Hi, I’m a rising senior in California. I’m a female Indian interested in biology, mainly looking at majors that will put me on the pre med track.
The schools I’m looking at are: UCs (SD, LA, Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara), UNC Chapel Hill, UMich, University of Southern California, Rice, Brown, Wash U St. Louis, and the University of Rochester.
I’m also wondering if I’m competitive for any BS/ MD programs at Brown, Case Western, George Washington, and University of Pittsburgh.
No Rank (School does not rank), but I received a letter saying I was in the top 9% of my senior class.
UW GPA: 3.944 (My school does not weight grades)
I estimated my UC GPA to be around a 4.4
SAT: 2270 (2300 superscore): 770 CR, 720 M, 780 W (Single Sitting) 780 CR, 740 M, 780 W (Superscored).
SAT II: 730 Literature, waiting on Bio and Math II
New PSAT: 1470/ 1500 (National Merit Scale- 219). I don’t know if I qualified to be commended or anything yet.
AP: I’ve taken two so far- Calculus AB and Biology. My school only allows AP classes to be taken from Junior year, so I’ll be taking 5 in senior year for a total of 7.
My main problem is my extracurriculars, or rather, my lack of them.
- 11 years of Indian classical dance (Recieved title for completing Arangetram- graduation)
- AVID and Afterschool tutor (10- 11 grade)
- Hospital Volunteer (10- 11 grade, likely have 70- 100 hours so far). At the hospital, I’m a regular junior volunteer and I train new volunteers (leadership?), and I’m currently training to work as an ER volunteer.
- Competed at Regional Science Fair (Synopsys) 9th grade
- Competed in Engineering competition (Tech Challenge) 10th grade
- I’m a member of the Quiz Bowl Team and part of California Scholarship Federation along with several other science and medical clubs. But I’m only a member, not an officer.
- I’ll also be doing a research internship over the summer at Boston University for 6 weeks. But it costs almost $8,000, so I don’t think colleges will care much.
- I have around 40 hours of shadowing a cardiologist and 8 hours of shadowing a PT.
People I’ve asked so far have said that I’m aiming way too high, especially given the competition to get into these schools and programs. Do I have a chance at any of these schools given my grades, scores, and lack of strong extracurriculars?