Ivies/High-Tier and BSMDs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Did my best to be concise:

Rank: 6/427 (end of Junior) < Not a crazy HS, sends ~1 ivy/ivy-ish school every other year, typically URM, legacy, athlete
GPA: 3.83 / 4.27 < how big of a problem is my UW?
ACT: 34 (35,36,33,32 - writing pending)
SAT I: 2170 (M: 770, C: 690, W: 720, E: 10). 2nd time got 2080?

SAT II
Math II: 800
Bio M: 690 > RETOOK (waiting for scores but assuming I did fine for schools I’m aiming for)
I did really poorly on Chem (620) and World History (490) sophomore year. I’m specifically applying to schools with score choice for this reason (Harvard is my EA reach instead of Yale). Terrified these scores will come back to haunt me.

APs:
Calc 5
Bio 5
Psych 5
Lang 4 (Self-Study)
World History 4
Span Lang 3
(scholar w distinction)

ECs

YSP program (fairly competitive) - Basically biomolecular research at UC Davis. Will co-author paper.
Shadowed pain management doctor and pediatrician (60 hours total).
Volunteer at Hospital (9-12) . One of three leaders in program of 80 students.
Volunteer tutor for previously homeless children (11,12)
Hospice volunteer (12)
Governor of Interact Club District (oversee 50+ clubs) in Nor Cal.
Established science demonstrations for kids in community. Anticipating funding from local education foundation.
President of Interact club.
VP of CSF and Med club.
Other (Varsity Tennis through jr. year, HOSA, science board)

Recs: Bio, Calc, PI from Davis, school counselor (should all be good)
Essays: alright

Ethnicity: White, from Ca but speak Russian

I’m applying to ~25 of the dual-degrees (Low-High Tier, e.g. Drexel, Miami, PLME, etc) and various traditional schools as “backups”, specifically: higher UCs, Duke, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Harvard (EA) haha

To be fair I’m not a huge fan of the chance me’s but I have a few specific questions/concerns that I would greatly appreciate to have addressed (huge thank you in advance, I’m lightweight very stressed over these things):

  • How much will my “not as competitive” HS, UW GPA, and past SAT scores (which I will not submit) hurt me?
  • Other weaknesses?
  • How well/poorly composed is my list of schools?

Really, thank you so much.

2

I’m 99% sure that even the schools (like Yale) that don’t want you to use score choice allow you to use it for subject tests. I would check.

3

25 schools (not including the UCs, Duke, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, and Harvard) is ridiculous. You aren’t going to have the time to write somewhere between 50 and 100 good, interesting essays that really speak to your personal qualities between now and January. This would demand a pace of ~1 essay a day, churning the university supplements out with few or no rewrites/changes of topic/editing, from now until Christmas. This in addition to spending over $2,000 on application fees alone.

I can guarantee you that on your list there are about 5 schools which you’d consider interchangeable at any given level of selectivity. You should be perfectly happy with the idea of attending your safeties, else there’s no reason to apply, and so you don’t need to apply to 5% of the mid- and upper-tier colleges in the country. Your SAT scores and GPA are such that the only way I can imagine you failing to get in anywhere is if you suddenly decide to apply nowhere except the Ivy League.

Find a pair of safeties and add a couple of your top BS/MD programs and a BS/MD option where acceptance is likely. Throw in a UC or two (often a good place to find safeties if you’re in-state), and the private colleges you mentioned, and that will give you a list of about 10 schools that you can focus on. You’ll get into at least a few, so there’s no need for another 20.

4

@NotVerySmart Most people really interested in the med programs generally apply to that many (I’m not aware of any programs where “acceptance is likely” :P) but I did want some traditional schools as a fall back as well. The prompts usually have overlap so essays aren’t a major concern (not to say the process isn’t intensive; it is). Thank you for the feedback though! I don’t know if you had any specific input regarding chances haha?

5

Why would you walk away from the UCs?

6

@Toshka I can’t say I’m extremely familiar with BS/MD applications, but 25 applications certainly seems very high to me at a glance. If it really is the normal, this is the first I’m hearing of it.

I can’t really comment as to your chances at BS/MD schools. I’d put your chances at the Vanderbilt admissions rate, and generally about 80% of the admissions rate at the other schools you listed.

7

@NotVerySmart how would you think I stack up at say Duke, Vandy, Harvard (ea), la and Berkeley?

8

Duke and Harvard - reach
Vandy, la, Berkely - low reach

9

I would agree with uclaparent’s estimates for the schools you’ve listed.

UCLA could be a high match as you’re a CA resident, though your UC GPA (which you haven’t listed) is what’ll matter there.

10

@clarinetdad16 im not, they’re just not my first

@notverysmart my uc gpa is 4.42 (ish)

11

D’s experience last year was that applying to 20 colleges, about 10 of them being reaches was a mistake. You simply cannot possibly complete applications to this many colleges and have them be tailored to each school and reflect your best work. Applying to colleges is not like carpet-bombing where the law of averages mean more is always better. Your UW GPA Is very, very important when applying to the very top colleges. I think basically all BSMD Programs will be as competitive as other top undergraduate programs.