<p>I want to do pre-med at Harvey Mudd. I will probably apply undeclared or Biology major. </p>
<p>GPA: 4.1665</p>
<p>I have taken 8 UC Approved Honors/AP courses in 10-11 (16 semesters)
SAT: (Havent taken) approximately 2010
Subjects (Havent taken) : Math II: 750. . Lit 690-700</p>
<p>I attend top 1% high school in Southern CA
White
Male</p>
<p>Senior Year Schedule:
AP Bio
AP Calc BC
AP Lit
AP Gov
Econ/Psych
Spanish 5-6
Lab TA</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
100+ hours volunteering in Hospital
Principals Advisory Committee Leader
Anti-Tobacco club (4 years) (in-school) 50+ hours , hold officer positions for 3 years
Founding member / Co-President of Pre-Med Club
Perfect Attendance 10th and 11th grade
Physics Award
CA Scholastic Federation member for 3+ years
Top 8% of class</p>
<p>Please give me your honest opinion.
If I posted this in the wrong place, I apologize.</p>
<p>What’s your unweighted GPA? It would help to know your real SAT/ACT scores too.</p>
<p>As I know HMC (I’m a 2015 hopeful), it is not the optimal place for pre-med. Med schools care so much about college GPAs, and HMC is quite known for its grade deflation. My guess is that med schools probably won’t be as sympathetic about HMC graduates’ low GPAs as other graduate schools are (correct me if I’m wrong here). I’m actually talking a lot with my friends who are interested in pre-med, and most of them are looking at bigger private universities (WashU, Duke, Northwestern) and Ivy Leagues like Harvard & Cornell.</p>
<p>I think Pomona next door would actually be much better for pre-med. If you go there, you can still take classes at HMC. Is there a particular reason why you’re considering pre-med at HMC?</p>
<p>I love Pomona’s Neuroscience and Biology programs more than those of HMC. But, MNC ha the higher admission rate. And, lets face it, I can get accepted to a school like Pomona which has an admission rate of 16%. </p>
<p>The thing I LOVE about HMC is that, I love the “science community” feeling and the amazing reearch opportunities. I also love the student-faculty collaboration and the Senior Thesis. </p>
<p>But, in the end, medicine will be my future, not PhD. I am very confused. I am also considering LMU and Oxy as choices, as well as most UC schools. Please feel free to comment on those as well. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking HMC is an easier school to get into because the admit rate is higher… I mean, the self selection of applicants means that fewer, highly qualified students apply to HMC, and HMC can admit more of them. A better known school might have lots of kids apply to it, many who really don’t have a chance to get in, and drive the admit numbers lower. But, if you look at the test scores, gpa and school rankings of the HMC admits you will see you have to be somewhat special to get accepted. I know at my D’s high school a few, very qualified applicants did not get in. And, my D was waitlisted at a school where she was more than qualified to get in, if you looked at admit rate and scores alone. Apply to where you want to go, don’t look at HMC as your gateway to Pomona…</p>
<p>Mom2kids, what do you mean by special? I think I am a special applicant because I have a passion for science, medicine, and research. This quality of mine is exhibited in my extracurricular activities and bla bla bla. I have an amazing idea for “why HMC?” essay about how one may use derivatives and pulse rates to track blood clots and how HMC will give me the resources to do such experiments and research.</p>
<p>I love HMC and Pomona for different reasons. Can I apply to both?</p>
<p>Mudd’s not always the best place for premed because of the lower GPAs. I think there’s discussion on that on these forums if you search around. Just to keep in mind.</p>
Of course you can, and it’s probably advisable to, especially if you love them both.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to “chance” you on the basis of hypothetical test scores, weighted GPA, and some stuff you’ve done outside of school. If you’re entering your senior year without ever having taken any of those tests, you’re going to have a busy time this Fall with very little chance for retakes.</p>
<p>This troubles things a bit. I dont think I have the stats to be even considered by either college. WoW! And, I am not prepared to make the commitment of applying ED. :(</p>
<p>Thanks Geek-Mom; I really appreciate the input. It sounds like your son/daughter attends Mudd. Did you guys ever consider LMU as an option? In your opinion, is it a strong school in the sciences? </p>
<p>Hi Henry,
Wouldn’t fret over not being able to apply ED. It obviously demonstrates interest, but doesn’t seem to compensate a lot for stats way outside the range – I seem to recall that somebody did some comparison work in this forum when decisions came out for '14 and found that the ED/RD admitted stats were pretty comparable. It looks like applying ED just puts you closer to the front of the line for the limited seats.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at Mudd. He didn’t look at LMU and wasn’t going premed, so I’m afraid I don’t have useful information to share on that. A quick glance at their site shows that they’re very supportive of premed students, meaning you’d probably get good advising and application support there. </p>
<p>Others with more premed-specific knowledge may have a different perspective to offer, but I think I would recommend a close look at undergrad colleges (that you really like) in the range of academic safeties/clear matches for your stats. The idea there is to maximize your undergrad GPA so you’ll be competitive for medical schools.</p>