Hi! I am a current senior and have recently submitted all of my early action applications and I just wanted to ask what my realistic chances for admission are at these schools. I had a similar post a while back from which I received amazing feedback and recommendations, so I’ve taken all of those into account in order to make this updated post.
Basic Information:
Asian (Indian) born in the United States
Live in midwestern suburb outside large-ish city
Middle-to-high income family
High school with about 1800 students, 450 in my graduating class
Generic Academic Stats & Test Scores:
4.52 Weighted Cumulative GPA; 4.0 of 4.0 Unweighted
No official rank; counselor mentioned I'm top 1% of class
35 ACT (36 E, 34 M, 35 R, 35 S); 12/12/12/12 ACT Writing
1500 SAT Superscore (730 EBRW, 770 Math) [not submitting]
780 SAT Chemistry, 770 Math II
5 AP WH; 5 AP Calculus AB; 5 AP Chemistry; 5 AP Comp. Gov.; 5 AP US Gov.; 5 AP Eng. Lang.
1480 PSAT (220 NMSC), National Merit Semi-Finalist
Courseload:
Algebra I; Honors Geometry; Honors Algebra II with Trigonometry; Pre-Calculus (CC Summer Course); AP Calculus AB; Dual Enrollment Calculus II; Dual Enrollment Calculus III
Honors Biology; Honors Chemistry; AP Chemistry; AP Physics I; AP Advanced Physics (both AP Physics C courses); AP Biology; Qualitative Analysis & Organic Chemistry
9th English Language Arts; 10th Honors English Language Arts; AP English Language & Composition; AP English Literature & Composition
United States History; AP World History; AP US Government & Politics; AP Comparative Government & Politics; AP Psychology
Spanish I; Spanish II; Independent Study Spanish III (Summer); CC Spanish IV; AP Spanish Language & Culture
FTC Robotics Team (10-20 hrs/wk, 35-40 wks/yr; Team Captain; state-qualified all years; visit local elementary and middle schools to present about robotics; coordinate events with local community college to promote FIRST and STEM education; creating free app for scoring matches to create alliance suggestions for teams; numerous awards over three years; several sponsors I've helped receive over $2,500+ from)
Cats Kick Cancer (10-12 hrs/wk for 8 wks; committee head for a charity kickball tournament event which I organized to help one of our teachers diagnosed with breast cancer and local major cancer center for families; partnered with Chick-Fil-A to promote event and receive funding; brought physicians and representatives from center to increase awareness for cause and educate participants and us; raised over $2,800 for our cause)
National Honor Society (5 hrs/wk for 35-40 wks/yr; Junior Executive Officer & Vice President; attended 2019 DC LEAD Conference to present a workshop over school culture; organize Adopt-A-Family and Adopt-A-Soldier events; organize Easter baskets for Children's Hospital event; head of honors tutoring program; significant time commitment)
E!Crew Leadership Team (10 hrs/wk for 1 wk in summer; 1-2 hrs/wk for 35-40 wks/yr; organize freshman orientation and offer a mentor throughout all of high school; work to get students involved within our school; offer tutoring midterms and semester finals)
Academic Tutoring Program (1 hr/wk for 35-40 wks/yr; tutor students in varying levels of mathematics; helped students significantly improve grades and math skills; tutored principal in introductory statistics course for doctorate's program)
Project Interface Student (1 hr/wk for 35-40 wks/yr; business/professional-oriented EC; focused on learning professional skills and learning about medical field through internship)
Work Experiences:
Mathnasium Instructor (10-13 hrs/wk year-round; teach students K-12 math through a dynamic program tailored to each individual; help find particular topics to recommend to center director for students' lesson plans)
Orthopedic Surgery Center Intern (25 hrs/wk for 5 wks; shadowed surgeons in OR and doctors in clinic to learn about medicine and observe patient interaction; observed numerous complex surgeries and learned about anatomy from doctors; delivered presentation over experience at end of internship)
Colleges I’ve Applied To/Will Apply To:
Johns Hopkins University (ED)
UNC (EA)
University of Michigan (EA)
Northeastern University (EA)
UIUC (EA)
UT Austin (Priority)
UW Madison (EA)
Case Western Reserve University (PPSP)
Washington University in St. Louis (RD)
Vanderbilt University (RD)
Northwestern University (HPME)
Brown (PLME)
Boston University (RD)
University of Pennsylvania (RD)
Cornell (RD)
Specified Major/Career: Chemistry with Pre-Medicine (Pursue Medicine)
Reading quickly through your other thread, the only think that comes to mind came up in the other thread also. You need to take your budget into account. As a premed student, you need to try VERY hard to avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree. You will have plenty of time to rack up debt when you attend medical school.
I might have missed it, but I did not see what state you live in. Are you in-state for any of the public schools that you are applying to?
For premed students, applying to an undergraduate school should be boring.
There are MANY universities with very good premed programs. Premed classes will be VERY tough at any university in the top 200 in the US, even for a very strong student such as you. You need a school where you will be solidly in the top 1/2 of incoming students, and where you will not need to take on any debt. For most premed students this probably means that they should attend an in-state public university in their home state unless they get a very good financial deal somewhere else or their parents are fine with being full pay for a full EIGHT YEARS without any debt at all.
IIRC the OP is from Missouri, so Mizzou would be in-state school and a safety if he wanted to apply there.
Michigan, UNC and UT take their in-state students first, so those schools are not necessarily matches.
Johns Hopkins is supposed to be a grade deflator. Which isn’t good for premed. Same with Cornell and WashU.
OP’s grades should gain him acceptance to several of the schools on the list but most of them have acceptance rates in the low teens and single digits.
I might take out one of the reaches and substitute either Emory or Tulane.
@momofsenior1 For safeties I applied to Mizzou, SLU, and the University of Minnesota. I’ve gained acceptance to all of them, with a full-tuition scholarship and stipends for Mizzou, the Vice Presidential Scholarship for SLU, and a not-as-fantastic scholarship for UMN but a scholarship that nevertheless decreases the overall price. I’ve been accepted into Mizzou’s and UMN’s Honors College and have applied for SLU’s Medical Scholars Program.
@Hamurtle That’s correct! I am in-state for Missouri so I qualify for in-state tuition for that, however, Missouri does not have great options otherwise for state schools.
@DadTwoGirls The primary reason for ED’ing JHU is because their financial aid package has allowed us an annual net price which is significantly less than the out-of-state costs for other public flagships, as well as lower than all other private schools to which I’ve applied. I am definitely concerned about finances, and scholarships and grants will absolutely be the first thing I take into consideration since I’m in it for the next eight years.
@collegemom3717 I always appreciate this advice, thank you! The only reason I really posted is to ask my realistic chances as an updated portfolio, though of course, you are correct in that there isn’t anything I can do now to change it. I’ll keep everyone updated come December 13
@atbha09 SLU isn’t a bad alternative, especially if you can get into Medical Scholars (likely easier to get into than WashU Medical Scholars).
I think that if you applied to NW for straight chemistry than HPME, chances might have been better, although chances aren’t good for any school with a sub 10% acceptance rate.
OOS public schools are a crapshoot for students even with your numbers, since they have a mandate to take in-state students. Michigan might be the best possibility of your difficult in-state public schools.
Regardless of where you are accepted, you should do fine.
I’m going to Johns Hopkins!!! Krieger School with a major in chemistry & pre-med! The financial aid package they offered is exactly what we expected with the net price as well.
