Hey guys im an upcoming 11th grader and I am looking into colleges and i messed up badly this year. My current gpa is around a 92 but I have not taken the 5 AP courses that I am next year. My worst regents exam grades were 64 in algebra 2/ trig and also a 68 in physics and 72 in Bio. My final average in bio was 85 and physics was 81 and and trig was a 76. I am hoping to pick up my grades a lot next year and i am planning on taking the ACT and SAT which i can guarantee a good grade on. My class rank is 200. My goal is to get into the medical program in SUNY Stonybrook. Do you think i can achieve that? or any other medical program basically? I also am taking subject tests too so i guess that will matter. Thanks for your help!
There is no undergrad medical program at Stony Brook. That will depend on your grades and MCAT score from college. You just need to get into a solid school at which you take the premed classes. Go to the Premed forum here on CC and read up.
“ACT and SAT which i can guarantee a good grade on.”
I would be fascinated to learn how an individual who earned the Regents Examination scores you’ve reported can “guarantee a good grade” on his SAT I or his ACT tests.
Why be so negative i just have been putting a lot of work into those tests because i know those are major. Thanks for your bad advice it really helped
Why not start in a community college? I’m from NY and my regents were okay only got 2 with 65.
@TennisPlayer1254: I’ve been realistic – not negative – because it is incredible arrogant to have achieved Regents results such as yours (Algebra II and Trig are, after all, core SAT I and ACT areas) and than to suggest that good standardized test scores are guaranteed (your precise words). You didn’t say that you were working hard to attain good ACT/SAT I results or that you hoped to do so; rather, you guaranteed it. That’s quite presumptuous, wouldn’t you agree?
IF you get your grades up and study for the ACT/SAT, you have a possible chance of getting into a BS/MD program. You just have to work hard and focus on getting your grades up.
Like Erin’s Dad said, there is no such thing as a `medical program’ for undergrads in the US that tracks you directly into ‘doctorhood.’ There are BS/MD degrees, but those a very unusual, and the kids in there usually have extensive exposure to medicine before they apply. They are focused on this goal almost from the start of high school.
Your best bet is to get accepted to any good college (SUNY is fine - don’t go into debt if you can avoid it), major in any subject you like (medical schools don’t care), full-fill the pre-reqs for med school admission*, keeping your college GPA up to a 3.7 or better, doing well on the MCAT, and then applying to med school. In your free time, you do medical volunteering, research, and some shadowing if you can. That’s it. Not complicated but very, very hard work over a long period of time (and it doesn’t get easier after you get into medical school.)
The good news is that medical schools won’t care in the slightest how you performed in high school. They don’t want to know. So do the best you can right now to get into a good college, develop the right work and study habits, and you’ll be fine if, indeed, 6 years from now you are still interested in medical school.
*The pre-reqs are generally the same no matter what school you attend or what medical schools you apply to, with some minor variation. Your pre-med advisor in college will give you the details.