Thank you 
Okay, I will make sure of that.
There are an increasing number of medical schools who are offering early acceptance or “early assurance” to college freshmen and sophomores without MCAT scores. This provides an alternate route, different than the BS/MD. Some are connected to specific undergraduate colleges while others are open to students from any college. See this link:
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I had no idea. Thank you.
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@thumper1 is correct. In your 3rd year of med school (for most med schools) you do 6 rotations which are Surgery, Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, OB and Family Medicine. You usually will then have 1 or 2 additional blocks that year to get initial exposure to others, in your case, Anesthesiology. Then in 4th year you would need to do a sub internship for more advanced exposure. You would then go through the Match process, and hopefully get matched into your desired specialty. This is all before Med school graduation and residency.
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Thanks for elaborating
My current 2nd year resident knew he wanted to be a doctor since he was 8 years old, so I fully get the desire and want to let you know it can happen. Regardless, have a Plan B, because I’ve seen it not happen too…
That said, don’t assume you have to get BSMD/Ivy or bust. You don’t. Everyone I’ve seen get into a BSMD program could easily have gotten into med school the traditional way too IMO. There are advantages of the traditional way as well - mainly - often being able to go to undergrad for less money. Students who are competitive are also competitive for merit aid in many places, but many BSMD invitees don’t seem to get as much aid, probably due to the program.
Do you know how much your parents can contribute to college and med school? Do you know what your FAFSA EFC is to know if you’re likely to qualify for need based aid?
To me, those would be important considerations when choosing which path is best for you.
For now…
Get super high grades, and in doing so, make sure you truly know the content you are studying because you’re building the foundation for undergrad where the grades will count. You want to get there with a solid foundation.
Be active. Get EMT certified if you can as it gives some really good experience. See if you can volunteer with a Hospice Group. In school, see if you can get some leadership positions in clubs. Successful candidates are those with a lot of medical types of experiences (shadowing, volunteering, EMT, etc) and those who has shown the ability to become a doctor via academics and leadership.
One other thing - take a Public Speaking class while in high school. If your school doesn’t offer one, check a local community college (and get an A in that course if taken at college - it will count toward your undergrad GPA). You want to be comfortable speaking to all sorts of people and in groups - plus those classes teach you how to read the body language of others (if it’s a good course). This will help you all throughout life, including interviews for college, programs, and med schools plus more.
I wish you well. Even going through the multiple hours and weird schedules of resident life, my guy is loving his path. May the same work out for you.
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Okay, I’ll keep this in mind.
I’d rather they not, but they have multiple investment properties ranging from 150k up and my parents have a high combined salary. They said worst comes to worst they could sell one of their properties and that’s a reason they invested. I don’t think we qualify for much aid based on my parents income though.
I’m going to look into that this summer.
I’m taking Marketing I, Seminar AP, and Acting. I also speak for my Board of Education as a student representative. Is that enough to prove I can speak or should I still look into it.
I wish your child well too. Thank you 
I’d really recommend trying for decent merit aid. Med school is expensive, so getting undergrad in inexpensively is a nice gift you can make for your parents. You don’t have to decide now. Apply to different places when the time comes and see what acceptances and offers you get. Then figure out what your best path is. Just keep some good merit aid options under consideration once you have GPA and SAT/ACT scores in.
In this situation I’d suggest reading a Public Speaking book - a text your school/college uses or one with a good rating online. You probably don’t need to take the time out to take a full course, but I’ve yet to hear from a single student who told me they learned nothing at all from studying people the way these courses/books do.
The advantage of a course vs just reading is you get to practice with your teacher/prof/peers giving great insight into things you could improve without hurting your feelings. You get to decide if extra practice is helpful or not really necessary. A teacher you trust could offer advice too if you discuss pros/cons with them.
You’re trying for something difficult to get with BSMD/Ivy/Med school in general. A strong foundation in both academics and people skills is a must, but none of us on here know you IRL to offer specific advice. You get to read all of our opinions and experiences and sift out what can really help you.
A lot of my advice is from working in a public high school for 20+ years and seeing various students’ experiences. No two are the exact same, but there can be many commonalities.
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If I keep my rank I can qualify for NJ Stars/some of my friends have gotten full rides at really good schools near me based on academics. I think there’s 3 or so universities Im fond of that I can get good merit aid if I keep an upward trend.
Okay, I will. Thanks.
Thanks for this advice
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Since you’re in NJ, look into the Mini Medical School programs at Rutgers (NJMS and RWJ). They are several weeks in length and designed for high school students interested in medicine.
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