<p>Hi, I'm a senior at a very competitive public high school West Windsor Plainsboro High School South.</p>
<p>I'm sure medicine and being a doctor is the direction I want to head in, so I am considering applying to the several MD/BA programs out there. However I am ever so dubious as to my chances of being accepted, considering my scores.</p>
<p>SAT: Critical Reading / Math / Writing
1st time: 670/790/680
2nd time: 680/740/670
My best possible is 2150 and I plan on taking it again in October.</p>
<p>SAT II's
Chemistry - 750
Biology M - 750
Math IIc - 800</p>
<p>GPA unweighted - 3.5
I realize my gpa is way below so I plan on applying most application regular to raise my gpa to a decent 3.7</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
Cross country - medal won freshmen year
Music related - in advanced band. selected for numerous events such as plays. Elected Head Librarian. Leader of self found trio. </p>
<p>Medical Related:
In local First Aid Squad as an EMT-B
Volunteered at Princeton Merwick Rehab Center</p>
<p>I feel like I'm in good standing for schools like NYU, U Mich, and U Illionois Champaign.....but as for medical program I feel hopeless.</p>
<p>Please reply with reflections on how I will fare and with any suggestions on particular MD/BA programs. Thanks alot</p>
<p>md/ba guarantees admission into medical graduate school. as soon as you finish undergrad school you go straight to grad school next year without even taking the mcat</p>
<p>Void, what I would do is when you apply to med programs be very selective on which ones you apply to. WAY TOO many times, people just go with the attitude of I'll accept any med program and end up in a very bad medical school which thus affects their chances of landing top notch residencies (i.e. UMKC, NEOCOM, etc).</p>
<p>As it looks like your high school is in New Jersey, there is one program associated with Rutgers and then you go to Robert Woods Johnson Medical School. I don't really know the quality of it, but one really good perk is that it would be close to home, which is helpful when you're really working hard studying and need a break.</p>
<p>thanks happytograduate. would you know of any good medical programs among the many there are? and if you do, please tell me some of the easier ones to get into.....cuz rice has a great program but is impossible for me to get into with my specs....</p>
<p>as for rutgers, you are certainly right with your reasoning but my parents are moving as soon as i graduate so i really won't have a home to go back to when i go for college :)</p>
<p>I wish you the best.
However, 3.5 is way too low, and 3.7 might not cut it either. There are tons of 4.0 who are applying. They all have other requirements taken care of also. My D. had 4.0 - she got into 3 programs, and did NOT get into 3 others. She did not apply to the most competitive of them at all, she did not want to waste her time. Instead, she applied only in-state.
Do not limit yearself applying only to combined programs.</p>
<p>HMm..well honestly as much as everybody is saying that a 3.5 isnt going to cut it, the truth is that u have to find a way to balance the scales in ur favor.</p>
<p>like i had a 3.83 unweighted and i got into many more med programs than expected...so honestly invest ur effort into other parts of ur application if u think that the marginal return on effort is greater.</p>
<p>For instance, u could have 5 areas of concentration:
-Academics (Including GPA and test scores)
-Extracurrics (sports, u mentioned band, etc)
-Leadership Activity
-Volunteering / Research
- Essays</p>
<p>If it will take 20 hours of extra work a week (exagerated) to pull ur gpa up from 3.5 to a 3.58, then i would rather put those 20 hours/week in lets say strengthening ur Research experience or ur college essays for example.</p>
<p>Now the relative importance of each of these topics varies with admissions' committees, but in general u no that u have a high chance of getting into a program, if u meet or exceed the level of competence for EACH of the above 5 criteria that the average ACCEPTED applicant displays for the said program.</p>
<p>So apply to the programs where u again meet the competence of the average accepted applicant.</p>
<p>hey sorry to barge in on this, but i was wondering if we dont meet the academics requirement, or are jus below avg due to family problems such as a death in the family...will they take that into accont as well? or does that put me in a lower position??</p>
<p>Thats a really good question...and the answer is that if u manage to mention in in your application process, then yes they will consider it and put it in their equation for evaluating you. It doesnt have to be mentioned in ur essay persay, but you could include it in your "other notes/comments section" or you could have a separate paragraph or so that you include in ur application.</p>
<p>I would question that they read applications very closely. Well, imagine yourself sifting thru 800 applications for 20 spots, most of which have GPA very close to 4.0 and extremely high scores and everything else, all ECs and so forth are taking care of.<br>
With that said, the best of luck! Do not skip applying outside of BS/MDs. Make sure that your GPA in college is as close as possible to 4.0.</p>