Chance My Daughter

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Please chance my daughter. She is wanting to be a Pediatric Oncologist.</p>

<p>ACT: 32 (Taking again in September, hopeful to have 34)
GPA: 4.875 (Projected to be higher with 12th grade classes)
UW GPA: 3.90</p>

<p>She is a junior in high school right now. She goes to a small college prep charter school, with highly rigorous classes and has 100 kids in her grade. She is in the top 10%. These are her taken courses and to be taken courses:</p>

<p>9th:
Band - A
Honors Geometry A+
Honors English A+
Honors Biology A+
Honors World History A+
Honors Spanish 2 A+</p>

<p>10th:
Art 2 A+
Honors Algebra 2 A+
AP Earth Science A+
Honors Chem A+
Honors Civics A+
Honors English A+
Honors Spanish 3 A+</p>

<p>11th:
AP Chem B (teacher does not give A's)
AP English Lang B
Honors Pre-Cal A+
Honors Physcology A+
Honors US History A+
Honors Spanish 4 A+
Honors Art 3 A+ (only honors level for level 3 plus)</p>

<p>12th: (Anticipated)
AP Bio
AP Lit
Honors Calculus
Honors Spanish 5
Ethics / Public Speaking - Required for Seniors
Honors Art 4</p>

<p>Extra curriculars:
- National Honor Society
- National Art Honor Society (on board next year)
- National Spanish Honor Society
- National Math Honor Society
- National Science Honor Society - she is working to get a chapter started
- IMPACT (all four years)
- Show Choir - 2 years
- Marching Band - 2 years
- Required to have 40 public service hours per year - will have 160 hours+
- Two Medical internships, one with a local hospital and one with an Oncologist, will have 100+ hours
- Spirit Club</p>

<p>There are others, but I am drawing a blank right now</p>

<p>Here are the schools that are on her list thus far:</p>

<p>High Point University
Duke
Wake Forest
Clemson
University of South Carolina
Vanderbilt
East Carolina (only because she is prob. a lock to get in and get good offers)
Davidson (not her fav, but we love it, plus it is 10 minutes from our house)
University of NC Wilmington
UVA</p>

<p>Hopeful that we have a good mix of safety, match and reach schools. Thanks so much!</p>

2

<p>Unlikely to get in at Duke, Vanderbilt or UVA. Good chance at Wake and Davidson. The others are strong matches/safeties.</p>

<p>No AP calc offered at her school?</p>

3

<p>AP Calc is offered, however Math is not her favorite, or strong suit (Although she has straight A’s). We have talked about her taking it, but she wants hours freed up in the afternoons to mentor with the Oncologist. She is a science geek. </p>

4

<p>Realize that most people who post in this forum are high school students and really don’t know chances any better than you do. Even adults won’t. All you can do is make an informed decision with the school GC. Some people use Parchment, also mixed results reported.</p>

5

<p>Check her stats against honors college at USC. Probably can get merit scholarship with OOS tuition waived at least. If in honors, it is really good deal and great benefits in terms of housing, small class sizes and great peer group.</p>

6

<p>Based on her ACT scores and class rank, she has already been given provisional acceptance to Clemson for the Fall 2015 term. We have yet to tour USC, but have one planned for the 21st. I am pretty sure she would get OOS tuition waived based on what I have read. </p>

7

<p>@hopewhite25‌
He statistics and extracurricular activities are good, but may be a bit substandard. Nonetheless, I think she has good chances to the universities she applied to.</p>

<p>By the way, mathematics is the language of all sciences. If she is not proficient or does not enjoy mathematics, she may have serious difficulty completing her science education. </p>

<p>Also, I was a bit surprised that she has already decided to pursue a specific career as an Pediatric Oncologist. Most people would just say “Doctor,” without specifying the specialization. Make sure that she does not get her eyes too set on that occupation, namely because she likely does not know in depth what they do and may dislike it. It’s best to keep your options open by taking courses from multiple disciplines in university - in case you do not enjoy on part of it.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Academic rigor is important along with GPA. She should reconsider AP calc since she is an A math student.</p>

<p>She will need her ACT higher with the rest of her application to be considered at Duke, UVA or Vanderbilt. Wake would be her best option on the list and certainly sends plenty of graduates to medical school.</p>

<p>Probably a lot more important for her to do well in whatever college she chooses if she is considering medicine.</p>

9

<p>@wannabefeynman‌
She has wanted to be a doctor since elementary school, but has really focused on the Pediatric Oncology path in the last couple of years and luckily has an Oncologist that is willing to mentor her. She could change her mind, but doubtful that it would be away from medicine.</p>

10

<p>@hopewhite25‌
I would think that she doesn’t know nearly enough about cancer to be seriously interested in a career in oncology, but of course if she enjoys medicine/biology then she should take courses in that discipline. All I am saying is not to take only the general medicine/biology courses and then specialize in oncology without taking courses in other specializations to see if she enjoys them more. </p>

11

<p>You know, most high school seniors have an intended major but graduate from college with a different one. Pediatric Oncology is at least 10 years down the road. My 8th grade daughter wants to be an allergy specialist too. I just told her to work hard at school if she really want to achieve that. It does not really matter if she ends up with something else.</p>

12

<p>That’s what I have told her as well. I think one of the factors that is really pushing her to want to do this is the Leukemia diagnosis that her best friend received last year. We just want a college that will be a good fit for her, academically and socially. </p>

13

<p>@billcsho‌
Pediatric oncologists have to undergo 4 years of medical school, three years of residency training in pediatrics, 3 years of fellowship training and receive certification from the American Board of Pediatrics. That will take a lot of time! But of course, if @hopewhite25 's daughter wants to do something in the medical field, that’s obviously fine. But she definitely needs to keep her options open and not get bogged down by the aim of becoming a pediatric oncologist. </p>

14

<p>^ I fully understand that. When a kid has no experience in the field or little information on other alternatives, they are not really sure about their choice. It is more important to find a good fit school with options wide open at this point. Pre-med track is what she is looking for right now. </p>

15

<p>Maybe she should apply to JHU - I have heard they have a good medical program. </p>

16

<p>Getting B’s in AP courses isn’t going to help. I’m surprised no one has mentioned that. Is AP Earth Science AP Enviro? </p>

17

<p>Statistically speaking, the teachers of her two AP courses this year are hard. They do not hand out A’s and there has not been anyone in either class to do so this year. Her B’s are the highest in both classes. As for the number of AP classes that she has taken, they are limited by a smaller selection than a traditional school. Yes, that is AP Enviromental, it is just called something different at her school. </p>

18

<p>Well, this is getting a bit off-topic. However, as long as the teachers don’t start teaching her about topological spaces in AP Calculus BC, she has to have the work ethic to succeed in those classes. Universities such as Duke have such a high prestige partly due to their rigour. Speaking from personal experience (because I have learnt from textbooks from the universities providing a very rigorous education), if she can not do very well in AP classes then she will have a hard time gaining admission to and studying at the top universities. </p>

19

<p>Moving off of the whole AP Calc topic, might she consider applying to more schools? There are a lot of schools that offer really good premed programs as well as combined programs which would guarantee her acceptance into med school (if that’s really the path she wants to take). Off the top of my head JHU, BU combined Med, Rice (Rice/Baylor combined med), UMKC. The ivy league schools also have really good premed programs if you want to consider that route. </p>

20

<p>For sure JHU has a great medical school, but it is also an Ivy caliber school.</p>