Hi guys! I’m a hs junior and I was looking at the future prospects for colleges - I will be applying in a few months.
I have an interest in pre-med, and as of now, that’s really all I want to do.
UC Berkeley, NYU, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Rice, UT Austin, Virginia Commonwealth 8 year program, and Baylor are the colleges that I’m looking at right now. I want to major in neuroscience, neurobioloy, psychology, or maybe even political science (I know that we just have to have the pre req’s done for pre-med)
-I heard that for Georgetown, there’s an option to apply to medical school in sophomore year and bypass taking the MCATS.
What vaguely are my chances of getting in? Are any of these colleges way out of my reach? Are there any that I am not considering?
-SAT Score: 2130 (690 read, 730 math, 710 writing)
*planning to retake the new SAT
-GPA 3.34/4; this is not very good, but I messed up in my math class freshman year, my rank was 127, and then I nearly halved that my junior year, where I stand at about rank 60 (top 10%)
-planning on taking ACT and SAT subject tests in math 1 and literature
-Officer of NEHS
-Officer of Orchestra
-playing in orchestra for 8 years, made all area-region this year
-participant of science fair for 13 years, got my twelve year award this year
-went to city science fair 3 times
-received a special award from Houston Academy of Medicine for my sci project
-volunteered 100+ hours at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine
-attendee of Youth Medical Summit in Rice University (hosted by Houston Health museum)
-tutored children for 2 years
I feel like my GPA is not where it should be, but I really want to get into a nice college. Any recommendations? Which of the colleges listed above do you think I would get into?
These colleges represent a range of selectivity and appear on an online list, “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs”:
Knox
Muhlenberg
St. Louis
St. Olaf
Franklin & Marshall
Bucknell
Bates
Emory
Colgate
Hamilton
It may be necessary to compare your GPA and course rigour to those expected at these schools, however, to assess at which of them your chances of admission would be reasonable. Reaches may be appropriate, but only up until a realistic threshold. Your SAT score is fine.
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I have an interest in pre-med, and as of now, that’s really all I want to do.
UC Berkeley, NYU, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Rice, UT Austin, Virginia Commonwealth 8 year program, and Baylor are the colleges that I’m looking at right now. I want to major in neuroscience, neurobioloy, psychology, or maybe even political science (I know that we just have to have the pre req’s done for pre-med)
-I heard that for Georgetown, there’s an option to apply to medical school in sophomore year and bypass taking the MCATS.
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You’re instate for Texas.
Will your parents pay $55k per year for Berkeley (which is horrible for an OOS premed). No one should go to a UC as an OOS premed.
Will they pay $70k per year for NYU (another horrible route).
How much will your parents pay each year?
You have a 1420 M+CR. That makes several schools and VCUs program high reaches.
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GPA 3.34/4;
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oh, missed this. This makes UT probably impossible, and maybe the other reaches as well.
why did you choose these schools?
You need a better list that takes into account your grades and how much your family will pay each year.
Your GPA makes direct programs pretty much inaccessible (most successful applicants have 3.8+) and it makes UC’s impossible (minimum GPA by end of 11th grade should be 3.4, although that minimal level only works for UCM/UCR).
None of the schools you listed are good for you if you’re serious about a premed program, because you want to be among the top students at the school.
A good college for a premeds is a college where you find this combination
- it’s affordable for your parents without parental debt, and with minimal debt for you (federal limit, 5.5K, tops).
- you’re in the top 25% students, if not the top 10% students
- they’re supportive/nurturing/collaborative
- they have excellent premed advising
- they have lots of resources, especially tutoring (because getting an A in college requires a LOT more than in HS, and getting from B+ to an A may require Office Hours + writing center + tutor, and there’s no shame in it, it’s just what you’re supposed to do when you’re in college: recognize you will benefit from help and go use the resouces available.)
For instance, in Texas, St Edward’s has an excellent record in getting students into med school. If you compare their results with Texas State’s, considering they get roughly the same type of students, S Edward’s wins hands down.
Other schools that are good for B/B+ students who want to get into Health Sciences: Juniata, Hiram, Muhlenberg, Creighton, Drake, Butler…
Do you know how much your parents can afford per year, have you calculated your EFC?