Hello! I am currently a junior interested in applying into more competitive Ivy League schools. I am a striving future pre-med student!
Due to the COVID-19 I have not had the chance to take the SAT, ACT, and other test. I have not had high PSAT scores at all, I am not the best test taker and never took them serious.
My GPA is a 4.0 unweighted and a 4.5 weighted.
I have taken 4 honor classes and 4 AP but next year I will be taking another 4 AP, so once my application roles around I will have a total of 4 honors and 8 AP.
My extracurriculars consist of:
4 year public service academy program & as a senior I will be taking EMT courses at my high school in which by the end of the year I will be sitting for the national registry test. I as well will have internships but that won’t be until the spring of my senior year so I do not know if I would include that in my application
4 year Skills USA member and a current officer, I have competed and placed first at regionals and state, I am as well a national competitor
Firefighting program which is a year long local college and high school course combined, I am one of the crew leaders in the program
I was class president this year but resigned and will be vice president this next year
I volunteer at my local hospital in the PEDS department (100+ hours)
I am a Kaiser explorer member and am trying to join next years board
I played volleyball 8th, 9th, and 10th grade (city & high school)
I am a National Honor Guard (top ten girls in my class)
I have volunteered annually at the Universal Studio Disaster Day as one of the “patient actors”
I as well was on my swim team for a season and swim off season, I was awarded most improved
I have received awards for my grades (honor roll) and academic honor roll
As I said before 1st place Skills USA regionals and state (group) and 4th place individually
I do not have any national awards or anything crazy like that so I fear my extracurriculars aren’t too strong.
SkillsUSA? I did that back when it was VICA. Cool.
If your standardized tests match your GPA, it’s certainly worth an application or two. I’m an alumni interviewer for any ivy and your profile is a little like one kid I saw get in, but also like many more I saw not get in. They’re reaches for everyone, so devote more of your time thinking about matches and safeties, especially your financial safety.
Your focus really needs to be on affordability. In medical school admissions, prestige gives you zero advantage. It’s really not much more than a $200,000 conversation starter at a dinner party. The most successful medical students are consistently the ones who have the best grades and MCAT scores. In other words, the ones that work the hardest and have the most passion.
Also 9.5 times out of 10, smart kids wanting to be doctors decide not to go. I was one of them and I became a computer programmer. Why is that? It’s because as you mature, you find hidden passions. You’ll find that “smart” has more to do with passion than academic ability.
What is your budget for a full 8 years of university (4 years undergrad, 4 years of medical school)?
What state are you from?
What do you want in a university?
Premed classes will be exceptionally competitive and demanding at any “top 200” university, and will be full of very strong students.
The majority of applicants to the top ranked Ivy League universities are very close to being the top student in their high school. You are clearly a very strong student and are likely to do well wherever you end up.
As of right now I do not have a budget! I plan on applying into QuestBridge in hopes of receiving a full ride to an Ivy League. As for med school I will be trying to get into Kaiser´s new med school (first 5 classes are free.) I am from California! I definitely am open to a lot and don´t mind in or out of state schools. The only thing I would like to avoid is absolute cut throats schools!
The members of the Ivy League (which is a sports conference, by the way) are:
Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
UPenn
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell
There are plenty of other great schools including Stanford, UChicago, MIT, CMU, Williams, Amherst, etc., that while not part of the Ivy League are truly superb schools, and depending on a student’s particular interests, might be an even better fit.
Brown’s financial aid is not as good as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford.
Financial aid is one of the best reasons to apply to an Ivy. Otherwise, they are all different and just being interested in an "Ivy’ doesn’t make that much sense.
If an instate public turns out to be the same price, that is a good option or any schools you like that will give you good aid. YOu can check the net price calculators.