<p>Ok... so my counselor really wants me to go to Mount Holyoke.. and I know its a good school. I want to go to a medical school, and I guess I'm just wondering if it would be a smart choice for me to go to somewhere like Mount Holyoke if I want to dream about getting into Harvard for Medical School. I don't know... I think I'm going to put my stats and renewed college list and I just was hoping someone could tell me what would provide me with the best chance (considering I do well) of getting into a top medical school. </p>
<p>School: Charter/Private-ish School in Illiinois.
G.P.A: (we don't calculate it exactly, but...) 3.74
SAT: 2200
ACT: Taking it Sept. 24, from practice tests, between a 32-35
SAT II: Have to take them still</p>
<p>I got a 5 on my Eng. AP last year, but thats the only one I took. </p>
<p>Leadership Positions:
Writing Center Staff Development Coordinator
Speech Team Captain
Newspaper News Editor
Residential Wing Community Developer</p>
<p>Have done neuroscience research at University of Chicago for two years now... awesome stuff, I adore neuroscience and want to major in it.
I don't know what else I should be putting on here.... </p>
<p>But ok, colleges: </p>
<p>Reach</p>
<p>University of Chicago
Cornell University
(Harvard U. --- ohhh big reach I know, my parents are all into it. I'm just hoping when they see the rejection letter they'll stop the Harvard-madness)</p>
<p>Matches</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke
Notre Dame (suggested by counselor also)
I need one more match and I have no idea where...</p>
<p>Safeties</p>
<p>University of Illinois UC
I think I need another Safety too.. </p>
<p>Help I am so screwed because I was supposed to have this entire thing finalized like a month ago and I haven't and right now i'm somewhat panicked about college and all the pressure that my parents decided to kick into gear... ahhh.</p>
<p>That doesn't sound right...about Smith and Wellesley...is your GPA weighted or unweighted? Did you take as many APs as were available to you for the first three years?</p>
<p>We don't have any AP classes here... they are all just considered honors, but I took the hardest classes offered (advanced chem, advanced physics, etc.) the gpa is unweighted on a 4.0 scale... although we don't have any A+s here or anything below a C- basically, so I don't know if that messes the scale a little or not.</p>
<p>If you didn't get anything lower than a B and took the most difficult curriculum offered at your school, I don't think Smith is a reach. Your SATs are great. Perhaps your GC is looking at what kind of students from your school historically are accepted into Smith and Wellesley...I don't know. Wellesley is tough for anyone, but I think your numbers are in line with Smith. Did your GC tell you WHY you wouldn't get into these schools?</p>
<p>What is a "private-ish" school? lol :). Anyway, I think, academically, you look very good (Good GPA,SAT I's), but besides that, it doesn't look the best. You have a bunch of EC's that aren't the best, but border on "strange-laundry-list types" (eg. Speech Team, Writing Center Coordinator, Community developer.) Lack of AP's may not be a good sign. </p>
<p>You have a very good shot at MHC, and good shot at Smith, and a reach shot at Wellesley. MHC has good science programs and if you do well you will have a good shot a top medical schools. MHC also has some very good merit/leadership scholarships.</p>
<p>You counselor doesn't know what s/he's talking about - Smith is not that much of a reach. A good friend of mine got into Smith with stats (especially GPA) worse than yours. The thing about Smith is they want ORIGINAL/UNIQUE people - be quirky! Also, a woman who wants to study neuroscience? That'll help, especially at a school like Smith which attracts a lot of English majors.</p>
<p>At Smith, your SAT scores won't help you much in admissions (on direction from their president's office, they pretty much ignore them once you are into the mix), which is what makes their admissions quirky. But they WILL help you with research opportunities. Smith offers 50 students a year PAID research assistantships in the first two years, quite a few of them in the biological sciences. I doubt you'll find another college in the country that will do that; I KNOW you won't find any Ivy that does that.</p>
<p>Sciences are very strong at both Smith and Mt. Holyoke. Smith has a new engineering school, the only one in the country that guarantees admission - with a 3.5 GPA - into graduate engineering programs at Princeton, Dartmouth, Michigan, Tufts, and Notre Dame. About 25% of each class is in the hard sciences or math.</p>
<p>I think the neuroscience department in University of Chicago is more prestigious than the one at Cornell, which is mainly noted for its engineering program.</p>