<p>Hi,
I’m a junior in high school right now and I’m very interested in the PLME at Brown University. I want to know how to increase my chances of acceptance. NOTE: I am still a junior, so I can and WILL do whatever is in my capacity to better my chances, and I understand that I can start applying as soon as I get my grades for junior year. This is what I am currently in and do:
I am a full IB DP candidate, my course is as follows for this year:
IB Biology HL
IB Spanish HL
IB English HL
IB Math SL
IB Chemistry SL
Physics
AP Government
Theory of Knowledge
Next Year I will take IB Econimcs as my third SL class, my school offers it as a one year-course, in addition I will add Anatomy and Physiology to my schedule next year.
I am a part of these clubs:
Key Club (community service)
National Honor Society
Environmental Science Club
“Power of 100” (against bullying)
I have participated in:
JV Girls tennis
Summer Tennis camp
Volunteer work:
I volunteer every Saturday for 4 hours at the local hospital’s Emergency Dept.
I do various other volunteer activities such as food drives, and set-ups at school
I am also currently looking to get involved in some sort of reaserch project in affiliation with a local University.
My ACT Score is currently a 28–I know this is low, I am working to fix that.
My Unweighted GPA (my school doesn’t weight GPA’s, I hear colleges look at unweighted anyways…): 3.89 ( all freshman year I took honors and all sophomore yaer I took honors and AP, I took the hardest courseloads offered at my highschool)
What do you guys think? How should I increase my chances? Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!
Thank you guys in advance, I’m sorry I know the post is long!!!</p>
<p>grades and act are low</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! I know my ACT is low, I still have a year to work on that–which I definitely will! As for my grades, could you tell me what would be ideal? I just want to know, the only reason I have a 3.89 is because of one B and one A-, other than that I’ve had all A’s in all of my honors, AP, and IB classes till now. I have taken the most rigourous courseload available to me, does that help any bit? My school doesn’t weight GPA’s, but if they did I would have a GPA well over a 4.0… I was wondering if colleges look at unweighted or weighted?</p>
<p>unweighted. and you should have 3.95+ for PLME.</p>
<p>Hey, thanks for telling me! I know I have to work on the ACT (and I know my GPA will be upto a 3.95, so no biggie), what else should I work on??</p>
<p>Yeah plme is a high reach given your lack of significant extracurriculars</p>
<p>Thanks, I really appreciate all the replies! Okay, so PME high reach…what can I do to better my chances? I’m still a junior so I have time! Just out of curiosity, how do I fare in getting accepted to Brown with what I have so far (not as PLME, just as norma undergrad)?</p>
<p>Chance of any applicant getting into Brown are about 10%, and PLME 3-5%. Any individual is harder to give a “chance” as there are many more variables than just grades and scores (although those and teacher recs are the most important parts). Most of the PLME accepted students tend to (with exceptions) be in the top 1-2% of their graduating class. They tend to have very high board scores. So you should work on both of those. (and they want to see high scores in SAT science exams too.) Brown also likes to see something that indicates you have an in depth exposure or understanding of the field of medicine, for acceptance into PLME. That can be extensive volunteering or medical related research (overly emphasized in my opinion, and not really a good indicator of who will make a good doctor.) or some life family event (the kid who took care of a family member with a significant illness, or was a patient like that themselves.)
I don’t think every PLME accepted student I’ve come across has one of the above, but almost all did.
On the other hand, I think there are Very many students who are great premed students, and great future MDs who didn’t do any of these things as high school students and will be just as happy and successful as premeds at Brown. So don’t think that “standard” admission is any less something to aim for!</p>
<p>My ACT score was fairly low as well - have you tried taking the SAT? Some people are just wired better for different tests. </p>
<p>As for your extra curricular activities, I would add some more volunteer work in the science/medical area.</p>
<p>@brown alum parent: more like 2% . only 50 out of some like 2000 applicants who have indicated an interest in PLME</p>
<p>@ LuckyA: Hey thanks! I haven’t taken the SAT yet… is it a good idea? I know most colleges say ACT or SAT, I live in MI so all high schools usually encourage is ACT… I will try SAT! Thanks! </p>
<p>Okay so more volunteerism… I volunteer every Saturday at an emergency room, should I take up more shifts or have a variety and go for another unit with an extra shift (apart from ER)?</p>
<p>Rehma: Brown doesn’t care whether you take the SAT or ACT, but if you haven’t done as well on the ACT, maybe take an SAT practice test to see if you do better there? There are charts available online to compare the two scores. Just send in whichever you do better on.</p>
<p>What are you actually doing in the ER? What you really want is some kind of medical experience to show that you really know what the life of a doctor is like. If you’re not getting that much patient contact, try shadowing a specific doctor or trying a different unit.</p>
<p>Another important facet of your medical exposure experience is having someone (preferably an MD) really get to know you well. Hopefully then they can write you a good letter of reference. (and not a relative, lol!)
If you are doing medical research, then the patient contact is not so important,(although a plus) but the in depth, longitudinal aspect is, just as with volunteering. Again it is helpful if the person writing the letter is an MD, but not an absolute.
Brown does not “require” this experience for PLME, at least not stated anywhere, but if someone is asking me what will really increase the chance of getting in, this is a big one.</p>