FWIW - an in-law of mine went to UMass-Amherst for pre-med and did so well that she was accepted to Harvard Medical School, but said no thanks to Harvard and stayed at UMass for its MD/PhD program because UMass gave her a 100% scholarship. She has no regrets.
With your SAT score and your AP test scores, I am not sure that you want to go to an Ivy if your goal is Med School. Sure the average GPA at the Ivies is high, but so is the quality of the class. Going to a school that you are likely in the bottom 25% from a testing perspective isn’t good for Med School.
You have got this. Those are all fabulous reasons to strongly consider UMass. Coming out of undergrad debt free or nearly dept free on your way to greater things is the best gift you can give your future self.
Medical illustration is such a cool field and I think you will find some unique ways to grow your talent wherever you land. I remembered you from your previous post about that side interest.
Oberlin and Smith yes (I think you would be very, very happy at Oberlin)
Boston University probably yes
NYU 50/50
As multiple posters have said, unfortunately the Ivies you applied to including Brown’s PLME program are really tough, even if you are applying with close to a 1600/36 and a perfect GPA.
But I like your personality and attitude, and you have an intriguing and broad group of interests … that read like true interests and not an emotionless list of EC’s one could program a robot to do.
I think that who you are as a person probably shines through in your essays, interviews and letters of recommendation. You may surprise all of us naysayers on here. Sometimes little intangible things are the decision makers. Good luck to you and let us know where you end up!
(PS … true story …. when I was in med school some friends and I were on vacation on a road trip. I don’t remember how, but somehow one of my friends got ahold of The King Frank Netter’s home address. We showed up unannounced at his house. He was incredibly sweet and he signed each of our Atlas of Human Anatomy copies. He died less than a year later.) yet story
You said you can go to UMASS Honors and it will be very low cost.
"I’d be nice to get a great acceptance just to see the hard work pay off, yknow?"
Mission accomplished!!!
Great story!
I would say go for the scholarship. It’s a win for everyone, especially you. You get out of college debt free and can use what you would have paid in loans to save for a house.