Hello, I’m currently a junior graduating in 2017 and was wondering what colleges I have a good chance to get into given my current situation. My UC unweighted GPA is 4 while weighted is 4.6 and I’m in the top 10% of my class. In my juior year I took 2 AP’s and 2 UC-approved Honors and next year I plan on taking 3 AP’s and 1 UC-approved Honors class. I got a 33 on the ACT and 2 660’s on the subject SAT’s for Chemistry and US History which I plan to improve.
As far as extracirriculars, I have played guitar for 8 years and teach lessons to kids. During this summer, I’m planning to go to Argentina and volunteer in a hospital for 2 weeks where I would only speak Spanish. I also have plans to join jazz band for my senior year.
I dont really have much else going for me other than that. Being this late in High School, I realize that there isn’t much I can do to improve, especially for early decision applications which will be coming up somewhat soon. Anyways, what California Colleges should I look at if I’m interested in studying medicine and possibly going to medical school? I am aware that there are many people who have better scores and more extracirriculars than me, making some of the best schools(Stanford, UCLA…) seem utterly unrealistic. Money isn’t an issue and I’m open to different backgrounds(city, suburban, etc.)/school sizes.I don’t mind Public/Private. So far I have visited UC Berkeley and Davis, both of which look like excellent schools. Thanks!
Good news for you is that UCs tend to emphasize grades (where you have an unweighted 4.0) over test scores, although your 33 ACT is quite good.
However, admission to UCs has become quite competitive, so you may want to apply to a wider range of UCs to minimize the risk of a shut out. You can check past frosh admit rates by campus and HS GPA (UC-weighted and capped at 8 semesters of +1 points for honors/AP courses) at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary , but be warned that some divisions or majors may be more selective than the campus overall, and the subjectively graded parts of the application like essays do matter.
I have heard that it can be harder to get in with majors like Biology or Medicine due to the large amounts of people who apply for them. Would there be a science major which would be less competitive but still accomplishes the same goal?
If you are leaning towards Pre-Med, you can major in anything as long as you take the required courses to apply to Medical School. My son’s roommate at UCD is majoring in Enology/Viniculture since the required courses for his major also include the Medical school requirements. This way he has a backup plan if he is not admitted to Med. School.
Update:
I was admitted at Cal Poly SLO, UCSC, UCD, UCI, UCSD, UCSB, and SCU while I was denied at UCLA and UCB. At UCSC and UCD I recieved the regents scholarship and invitation to the honors program while at UCSB I was admitted to the honors program. All schools applied to as a Biology major.