:#5
Best-Run Colleges: #8
College City Gets High Marks: #1
Everyone Plays Intramural Sports: #18
Happiest Students: #4
Most Active Student Government: #10
Most Engaged in Community Service: #2
Most Politically Active Students: #11
Most Popular Study Abroad Program:#10
Party Schools:#3
Their Students Love These Colleges:#4

As with any school, you have to look into it yourself and determine whether there is a good fit between the school and your personality and academic interests. Even then, a school just may not appeal to you for whatever reason. Tulane works best when you apply with great interest in attending. In any event, congratulations on a stellar academic record. I have no doubt you will wind up in someplace great!

14

IMHO
Don’t go to a college because it has an EAP program, it is very hard to be accepted in a program and difficult to keep up the class work, its a high pressure cooker. Go to a college that you like and fit in your lifestyle, if it happened has a EAP program and you are accepted, more power to you. Take URochester for example, if they accept EAP applicants from 11 partner schools, just imagine how hard it is to get in, perhaps one from each school?

However, UC Riverside has a great “EAP” equivalent program, they accept a lot of their Junior students to their med school.

“Be within one year of graduation with their B.S./B.A. degree from UCR at time of selection or recently graduated but have not applied to medical school.
If you are accepted into the Early Assurance program, you agree to apply to and enroll only in the UCR School of Medicine.
Express a commitment to practice in Inland Southern California.
Have completed a minimum of four quarters at UCR prior to applying to this program (and must complete at least six quarters at UCR before matriculation).
Complete all UCR School of Medicine prerequisite courses with a cumulative BCPM (Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Mathematics) GPA equal to or greater than 3.40.
Have invested time in community service.
Have been exposed to significant clinical experiences.”

15

Are there any other specific colleges you will recommend for premed besides UCR @atloversplus. Thank you for your feedback on UCR. Yes, i will be applying to all the UC’s . At this point, i am struggling to close out the final four in my list which would be solid safeties/matches based on my preference for a medium sized urban private school. After reading many CC threads I am actually sadly thinking of dropping Vanderbilt due to the lack of diversity factor, (many minority students in CC threads seem to think that it’s a real issue which prevents them from integrating socially) which means i am dropping colleges than adding to my list :frowning:

16

@appv73

There actually are no specific recommendations for a premed student. You can go to any college you like and fit in(meaning financially, lifestyle, intended major, academic challenge, availability of ECs etc.). The general rule of thumb on recommendations is: that you should pick a school that your stats is at least the top 25% of entering class, 10% would be even better. The reason is that in the weeding class, not too many As are given, you need to compete to get the As and if you are in the top of the entering class, you will be more likely to receive As.