Background:
Ethnicity: Indian-American
From a rural and medically underserved area.
SAT 1440 (Took it again and will likely get 1480-1520)
PSAT: 1510
Subject Sats: (N/A- Will take soon)
Weighted GPA: 4.63
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Class Rank 10/260
Coursework-
I am taking the hardest workload my school offers and am taking 5 HL courses.
IB courses:
SL math
SL Spanish
HL Math
HL English
HL History
HL Chemistry
HL Biology
Medical experience:
Clinical Research at a major hospital- 200+ hours.
Hospice Volunteer- 100+ hours.
Hospital Volunteer- 100+ hours.
Shadowing Doctors- 150+ hours.
Awards:
(likely) National Merit Semifinalist
Won various state-level awards in mathematics and qualified for the AIME math contest.
Won various state-level awards in science.
Regional Qualifier and district champ in tennis.
1st team all-district in tennis for 3 years and leader of the team.
Extracurriculars:
Keyclub (member)
Rotary Club (member)
NHS (member)
Math team
Science team
Tennis team
Other:
Attended National youth leadership conference at UCLA.
Attended Roosevelt Summer Scholars Program at LIU Post.
I think you’re problem might be fitting into a stereotypical application . Not trying to be racist or anything , but being Indian and applying in the stem aspect of ivies might put you at a disadvantage .
Pre-med is an intention and not a specific major so there’s no such thing as chancing someone for a pre-med undergrad admission.
Also be aware than any medical ECs you did during high school won’t be considered when (and if) you apply to medical school during/after college. The fact that you come from a medical underserved area won’t help for undergrad admissions. It’s not even considered during of the college admission process.
@WayOutWestMom Will the fact I come from an underserved area be helpful if I apply to a BS/MD program? I meant a Biology major or Public Health major. Also, do you think with my stats I have a decent shot of getting into a prestigious institution?
@drowforgdc I know what you mean. It is harder for Asians to get into more prestigious colleges due to affirmative action. Do you think its worth I apply for a non-stem major but take pre-med courses and do premed? Thank you for the feed back.
“do you think with my stats I have a decent shot of getting into a prestigious institution?”
I think that there are many questions that you might want to ask. Two very important ones are what your chances are to get accepted to a highly ranked university for your undergrad? and what do you do to maximize your chances of getting accepted to medical school?
It is very difficult to predict where you might or might not get accepted. For the highest ranked schools (including Cornell and to some extent Duke) your SAT score is a bit low. I will assume that you will get this up quite a bit. With this, most of their applicants will have stats that are similar to yours (assuming that you get your SAT to 1500 or better). However, they will have some spots going to legacy students, URM students, and athletes. They probably have a few slots going to major donors. They will have a few applicants whose stats are lower than yours. Putting this all together is tough, but my best guess is that your chances of admission are probably no higher than the percent of applicants that they accept, and might be a bit lower for Cornell. Schools at this level are reaches.
You need to apply to safeties, and spend time thinking about safeties.
Another question is how do you maximize your chances of getting accepted to medical school? To get into medical school, you do not need attend a university on the level of Cornell or Duke. You do however need to have a very high undergrad GPA, and have high MCAT scores. There are many universities (hundreds of them) in the US which will prepare you very well for the MCAT. There are hundreds of universities in which premed classes will be very demanding. It is not clear to me that trying to get into a university where your stats are at or below the median for incoming premed students is the way to maximize your chances of getting a “medical school worthy” undergrad GPA.
Another important question is: What is your budget? If you are premed, then you should find out how much your parents are willing to spend for eight full years of university. Medical schools is going to be very expensive. You do not need to spend a lot of money for undergrad to get a quality education that will prepare you for medical school.
I think that you should think about how to maximize your chances to get accepted to medical school.
No. It is harder for members of over-represented groups to get into highly selective colleges b/c the colleges have so many roughly comparable students to choose from. In one of the metro areas that our collegekids lived in during secondary school there were probably three dozen schools at which substantial %s of students had a 3.8+ UW GPA in a rigorous course load, a 1500+/33+ SAT/ACT, student leadership positions, a team sport, an art, community service and a favorite out of school EC. Differentiating yourself in pools like that is hard.
OP - I answer your question in another thread on BS/MD. As of now, your stats seem weak compared to strong BS/MD applicants and your planning is not good. Going to “a prestigious institution” would probably make your pre-med situation even worse. Read up some posts here on how some pre-med kids got crushed on their GPA after transferred from a state school with 4.0 to Vanderbilt.
@Andorvw I go to an IB school and the science courses are 2 years long so I was not able to take the subject sats because I had not received all the information. That is why I decided to take it in August so I would have more time to catch up on the rest of the information. The subject tests are tailored more for AP students and If I was in AP, I would’ve taken the test. My dream is to go to USC they have all the things I want for in a college and a fantastic location, plus if I get in I get half tuition off due to my national merit status. I should’ve been more prepared but I was the captain of the tennis team this year as a junior and our practices took a long time (2-3 hours from 3-5:30) and I was not able to prepare early for my subject sats. Since I am in the top 6% of my class I have automatic acceptance into UT Austin so if all else fails I will go there since it is a very nice university. The only issue with UT is it has a 54% matriculation into med school and that is low compared to other universities. I had a friend last year with stats comparable to mine -you could even say lower than mine- that got accepted to the Texas A&M combined medical program and thought that if he could get in I could get into a program similar. I am 100% certain that I want to do medicine. Many of the EC’s I did bolster that for me: I was exposed to lots of different experiences that influenced my ideology. My Sat score is a weakness for now and I am fairly certain I got it up to 1500+ in June. Thank you so much for the feedback. How else could I strengthen my resume to get into USC or potentially a BS/MD program?
@DadTwoGirls I understand my SAT is low but I believe I did well in June and probably got a 1500+. I also have UT Austin and Texas A&M as my safety schools because I have automatic acceptance since I am in the top 6% of my class. I can afford most colleges and USC is perfect for me because if I get in I have half tuition off due to my national merit status. How can I bolster my resume to get into and succeed at USC?
You do have to designate USC as your top choice with NMSC to earn the 1/2 tuition scholarship. Although it does not look like money is a key issue in your criteria, there are schools that give NMFs full tuition awards, such as U Alabama. There are also some schools, relatively fewer, that give full rides for NMFs.
If your SAT goes to 1500+, it’s reasonable for you to consider BS/MD programs. Research those programs and start a thread on that CC forum, and also have a separate list of schools that appeal to you but without BS/MD (UT Austin, TAMU, USC, etc.)
If your ultimate goal is to get into a prestigious University, I would apply early decision to such school as Cornell.
But looking at your posts, your best bet is to apply to “reasonable” colleges to maximize your chance of getting into an US medical school. Theses schools include Case Western (regular program), Fordham, Loyola etc…i.e. colleges that are ranked 40 to 100. You will also receive merit scholarships as well.
Just remember that most colleges will not give out more than 15 percent As on each course. Also, other premeds are as equally motivated as you are in their goals of getting into a medical school. I am scheduled to meet with a premeds Cornell student for a consult since she is struggling with pressure at Cornell. Name is not everything. Premeds journey is numbers game, and you must maximize your chances at each stage.
Good luck.
Agree with the other posters. Indians applying for pre-med are a dime a dozen. And your stats will be considerably lower than most other desis.
If your ultimate goal is medical school, then you would be better off going to a smaller liberal arts college. Bish fish, little pond. Also - have you considered combined programs? (BS-MD, or BA-MD)??
Based on what my friend told me, the BU interview his son went had about half applicants being Indian, and … his son’s stats were way better than OP’s but he was still rejected by BU combined so you can guess what’s OP’s chance.
Cornell is not really pre-med friendly with their huge pre-med classes and cut-throat competition for the limited A’s. Brown is probably the most pre-med friendly Ivy with their open curriculum and happy students (but Brown’s Orgo is no joke either).