Junior at large suburban high school in Virginia and I also attend a partial day governor’s school with 100 students.
weighted gpa: 4.8 (my school is on a 5.0 weighted scale and only weights AP and my governor’s school courses + a few pre-ap)
unweighted gpa: 3.9
rank: 4 out of 630 students (base school)
act: 34
sat: 1230 (I may retake or not submit at all)
AP classes: physics, chem, bio (gov school), calculus bc, environmental, apush, lang, psychology, world, and my two research classes at gov school.
Next year im planning on taking anatomy/phys, microbiology, multivariable calc/linear algebra, ap lit, ap gov, ap physics c, and my other research classes. some of these will be online classes
ECS:
founder and co-president of future leaders of stem club (elementary STEM volunteering)
3 years varsity tennis (1st rank)
key club
founder and co-president of mental health matters club
girl scout for 10 years and currently senior leader
women in stem co-president
there’s more but those are the main ones
awards
recognized by congress and the navy for science fair project
semifinalist at Broadcom science fair
Girl Scout gold award
top 50 Girl Scouts in the nations captial
there’s more but…
experience:
im going to Thailand this summer to work with a dentist as an intern
the governor’s school I attend is a major stem school and I get to pursue different research projects (ex. I designed a spinal implant that automatically adjusts and im currently working on a project that involves insulin production using a cyanobacteria vector…)
I was apart of a congress member’s summer leadership program
others:
I live in a upper middle class neighborhood in northern va
asian female
neighborhood is 70% white
I don’t qualify for any fasfa aid
schools I wanna go to in order:
UPenn (dream)
Columbia
NYU
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
Cornell
Case Western
VCU
Please let me know if i have a good chance at any of these schools with my current stats as a junior. Also if there are any other schools that may be a good match for me, please let me know. Thank you!
You left out one very important issue (or I missed it): What is your budget?
UVA is a very, very good university. Since you are in-state, it would be a relative bargain for you.
It would be a good idea to do some more SAT preparation and retake if you are seriously interested in UVA, or most of the schools on your list.
What is your intended major? If you might be premed, then (i) You need to budget for 8 years and keep the cost down for undergrad; and (ii) You are probably better off at a school where you would be in the top 1/4 of incoming students, because you are going to need to be near the top in very tough classes.
Hi, thank you for responding! I really want to go on the pre-med track and eventually go to medical school. I was looking into the university of Rochester and I was wondering if I could get your opinion on their pre-med program and how it prepares you for the mcat and medical school?
Hi DadTwoGirls! Thank you for your advice! My intended major is pre-med and I plan on eventually going to medical school. Although I do not qualify for aid, my parents and I agreed on a budget of at most 80k a year for my undergrad. I was looking into uva and I have a few friends that currently go there for pre-med, however they were telling me that uva doesn’t prepare you as well as other in-state schools for the mcat. I am still considering uva because of the in-state tuition, but I am really interested in nyu and Upenn because both school have good pre-med programs. Also, I heard nyu has a tuition-free medical school, but im worried about my chances of getting into these schools and qualifying for scholarships. In addition, from what you said about being in the top quarter of my class for undergrad, im worried that I will not be competitive enough for these top tier colleges if I am admitted. I would like to know your thoughts on any other in-state or out-of-state colleges that I could consider? Your help is greatly appreciated!
There are many colleges with great pre-med programs. You can major in just about anything, as long as you take the required classes. Since med school admissions is highly dependent upon MCAT and GPA, I highly suggest that you go to a college that doesn’t have grade deflation.
So, avoid Cornell and JHU. Also a good idea to keep cost of attendance as low as possible, so you can save money for med school. Also at some point you’ll have to demonstrate your interest in the clinical side of medicine, so shadowing will be important. Good luck!
Hi sgopal2! Thank you so much for responding! I was wondering what you meant by a grade deflation? Also, I was wondering what are your opinions on the grade deflation issue in upenn or nyu? I look forward to hearing from you!
Grade deflation means that the average GPA is lower than other colleges. The reverse is known as grade inflation. Harvard is known for inflation. Princeton, MIT and UChicago are known for deflation.
Going to a grade deflating college does not help when it comes to med school admissions. The reason is that the admissions officers do not give any extra special points for a kid from a grade deflating school. So your GPA will be compared to someone graduating from easy state U. So in many ways, its better to go to a small college where you can be at the top of the class GPA wise. As long as you do well on the MCAT, you’ll fare better than someone at the bottom of their class from MIT.
You never want to choose a college based on “premed prestige.” 9.5 times out of 10, students change their mind about medical school. As you mature, you find undiscovered passions and you don’t want to be stuck somewhere you’re miserable in.
$80k is a good budget, but just because you can spend 80k a year on a college, doesn’t mean you should. If you can go to an in-state university, or even get a scholarship, you could actually graduate medical school debt free. That’s a smart way to use college money!
I infer from your post (and from knowing more than a few NoVa high achievers!) that you don’t see UVa as ‘high’ enough up the ladder for you, which is fine- but don’t use ‘my friends say it doesn’t prepare you for the MCAT very well’ as an excuse. MCAT prep is like SAT, LSAT or GRE prep: something you do for you.
Afaik, none of the schools on your list have a pre-med major. Bio is sometimes seen as a default - but there is a surplus of undergrads with bio majors who never end up going to med school. Luckily, none of the schools on your list will require you to formally declare a major in your first year, so you have time to take more courses and figure out what you want to specialize in as an undergrad.
From your other post, UPenn has slipped down the ladder, and NYU & Columbia have moved up. I would have thought UPenn was a great option for you- very pre-professionally oriented, in a city, good name, etc. NYU would seem a reasonably likely bet admissions-wise. The concern on Columbia is the core: if it’s your cup of tea, it’s wonderful - but there are a lot of required classes, and some of them are a lot of work- and you need those grades to be as high as your STEM grades for med school…
Whatever college you end up attending, you want to be able to be a star: LoRs are important, whether your college uses the committee system (when a committee writes ALL the LoRs for ALL the med school applicants) or individual letters. You want those letters to rave about you.
“my parents and I agreed on a budget of at most 80k a year for my undergrad”
You should see whether they would be willing to keep whatever you do not spend for undergrad and let you use it for graduate school or medical school. We agreed with our kids to do this (with a budget that was a lot lower than 80k per year). One daughter graduated exactly on budget. The other is going to graduate with quite a bit left in her 529 plan. We will let her use it for what is likely to be a master’s program.
Unfortunately all I know about the schools in Virginia is by reputation, and by working with a few very strong co-workers who graduated from UVA. We live well to the east and north of you and have mostly looked at schools up here (although I did graduate school in California).
