Hi! I’m currently a sophomore. I hope you guys can tell me how to improve my chances to get into a BS/MD program (any 
).
9th Grade Courses:
Honors Math 2
Honors English 9
Global Studies
Physics in the Universe
French 1
Freshman PE Course 1
Honors Principles of Biomedical Science (PLTW Course)
10th Grade Courses:
Honors Math 3
Honors English 10
AP World History
Honors Chemistry
French 2
Lifetime Fitness
Honors Human Body Systems
9th Grade GPA: 4.42
10th Grade GPA: 4.71
Extracurriculars:
HOSA – 9th, 10th
Science Olympiad – 9th, 10th
Acts of Random Kindness – 9th, 10th
California Scholarship Federation – 9th, 10th
Virtual Clinical Shadowing – 40 hrs (signed up but don’t have all of them done)
Early College: My high school offers a program that allows me to get an associate degree by the time I graduate. I take 2 college courses a semester on top of my high school courses.
Testing:
I did the PSAT 8/9 last year and got a 1410/1440, but I didn’t do PSAT 10.
So, I don’t have any leadership positions unfortunately and I feel like I have less clubs. I am planning on applying to a research program this summer and doing hospital volunteering/shadowing next year if COVID permits :D. Any advice on how to make my application stronger are greatly appreciated!
Hello there,
Its difficult for me to judge how your grades are. GPAs differ from one school to another. Also note that admissions people tend to look at unweighted GPAs. You should be aiming for a GPA that puts you in the top 5% of your high school class.
If your HS offers AP or IB courses, take them instead of dual enrollment. Unless you hope to transfer those credits to a 4 year university and start with advanced standing. Reason is that AP/IB are generally more rigorous than community college classes, and will be looked at more favorably. Especially if you get 5s in all of them. Most colleges will let you convert AP courses for advanced standing once you enroll.
Shadowing is an important part of the BS/MD application. Difficult in this situation with COVID but try to get as many hours as you can. You can also volunteer in other medically related areas.
Do you have any research? This will be another area that they will be looking for.
Whats your race/ethnicity/socioeconomic background. These are other factors that will come into play.
Hi. Thank you for the reply. Didn’t realize that I didn’t put in my unweighted GPA. Its 4.0. I am Asian, non-citizen. I haven’t done any research but plan on doing some this summer, if COVID gets better.
Regarding the APs: I am doing the dual credits to get an associate degree… would this be okay or should I still take AP classes?
Also, I started a blog on wellness and plan on building on it and starting a club. Would this be a good idea?
Asians, as you can imagine have a harder time getting into medical school. So essentially you’ll be competing against other asians with similar backgrounds. So keep this in mind when deciding what ECs to pursue. You don’t want to appear to be cooker-cutter.
I personally would take more AP classes and skip the associates degree. The med school admissions committees generally like to see that the core science classes are taken at a 4 year school. So taking some of them via dual-enrollment is not really the best idea. The most important class they will pay attention to is organic chemistry. Reason is that orgo requires a large amount of rote memorization, which is similar to what you’ll be doing the first 2 years of med school. Also the core science classes (Calc, Bio, Chem, physics). They want to see As in these classes, from a 4 year school. Taking these at a community college is seen as the easy way out.
Are you a US permanent resident? You mention that you’re not a citizen. If you don’t have permanent residency status, it will be difficult to find a US medical school slot. Most of the state schools only accept citizens and green card holders. Some of the private schools do accept internationals, but very few.
So, I already started the program… would it be bad if I stopped halfway? Or, would taking the courses at both the college and high school make up for it?
Also, I am not a permanent resident. I am aware that there are very few chances… but I hope that I will get permanent resident status by the time I apply.
Are you taking any of the core requirements for medical schools (bio, chem, physics, calc, etc) during dual enrollment? If so then I don’t know what to tell you. The medical schools will ask for transcripts from all colleges you attended, even dual enrollment. Your AMCAS GPA will be calculated based on this.
Not having permanent residency status does make things difficult. Do some careful research into each of the programs, see how they handle things. Probably only the private schools have slots for non-residents/non-citizens. Don’t bother applying to the programs that require citizenship/green card.
I talked to my counselor and she said that if we are taking the courses at the college, we won’t be allowed to take them at the high school. So, even if I wanted to take a more rigorous course, I won’t be able to. Does that make things any better?
I will be taking Chemistry and Biology at the college, but since those courses don’t articulate, I will also be taking AP Chem and AP Bio at my high school.
Also, does not having an honors physics course affect my admission chances? I had to take Physics in the Universe in freshman year to get an AP+PLTW award in biomedical sciences by the time I graduate.
I got into the Rosetta Institute of Biomedical Research for this summer. The program is in Medicinal Chemistry. I am also applying to USCB’s RMP and the Stanford STaRS program. I feel like I have a chance into the RMP, but low chances for STaRS. Is the Rosetta Institute good?
Also, does not having any leadership positions in 9th or 10th grade look bad? I have around 70 hours of community service… I’ll get 100+ by the end of this year. But they are all non-medical. I wasn’t able to volunteer at hospitals last year or this year because of COVID.