Getting into a Premed Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>I'm in a kind of unusual scenario. I was home schooled through high school, and started taking classes at a local community college as a sophomore. Since then I have taken 26 transferable hours, and next year I will be going full time (12+ hours a semester), and hope to transfer to U of I the next year as a junior with at least 52 hours. I'm planning to apply to LAS with a major in MCB (molecular and Cellular Biology), or another program that would work for premed.
What I'm wondering is what are my chances of getting into such a program? I have a 4.0 GPA, 27 composite ACT score, (E32 M22 R32 S23), and I should be able to get some great letters of recommendation.
Here is a link with info about LAS majors and requirements for transfer students: <a href="http://mcb.illinois.edu/undergrad/downloads/LAS_Transfer_Handbook.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mcb.illinois.edu/undergrad/downloads/LAS_Transfer_Handbook.pdf&lt;/a>
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>With that much college credit, your ACT isn’t going to matter. UIUC doesn’t accept LORs, anyway.</p>

<p>But if you have a 4.0 with 52 hours of college credit, you’ll have no problem getting in to LAS.</p>

<p>Make sure, though, that you have all of your premed requirements done by first semester of your junior year, so you can take your MCAT in the spring and apply to med schools that summer so you can interview during your senior year and matriculate the following year.</p>

<p>You don’t have to be a biology major to apply to med schools, you just have to take a set of courses. You could do history or music or anything you wanted, as long as you get a bachelors degree and have taken the appropriate course work. I’ll put a link below to help you further.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214382-coursework.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214382-coursework.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Anyone attending UIUC can join the pre-med program. It is an advisory program, not a major, for anyone who wants to attempt to get into medical school. As noted above, the real issues for medical school will be high GPA, high MCAT, and taking all the necessary courses (math, science, and English/rhetoric) needed for admission to med school.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, guys. This is really helpful.</p>