Here's my stats parents, where should I go

Parents Forum
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<p>I want to be a doctor and I'm not sure what college I can get into but I'm definitely some kind of science major. Can any of you give me some choices of where you think I'd get accepted so far.</p>

<p>Here are my stats.</p>

<p>Those are the colleges I most want to attend, my stats are below, give me percentage chances or something.</p>

<p>Freshman GPA: 3.5 unweighted, no weights at California school
Sophmore GPA: 3.81 unweighted 4.4 weighted</p>

<p>Extracurricular: Piano (11 years experience), Guitar(5 years), Habitat for Humanity, Spanish Club. </p>

<p>Sophmore year: PreAP and AP's so far (grade): World Geography P/AP (A), Geometry P/AP, Chemistry P/AP(A or A+ depending on final), Computer Programming P/AP (B first semster A second semester), English 2 P/AP (A+ so far), Algebra 2 P/AP (A+ so far, AP Pyschology.</p>

<p>Junior year expected courses: AP US History, PreAP Precalculus, AP Chemistry, AP Anomatical Science, PreAP Spanish 3, AP Spanish 4, AP English 3, AP Music Theory 2 (1 skipped).</p>

<p>Senior year expected courses: AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP European History, AP English 4, AP Biology, AP Spanish 5, French 1, AP Economics.</p>

<p>Known reccomendations: Harvard teacher grandfather, Vice principal of elementary school, Johns Hopkins PhD, U of Chicago MD graduate.</p>

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<p>grades only explain a part of the chances of admissions at many colleges. Colleges also evaluate your test scores, your letters of rec, your ECs, and your essays. Without seeing all of those (and frankly without being an admissions officer) few parents on this board can predict what colleges will accept you.</p>

<p>Frankly, though, you're going about this quite wrong. You should first decide what you want in a college. A good med-school placement record, I suppose. But do you want an urban or rural college? Small classes or large lectures? A school with a big greek system or one without it at all? There are dozens and dozens of options available to you, and you may very well regret not having put more effort into it if you simply treat college as a stepping-stone to a medical career, 4 years to get thru on your way to bigger and better things. </p>

<p>For that matter you don't show any volunteer work in medicine which is virtually a requirement to get into med school, BTW, but ALSO is quite important in deciding if med is right for you. How can you be so sure today if you don't have any exposure to that career?</p>

<p>You want advice, here's my advice. Step back and start over. There are thousands of colleges out there that will accept a bright student like you; my guess is that you were looking for a list of which top-50 schools might take you and then you'd pick from that list. Wrong approach. Go get a book on college admissions and work thru the steps of figuring out what you want in college. Don't just read and decide; do some visits to whatever colleges are near you to SEE what a urban U and a small LAC feel like. Then, when you know what you want, start to identify colleges of that type. Come back here when you're at that stage and then you can get some useful advice on specific colleges.</p>

3

<p>I don't know what a grandfather is doing in a list of recommenders. I also am puzzled by the lack of health-care-related ECs.</p>

4

<p>Perhaps you missed the Harvard teacher part.</p>

<p>Oh and I'll be volunteering at a hospital as soon as I get over my current illness, I had surgery a while back and it took a huge toll of course. 3 surgeries.</p>

<p>Here are some stat's I forgot. And I did write my EC's so I'm disconcerted about why someone said grades aren't all that matters.</p>

<p>So come on, give me some ideas.</p>

5

<p>Oh and Mikemac, I've spent hours in the emergency room touring with a doctor that my mother is friends with. I've also asked the plethora of doctors in the Porsche Club of America that my dad and I go to what it's like and they've told me details that sound attractive.</p>

<p>I guess I'm not asking for advice on what my problems are, just where I'm headed right now.</p>

<p>And here is the type of college I want.</p>

<p>Don't care if it's urban or rural or how big it is.
I want a school that's not big on frats and football.
Smart and interesting people, not a bunch of party going slackers.
And I may consider a double major in Biology and Economics since those are two big interests of mine.</p>

6

<p>Sounds like Rice would be good for you.</p>

7

<p>Texasmathwhiz - Based on stats and your ECs so far, it's "too soon to tell" as you are only part way through your sophomore year. It looks like you are "headed" in the direction that you will be able to consider very competitive schools, which is probably what you are hoping to hear(?). So, if that is the case, keep on doing as well as you can and taking a challenging course load - which it looks like you are doing.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, to narrow down - and get better advice - on what schools would be good for you, try this:[ul][<em>]since you don't care how big the school is, do you care whether your classes will be large lectures with sections taught by TA's? or do you want small classes?[</em>]how far away from or near to home do you want to be?do you like certain parts of the country?[li]is cost a factor? - if so look for the schools' financial aid policy (%need met) and/or merit aid practices[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>With answers to those questions, you might find parents able to make suggestions here on cc. But it does boil down to your [ul][<em>]doing a little browsing through some college admissions guides or website to further refine what you're looking for[</em>]then identifying those colleges which meet those criteria and are strong in the fields you are considering for your majors[/ul]</p>

<p>The more of this legwork you do, the more feedback you will be able to get here on cc.</p>

<p>One final note: you may be a little off-track on your recommendation ideas at this point. Key recommendations will be from teachers who have taught you recently and know you well. Some/most schools frown on receiving too many extra recommendations. I'm not sure if any school will be interested in a rec from your grandfather - and I'm sure it will count against you in some places. (You will be able to list him as a legacy if you do apply to Harvard). So wait and work with your GC on recs.</p>

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<p>jmmom, you go girl! Look at that layout! I'm impressed. I just hope that others don't follow suit. I'll admit my defeat now. I surrender.</p>

<p>(The substance was there ,too. Always a nice touch.)</p>

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<p>I agree, that is rather nice.</p>

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<p>c'mudge - Weren't you the one who tutored me?:cool:</p>

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<p>Great advice so far!</p>

<p>jmmom: You have become :cool: to the third power, too!!!
I love to follow your posts because you always comment on the
threads I read with great advice.</p>

<p>THIS IS MY 300TH POST. I NOW HAVE REACHED THE MEMBER STATUS!!!</p>

<p>P.S. See my posts in the high school life forum on the 4th and 5th pages of the thread "Who are you". I have been accused of making someone look like a lunatic and trying to make someone's eyes bleed. :D</p>

<p>P.P.S. I have joined tokenadult, MomofWildChild, jmmom, Curmudgeon, and tore, along with many who have not posted on this thread because of my new status. I am in great company!</p>

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<p>Yes, jmmom but I was about a car length in front of you and it has become abundantly clear that my pit stop strategy was flawed (No, that is not a NASCAR reference. O.K. yeah it is ,but........that's stuff is insidious in the South. It's like kudzu. I never really watch the races. BTW, "Who's your driver?" has become a formal greeting in the South. JK.)</p>

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<p>yemaya - Congrats on receiving M status :D I recently got there but it went unremarked except by me (donned party hat and blew horn). Oh, well, at least H seems to have remembered Valentine's Day. ;)</p>

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<p>WOW- I didn't realize I had reached Member status. This could mean I am on CC more than I should be while I'm at work!</p>

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<p>^ or listening to the beautiful music your D might be playing !!</p>

<p>To OP there is a category called med-pre med majors. The threads in that category has very useful information about colleges with 6 year medical programs, colleges with guaranteed medical admission (e.g. Rice, Univ. of Cincinaty, Northwestern, IIT, Drexel).</p>

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<p>When I reached the member status, instead of donning a party hat and blowing a horn, I thought, "Wow, I should get off. I'm truly addicted. This is pathetic." I then shrugged my shoulders and went to bed. :p</p>

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<p>tokenadult,
I'm glad you asked the question, because it got the OP to mention imp. e.c's or comm. service that he hadn't, & those would be related to medicine. Habitat for Humanity is indirectly related in that it shows a level of giving that is an imp. factor in medicine, i.m.o.</p>

<p>TexasMathWhiz, consider also volunteering for Doctors Without Borders (or a similar organiz.) if they have something you can do domestically. Also, some colleges have special summer programs for highschoolers targeted toward those seeking careers in medicine (sort of a pre-med opportunity).</p>

<p>I agree with others, though: it's a little early to be targeting specific colleges. On the other hand, it's never too early to start your research as to entrance requirements, etc. Students interested in medicine need to search widely. You're obviously not going to be admitted into med school 3 yrs from now. You're going to be seeking a good pre-med grounding instead. Were I in your shoes, I would be looking to optimizing my chances for success in pre-med., which might not mean a very high-profile undergrad college, just one with wonderful pre-med training.</p>

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<p>I'll take a stab at making a few recommendations - while it is early to be looking, these are some good schools to check out for pre-med. I myself am partial to liberal arts colleges for pre-med - they tend to do less "Weeding out" of pre-med students and often help their students get through the demanding pre-med program better than universities (no flames, please, just something I have observed in looking at pre-med support programs). So, you might want to buy a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges and read about these various schools to see what appeals to you. </p>

<p>Make sure to look at BOTH highly selective and less selective schools at this stage - don't allow yourself to be fall in love with a particular school or with the "prestige factor" This list, by the way, is by no means exhaustive - there are many, many other colleges and universities out there that are fine for pre-med as well. </p>

<p>Universities
very selective: Emory, Johns Hopkins, University of Rochester, Brown, U of Chicago, Case Western Reserve, Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Washington University, U of Michigan, Rice, Brandeis, Tufts</p>

<p>Less selective but with excellent pre-med programs: U of Colorado, U of Washington,
Texas A&M, Penn State, U of Wisconsin, Boston U</p>

<p>Liberal arts colleges
Very selective: AMherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, Middlebury, Kenyon, Harvey Mudd, Grinnell, Oberlin, Pomona, Vassar, Carleton, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Colgate, Davidson</p>

<p>Less selective but with excellent pre-med programs: Knox College (has an agreement with Rush Medical School where you are admitted to Rush after your freshman year of college - you then finish the 4 years at Knox knowing that you are already "in" to a good med school), St. Olaf, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Furman, Occidental, Reed, Southwestern (TX), Trinity (TX), Trinity (CT), Washington & Jefferson (has a very high admit rate to med schools), Wooster, Muhlenberg, Juniata, Goucher, Denison</p>

<p>As I said, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are MANY excellent schools out there for someone interested in going on to medical school --- so, the advice others have given you is good: decide what you are looking for in terms of the school and then find ones that are both selective and less selective.</p>

19

<p>I don't understand why you'd send a recommendation from any of the people you listed. </p>

<p>Grandfather: They don't care. What is he going to say except that you're a good kid? Any grandparent will write a glowing recommendation about their grandchild.</p>

<p>Vice Principal of Elementary School: What? Why would they want this? It doesn't seem like he would have anything to say about you as a student.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins Ph.D.: Have you done research with him or something? If not, they don't want to hear from him.</p>

<p>M.D.: Unless you've been working in his office or assisting with research, they really don't have time to read a recommendation from him.</p>

<p>Just my thoughts.</p>

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<p>elizabeth22 has made sensible points about the list of recommenders. Recommendation letters should come from people who have CURRENT, OBJECTIVE knowledge of your capacity to do academic work, in other words from the teachers and mentors you will have next year. Otherwise, the recommendations don't carry any weight.</p>