Chance Me- I know I prob won't get in, but maybe that's bc of my abuse

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey,

I was wondering if you could either chance or reverse chance me based on my current stats. I’m trying to get into a BS/MD like PLME or Rice/Baylor, but based on what I’ve seen here I have a -999% chance of getting in.

Background:

HS student from texas, big school around 700 in my class, but close to 3,000 overall. I’m a straight male, am emotionally abused everyday, have been bullied for years, high middle class, asian/ white, and looking to be a public health major. My school is superrrrrrrrr competitive in that most people I know in the top 10% have been GPA gamed at least 3 times. Luckily I just act like the way my family thinks of me: like the dumbest person on the plant who isn’t worth a cent, so I haven’t been gamed.

GPA: 4.0 UW/ 4.6 W

Rank: 10%

Classes:

11 honors/ Pre-AP

6 regular

11 AP

2 beyond AP

1 dual credit

At a T20 Uni during the summer

  • College chem
  • Organic Chem
  • Linear Algebra

Other Classes

  • 3 Neuroscience classes from T5 school online
  • 5 Medical classes from T5 med school online
  • 5 anatomy classes from T25 school online
  • 3 Graduate classes from a random school online (equal to 12 graduate credits, but I don’t get any credit, just took classes for fun)

SAT: 1470 superscored

Awards:

  • 1st author in journal
  • Provisional patent on hygiene device
  • Provisional patent on first aid device
  • National Student Volunteer Award
  • PVSA Gold x3

EC’s (the things I hope will get me in, but my parents have told me 1000 times that I’m useless and will prob go to CC; I hope I don’t have to go bc I’ve always dreamed of going to a T50 college, but whatever-- if I have to go then that’s fine at least I’ll learn something and then maybe transfer to a T30 school- but transfer acceptance rates are like 5x less so I’ll prob end up going to an okay school).

  • nonprofit I started in middle school, public health related: helped more than ten thousand (maybe 20k) people, 30 chapters, and we were lucky enough that some of our HS chapter presidents went to a T10 schools and now we have chapters at 5 T10 schools. Also have raised 100k for global health issues.
  • Medical research - conducted my own investigation on COVID-19 under supervision from an MD/ PhD student from a T3 med school. Also am a research intern for a prof at a T5 med school.
  • I plan on writing a book on vaping- 50 pages done, have sent to a sample (1 chapter) to a publisher and they have liked in so far- so that's great, but I'm a HS student so the chance of getting published is 0.0000002%.
  • Editor in chief/ founder of medical magazine- lucky enough to get 20k views on each issue (we don't know the number of unique visitors bc I can't afford it- my parents can tho, but I'm not gonna ask them)
  • 1000 hrs of shadowing and volunteering in clinical settings (IDK if I should include this was less of an EC and more like a fun thing to do)
  • I'm a teacher's assistant/ intern (IDK what its called) for my bio teacher from 9th grade- I just grade papers and do re-teaches of lessons, nothing big lol
  • I tutor refugees in my area bc they don't know english and I don't want them to be bullied like I was bc I now the extreme pain that comes with it and once you are bullied your confidence and self image is ruined forever and its really hard to recover so I want to make sure that doesn't happen to others.
  • I'm the president and founder of a public health club. We bring awareness to health issues. The big thing that we have done is raise 30k for global health. We also make posters and have 4 student blogs.
  • I'm the president of red cross club- we have raised 100k for emergency relief.

I’ve heard clubs are useless in admissions so I might skip the last 2. Should I?

What colleges should I apply to? Do I have a chance of rice/baylor? PLEASE BE HONEST. You won’t hurt my feelings if you say I’ll end up in community college- I’ve heard it for years. Just be honest and DONT GIVE ME FALSE HOPE. I also really hate essays so my essays will prob be trash.

Thanks again!

2

You sound like a really accomplished student but those BS/MD programs are probably expecting higher SAT. I’m sorry you have not had a good experience in high school. But I encourage you to limit yourself to one self-deprecating comment per day. People justifiably want to flee from negativity and I had a hard time sticking with your post to the end. Sounds like you have a lot to offer EC- wise.

3

@CheddarcheeseMN Do you think that If I re-take my SAT I could get into a T50 or T75 college. I took 3 practice tests and got a 1570, 1530, and a 1580.

4

I’m going to give you the good news- just go to college. Any college. In America you can get where you want to go from virtually any undergrad in the country. Get away from your town, get away from the abuse, get yourself some counseling so you can replace the negative voice in your head with some self-love, work as hard in college as you have in HS and then the sky is the limit.

You do not need a super competitive BS/MD program to become a physician (most doctors in the US did it the old fashioned way- undergrad, med school, residency…) You do not need SO many activities and research projects and book writing if they aren’t making you happy or getting you interested in the topic. You do not need so many college or online courses.

You are a terrific, serious student, and there are hundreds of colleges in the US who will welcome a terrific, serious student. Figure out what your budget is for four years of college, and come back and we can help you make an appropriate list. Schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor to review where kids with your stats get accepted to from your HS, and where they don’t. That’s a reality check. If your parents are emotionally abusive but willing to help pay for college, that’s a win. You only have X number of months under their roof, right?

There are hundreds of great schools. Don’t fixate on the super stressful, incredibly competitive Med school admissions process right now. Focus on leaving HS and getting the heck out of dodge…

Hugs.

5

@blossom TYSM. My EC’s are the only thing that really bring me joy. I’ve never done anything for a college app really and everything I do is fun. Do you think I could have a chance at a BS/MD though?

6

My grandparents set aside a lot of money for my college, so I’m not too concerned about money. I just want to see if I could get in.

My grandparents were AWESOME and always cared about me and IDK what I would do if they hadn’t set aside the money.

Context: in their will they said it could only be used for college, so I can’t buy stuff for EC’s, but I can use it for college.

7

Find out (if you don’t know already) the exact amount your grandparents left you and verify that it is in an account that you can access.

Of course you have a chance at a BS/MD. But the number of seats in these programs is tiny. And focusing on one of the lottery ticket type admissions takes your eye off the ball- which needs to be to get in and get out of where you are.

So pick a few of the combined programs if that’s your plan A. And then come up with a well chosen list of match and safety schools which are affordable and where kids with your profile from your HS get admitted to.

100K is a lot of money. But it won’t pay for four years of college unless you live at home and commute (which doesn’t sound like a good option), win a merit award , etc. So find out how much money you are actually dealing with and make sure it hasn’t gone somewhere else. You many need to contact the lawyer who handled their estate if your parents give you the run-around on the money… it might be held in a trust for you and you need to identify who the trustee is.

Are you 18 yet?

8

I believe that once I start college I will get between 50k-80k each year for up to 6 years. I am currently 16. My grandfather, who is awesome, placed it in a like a trust (I think) and legally myself and my brother are the only people who can access it.

I have talked to my counselor and she said that I get automatic admission to UT Austin, but I don’t think that makes sense, so maybe that could be my safety school? She said if I get my SAT up to a 1530-1580 I could get into a T20 school which again, to me, doesn’t make sense.

I just made a list, does this seem okay?

My absolute dream x a million schools

  • Brown PLME
  • Rice/ Baylor
  • Harvard EA

Reach

  • T20 schools

Match

  • Case Western
  • Lower level UC Schools

Safety

  • UT Austin

I think that this is super ambitious. What kind of schools would you consider a reach/ match?

9

Sorry, I forgot to do the @blossom thing.

10

Are your parents prepared to kick in if you are getting 50K from the trust but your college costs 70K? You need to have that discussion.

You’ve got a lot of reaches here. Case is a great match, look at Rochester, BU, they both have solid track records of getting students into both Med and Public health programs after undergrad, great research opportunities. Look at CMU.

If you are auto-admit for UT Austin that’s a terrific safety if you’d be happy to go there. Maybe add Pitt if you want one more safety. Great place for life sciences/neuro/cog sci.

Get the details on the trust. If you are your brother are both minors, there will be an adult (the trustee) who actually signs the checks. As a 16 year old, it might be “your” money, but the trustee actually supervises who/what/when. If it’s the lawyer who drew up the trust, that’s easy… his/her job is to verify that the money is going to a bona fide college/university, and to make sure that there is enough cash in the account to cover the withdrawals every semester by selling stock or bonds.

11

@blossom I will contact my grandfather. He is in charge of the trust and probably is the trustee.

Should I mention my home situation? I saw online that you should avoid abuse and issues.

Should I include the last two things on my EC list?

12

Why are you fixated on BSMD programs?

You sound very academically and intellectually capable. You also sound like you’re in a rough place emotionally.

Yet, the goal you are setting is to get into an accelerated track into an extremely stressful professional training process that many experience as somewhat emotionally abusive in its own right.

You need time and support, for your emotional health to catch up to your academic achievement. This means that it would be an exceptionally bad idea to shorten your time in undergrad in a mad dash to med school.

Honestly, the way this reads to me is that your impulse is to run away from your own feelings and issues, and immerse yourself in a process that you (wrongly) think will transform you and leave your problems behind. It doesn’t work that way.

If you knew a doctor who couldn’t get through a single paragraph without talking himself down and dwelling how others have wronged him, would you want to put yourself in the hands of that person?

It is as @blossom says - you need a healthy and healing four years as an undergraduate. You’re passionate about public health? Great! Look for a school with terrific opportunities in that realm - someplace where you can also take time to figure out who you are, outside of your unhealthy family dynamics. You can still go to med school! As a TX resident, you’re fortunate to have particularly good and affordable med school options in-state. But don’t blow your undergrad application process by focusing on BSMD programs - not only are the odds bad, it’s also not what you need. You need time - time to build healthy friendships, time to work on yourself in therapy, time to repair your distorted self-image and get centered about who you are and who you want to be. These are the things that will ultimately make you successful in med school and make you a good doctor with the social and emotional skills to handle the challenges of clinical practice.

You’re in great shape for normal undergrad admissions. You have a terrific academic record and distinctive EC’s. Your SAT is good-but-not-stunning… but that’s being de-emphasized everywhere this year, anyway. You have a college fund that seemingly can underwrite any college you choose. You’re in a great position! Don’t blow it by focusing on BSMD admissions.

Have you thought about Emory? Its proximity to the CDC makes the public health opportunities particularly great. In terms of admissions pathway, you can apply to either or both the main campus and the Oxford campus, where you’d spend your first two years in a small LAC environment. The latter might be really nice for you - a couple years of really getting away from it all at a small school with lots of individual attention from faculty, and then an automatic transition to the larger Atlanta campus with your cohort. Emory is not technically a T20, but there is no meaningful difference between an elite university ranked #21, and those a few spots higher.

Case is a good target. URochester is another with a lot of similar attributes, and a great variety of undergrad programs under the public health umbrella as well as terrific premed research and shadowing opportunities.

Get help with your essays. These will be important, and they should not be about abuse, self-doubt, etc.

I honestly can’t imagine why you’d pay $65K/year for a “lower level UC school” when you could go to UT Austin in-state. That’s a huge amount of money to place on the altar of “familiarity breeds contempt.” That auto-admit spot is a huge score - congratulations, please value it and consider it seriously. You can do an undergrad major in public health or even an accelerated BS-MPH which would put you in great shape for med school! It’s a huge advantage to be able to do med school apps during the “+1” year, with all your undergrad coursework behind you and more time to prep for the MCAT.

It’s great that you have the undergrad budget that you do, but med school is expensive too. You could do a 4 year BS or a 4+1 BS/MPH at UT Austin and still have a good chunk left over for med school. Your “backup” plan may in fact be your best plan. It’s one of the top flagship universities in the country, and the student quality of life is great. Do try to get more excited about what UT has to offer.

13

Re: discussing your home situation - if there is something colleges need to know, in that regard, discuss it with your college counselor ASAP. Your counselor’s recommendation is where these things should be explained if an explanation is necessary. It is much much better for it to come from them and not from you.

14

Agree with everything Aquapt writes. And no, do not write about abuse. You’re writing a book, you’ve done research on topics you care about, you volunteer- you’ve got plenty of opportunities to make the case as to why a college should want you.

15

@aquapt I understand your point, but I my grandparents are AWESOME and I feel really loved. My parents are definitely abusive, but I know that that isn’t my fault and its their problem. I’ve done mental health screening and everything came back as expected and mostly normal. I have been doing therapy and I learned a lot of tools for me to succeed.

Emory, URochester, and Boston seem amazing; I will def apply there.

If my SAT is a 1550+, what percent chance would I have to get into Brown or Harvard?

16

At 1470 superscored your chances for Brown and Harvard are low. The higher the scores, there is a modest uptick in your chances- but the odds for everyone are terrible. This is just reality.

So pick 2 or 3 reaches-- give it your best shot. Pick 3 matches, and once you’ve verified that UT Austin is a solid admit–maybe find another safe bet, or not.

Harvard does not have an accelerated med program- which you know- so I think you need to figure out exactly what it is you want. If you are unsure about medicine (nothing wrong with that- you are 16) then don’t bother with the accelerated programs. They can sniff out ambivalence from thousands of miles away.

If you were my student or my kid- I’d be telling you to fall in love with one of the hundreds of colleges in the US that would love to have you just as you are. If your scores go up- great. And if they don’t- also great, because you’ve fallen in love with a college that will fall in love with you.

Not sure what a mental health screening that comes back mostly normal means- you have mentioned abuse and bullying in almost every one of your posts. That doesn’t make you “abnormal” but it suggests that you’ve got some things to work through. And an intense BS/MD program is likely not the best place to work those things out. And if being around super competitive classmates is stressful or triggering for you (as your first post suggests) I would avoid those programs like the plague…

17

I hope I didn’t come across as disbelieving you about your bad family situation or thinking that it’s your fault. That wasn’t at all what I was trying to convey.

My point was only that you need time, distance, and support in order to heal and also back-fill the healthy emotional development that would have been happening over the past few years if you hadn’t had to focus on self-defense and survival. This is just what it is.

I also came from a home in which I had to prioritize emotional self-protection over healthy exploration and growth. I succeeded in getting into an extremely demanding and prestigious undergrad program. I thought I’d won the jackpot, but the result was that I got to college and still didn’t have the time and bandwidth to catch up on figuring myself out as a person. All I’m saying is, don’t do that to yourself - it’ll catch up with you eventually if you do. You deserve the time and space to be happy, to build a healthy circle of friendships, to think and breathe and detox and regroup. Not one second of that is worth giving up to get to med school a year sooner.

There is literally no SAT score that will make Brown PLME or Harvard-unhooked admission likely - they reject plenty of applicants with perfect scores. There’s no harm in trying (although you could get a lot more bang for your early-application buck than Harvard REA)… just make sure you give your regular applications the full amount of attention and energy they deserve, and don’t let the long shots siphon off all your best work.

Do your grandparents live near where you live, or somewhere else? Might be nice to be near where they are, for college, if it doesn’t also mean being near your parents…

18

I am finding myself really wanting you to find a college where you can find a few of your “people” - friendships and support that it sounds like you haven’t had nearly enough of. Please watch webinars and virtual student panels, etc, at your match schools and see if you can find a place that feels like a real fit for you as a person. Look carefully at UT and see if you can potentially find your people as a subgroup there. It really isn’t about the ranking or prestige of the school as much as it is about finding a place where you can thrive and be successful emotionally as well as academically (and financially). Hugs.

19

@smiles2122 tysm. From what I’ve heard is that the prestige kind of matters because i want to be a professor of medicine and undergrad prestige matters a lot, but ik I’ll figure it out thx!

20

Are you considering applying to Plan II Honors at UT? That’s well-recognized as a very prestigious program… not that any UT Austin degree isn’t prestigious, but everyone knows that students in Plan II are similarly qualified to those at elite private U’s.