I went to NYU for premed and now am in MSTP (MD/PhD program) in respected school. It is great school to attend as a premed. There is a good balance between smart and dumb people. You want to be around with smart people for obvious reasons but having dumb people in your class allows you to stand out in the class. I was never good in chemistry so I struggled in orgo; however, there are plenty of people who are dumber than you. Some premed classes are curved so as long as you do better than most people you can get an A. I honestly don’t think I would’ve been able to maintain 3.8 GPA if I went to Columbia, Cornell, etc. Also, NYU has okay reputation for being a decent school, so lot of admissions people at medical school will respect 4.0 from NYU unlike from low ranked schools.
I attend NYU, currently a junior with a 3.9+ GPA and a 4.0 science GPA. NYU’s pre-med program is challenging, but it is rewarding. NYU’s aid also has gotten significantly better over the past several years. You’ll have to bring up your GPA and get a high SAT score to get into NYU, especially now considering the acceptance rate is only 19%, but if you do manage to get in and can afford it, think about it. NYU is a great balance of work and play, and it really forces a student to grow up and be independent. Plus, it forces you to learn science, because the science classes here are no joke. I believe around 50% of the students in my class ended up failing or withdrawing from organic chemistry, so it forces you to learn the material or be weeded out. Also, your competition is very high, but like the above post said, there are a wide spectrum of students here. At the end of the day, I don’t regret my decision to coming to NYU, because I can always applaud myself that I didn’t take the easy way out, competed with some of the brightest students in the country, and obtained a world-class education. On top of that, my MCAT score was in the 99%+ of the country, largely in part to the long hours I spent in the library here.
Hi, I’m a current junior in high school and NYU has been my dream school since seventh grade. As a junior, the panic of having to apply to my dream school next year is starting to set in. I want to apply to CAS for linguistics. Following will be my hopefully decent resume:
I go to a high school/vocational-technical college, and you can apply for magnets/academies (similar to a college major) and you will take your academy class through all 4 years in high school. I am in the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet, Theatre Academy. We also work on a 4 quarter grading period.
Freshman Year:
Algebra 1: 3.91
Honors English I: 4.0
Spanish: 4.0
Physical Science: 3.5
AP World History: 97% (4.00)
Drama: 3.7
Final GPA: 4.3 (Weighted) 4.00 (Unweighted)
Sophomore Year:
Honors Geometry: 93%
Honors English II: 94%
AP Seminar: 4.0
AP Psychology: 4.0
Honors Biology: 82% (2.7)
Drama: 3.33
Final GPA: 4.58, 3.75
Junior Year
Leadership: 4.0
AP English Language and Composition: 3.93
AP Research: 4.0
AP U.S. History: 90% (3.5)
AP Biology: 70%%
Drama: 3.75
Final GPA: 4.700, 3.767
I’m also taking 2 honors classes (to get ahead): honors Algebra 2, honors Chemistry
Possible Senior Schedule:
AP English Literature
AP United States Government
AP Environmental Science
AP Art History
Yearbook
Drama
Extra Curriculars:
9th: Cinderella (costume crew), CrossFit (sport- I’ve been doing this for nearly five years), STAND club
10th: CrossFit, Sundiata (costume crew), A Funny Thing… (musical-performer), National Honors Society, Tutoring (I tutored a group of AP world history students the entire year and helped my teacher out the entire year by grading papers, making games for her students, etc.)
11th: CrossFit, Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical-performer), National Social Studies Honors Society (President), National English Honors Society, National Honors Society, Tutoring
12th: Crossfit, Yearbook Editor, National Social Studies Honors Society (Vice President), National English Honors Society (Historian), National Honors Society (Vice President)
Other:
Gymnastics: 6 years (not currently doing gymnastics)
Violin: 5 years (not currently playing, but plan on auditioning for the school musical orchestra)
I’m also Peruvian, Brazilian, and Italian, both my parents went to college, and I live in Miami, Florida.
What are my chances?? There’s no other school I want to go to. I will also be applying to NYU Early Decision I.
Thank
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“There’s no other school I want to go to.”
This is a problem.
There are very large numbers of very good universities in the US. You need to start looking closely at other universities. You need to find several that you would be happy attending. If there is only one school that you are happy to attend, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. @nyu2023 You say that you live in Florida. You have very good in-state public options. You need to seriously look at them.
Also, you need to find out what your budget is, and run the NPC on every university that you are considering.
“Dream schools” can turn into nightmares rather quickly.
Thank you for your answer! I’ve been considering other schools and in terms of finances, a school in Florida is the best option. However, if I get enough scholarships and somehow get financial aid, then I’ll attend NYU. But do you believe I’m a good candidate to gain admission to NYU? Also, I don’t know if I should apply early decision or regular decision. I’m aware the former is a binding option unless you don’t get enough financial aid but with the latter, I have the opportunity to get waitlisted and still get in should I not get in right away. Any advice?
As a general rule, do not count on waitlist to get in a school, ANY school. If you have a better choice, I’d suggest not to apply NYU ED, your chance to get merit aid is slim, unless you have the stats to get in HYPMS, if so you might get merits from NYU. Its a school known for stingy aids.
@keenscholar You have gotten some very good advice and some I disagree with. I have a daughter with a higher GPA than you and she desperately wants to be a doctor. She will absolutely not be going to the most highly ranked school she could get into. I have come to believe that (unless you are a true genius) if your real dream is medical school, you need to give up on the idea of a “dream” school. Go to the school that you can afford and where you will be at the top of the class. You need a very high GPA to have a shot at any US medical school.
As for now, your number one job is to prepare for eventual success in college. Learn how to get straight A’s. Figure out how you study best. Don’t be satisfied with anything less. You will need those skills in college. Sitting up front is a great suggestion. It helped my daughter tremendously. Go to EVERY extra help session the teacher offers. You will learn that teachers are always giving out hints about what material they really want you to know.
I disagree a bit with the poster who suggested that you not take hard courses and instead focus on raising your GPA. I feel that since you should not be targeting highly competitive schools like NYU, GPA is not your biggest concern. Learning how to succeed in difficult courses IS.
You have some great options in CA. Don’t be tricked into thinking prestige is important. Any reputable four year college is sufficient as long as you do the work there. Remember, its not only classes. You will have to put in numerous hours of clinical volunteering and community service and potentially research. Its a hard road. Its really only worth it if you are truly passionate about medical schools. There are far easier ways to earn a living.
In California, the university that gives you the best odds is likely UC Riverside - look into their medical pathways.
CPP, cal poly slo, UC Davis are likely on your radar already.
Smaller private colleges may be better than UCs in terms of weedout - thy need to maintain a certain level of research obviously. Oxy, Pitzer, Scripps, as reaches. St Mary’s, LMU as safeties. Lewis and Clark if you want something with strong sciences and Oos.