College choices help?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello!

I am a junior in high school, and I am interested in majoring in neuroscience due to my fascination with the human brain. I also enjoy doing scientific research and currently work in a graduate-level lab. My name is on an epilepsy paper, an epilepsy poster, and will be on a Parkinson’s paper as co-author. I want to be a doctor (specifically neurologist,) and I also want to be a professor of neuroscience and be a researcher as well.

Given my aspirations, I want to major in neuroscience during my undergrad years and then move onto med school. However, there is one problem: I am a bad test-taker. MCATs will be a problem for me, and a low score may jeopardize my admission into a top med school of my choice. I want to avoid the MCATs by possibly being in a dual BS/MD program. I know those are ridiculously difficult to get into, but i guess it doesn’t harm to apply anyway.

I would like to go to a top-tier college, like the ivies or near-ivy league, but they must have a neuroscience program in which i can major in. I also want this college to be nationally and globally ranked/recognized for undergrad neuroscience and research/innovation. It doesn’t necessarily need to have a BS/MD program, but that would definitely be a bonus. Any suggestions?

Also, with BS/MD programs, Brown University has a great undergrad neuroscience program, but it is connected to the alpert medical school, which is good, but I would prefer a little higher. Northwestern, on the other hand, has great research facilities like Brown, but I haven’t heard anything impressive about its undergrad neuroscience program, but it must be decent at the very least. However, I would like it to be ranked. It also has a slightly better med school connection than Brown (US News). A nice part about the Northwestern program is that it guarantees admission into their med school, but it doesn’t stop you from applying elsewhere. So now im kinda in a pickle: should i take a great undergrad neuro program (Brown, national 14, global 85; US news) to compensate for #35 ranked med school (US News), or should i take a decent undergrad neuro program (Northwestern, national 12, global 25; US news) with a better med school (#17ish?; US News), but also have a chance to apply to better med schools?

My current “on my mind” list (I included some safety schools):
Amherst
Brown
Caltech
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
Columbia
Duke
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
MIT
NYU
Northwestern
Princeton
Tulane
Vanderbilt

**Assuming I can get into all of these schools (which is not at all going to happen haha—humor me anyway), which school would you suggest best fits my requirements, if what i have discussed above are my only requirements? It does not have to be from this list, either, (like Stanford?) but assume i can get into every college lol

Is my list good? What other colleges would you suggest? What college would hit all of my requirements? I would like to know so that I know which college to aim for so I can focus on getting in there.

Thank you!

2

Just wondering how you’re going to get SAT or ACT scores high enough for these schools if you’re a bad test taker.

3

I’m not sure if Wake Forest has a neuroscience program, but it does have an Early Assurance admission to the medical school after sophomore year with no MCAT. The school just opened Wake Downtown, which is a biomedical research/teaching facility in downtown Winston-Salem, connecting the undergrad program and the medical school. This is a major project with lots of financial and institutional support. The school is just starting a bioengineering program in conjunction with Wake Downtown. Also, Wake has test-optional admission, which might be good if you have difficulty with standardized tests. A student could conceivably go from high school to med school without submitting a standardized test.

4

You aren’t in a pickle until you actually have offers from any of these places.

Fwiw, the differences in the rankings you list are not particularly significant at undergrad level and even less significant at med school level. The ranking heuristics are not that finely tuned.

5

If you are a bad test taker, that would mean that you have lower standardized test scores. With low SAT/ACT, I’m afraid your chances of getting into the vast majority of those schools is very low.

Now as a general tip, your undergrad years don’t matter too much. My uncle went to Penn State for his bachelors, followed it up with a PhD from UPenn and a post doc at Harvard. As long as you apply yourself, you cab really achieve anything. I suggest you pick an “easier” maybe lower ranked undergrad school to keep up the GPA for med school.

I also would like to add that I am in a similar predicament. I plan on going into neuroscience, have some research under my belt, have a 4.0 unweighted, but lower SAT/ACT scores than I expected to receive. Since I easily scored a 5 on my AP chem test, I do not worry so much about MCATS. MCATS are more material/knowledge based than SATs or ACTs.

6

UPitt and Minnesota are currently my top two choices. I should be able to keep around a 4.0 for med school, and both have strong neuroscience departments which will provide plenty of research opportunities. They are also excellent pre med schools.

7

Look into U Rochester. They have a BS/MD program, a neuroscience department, and they are test flexible, which means you can submit whatever test scores showcase your strengths: AP, IB, SAT subject tests, etc. ACT/SAT are accepted but not required.

8

https://www.studentdoctor.net/2014/08/want-to-skip-the-mcat-check-out-these-programs/

9

No disrespect intended but at this point what your asking is for people to do is to help you fantasize. I wish you the best and when you have a better understanding of where you might realistically be able to apply and be accepted to I’m sure there are many who would be able to help you.

10

What are your grades and test scores?