Chance a HS Senior for some T20's and BSMD

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hello! I would love if somone familar with admissions to these colleges could give me some feedback on my chances. I greatly appreciate any feedback anyone can offer me, and would also love if anyone had recommendations for colleges I should look into based off of my stats and desired list.

Demographics

  • US Domestic
  • Not comfortable with putting my state out there, its small and not great for education. I’ve had a VERY hard time finding shadowing/research, etc.
  • Public :
    Race/Gender: White female

Intended Major(s): Biology/Biomedical Science and/or public health (haven’t 100% decided yet)

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 98
  • Weighted HS GPA : 103
  • Class Rank: 11/220
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1530

Coursework
Freshman Year:
Chemistry (B+)
Algebra 2 (A)
College Composition (A)
College Beginner Spanish (A-)
Soph. Year: Transferred schools, diff grading system)
AP Calc AB (A+) 5
AP Lang (A+) 5
Honors History (A)
Honors Biology (A+)
Spanish 2 (A+)
Health (A+)
Junior Year:
AP Biology (A+) 4
AP Physics (A) 4
AP Calc BC (A) 5
AP Lit (A+) 4
AP US History (A) 4
Spanish 3 (A)
Senior Year: CURRENTLY TAKING
AP Psych
AP Chem
AP Stats
Multivariable Calc (Local College)
Academic Engish (Local College)

Awards
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Bronze & Silver Presidential Volunteer Award
Various volunteer awards

Extracurriculars
2x President small club (this club was my baby and i revived it lol)
1x president larger club, 1x treasurer same club
Tutored several hundred hours
Worked many childcare jobs through HS (Camp Counselor, Nanny, Childcare Center)
Global Heath Online Course (Completed a capstone)
Heath Council- Delieverd a presentation to an important public health organization
Planned Parenthood Volunteering
Hospital Volunteering
Statewide Pre-med club (Leadership)
NHS
A few medical summer camps, NSU, NYLF, and Wake Forest.

Essays/LORs/Other
I think (hope) these are both very strong.

Schools
Undergrad:
Georgetown
Yale
Brown
Boston University
Columbia
Simmons
McGill
Upenn
JHU
Bryn Mawr
Tufts
University of Michigan
Duke
BSMD
GWU
CCNY
RPI/AMC
Rutgers/ Robert Wood
PSU

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Wonderful accomplishments.

You probably know this already but Simmons is safe. I imagine McGill too. Bryan Mawr a target/likely even.

The rest - you are eminently qualified but they’re tough for all.

The BS/MD - will let others respond. I believe these are brutally tough but not my area of comfort.

I assume no ED ? Any cost concerns - especially with a desire to medical school which piles on many hundreds of thousands ?

Not sure why you wouldn’t say your home state - no one can or will identify you but I’ll ask this - Would you not consider your flagship or another in state public?

Good luck.

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I think that your chances at McGill are excellent.

Assuming that you are premed, I wonder about your finances for a full 8 years of university. By the time that you get to medical school (assuming that you take the normal route) it could very well cost $100,000 per year.

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Thank you! My state only has one public university, and its not very strong. I’m hoping to get out of my state for college as it isn’t particularly strong in education (with the exception of a few private colleges)
In terms of ED, I’m not applying ED but I am applying EA to tufts and brown. I’m not sure if that changes my chances at all though.
As of now, I don’t have cost concerns per se, but am (to some extent) staying away from schools that are over 60k a year (or trying at least, I know much of my list is over that)

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Unless I’m missing something, neither Brown nor Tufts has early ACTION. They have early decision…and you would have to choose one ED…can’t do both.

https://admissions.tufts.edu/apply/first-year-students/early-decision/

From Brown:

Image result for does brown have early action

We offer Early Decision as an opportunity for students who are ready to commit and would like early notification of their admission status.

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You don’t mention budget and that is probably the most important consideration for anyone planning to go to med school. I strongly urge you to consider your instate flagship. You can get to medical school from any instate flagship even if you think its not that strong.

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I agree posters can’t help you until we know your annual budget, as many of the schools on your list cost more than $60K.

Can your parents pay $60k per year? Will you qualify for any need based aid?

Run Brown’s NPC with your parents to get an estimated cost of attendance. Net Price Calculator

You have good achievements but your list is reachy, and applications time intensive. Where are you in terms of completing apps?

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I agree with @tsbna’s characterizations of Simmons & Bryn Mawr (and probably McGill; I’m not as familiar with Canadian admissions but know that it is highly stats based).

The budget questions are really important. Your family should run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at some of the meets-needs schools (take your pick from Yale and one of the other meets-needs schools like Brown, UPenn, Duke, etc). Then they need to look at the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from those NPCs. Is your family willing and able to pay that number? If so, then run the NPCs for every other school as not all schools are equally generous in determining an EFC. Eliminate all the schools whose EFC is too expensive and that don’t offer merit aid; they’re out of budget. (Those are schools like Georgetown, Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, but you can also check here).

Then, there’s the whole issue about medical school costs. Is your family willing to use any “savings” from undergrad on medical school costs? If so, then I would look for your most affordable options where you will be happy to attend. That does not limit you to your state flagship. There are colleges across the U.S. that would love to have you attend and will show you the merit money to encourage you to do so. If you let us know what you’re interested with respect to your college experience, we can provide additional suggestions (looking at your list it seems like urban or near a big urban area in the eastern half of the U.S. with no particular preferences as to size). An example of a possible place could be U. of Louisville where you would probably pay no more than $20k/year for tuition/room & board. Over the course of 4 years, that would save your family $160k (using a $60k budget) that could then be used toward medical school.

Also, if you are thinking about medical school, the biggest considerations are GPA and MCAT scores…the name of your college institution has little impact here.

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You should run the NPC on at least a few of the private schools, definitely including your first few choices and anything that you would apply ED to. If you google “Net price calculator brown university” you will for example find the one for Brown. I do not know if I see a safety on your list (perhaps Simmons?) but you should run the NPC on at least two safeties and see what it says for them also.

If you are from Rhode Island (just guessing), then I would include an application to URI. Also, in this case UVM and U.Mass Amherst are both possibilities with good premed programs. I am pretty sure they both offer some merit aid for out of state students. The NPC for UVM does predict merit aid (correctly in our case). UVM has a very strong pre-vet program, which puts some additional strong students into the premed classes (many of the classes are the same).

Alternately (probably less likely) if you are from one of the small western states and if it is a WUE/WICHE state then you should look at the WUE schools.

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I agree - URI / U Maine / UNH may not be high in perceived pedigree but pre med is going to be tough at any school - and schools will have advising. Can you find shadowing opportunities at these - or any of the schools on your list? Have you looked into that?

All these colleges have kids that get into much better programs but will attend for cost, location or otherwise. And for someone going to med school, low costs in undergrad might be a deciding factor on their ability to attend.

OP hasn’t mentioned costs, however, so not sure that’s an issue. Also, as OP hasn’t be able to find shadowing activities, OP might decide medical is not for them (as I know many do) or medical might decide for her - and with a degree like public health or biology at the undergrad level, one likely would be thankful to avoid debt (if her family has cost concerns…which I don’t believe we know)

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My daughter is attending one of the top schools on your list. Message me if you are interested in having me review your essays.

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Hi! Thanks for the input! I knew I was forgetting something! I will be applying for financial aid/scholarships/etc, but for the most part, my family and I would like to stay under 60k-70k a year at the most, I’ll cross the bridge for medical school costs when I get there (lol)
I have periodically considered my states college, but My state’s flagship is very poor, definitely not where I want to spend 4 years nor do I think it would benefit me much in the long run, and would likely set me back for medical school.

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Please check the types of applications you can do. You mentioned early action at Brown and Tufts….if they have early action, please post a link here…because all I could find was early DECISION.

And I would be very careful sending my essays to a stranger online…you don’t want someone using your essay as theirs. Not saying the above person would do that…but it HAS happened.

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What is not on your list, I would recommend because you will get excellent merit is the University of Arizona BS/MD. There are some excellent videos on YouTube about students’ application journeys into BSMD programs. As you know they are extremely competitive.

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So - this is a concern - $60-70K will not work at most on your list if you are full pay. Hence people said run the net price calculator.

Schools on your list are either need aid only or a few offer merit aid, but brutally hard to get. So in that sense, your list may need to change. Applying for aid and receiving it - two different things - so get that under control.

If you have a budget due to parental finances - i.e. they’re going to be stretched, and if you are serious about medical school and it’s hard to really know where you’ll be in four years right now - then this statement is a huge problem. I’ll cross the bridge for medical school costs when I get there (lol)

When people don’t plan, people end up needing to alter plans.

There’s many a fine college out there with huge merit - but likely public and larger - but where you can go for cheap - and many will have fine honors colleges, living learning communities and even peer groups like the Mccullough Medical Scholars at Alabama.

So first run some NPCs - because some of these schools are $85K a year and if you are full pay - that’s where you are.

There’s fantastic smaller private schools that can get you comfortably under your # if you learn you are full pay.

And if med school is truly a possibility for you, then your family needs to plan for it now - not - I’ll worry about it later, etc.

Good luck.

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Great points! I have looked into these three schools, I would run into the same shadowing difficulties as I am now (even more so in Orono Maine lol) . One of my biggest things is getting into a place I wont face these struggles, and will easily be able to find opportunities to get shadowing, patient interaction, etc.
As you mentioned, yes, as of now, cost isn’t my biggest issue. I feel very, very fortunate and thankful that this is the case and didn’t want to come off in a negative way by flat out saying that.

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Thank you! I will look into that.

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Yes haha, thanks for that, I typed that late at night and was getting all mixed up (I am applying nowhere ED but a few EA). I also appreciate the words of caution.

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I am not from RI, but will still look into URI and these other schools you mentioned, thank you!

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My interpretation from your statements is that your family is full-pay (will not qualify for any need-based money) and that the budget is $60-70k/year at the most. If that is wrong, please let me know.

Based on that interpretation, eliminate Georgetown, Yale, Brown, Columbia, and UPenn, as none of them offer merit aid. That leaves these institutions, where I’ve listed the percentage of students without need receiving merit aid and the average amount of merit aid those students receive.

BU: 9%, $30,459
Simmons: 96%, $24,345
Johns Hopkins: 1%, $14,093
Bryn Mawr: 40%, $23,168
Tufts: 3%, $3,166 → I’d take this off because this won’t meet budget
U. of Michigan: 25%, $3,702
Duke: 1%, $73,883

BU has a chance of getting you where you want, JHU and Duke have microscopic chances, Tufts has virtually no chance, and Michigan is probably going to be in that upper price range after merit aid even if you get any (i.e. above $60k).

Simmons, Bryn Mawr, and BU are the ones that are most likely to come in below budget, and Michigan will probably be about the top of your budget. The rest of your list I think is practically impossible to get under budget. Thus, I would urge you to reconsider your list. If you need help brainstorming possibilities, let us know.

I’m not sure if you understood @thumper1’s post. Brown does not offer EA. It ONLY offers ED or RD. Thus, if you’re not applying ED there, then you’re applying RD. (source)

Tufts does not offer EA either. It offers ED1, ED2, and RD. (source)

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