<p>Basically put, my dream job is to become a MD but I havent told anyone because Im a little embarrassed. I honestly really love science and helping people. Where I am from though most people go to school to become businessmen, layers, or politicians anything out side of that box is cast aside. I go to a top high school in my state (Ranked in the top 10). I have always been an out of the box thinker and would like to put that to good use rather then for money. I dont really know good colleges to go to or paths to take. I didnt really care all that much in high school and pulled an UW of 2.6 GPA with some AP classes in the mix. This is simply because I had little drive to do well. I didnt really understand the implications of this until senior year (This year). I did well on both my ACT (composite: 29) and SAT (Math: 630 Reading: 590), so Im not stupid. I so far have gotten accepted into Miami Oxford in Ohio and DePaul in Chicago (there buissness school with little/no scholarship because my GPA). Any suggestions on schools/advice would be much appreciated. A good school to get on track, stays on track, and gets me to think out side of the box would be awesome. Also I would ask my guidance consoler but she isnt the kindest person in the world I'm also a white male if that changes anything. I know I can make it there, I just need some suggestion on the best course to take. :)</p>
<p>Race, sex, college choice and situation doesn’t matter. What matters are GPA, MCAT, LOR, volunteering and interviews. You have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to make your dreams come true. Your GPA is worrisome because that is effort dependent unless you have learning difficulties. SAT and ACT, despite what you read on CC, is much less of an issue. Your SAT score is miles further than what I scored. But to be brutally honest, your GPA in college need to be a good 3.5+ and preferably 3.75 to be in contention.</p>
<p>Use your guidance counselor to the fullest. She might not be nice, but neither are circulating nurses when you are a medical student. CC is replete with valuable information on this topic. Do an in-depth search. Good luck.</p>
<p>Two thoughts come to mind - I think I’d look for a school where you will get personal attention and do your best to maintain a high GPA. Secondarily, Please don’t rule out going to become a Doctor of Osteopathy as the requirements can be a bit (and really only a small bit) more forgiving.</p>
<p>As for actual schools, I’d be open to looking at the 2nd tier State Schools in your state or to smaller LACs that have had good luck with getting students into Medical Schools. You will hear it more from others I’m sure, but your GPA and MCAT scores count far more than the prestige of the institution when it comes to Medical School acceptance. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Since you didn’t pay attention in high school that suggests (to me) that your foundation may be weak and that will show up when you’re taking college Bio, Chem, Physics and Calc classes.</p>
<p>What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay?</p>
<p>I saved quite a bit from my job, in the ballpark of $15,000. It was an internship/job with a local law office. My parents will help pay the rest of undergrad (if im doing well) and might if I get into medical school. Any school under 50,000 a year is acceptable but cheaper is always better. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>What state are you in? Is there a community college that you can commute to for the first two years so that you can bring your GPA up? Where I live, plenty of students re-invent themselves successfully at the CC before transferring to a 4-year institution.</p>
<p>Here is the deal: pre-med is hard. You will need to pull nearly perfect grades in the core classes. Even if you have the study skills to do that, it will be very, very tough going. The up-side is that almost every community college and 4-year institution in the nation offers the pre-med core coursework so you needn’t look for a fancy name institution. Just-around-the-corner-liberal-arts-college can get you into med school almost as readily as famous-name-here.</p>
<p>You probably don’t want to start out as a business major if you are serious about pre-med. It can be tricky to fit both sets of requirements in. Stop being afraid of telling people that you are interested in medicine. Sit down with your science teacher(s) and your guidance counselor, and get some help sorting out a few more places for your application list.</p>
<p>I agree you need a smaller school with a lot of attention and a good record of getting students into med school.
You may have a shot at Juniata (pretty much a sort of health profession prep college :p), Elizabethtown, perhaps Lake Forest (but that last one is above $50,000 - and you wouldn’t qualify for merit aid), perhaps Earlham (great record of taking underachieving kids and getting them into grad schools).
Can you retake the ACT in February (late registration => hurry) and see if you can score 30-32? That would help your admission.
A test score isn’t as indicative as a GPA so getting into a school will be harder than if you had the reverse trend (high GPA/low SAT: ie., hard working and dedicated but bad luck on test day?) and you’ll really have to dedicate yourself once you’re in college.
Doing 2 years at a community college* (pulling a 4.0) then transferring to a good college for the last 2 years can be an alternative.
- in PA that would mean applying for a branch campus then 2 years at University Park but be aware that to be offered a branch campus you would typically need 3-3.4 GPA so odds aren’t very good.</p>
<p>There is an excellent online handbook at Amherst I recommend you read to get an understanding of the process and what really matters
For deeper detail it would be a good idea to get a book about medical school admissions so you understand the entire process and what you should be doing to prepare the next several years.</p>
<p>One thing to avoid is placing any importance into acceptance numbers. Some schools boast incredible rates, but it boils down to one of two things. Either they start with great students (think Stanford, etc) or the school weeds out students. Look out especially for the “committee letter” which small schools with average students coming in wield like an axe to prevent all but the strongest applicants from applying right out of college; to no surprise, they often boast 90% or better med school “acceptance” numbers for their undergrads. Soon a regular poster will chime in to recommend one such school, Holy Cross.</p>
<p>I also always ask kids that say they want to be doctors, why an M.D? Not that I know it is wrong for you, it may be the right fit, but have you actually looked into the medical field and considered the alternatives? From the day you start college it will be 11-15 years before you are a practicing doctor, depending on what field you go into. Doctors are not the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, to name but just a few. Before you go heavily into debt and commit so many years I suggest you explore the alternatives.</p>
<p>First - I think it’s an admirable career to become an MD. But know that there are a lot of jobs out there that involve “science and helping people.” You could be a nurse, a physician assistant, an optometrist, a dentist, an occupational therapist, physical therapist, or a variety of other allied health professions. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners, in particular, do a lot of primary care and actually can work as semi-independent primary care providers, in partnership or under the supervision of physicians. Nurses with master’s degrees also can rise through the ranks of hospital administration, and can eventually have a great deal of power (and good salaries!) within a hospital’s administration.</p>
<p>You could also be an epidemiologist or environmental health scientist, a science writer, a lab technician, a pharmacist or pharmacy tech…so don’t be afraid to explore a little outside of the traditional pre-med mold. Becoming an MD isn’t really “thinking out the box,” so to speak.</p>
<p>Is cost an issue? Both Miami and DePaul are great universities, but if you have no funding that may be a problem for you. Are you in-state to Ohio? where are you in-state? You may want to begin at a community college or a regional public university, both to save money and because that may be where you are more competitive.</p>
<p>“UW of 2.6 GPA with some AP classes in the mix. This is simply because I had little drive to do well. I didnt really understand the implications of this until senior year (This year). I did well on both my ACT (composite: 29)”</p>
<p>I think one of the lesser selective Jesuit schools may be a good idea. Their app process may be more lenient because they may need more paying warm bodies. They tend to have quality academics. </p>
<p>DePaul is fine, but I think it’s kind of big, which may mean less attention. </p>
<p>Many CCers seem to have mentioned various “good” colleges (including smaller colleges like LACs) for premed students. I recently read something about the percentage of students at top private colleges who qualify for Pell Grant. I am somewhat surprised that many top LACs do very well in terms of the percentage of their Pell Grant students. I assume that these schools may reduce the out-of-pocket price for these Pell Grant qualifying students significantly, otherwise these students will likely not be able to attend these private colleges.</p>
<p>Among the “top” colleges, the following 6 private colleges have > 20 % of students who qualify for Pell Grant:</p>
<p>Vassar: 24 %
Amherst: 22 %
Harvard: 20 %
MIT: 20 %
Williams: 20 %
Wellesley: 20 %</p>
<p>(Sorry, I read this article from a printed magazine. So I could not privide the link to the source.)</p>
<p>The above 6 colleges even beat the “working class” Ivy, Cornell! (which is 18 %.)</p>
<p>I guess Cornell is large so it can not afford to accept too many Pell Grant students, even though a part of that school is supported by the NY state government.</p>
<p>Six of the ivies are roughly in the bottom half of these 18 top colleges in terms of % of Pell Grant students. The bottom two are Middlebury and Princeton, at 11% and 12% respectively.</p>
<p>Brown, Dartmouth and Swarthmore do slightly better than Yale and Duke (at 15 % and 14 %.)</p>
<p>It is hard to tell how much student loans these colleges ask these Pell Grant students to get though.</p>
<p>If you 1) qualify for the Pell Grant and 2) are good enough to get into Vassar, Amherst, Harvard, MIT, Williams, Wellesley and 3) are capable of doing well enough to get the premed-worthy grades there, one of these colleges may give you a very cost-effective way to receive quality education.</p>
<p>Is it likely that, just like the fact that the mission of each med school may be different, the “missions” of these colleges are different?</p>
<p>Mcat, the OP has a 2.6 GPA, so your list is not applicable for them.</p>
<p>You are right. But I have a big “if” in the paragraph started with “If you …”</p>
<p>I am particularly proud of “Amherst” - its president 2003-2011, Anthony Marx, '81 from DS’s alma mater.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/specialevents/commencement/awards/2012/marx”>https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/specialevents/commencement/awards/2012/marx</a></p>
<p>I think you would be proud of Amherst directly.</p>
<p>Yep, that’s a given.</p>