Future looks pretty bleak to me now to be completely honest. Thanks for the new perspective though. Will keep trying for the top schools with this in mind. My personal essay is going to be about the fragility of life based upon experiences in the nursing home and in my own life. But yes, thanks again. I’ll establish some safety schools.
Not bleak, a challenge. You want to try, then do. But some tweaks may be worth the effort.
True! With my tenacity I hope to preserve! It’s not just a matter of getting into college for me. It’s being able to perpetuate the ideals that I ardently believe in due to my exposure already! Thank you very much for the feedback! I shall make the tweaks as necessary and write a killer essay! Thanks again!
I think that Columbia link you posted does not necessarily exclude children whose parents worked for Columbia having admission preference. They may not have the technical designation “legacy”, but I find it hard to believe that some sort of boost in chances is afforded. I am sure that they used that kind of language to make clear that Barnard College alumni children are not considered legacies.
Parent residency at the hospital is not going to give their kid a boost.
I will probably just mention it in my essay. I visited the hospital that he did it through: Harlem Hospital, which affected me greatly. I saw suffering and impoverished individuals… a trend that I see myself in clinics that I work at in Irvington and Newark. Those are the people that I want to help because most doctors would not even look their way. And that’s my personal problem with the medical field. A lot of doctors have an ego and think that they are too good to see patients like these. Needless to say, they went into the field for the wrong reason and it irks me to no end. Compassion over money. I don’t understand why it is so difficult to understand that as a doctor one is symbolic of a healer. They took the Hippocratic oath. Why won’t they uphold it to the best of their ability?
Be careful with any critique, which could backfire. You can make a nice tale that shows your interactions, how it inspired you to include the needy in your own efforts and how you have. (Remember, “show, not just tell.”)
Don’t despair, you have excellent grades and your test scores are quite strong but not tippy top. If that Math II comes in strong, that should help. You might want to consider trying the ACT for a better result as your two SATs are pretty consistent. A third effort on the SAT is not likely to show a meaningful improvement, unless you didn’t do much prep for the first two. The other issue is that the college board published concordance tables that suggest that the scores on the new SAT seem to be inflated compared to the old. So today’s 1440 is like 2015’s 1360 or thereabouts. Some have suggested that these equivalencies are too harsh but there is not enough data yet to know for sure.
It looks like you are favoring mid-sized research universities. Do you have any interest in smaller schools? Prefer urban/suburban/rural - your current lists includes all categories? Are you limited to the east coast? You might want to consider places like Case Western in Cleveland, OH or Muhlenberg (a liberal arts college in Easton PA), which are less competitive than your current reaches but are strong in the health sciences.
As for safeties, do look into Rutgers. FWIW, I attended Rutgers many years ago, had a great experience in the Honors Program, and when I applied to grad school, I got into both Cornell and JHU with full tuition plus stipend. So a strong academic record from a well-regarded state flagship certainly can propel you towards grad school.
Finally, I think you have an opportunity to represent your volunteering and work experience in health delivery into a coherent and compelling package. Think about how best to do that.
Good luck!
@mamaedefamilia I prefer small-medium sized universities. I feel that the personalized attention is much better for me as a student. As for location, I don’t mind urban, suburban or rural but I have a slight preference for central US and East Coast schools. However, that isn’t stopping me from attending a school like Berkeley or UCLA should the opportunity arise. As of now, it’s just a matter of setting up safeties and equal-chance universities so that I can still prosper in college. Very interested towards the humanitarian aspects of medicine though. I love being able to associate with patients from low-income areas and help them. I shall keep the schools in mind though! I’ll add them to Naviance, do some campus visits and speak about them with my guidance counselor! Thank you!
@lookingforward I shall actually keep that in mind. I have this tendency to be extremely critical about the health system in the United States. I’ll turn down the intensity while still conveying my main points though. Thank you for the advice!