Hi, like I said in the title, I’m currently a junior in high school, expected to graduate in 2017. I’ve been reading a lot about the application process and what colleges look for. I’ve been reading a lot that colleges look for kids with a passion, kids who are great and one thing instead of ok in lots of things. I’ve never been passionate about anything so far. My current goals are to become a doctor and this is where my questions come in. Firstly, is it too late to find a passion and do activities and earn achievements to prove to the college admission officers that I am not an “average” student? Secondly, I want to go to a medical field but I’ve been finding out that I’m passionate about cooking and philosophy. Will having passions unrelated to what I want to do in the future mean anything? I’m honestly not sure, and most of you reading this will say I’m trying to achieve the impossible, but my goal is to get into at least one Ivy League school. My current gpa is 4.02 unweighted. My school offers 5.0 for AP, 4.5 for Honors, and 4.0 for regular. I go to a majority white school and most of the kids are from wealthy families. I, on the other hand, am an Asian student, immegrated from Korea in 2010 and my parents work from 5 am til close everyday to provide for the family. I currently have a 31 on the ACT, planning to retake it in April. I’ve taken 4 AP classess so far and have enrolled in 4 more for senior year. And all my other classes since freshman year have been honors classes other than electives that are required for me to graduate. I’ve gotten a fair share of B+,B, and B-'s but nothing below that. I’ve also done lots of volunteer work at hospitals. What are my chances of actually getting into an Ivy League school?
By the way, sorry for all the grammar and spelling errors. I typed this on my phone and couldn’t edit very well…
So… you have a 4.02 weighted and a 31 ACT? What about your extracurriculars? Honestly your ACT and GPA are a little low for ivies, and that coupled with your race is really going to hurt you. What state do you live in? Your in-state school can give you a great education and you can absolutely get into a top med school while saving a lot of money due to in-state tuition.
I think your volunteer work in hospitals is your most important EC, and I would really do more with that in the coming year-- maybe using your interest in cooking to help the hospital’s nutritionist develop some new approaches that help improve the patient experience and facilitate post-hospital-stay wellness. And don’t fixate on getting into an Ivy-- you might, but it’s not going to matter if you med school is your real goal. Instead, you should be focused on finding a top-quality, affordable school that has a great track record with future doctors (and there are PLENTY). If you really want an Ivy–REALLY-- you will have to raise that ACT (or take the SAT a few times and really ace it) and focus on doing something extraordinary in that hospital you volunteer at. I am assuming you want to be a doctor because you are really passionate about that, by the way. If you are saying that because you think it automatically confers success and fortune (like an Ivy supposedly does) then you are setting yourself up to be disappointed, in debt and frustrated (and, ultimately, very unhappy).
I think you need to be going to a school where you can do great pre-med work but at the same time great work in philosophy (one of your passions) and maybe in other types of nutritional sciences where your cooking passions might come into play. Where are the interesting professors in those fields? Maybe some are at Ivies, but some are at great places like Duke, UVA, Wesleyan, BU, Wash U, Rice and a million other schools that are prestigious, dynamic and very very good at creating future doctors.
Med school admission requires only high MCAT and GPA, not a fancy undergraduate degree. In fact, the best strategy is to go to a college where you have a high probability of graduating on top and with little cost, since cash should be conserved for med school.
Relax. You’re fine going to a college which doesn’t require the padded EC dog-n-pony show. In fact, many savvy & successful premed students have seized the great strategic full-tuition merit scholarships at University of Alabama and other good but not uber-prestigious schools. For admission to these schools, there’s no BS about pretending your passion is volunteering in a soup kitchen.
I don’t know too much about this, but is it important to gain some lab work experience or conduct scientific research in addition to volunteering? Can you ask your guidance counselor to help you find some sort of research internship for the summer? I think the skill of guidance counselors varies widely - don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and search for the opportunities yourself. Maybe call the nearest college (after doing your homework) and see if you can connect with someone who can help you.
Any chance of participating in a science olympiad?
It’s already April of junior year. College AdComms can smell resume padding.
Please read this: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1878245-straight-up-advice-about-getting-into-top-colleges-for-the-average-excellent-student.html#latest
It will give you a realistic perspective of your position. Good luck!
OP you probably don’t have a lot of guidance since I am assuming you are a first generation college student. You are on the right track by coming onto this website to learn and to get feedback.
I would encourage you to leave aside the idea that you have to “get into at least one Ivy.” Not because it wouldn’t be great but because right now the most productive approach is to get a full panorama of your own situation, and what is possible. This might include applying to an Ivy…or it might not. There are fantastic schools for pre-med which can provide generous financial aid and prepare you for med school, so don’t focus in too soon. You need to develop some strategies.
A quote for the ages.
You are who you are. Like yourself. College admissions officers are predominately young underpaid undergraduates who couldn’t get better jobs. There is no reason to mold yourself into a person you are not.
You don’t need an ivy league school. You want a school that you can afford such as a private school that meets full need.
I’m thinking along the lines of a Brandeis, Oberlin, Rochester, Richmond. Oberlin views Asians as under represented minorities. Perhaps use that to your advantage. Consider women’s colleges like Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Smith, maybe Wellesley.
Relax. Lots of 18 years olds haven’t discovered their passion. You are ahead of the game by asking these questions now instead of next fall or worse, after you’ve applied to schools that are too reach-y or expensive.
Lots of state schools don’t really look at ECs so at this point focus on grades and test scores. Read (and get your parents to read) some of the great threads on the financial aspects and on medical school (in case they think the only way to get to med school is to start at ivy). Sit down and pick some in state schools and some others you are interested in and, with your parents, run the net price calculators and get a realistic picture of how much college costs and how much you can afford. Yes, do some volunteer work over the summer in a medical related field. It will help you eventually in applying to med school and more importantly will help you to find what you are interested in.
Realize also that there is no official pre-med major. You say you are interested in philosophy. You can not only take some philosophy in college, you could be a Philosophy major - as long as you also take the pre-med prereqs. My D1 had friends that went on to medical school with UG degrees in religion and English.
Please do not get hung up on Ivy. Start visiting colleges this spring and summer if you can and find a few that you can excel at. Sure, apply to an Ivy but don’t count on it. Again, check out threads on medical school. There are smart people here that will tell you that good grades and MCAT scores matter more than specific school.
I think you need to expand your horizons past Ivy League schools. They are reaches for pretty much everyone and with your stats they are highly unlikely. The very good news is that there are tons of amazing colleges and universities out there and they can offer a great college experience and take you where you want to go in life. I suggest you 1) get your hands on some college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review, etc.) from your guidance dept or library and start reading 2) meet with your guidance counselor for some ideas 3) if your HS has Naviance see where people with you statistics from your HS get in to college.
Give as much or even MORE thought selecting “match” and “safety” schools that you actually like (especially schools that are a “financial safety”), as you would picking “reach” schools. The reach schools are easy to pick-- everyone likes Rolls Royce and Ferrari.
Please don’t make the mistake of applying to 8 “far-reach” dream schools you are unlikely to get in or are unlikely to afford, then one safety school you hate. Just witness how many threads now on CC whine: “I got rejected from all the schools I applied to except my safety”. It’s the SAME THING every year…
Again, for med school admission, undergraduate GPA matters more than undergraduate school. Good luck.
Believe it or not, many if not most people do have very strong interests and talents outside of their jobs. The fact that you have multiple interests that do not all fit within a medical specialty does not mean that medicine is the wrong choice for you. It simply means that you would likely be exploring those activities and interests outside of your work. Sometimes interests overlap in unexpected ways though – for example, chefs and surgeons alike need good knife skills. So if you are surgeon at work, and you like to take cooking classes and cook outside of work, your skills sets would reinforce each other.
I agree with the post above that you do not need a science degree to go to med school. I know a hugely successful doctor making about a million a year in his mid-30s, and his undergraduate degree was in English. If you go that route and pursue studies in philosophy, do be sure to take electives or a minor in the sciences to fulfill med-school prerequisites. Many universities now offer majors or at least courses that are along the lines of the history of science, and that type of degree might interest you as well because it would explore the ethics and philosophy behind science including medicine.
As medical science continues to evolve in new and unexpected ways, the ethics of various procedures is hugely important. For example, there is a lot of discussion around whether everyone should have genetic testing for possible future medical problems, and if so, when (in the womb, before marriage, etc.), and how could that data be protected (so they don’t lose jobs or have higher insurance rates, e.g.). In this way, your interest in philosophy overlaps with medicine. As you study logic in philosophy, you will be able to formulate your own opinions about medicine in established ways.
Don’t worry about going to an Ivy for undergrad. It is essential that your undergrad GPA be 3.8 or higher for the best chances at med school admissions. Why would you want to attend a university where the competition is so fierce? Go to a university you can afford, and choose a major you can excel in, and continue pursuing volunteer and internship opportunities in the medical field like you have been doing.
You probably won’t get into an Ivy…read on CC about the “I got a 4.0/2400 and didn’t get into any Ivy’s” so most people won’t get into an Ivy. Worry about You doing what You can do…check out Cal Newport’s “How to be a High School Superstar” to turn your passions into ECs. Can you turn cooking into an EC? Volunteer at the Soup kitchen?
Create an “international food day” at your school?
Volunteering at the hospital is good as it helps you know if medicine is right for you.
For a pre-med student, you can major in anything you want. You can major in Philosophy…just making sure to take the med school prerequisites (Bio, Chem, Org Chem, etc etc). For med school you don’t need to go to an ivy, but want to find:
- The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
- The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
- Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
- Success in graduates getting into med school
- Options if you don’t go to med school
Yeah my school has a grading system kindof similar to yours and with a 4.02, damn, no chance at the ivies. Cornell has about a 4.5 average from my school, Harvard has a 4.75, UPenn has about a 4.5, Princeton has a 4.72, etc, just to put it in perspective. I thought my 4.18 was trash and I’m not even considering any top 20s maybe USC as a high reach.