*** Demographics:** Indian female from Ohio. Private high school with ~100 in my grade.
Intended Major(s): public health, a university’s biology/society major, or undecided if it’ll be an advantage
Junior Sem 1 GPA: 3.93 UW/ 4.214 W
Non A’s: Biology A- both semesters of freshman year, Algebra 2 A- first semester of sophomore year, AP Chem B+ first semester sophomore year and A- second semester, AP Spanish A- first semester of junior year
All honors classes if not AP
School doesn’t rank
Test Scores: 35 ACT, 1400 PSAT, not taking SAT
Notable classes: AP Comp Sci Principles (4), biology, advanced math track, anatomy, AP Chemistry (4), AP Biology, physics
9 APs by end of high school
Two classes at local university: Ethics 100 (A) and Public Health 100 (A+)
2-year program at school where I am writing dissertation-length philosophical paper on topic of my choice
Awards: Leadership award from school, Youth Congressional Medal, volleyball high GPA award, 3 years of Cum Laude Commendation from school
Extracurriculars:
Cancer research internship this summer at state medical school
President of two business clubs at school
Student council class representative
Volleyball varsity co-captain
Women in STEM club president
Cancer endowment teen board president. Big time commitment. Teen board raised $100,000 last year.
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year Candidate. Raised ~$40,000.
140 physician shadowing hours
Volunteer at general surgeon’s office last summer. Helped check patients in, schedule patients, prep rooms, and deal with insurance
Essays aren’t started yet
LOR coming from biology teacher of 2 years and US history teacher who knows me pretty well
No Cost Constraints
Schools:
Safety: state university, not worried about
Reach: Cornell (want to ED), Northwestern (2nd choice ED), Harvard, Duke, UCLA, USC, UMich, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Princeton, Georgetown, UPenn, Brown, Berkely, John’s Hopkins, Case Western
Should I ED Cornell? What can I do to improve my application?
If Cornell is your top choice and you have no cost constraints ED is a good option.
I would balance out your application list by reducing the number of reach schools and adding in some match and safety schools that you would be excited to attend.
Regarding “no cost constraints”, does this include medical school? Can you and your parents afford something like $340,000 for undergrad plus at least another $400,000 for medical school without taking on any debt at all?
You have a lot of reaches. Are these all really going to be a good fit for you?
I have a lot of reaches, but I thought it would be good to have a few options considering these are all highly-selective colleges. I have visited half of the colleges listed, so I have an idea of some of them. I would prefer going to the state school over any targets, but I would go to any of the listed reaches over the state school.
If you would honestly be satisfied with Ohio State (which is a very solid school) an all-reach strategy is OK. I’d still cut this list of reaches down, however, since it will be difficult to do a good job on all these applications. Just applying to more reaches doesn’t mean you’ll have “choices” - an all reach strategy can result in a shut out (which is OK if you are will be happy at OSU).
I agree with your strategy, as long as you’re happy with your in-state flagship (and no reason that you shouldn’t be). However, another thing to keep in mind is that you may achieve a higher GPA (and hence have better acceptances to med school) at your in-state flagship than at a highly competitive ivy or equivalent.
There’s really NOTHING on which your family could better spend the 200K more it’ll cost for private college over your in-state flagship? In your situation, the research opportunities will be there at the public, the perfect GPA might be more easily obtained. You will probably get into just as good a med school from your in-state flagship as from a prestigious ivy.
I do not know what your in-state school is (if it is Ohio State then yes it is very good). I have certainly seen several cases where this made a lot of sense – including my own situation coming out of high school.
Yup. In terms of what medical school a student can get accepted to, or getting accepted to any MD program at all, it is not clear to me that it makes much difference whether a student attends a highly ranked famous school or their in-state public university.
It might (or might not) make a difference in terms of “plan B” if a premed student does not end up attending medical school.
@ohio_premed Two quick comments: I see that you have completed AP Spanish. If you do end up being an MD, then being bilingual will be valuable. Also, the fact that you have already done a cancer research internship looks interesting and valuable to me.
I would think about trimming the list of reach schools a little bit, but otherwise it looks like you are doing very well.
For Cornell, are you thinking College of Human Ecology ? Or Arts and Sciences with sophomore application to Biology and Society major? Or applying to CALS then Bio& Society?
You really need to talk to your school counselor and get an estimate of your rank(ask for decile), and also assess what is the typical courseload for kids at your HS who have been successful gaining admittance to highly-selective schools on your list. There are high schools where 4.2 weighted is around average and those where it is is within the top20%. Based on the courses you listed, depending on what is offered at your school, your course rigor could be a around average or the hardest path. How you compare on these metrics as well as how your HS has done in the past 3 years with admissions will give you a better baseline of your likelihood of success than any of us can.
Does your family have $740,000 to spend on four years at an Ivy (or other private school on your list) plus medical school?
Honestly, if you are sure about attending medical school (many change their mind when they begin college and develop other interests) then I would attend one of your state schools. It may be “easier” to obtain a very high gpa, you will have plenty of research opportunities, opportunities to volunteer etc. You will also save some money, which means less borrowing for medical school if your parents do not have the money.
I know plenty of premeds at state schools, including Ohio State, who were highly successful in undergrad and were accepted to medical school.
Your strategy is reasonable. Make sure you apply early to OSU and get it out of the way. Aim for an Honors program. It can help make a big school smaller. Usually better professors and advisors.
Just throwing out a few more ideas. Cincinnati and Pitt might be good additions. Pitt has tons of medical opportunities on-campus. Cinci has Children’s Hospital basically on-campus. Apply early. Pitt offers a few guaranteed med school admits. Very competitive but you would be in the running.
I also like Emory. Great location and lots of medical opportunities. The CDC is next door.
I was thinking of applying for Arts and Sciences with a sophomore application to the Biology and Society major. Do you think I’ll have a better chance if I apply I different route? I’m really interested in that major, but I could also apply to public policy under the Brooks School.
Yes — apply in August to Pitt because they make decisions in a rolling basis and you will hear back quickly (within a month) and will have a solid acceptance in hand.
You should absolutely be admitted to Ohio State, but crazier things have happened this year and the earliest you will hear back is December. Some highly qualified in-state applicants didn’t hear until January, not because they were deferred but because all decisions weren’t made until then. If you get deferred by your ED school, you will feel more comfortable going into January if you have an acceptance (Pitt or another rolling admit) in hand.
Pitt has very strong pre-med programs, many research opportunities for undergrads, and a med school that teeters on top 10 in the country. It’s an acceptance you should feel really good about and can have in September is you apply early.
Edited to add: Applying early to Ohio State doesn’t seem to determine when you get your decision. If you read the posts from the last couple of years, some students who applied just before November 1 heard in December and some who applied earlier heard in January. There didn’t seem to a discernible reason as to who got a decision when.
As @tsbna44 mentioned Miami would be a good choice. With your numbers you will get great merit money. Also a lot smaller than OSU but still with about 18,000 undergraduates
You can shadow during school breaks, so OS or Cornell (ED) would be fine.
What about the volunteer experiences that you will need (direct patient contact, working in underrepresented communities, populations etc)? Which school has more opportunities that are easier to travel to?
This is all assuming that you continue with your plan to apply to medical school.
Also adding that you do not have to do all of this while in undergrad. Plenty take time off to study for the mcats, continue with their volunteering etc.
Best wishes! You should have great options to choose from.
Applying by the EA deadline at OSU is required if you have any aspiration for their Biomedical Science major, an undergraduate program run by their College of Medicine.
Not sure that premed at Cornell is worth $88k/year full pay. You are likely to have scholarships at other universities.
For Cornell ED, I don’t know which path will give a better chance for admission.
Essays are important bc each college or school looks for fit.
CAS and CHE will consider your ACT score, but CALS would not at all.(Bio&Society major is possible from CAS or CALS.)
I thought I might say one or another college or school has advantages in pre- health advising. But Cornell has moved to a centralized system.
Each College or School still has career exploration or advice in addition to University wide Career Center.
Admissions says all Cornell premeds regardless of major /college/school do equally well in gaining med school admission.
