International Middle Eastern aiming for T20s [4.0, 1500, biophysics, molecular biology, biochemistry]

Chance Me / Match Me!
,
1

Demographic
International Student

  • Type of high school *: Private prep school. Class size of around 200 with barely any T20 admits (1-2 per class).
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity*: Middle eastern (white)
  • Other special factors *: Second gen, high income.

Intended Major(s)
Biophysics, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.415/5.0
  • Class Rank: Valerdictorian
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1500 (780M,720EBRW)

Coursework
11 APs (max is 12): Bio (5), Chem (4), Physics 1 (5), CSP (5), Lang (4), Lit (3), Psych (5), Comparative Government (4), Macroeconomics (5) , Statistics (5), Calc BC (5)

3 Honors (max)

4 years of foreign language (arabic).

Awards

Harvard MUN honorable mention

7 MUN Best delegate awards

Community Service Award

NHS Awards

  • Awards are basically nonexistent in my country and region.

Extracurriculars

  • President and founder of the medical club in our school. 12 Members and raised $5k.

  • Shadowed an Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon for 3h a day for around 10 weeks (5 days a week). I observed 3 surgeries and witnessed over 50 patient-doctor interactions. I also discussed different methods of treatment with the surgeon.

  • PASSION PROJECT: President and founder of a national-scale community service organization. Opened different chapters in different schools nationwide. Raised $50,000 for medical supplies for families in need.

  • Medical Research internship at the (redacted). Competed with undergraduates to get the internship. Assisted on research through a 10 week period (3 days a week, 5 hours a day). Working on getting it published.

  • Junior Executive in our school’s MUN team. interview students that want to join our team and I also assist in organizing our schools annual MUN conference with 15
    schools in attendance and over 200 delegates.

  • Attended 2 International MUN conferences (Harvard MUN, THIMUN Qatar). Won an honorable mention in HMUN, and THIMUN does not do awards.

  • NYAS Junior Academy member.

  • Summer camp counselor for 2 years.
    Managed 9 cohorts of 15 students each for 4 hours a day for 2 weeks (3 days a week).

Cost Constraints / Budget
None, not applying for financial aid.

Schools (All RD except if indicated otherwise).
Safety: Penn State (EA), UW
Likely: BU, UMiami
Match: UCI, UCSD, Northeastern (EA), UMich.
Reach: Tufts, NYU, Georgetown, Emory, USC, Cornell, Brown, UPenn, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Northwestern (top choice).

2

So, I see that you are planning to major in the sciences? To what end?

Are you planning to apply to US medical schools after your Bachelor’s? Based upon your EC’s it appears to be that way.

If so, you need to know that getting into medical school, as a US citizen, is extremely difficult as well as competitive and few get in. Getting into medical school, as an international candidate, is almost non-existent, unless you are a Canadian citizen, and even then, it’s tough, difficult and extremely competitive.

So before you attempt applications for a US university education in the most difficult schools, you need to consider what your goals and intentions are.

4 Likes
3

In addition to the very important point raised by @aunt_bea I want to point out that your schools are miscategorized.

UW is not a safety, maybe a high match.

BU, NEU and UMich are all reaches. You have excellent stats but so do most applicants to these schools.

@Gumbymom can provide guidance about the UCs.

You should really add a few true match/target schools, and make sure you’ll be happy at Penn State, worst case.

2 Likes
4

Which UW - Wisconsin or Washington?
I’d categorize U-Wash as likely rather than safety due to competition, not sure wrt U-Wi for your specific majors.
Be aware that biological science-related majors are among the most rejected at UCs, after CS. It was a slaughter this Spring.
Penn State definitely apply by 10/31 and you should be fine. Apply to Schreyer.
BU would be a match. UMich is a reach. In both cases, due to acceptance rates.
Considering your interest in Biology etc, apply to Pitt.

American would be another safety bc fewer ppl apply for science but there are lots of science- related opportunities around DC.

1 Like
5

IMO: any school with a sub-15% acceptance rate is going to be unpredictable (and therefore a reach) for an unhooked applicant.

1 Like
6

yes, you’re right - I thought BU may factor in “full pay” but the choice of major negates that and, indeed, sub 20% acceptance rate makes it a reach. Defintely not a likely ;).

1 Like
7

Maybe add UIUC as a match. They seem to love full pay international students.

1 Like
8

Congratulations on being a very competitive applicant but UCI and UCSD would be Reach schools based on the overall International admit rates posted below:
2022 UC admit rates by residency
2022 Freshman admit rates

|Campus|INTERNATIONAL|
|Berkeley|5.5%|
|Davis|43%|
|Irvine|21%|
|Los Angeles|5.8%|
|Merced|81.7%|
|Riverside|68.%|
|San Diego|15.5%|
|Santa Barbara|19.7%|
|Santa Cruz|55.4%|

UCI admit rates based on your specified majors:
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology under the Biological Sciences major which was a 23.7% admit rate for 2022.
Biophysics under the Physics department had a 33.8% admit rate for 2022.

For UCSD, Biological Sciences has all capped majors so Biochemistry/Cell Biology will be highly competitive and although they have no specific admit rates, they are historically lower than the majors listed at UCI.

Biochemistry as a stand alone major and Biophysics are not capped at UCSD.

Both UCI and UCSD admit into the University first and then into the major. They will consider your alternate major and recommend the alternate major not be capped or impacted.

The UC’s are test blind so your SAT will not be considered for admissions or scholarships only for placement.

Best of luck but realize the UC’s are very competitive especially since there is a cap on International and OOS admits.

4 Likes
9

Have you ruled out smaller schools? I ask, because at some your international status would be a plus. Also, what about the University of Rochester?

4 Likes
10

For those majors, UIUC would be a likely, perhaps a safety. Those majors are in LAS, which has a much higher acceptance rate than Engineering.

1 Like
11

I was referring to U Washington. Ignore the sorting I forgot to move some schools haha

1 Like
12

Yes I am planning on applying to a US med school. I will be applying to some UK med schools along with these US undergrad unis and if I get into a UK med school I’ll likely commit there.

13

Well…I hope you get accepted to a UK medical school. The number of international medical school applicants accepted to medical school here is VERY VERY small and most are from Canada.

I will let @WayOutWestMom give the details for international applicants applying to medical school in the U.S.

1 Like
14

I wouldn’t mind attending Penn State, but do you think that I can get into at least 1 reach school?

1 Like
15

It’s certainly possible - and somewhat more likely at Tufts/NYU/Georgetown/Emory I think than the rest.

But given the very low probability of getting into a US med school, make sure you have an alternate career path planned.

2 Likes
16

I’ll be blunt. You have three things going for you-

1- A strong academic record (albeit at a school without a track record at many of the colleges you are interested in).
2- International
3-Full Pay

There are dozens of colleges in the US that would love to have you. Not some of the ones you have listed (which are already on the “International and Full Pay” student radar) but many other fine, fine colleges. So if the question is “can I study in the US” my answer is “absolutely”. You need to do some research to find the colleges which struggle to enroll kids from outside of their region, or diverse kids, or students from overseas but they are out there.

There is a different question though- which is “can I become a physician by studying in the US” and the answer to that is “not likely”. Unless you’ve got a shortcut to citizenship in some way, applying to US Med schools (seats are very, very precious and the competition is fierce) is a way to waste a lot of money with low probability of success.

So let us know what the real goal is- become a physician? In which case- study in the US, then med school in your own country or a country which doesn’t have such competition for seats? Or study medicine in Canada/UK/Australia, your own region?

We can help you if we know what the plan is.

8 Likes
17

US medical schools accept very few international students.

in the 2022-23 cycle, 1268 non-US residents applied to US medical school and 158 matriculated.

https://www.aamc.org/media/6006/download?attachment
https://www.aamc.org/media/6011/download?attachment

Of those 158, approx 75-85% are Canadians. (Due to a larger number of schools that accept Canadians and the existence of Canadian government loans for Canadians attending med school in the US)

International applicants faced several distinct hurdles.

  1. Only about 44-45 US med schools will even considered international applicants for admission. Most accept only 0-2 international students per year. Most accepted are “inside” applicants–exceptional students from the associated undergrad or children of faculty/staff. Those med schools that accept non-Canadian internationals in larger numbers (like 3-15/year) tend to be among the most competitive med schools in the US. (See MSAR for details.)

  2. There is little to no financial aid for international med students. International students will be asked to demonstrate they can finance 100% of their cost of attendance by placing $250K-$500K (exact amount varies by school) in a US bank escrow account before they are allowed to enroll. International students are not eligible for US government loans–which is how most US student finance their education. Nor are international eligible for other federal programs like MSTP, the NHSC scholarship program, the HPSP scholarship program or other federal or state programs that pay the cost of a medical education

  3. International students–even those educated in a US medical school–have difficulty finding a residency program to complete their medical training. Most residency programs, esp those at highly ranked hospitals or in competitive specialties, simply do not offer visas. Those that do offer visas only offer J-1 visas which require the visa holder to return to their home country at the end of training.

3 Likes
18

I see now. Thank you so much. Looks like BS/MD programs and european medical schools are the much better options.

19

Are you talking about BS/MD programs here in the U.S? If so…these are amongst the most competitive in terms of admissions…moreso than most elite colleges. I wouldn’t bank on those being a better option.

@WayOutWestMom how do international students do getting accepted to BS/MD programs

1 Like
20

Yes, BSMD programs in the US are super competitive, but applying won’t hurt. Either I don’t get into any, and matriculate into a european medical school, or best case I get accepted into one and have more options to choose from.