<p>Well, maybe he won’t be a doctor then. Shrug. It doesn’t sound as though he’s dying to be. Who wants to be the doctor anyway?</p>
<p>bovertine…</p>
<p>I have that chart, too.</p>
<p>I have a question…</p>
<p>Does that mean that if you apply to one school with good stats, you have a 50% chance of getting accepted, or does it mean that if you apply to - say - 20 med schools with good stats - you have a 50% chance of getting accepted into half of them or just one of them???</p>
<p>Because if a student has good stats and has a 50% chance of acceptance at each school he applies to, then I would think applying to - say - 15-20 schools - would increase his chances that he would get accepted to at least one med school. Or am I misunderstanding?</p>
<p>I’m thinking that the statistic applies to one app/one school. Therefore, a student with good stats who applies to 10-20 schools is likely to emerge with an acceptance or two.</p>
<p>My friend’s second son was recently accepted to med school. So, now she will have 2 boys in med school. The first was accepted to all but one of his med schools. The other son was accepted to all of his med schools. Both were accepted to ivy med schools. Neither went to an elite college. They both went to Bama.</p>
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<p>I don’t know if you can discern all that from this chart, or figure out any one particular applicant’s chances. I’d say that obviously if you apply to more schools you would have a better chance of getting admitted to one, especially if you have reasonable stats. And if you look at the upper right hand corner, you see that your chances improve significantly with better stats.</p>
<p>But I don’t think it applies to just one school. I think what it does say is that there are around 50,000 slots in med schools total. That sounds about right to me. And there were over 100,000 applicants total. So it doesn’t matter how many places they apply to, the total number of slots and the total number of applicants is the same. So there were over 50,000 applicants who didn’t get in anywhere. At least that’s how I read it.</p>
<p>The most remarkable thing to me about this chart has nothing to do with acceptance rates. I can’t believe students can get over a 3.8 GPA in a pre-med curriculum and score under 17 on the MCAT. THere are some people with pretty poor scores/GPAs applying, and some actually get in.</p>
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Yeah, not me for sure. My hat’s off to anybody who can do it and do it well. A good doc is worth everything they get paid and more. And these days you probably really need to love it. I’ve got great docs who seem to love it, but I’ve got MD friends who couldn’t wait to retire.</p>
<p>IndianDad - success in America just isn’t predicated on going to a handful of certain colleges the way it may be in India. I think that is the biggest misconception you may have that you need to overcome. You may be hearing from people in India that certain schools are the keys to success. It simply isn’t true.</p>
<p>*I can’t believe students can get over a 3.8 GPA in a pre-med curriculum and score under 17 on the MCAT. THere are some people with pretty poor scores/GPAs applying, and some actually get in. *</p>
<p>I know…there has to be a “back story” for those admittances…either the person had extensive medic experience during some war and just doesn’t test well or some odd situation.</p>
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<p>What if that’s all he’s capable of? You need to meet your son where he is at, rather than tear your hair out that he is not some super-student who is getting into the schools that impress you and your neighbors.
BTW, people in India have very little knowledge of schools in the US beyond general “I’ve heard of this one so it must be good.” The schools you listed are all fine schools – but there are dozens of other schools that are equally fine that no one in India would know about. So you’ve got to stop basing it on YOUR ego and what impresses the neighbors. They aren’t knowledgeable.</p>
<p>You realize that all schools have good and crappy professors? Name doesn’t mean anything with this.</p>
<p>I agree with Pizzagirl. If his SAT’s are low and his grades are low, then that is probably where he is at and you need to help him find the school that fits him. (trust me when I say this can be hard to accept - but for his sake and yours, you must accept it) Maybe he will be one of those kids who just needs an extra year to mature. He probably has a number of great attributes that are different than yours, but that is what is so wonderful about life. We get to embrace and celebrate our differences!</p>
<p>“Also, he is heading to Eastern Michigan University”</p>
<p>So right next to UMich… </p>
<p>So I assume he’s basically going to take Chem, Physics, Math, and some HU/SS classes? A lot of people transfer from EMU to UMich… I don’t know what GPA is expected typically, but a minimum of a 3.3 is required for a chance at all (for MechE). I think a 3.7 should be a safe bet. Someone with a 3.5 has a good shot too.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the information and I quite agree with Pizzagirl that I have made this a bit of an ego problem for me, But all I have wanted was the best possible for my son. </p>
<p>So, I put down the hard facts in front of my son and showed him the data which mom2collegekids provided and he really wants to give med school a shot and he wants to work hard to get there. </p>
<p>He has already started working on his SAT’s and since his school is over, he can devote more time to working hard towards his academics. </p>
<p>I just have a few queries :-
- Although, I do not want him to go to a school with the intention of transferring out. but this is what I read on one of the forums :- </p>
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<p>2) What pointers does he have to work towards if he does want to transfer out ?. </p>
<p>3) Does Med school look at anything else other than MCAT’s and GPA, If so what are they ? </p>
<p>4) I read about the AP’s, would you advise my son to start working on them as well. He has 2 whole months to go before college and I guess he could start working on them. If so, when would you recommend him taking this test ? </p>
<p>Thank you all for the help [esp. Pizzagirl for clearing my mind out]
and for the last time I am not a ■■■■■. If any of you doubt me, please inbox me and I can send you my sons .edu ID and the location of my business in India :)</p>
<p>why on earth would u offer to share your son’s private e-mail address without his consent?</p>
<p>AP tests are offered once a year, in May. I don’t even know if they’re available overseas, but in any case, they are for high school students and are no longer relevant for your son, who will already be in college next May. Still less should he bother with SATs, which are college entrance tests. He has already been accepted at college; what would be the point of taking SATs again?</p>
<p>I don’t know exactly how to evaluate a C+ average in an Indian school, but I’m guessing it means the student either is not too bright, or doesn’t work hard; you say it’s the latter in the case of your son. A 680 Math SAT is good, but certainly not stellar. Even at lower-tier school, students who get 3.5 in engineering either work extremely hard, or are exceptionally bright, or both. Mostly both-- engineering students have to work hard. I’m not seeing why you would have a reasonable expectation that your son could get a 3.5. This seems to me to be setting him up for failure.</p>
<p>^EMU doesn’t have an actual Engineering program. He will not be taking engineering classes there, only Math/Science.</p>
<p>Confusing. OP says his son was accepted for MechE, but Qwerty reports (and I verified) that Eastern Michigan has no engineering school. What’s going on, IndianDad? How could your son be accepted into an engineering school that doesn’t exist?</p>
<p>^I’m thinking he meant he was accepted to a college, and wants to peruse MechE.</p>
<p>[EMU:</a> A- Z List of Undergraduate Programs](<a href=“http://www.emich.edu/academics/programs/a.htm]EMU:”>http://www.emich.edu/academics/programs/a.htm) - Mechanical Engineering Technology</p>
<p>As I earlier mentioned, I have discussed with S about what are his plans for the future. I will no longer be pressurizing him to get a minimum amount of GPA or any other conditions. I have told him the facts about Med school and I guess it is just up to him yo study. Although I did make it clear that I would ‘love’ it if he managed to get a 3.0+ GPA</p>
<p>IndianDad - if you son gets tired of looking at the SAT books have him google sparknotes SAT You do have to sign up (free). My son likes to bounce back and forth between the books and the sparknotes website. They have some one page study guides by subject and online practice tests. I am not saying the website is better than his other study guides, it is just different and to my son it seems more like a computer game.</p>
<p>Now matter where we live in the world, this parenting stuff is hard work and can be frustrating at times. Hang in there and though your son many not tell you, I am sure he appreciates how you are trying to help him. Enjoy the day!</p>
<p>Oh dear. I looked at the “Mechanical Engineering Technology” major at EMU:
[Mechanical</a> Engineering Technology](<a href=“http://www.emich.edu/cot/undergrad_met.htm]Mechanical”>http://www.emich.edu/cot/undergrad_met.htm)</p>
<p>This is not engineering school. This is training to be a lab technician. The first year the student studies Algebra (high school math), Trigonometry(high school math), General Chemistry (high school chemistry?), Engineering Graphics (how to use some computer programs?).</p>
<p>I don’t see how any of those courses would transfer to a school like Michigan or Northwestern, nor do I think they would be considered acceptable preparation for a student wishing to apply to med school.</p>
<p>This situation sounds like a major bungle on part of both son and father. If I woke up in this situation and needed to “fix it” aka get back on the right track:</p>
<p>Sounds like a case of using Community College for 2 years, take challenging courses that are in line for his future major/career and then transfer. ACE EVERY CLASS. All As. Ony Bs should be classes that blood sweat and tears were poured into a difficult class and that was just the best that could be done at the moment.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about getting into a top 20 transfer school - aim for a very solid school (flagship state college?) for transfer.</p>
<p>Try to get clear if the goal is a MechEng degree or a degree that leads best to doing well on the MCAT and getting into medschool (often Bio, Chem, etc).</p>