Chance me for any BA/MD programs

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

<p>I'd prefer to hear about Rice/Baylor, HPME, PLME, GWU, and WUSTL. Other suggestions welcome.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.6 W (accurate estimate by end of junior year; school counts AP and Honors as 5)</p>

<p>I have a great upward trend. My school gives final semester grades(all colleges will only see these grades). I got all but 2 of my B's in freshman year. one B was 1st semester sophomore year Honors English and the other B was 1st Semester junior year Honors English.</p>

<p>SAT: Taking in May (Hopefully around 2250)
SAT II's: Taking in June: Math IIC, Chem, and Biology M I expect to get close to 800 on Chem and Bio and above 750 for Math.</p>

<p>EC's:
Science National Honors Society - Tutoring (probably an officer in my senior year since only seniors can be officers)</p>

<p>Medical Masterminds Intramural Trivia club- no officer role/probably not even worth mentioning - 30 hours</p>

<p>Volunteer at Hospital - worked in oncology and orthopedics - 60 hours</p>

<p>NIH/HHMI Internship (National Institutes of Health / Howard Hughes Medical Institute) - work alongside PhD during summer of 2007 and from 12-5 pm during my senior year; very selective (20 people out of my county); pays stipend of $1600; 20 hours/week during school year and 40 hours/week during summer; counts towards high school credit; small chance of publication in medicine magazine - ~1000 hours</p>

<p>Chemathon Club- Prepares for University of MD Chemathon competition; geared towards AP Chem students such as myself; I will do lab portion this year and written portion next year; I will most likely place in several events; dozens of high schools from MD compete - 100 hours</p>

<p>Biology Club- Prepares for USABO (USA biology olympiad)</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>USABO (abbrev. explained in activities) Semifinalist - About 500/6000 people competing get this award nationwide. it is designed for AP Bio students like myself. I got the highest score in my school, was one of only 3 from my school to become a semifinalist, and I was the only junior to become a semifinalist.</p>

<p>USAPhO (physics) - Plan to take next year when I take AP Physics C- 50/50 chance of winning anything</p>

<p>USAChO (chemistry)- Taking this year and possibly next year- 90% sure I will get something</p>

<p>Chemathon (explained above in ECs) - will win something most likely</p>

<p>Physics Bowl written Honors physics level competition (in mid April 2007) - Not sure if I'll win anything since my physics is a bit rusty and I'll have to study over spring break.</p>

<p>My high school is one of Newsweek's top 100 public high schools. </p>

<p>Passion:</p>

<p>My career goal is to become an ophthalmologist (eye surgeon) and my research in the National Eye Institute (explained under NIH/HHMI) confirms my interests. My focus is science and I think I will be able to convey this well in interviews and essays.</p>

<p>Junior Courses (now):
-AP Bio
-AP Chem
-Honors English
-AP World History
-Honors Precalculus</p>

<p>Senior Courses:
-AP Physics C
-AP Art History
-BC Calculus
-Honors English
-Rest of my day is spent as an intern (until 5 p.m.)</p>

<p>AP Exams:</p>

<p>I am very confident about a 5 for Bio and Chem. World history I am fairly confident of a 5 since I get A's on essays and multiple choice but only with lots of reading/studying beforehand. I can't predict for my senior classes until I take them.</p>

<p>School Rank:</p>

<p>School doesn't rank but according to the chart in the pdf at the link below, I am the top 14% (highest possible to determine from this pdf) with my WGPA of 4.54.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/churchillhs/counseling/documents/school_profile.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/churchillhs/counseling/documents/school_profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Background Info:</p>

<p>I don't think colleges will buy this, but my B's in English are due to me transferring at the beginning of 8th grade from a private K-12 school of ~180 people with all kids taking the same classes (no honors or AP offered) to a 9-12 highly competitive public school which was in the top 100 Newsweek high schools. </p>

<p>In my private school, we never wrote essays of any sort and our teachers HAD NO QUALIFICATIONS WHATSOEVER. My English teacher's only qualification really was that she had good grammar, spoke English natively, and had good spelling. It was kind of hard adjusting to public school with essays which I had never done before. My public middle school was probably in the top 10 of the nation.</p>

<p>Since I transferred in 8th grade, this explains why I am not in calculus now (even though I am excellent at math; get A's easily without doing any HW). You must have started taking advanced math courses in 6th grade to be taking calculus in 11th grade.</p>

<p>EDIT: I forgot to mention that I am 100% sure I want to become a doctor. I hope that helps a bit as Rice keeps mentioning they want dedicated people to becoming doctors.</p>

2

<p>Your good at all places. As long as you score well on the SAT (CR + M ~ 1450), you should have no problems. Strong clinical expereince and strong research is good.
Don't worry about your Bs in English and your math class, they just look at the overall trend. GPA and SAT are for the initial cut, after that ECs, Recs, and Interviews are main selecting criteria.
Also, good job on USABO. Those competitions, though, mean little unless you make it to the top 20 stage. I did that for chem. twice.</p>

3

<p>All of your stuff is pretty average, and schools don't care how highly ranked your high school is (almost sure they don't).</p>

<p>However, the one thing I really like is that research thing with the national eye institute; play that up a lot when you write your essays. ~1000 hours of solid research that 20 people in the country got into looks VERY good.</p>

4

<p>did you mean "only twenty people out of my country" instead of county
i think you have a decent shot, but what would really help you is shadowing a doctor over the summer b/c that will show that you really thought this through and know what your getting yourself into</p>

5

<p>everything's good so far. SATs count for a lot so it's hard to say until you do them.</p>

6

<p>No, I meant county, but it is still the most prestigious NIH internship for high school kids. You have to interview for this internship to get the lab position you want, whereas other NIH internships place you without an internship with your PI. Also, many other NIH internships don't even pay you.</p>

<p>If I shadow doctors, then will I get community service hours over the summer? My hours are a bit low.</p>

<p>I'm asking, because I will already have a 40-hour week (NIH internship) and need to carefully choose other activities for the summer.</p>

<p>My volunteering at the hospital is not enough clinical experience for a HS kid? Or would shadowing really help my app?</p>

7

<p>Just a few rounds here and there with a surgeon is all you need. Just so they have a sense that you know what you're getting into. Most hospitals don't allow even undergraduates to enter the Operating Theater. So, the expectations can't be that high. But being able to do more always helps.</p>

8

<p>What? I'm saying shadowing as a high school student, not as an undergrad.</p>

9

<p>It's a comparison. I know your a high schooler. Hence, the "even" in that sentence.</p>

10

<p>Were should I go to find out about such opportunities? My counselor or my local hospital?</p>

11

<p>local hospital for shadowing</p>

<p>The # of hours of hospital volunteering isn't that critical in the decisions process (I only had 14 because my hospital volunteering was pointless and didn't put me in contact with patients at all)</p>

<p>I would take the shadowing anyday, just don't overdo that either. That NIH internship is your golden ticket.</p>

<p>Sorry about the confusion with country, getting paid for an internship as a high schooler is still very impressive.</p>

12

<p>Rice:
Competitive, but very science-oriented kids are given some extra attention during the admissions process. I know for sure that at one point there was even a specialized rubric for evaluating students that show a lot of promise in the sciences to ensure their admission, because the adcoms were passing them up for more "well-rounded" applicants. Almost certain that it's still in place.
Of course, you'll be up against some very stiff competition in that field-- Intel winners, etc-- but your internship is very impressive and I'm sure you would stand out.</p>

<p>Tip-wise, I can only say that you should focus as much as possible on science. Get another internship position if you can. I don't think any of it is really necessary, but it never hurts to try. Some people will tell you that you need to "branch out" more and become more "well-rounded". DON'T LISTEN. Here, focus will do you far more good.</p>

<p>As for Baylor:
Lots of professors at Rice have very close working relationships with people in the Med center, so it would definitely be a good place to start in a medical career. There's even a building being built solely for the purpose of med center/Rice collaboration. Once at Rice, it shouldn't be hard to get into the medical game at Baylor. You can get some great recommendations.</p>

<p>Overall, I think you have an amazing shot at Rice (as was said, the NIH internship is outstanding). And if you are accepted at multiple schools as I think is likely, I urge you to consider Rice very seriously. It's a great school for med students and the sciences are very strong. </p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

13

<p>Can anybody chance me for WUStL's program which I heard about but cannot seem to find? Anybody got a link to it? You still have to take the MCAT in that program (like some of the other programs listed here).</p>

14

<p>Congrats and good luck with HHMI; it's a very noble extracurricular to pursue (what with it requiring you to give up half of your senior schedule), but don't put too much faith in it. It didn't help any of the 3 seniors at my school who just finished it get into their top choices.</p>

<p>As a Chemathon alum, I suppose it's only expected of me to remind you that VA and DC schools can also participate! :p Part of being an alum also means I can now wish you good luck in defeating Wootton's team (which, as you probably know, will have to wait until next year at best)! :D</p>

15

<p>Heh, we went and we only won 3rd place in level 2 chemical jeopardy. Wootton won practically everything, but that's kind of expected with their sponsor being the previous organizer of Chemathon.</p>

<p>I didn't see (or don't recall) any non-MD schools there.</p>

<p>BTW, please don't tell me that the seniors in your school didn't have HYP as their top choice. I'm not applying to those colleges, but I want to know if the internship is a good hook.</p>