What schools do you have in mind? I feel you are being guided correctly by everybody. Have you looked at the scores for Stony Brook? It is not a safety.
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One more thought for you- niche schools (I’ve already mentioned women’s colleges) can often have what looks like a high acceptance rate but are MUCH more competitive, rigorous, etc. than the stats appear to show. The applicant pool is already self-selected so the mere arithmetic is not a good proxy for how tough the college is.
On that note- the Catholic schools (you don’t need to be Catholic to attend, although some are a better fit for non-Catholics than others) are often a terrific and under valued place to look. Others have mentioned Holy Cross, I mentioned Stonehill and some others upthread-- but if you take a systematic approach to the Catholic colleges in your desired geographies I think you’ll see some surprises. Many of them have fantastic track records getting kids into med school. Not just because of the rigorous preparation- but also because of very strong advising. You need savvy advisors to help you thread the needle on community involvement, shadowing, rigorous prep for the MCAT’s, keeping your GPA high while not sacrificing sleep or a social life.
And also the unmentionable- going to a college with a strong track record preparing kids for OTHER careers if you decide medicine is not for you, or if you fall in love with another subject. Most pre-meds don’t end up in med school, so finding a college which will launch you elsewhere is also important.
One of my kids friends (med school wannabee since third grade) is now working as an epidemiologist (you need grad school but it’s not as lengthy or as expensive as med school). His answer to “why didn’t you become a doctor?” is some version of “Why would I settle for seeing 20 patients a day when I can help heal tens of thousands at a time?” (he predicts infectious disease transmission rates-- by geography and by demographic group- for a pharmaceutical company). Every time I read about monkey pox or avian flu or some other disease which is killing tens of thousands of people in other parts of the world I think of him…
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Stony Brook’s acceptance rate is under 50%. That’s more selective than U Maryland, Rutgers, UMass Amherst, Penn State and UConn, all considered to be excellent flagship state U’s.
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Binghamton and Stony Brook are not safety schools for this student, at least not right now. That is why I am so confused as to why she keeps dismissing them and asking why she cannot do better.
OP I would not underestimate premed at these schools (I am including Buffalo in the mix).
I sound like a broken record.
OP these schools get a lot of top 1% students applying as a safety. Some of these students attend and will be your classmates.
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Try Auburn, my son just got accepted and we have had great visits. They will give some money to out of state students
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Ill keep them in mind, I wouldn’t want a womens-only college but I’ll definitely do a double check
Got it sorry
Better = prestige, high-quality resources/professors/campis
Thanks for the tips
Thanks! Ill write those down
Find a few safety and match schools and then you can apply to any other schools you want. Elon is a good suggestion.
If she works hard and is successful than i am in no place to judge her. Im talking about people who don’t care about school and aren’t good students in the sense where they are rude and disrespectful and drag everyone else down
Im not in a position to look down on others academically. I just feel suspicious of a good school that would let so many people who didn’t put in the effort or care
I finished geometry and algebra 2/trig with a 90-95. Im currently in pre calc and I have a 93. All honors, all unweighted.
Physics is a lot of math, and i have a 99% unweighted, honors too. I like physics, thats it.
I forget exactly what i got on the math psat but it was 650-670. I didn’t study that much so i plan on getting a 720+ for the math section on the sat.
I looked into stony and i like it. However their sat is only 1320-1480. And gpa 3.84. Im assuming my ecs need work but they aren’t that bad. The problem is talking to my dad about it, as i said before we had a chat this morning that didn’t go anywhere
Ive competed against top students before; I can do it again. I wont underestimate the competition but im definitely not scared. Maybe its not evident in my stats but its something ive done decently. Academic competition just doesn’t scare me. I like it
Also i like buf but isn’t it in a city? The campus looked very urban.
Stony Brook Fall 2022:
GPA mid 50th percentile 92-97
SAT (doesn’t give a breakdown) mid 50th percentile 1250-1450
ACT mid 50th percentile 26-33
This school looks like a match for you
Parts of UB are more urban, but Amherst is a suburb.
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Isn’t their average sat in the 1200s?
My current weighted gpa is around a 97, and my sat is gonna be at least a 1500. I will take test after test till i get this score- i can accept failure but not that failure, lol. Are my ecs bad?
I will say; I do really like stony. Especially after more research
Your ECs are not “bad.” You may or may not get to 1500, you don’t know yet. Getting less than a 1500 is not “failure.” This is the type of talk that I find worrisome.
You keep talking about “competing,” not being “scared” to compete, etc. Is this what you want your four years to be like? A long, long competition?
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Btw for everyone who dmed me privately- thank you! Im at work rn ill reply when i get home
Maybe failure is the wrong word. More like missing a goal that I know I can achive with significantly more, but definitely possible, effort.
All my life ive been competitive. Sports, academics, other competition after mini competition. I live for the thrill of competition. It can be stressful but I like it. I know that’s immature to a degree tho, and recently ive been taking a more altruistic approach. I take a lead role in our schools Peer Tutoring and Campus Ministry groups, and i always drop whatever im doing to help other people. I dont wanna exaggerate my achievements- im no lifesaver, but partially because of my faith I generally put the well being of others above my own. Or at least try to
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