I’m a homeschooler. I was really interested in university of southern california, uc berkeley, wesleyan, nyu, notre dame, and other a few other schools. I ultimately want to go to medical school and I was thinking I could be more ambitious for medical school. However, I feel like I may be missing out on great research opportunities and the chance to learn from the best faculty if I go to a less selective school. I didn’t want to get my hopes up and aim for a school like Harvard or Stanford and then be heart broken over not getting accepted. This year I’m doing a gap year and doing four different service projects abroad. I’m doing test prep for my act before I take it again and my diagnostic a few weeks ago was a 30. I want to bring that score up as high as possible, I’m hoping at least 33+. I have 42 college credits. I play three instruments at concert level. I do community service all over the u.s and have building my resume abroad. I feel like I’m busy but it won’t be enough to get into Stanford since it is so incredibly selective. I almost don’t want to tell my mom or anyone that I’m considering Stanford because I don’t want to look like an idiot. What else can I do to make myself more appealing to Stanford? There aren’t a lot of groups and clubs I can join since I live in a beach town so there isn’t much going on during the year. Do you think I would have a chance at getting in Stanford? What else do you think I could do to increase my chances? Also do you think there is a huge difference between the education one would get at berkeley or usc versus stanford?
What’s your GPA? You don’t know what your test scores are yet? You will get a fine education in all the schools you mentioned, but I think you should have a bigger list. What are your interests?
Also, my best advice to you is NO UC Berkeley for pre-med! Consider UC Davis, UCSD, and UC Irvine.