Is it hard to get into LSM?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>I'm a rising junior (will graduate 2015) but I've already decided that UPenn is where I want to go to school, and I really, really want to get into LSM. Basically, I want to go into the pharmaceutical industry. Long term, I'd love to be able to start a program to help people pay less for medicine, specifically medial supplies for diabetics. </p>

<p>The problem is, my school is small, and there are literally like no opportunities for me! I'm in Key Club, Math Club, track & field, PJAS (statewide science competition), as well as the National Honor Society and Spanish one. That is pretty much the extent of my schools extracurriculars... Also, there are only three AP classes, Spanish, French, and calculus, but I can only take two of them since I don't take French. </p>

<p>So will it be hard to get into LSM with what I have to work with even if I have spectacular essays? Any tips to boost my resume? I haven't taken the SATs yet, but my PSAT score was the third highest out of everyone in my school last year (so sophomores and juniors who took it) but it was only 193. </p>

<p>Oh yeah, and I'm white, not Asian, lol.</p>

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<p>I forgot to add: my school does do this program in senior year where we can go to one of three local colleges in the morning and simultaneously have those college credits count for our high school diploma. I will get into that since I’m number one in my class (along with twenty other kids, though). I don’t care about those credits transferring, though. </p>

<p>Also, I think I’ll have a pretty good hook: I used to live overseas in Asia and we travelled a lot to other countries. Not so much when I was younger, but as I got older we did. I wasn’t a military brat though, neither of my parents were ver in the army. Also, we live in the United States now, and have since 8th grade.</p>

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<p>I was accepted to LSM this last year. Honestly, it’s kind of a crapshoot, but I can try to give you some advice to maximize your chances. Because I’m in a bit of a time crunch, I’ll do it in list-form:</p>

<p>1.) Try to obtain as many meaningful school and community leadership positions as possible, such as officer positions in student government and National Honor Society or whatever your school/community has.</p>

<p>2.) Try to show initiative by founding a club or organization, especially one that is science related (for example, I created a Biology Olympiad Club).</p>

<p>3.) Participate in as many meaningful science-related activities as possible (Science Olympiad is great if your school has it). </p>

<p>4.) Take the Chemistry Olympiad, Biology Olympiad, Physics Olympaid, or Math Olympiad exams and achieve distinctions in them (I could go into depth on these exams here, but just google the names and read the websites to find out how to register and study. There are also a lot of threads about these exams on this website, so use those for reference too. For reference, I was a semifinalist in the Bio Olympiad and MANY other LSMers were).</p>

<p>5.) PARTICIPATE IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, ESPECIALLY STUFF THAT IS RELATED TO BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, MEDICINE, OR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. I put this in caps because I cannot stress how big this is. It’s not absolutely mandatory and it certainly won’t guarantee that you’ll get in, but I’ll tell you that I personally don’t know any LSMers that didn’t participate in research in high school. If there are no “official” internship programs in your area, email professors at local universities whose research interests you and ask them if you can do an internship with them. If you manage to land an internship, make sure to at least get some kind of poster or paper out of it that you can mail along with your application to the admissions office. Also, try to enter some science fair competitions, like Siemens and Intel. (Note: Don’t get discouraged, you’ll probably have to email a ton of people before you get responses back).</p>

<p>6.) I know your school doesn’t officially offer that many AP exams, but if you want to get into LSM I highly recommend you to self study a few AP’s, especially Bio, Chem, Econ, and Physics. It’s hard, but if you buy some textbooks and prepbooks and work at it, it’s very doable. Not only will this help you get into LSM, it will help you after you get in b/c doing a dual degree is a lot of work and any prior credit will make things a lot easier. </p>

<p>7.) APPLY Early Decision. This is big. Early Decision, while still competitive, is far less competitive than the Regular Decision pool.</p>

<p>Also, this isn’t exactly a definitive list. Keep in mind that even if you do all these things, it’s still up in the air due to the small size of the program. Good luck, and PM me if you have more questions.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much! I’ve tried previously to get internships, but I’m pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and professors at the three colleges even remotely near me (like from half an hour to two hours away) have all pretty much told me: “no thanks, I’m good with my college students” so do you think that a business internship (there all a good amount near me) would help boost my resume? </p>

<p>Also, if I don’t get into LSM, do you think I stand a better chance at getting into Penn for a regular biology major?</p>

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<p>Dang, that’s too bad. You could try applying to national-level internships. I know the NIH has a Summer Internship Program for High Schoolers. Penn also has a biotech internship thing, but it costs like a few grand. It definitely helps a ton on the application though. A business internship would definitely help, but from what I hear LSM tends to lean more towards the science side when reviewing applicants. As for getting into Penn as a Bio Major…it’s just different. I feel that the dual-degree programs care way more about raw academic ability whereas regular Penn undergrad cares more about having well-rounded individuals. I’m no expert, but that’s my opinion anyway.</p>

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<p>The whole raw academic ability thing will (hopefully) help me out even though I’m sure they get tons of applicants like me (gifted program, and straight A’s without really trying, but I do also go to a public school) </p>

<p>Thanks for the info about the national internships, I’ll definitely look into those!</p>

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<p>Just to add to this thread, I’m a rising sophomore in the LSM program, and I actually was the opposite of most applicants. You can look up my stats (in an old post), but essentially, I had 1 DNA research internship…that’s it for science (besides AP Science Classes & SAT Chemistry Subject Exam). No science clubs. No Chem Olympiad/Bio Olympiad/etc. My profile was very heavy business-related (DECA International 1st Place & State President), but in my essay about LSM, I could really talk about the linkage between the two that was appealing to me. </p>

<p>Just an FYI, LSM (and I believe all the dual-degree programs) are completely race-blind, as in while Penn Admissions may consider underrepresented minority status (URM) when reading applications, dual degree programs don’t—you have to get in on pure merit!</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

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<p>rising senior here, going to apply ed for LSM next year.
any tips on my essays?? how much do SATs/ACTs matter?? </p>

<p>thank you!</p>

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<p>alohamora14: The essays are huge, especially the LSM one. That is one of the main ways they determine fit for the program! SATs/ACTs do matter (what are your scores?) but I’d say if your test scores are within the range, then that won’t be the factor that gets you in/out (the essay probably will).</p>