Match Me - rising high school senior interested in pre-med, ambitious w/ high hopes but building diverse list [CO resident, 3.904 GPA, 33 ACT super score]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I did a match me a few months ago but somethings have changed, namely I have narrowed down my preference to want to be on the west coast or if not the west coast in one of a few specific states and have ACT scores now. I’d appreciate any school recommendations and maybe some chancing on the schools I list at the bottom. Thanks in advance!

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: Colorado
  • Medium-sized (~1300 total students) public high school known for strong academics offering individual IB classes, the full IB Diploma Programme and AP classes. 17% of my class are IBDP Candidates, >80% of a given graduating class take at least 1 IB or AP course in high school.
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Male/White/non-enrolled Native American but have clear tribal ties (I plan to write my essays something along the lines of how my Native American heritage ties into my passion of pursuing a career in medicine).
  • Other special factors: double legacy at a specific ivy, heavily considering this school (not naming school as I already have enough personal info to identify me)
    Intended Major(s): Biology on pre-med track, possibly Spanish as additional major (if not minor). Native American studies or Ethnic studies major/minor at schools where offered.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.904
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.441 out of 5.0 (freshman year I went to a different school where mostly everything was 4.0 weighted, all my classes junior and senior year are/will be 5.0 weighted).
  • Class Rank: Top 10%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: ACT 33 superscore, plan on retaking targeting 34-35

Coursework
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Higher Level: Biology, Chemistry, Psychology
Standard Level: English, Math A&I, Spanish
all academic classes in 10th grade were honors level
school in 9th grade did not formally designate any courses as honors level

Awards
1st place student choice winner in regional science fair (high school)
State science fair nomination (high school)
Honor roll every semester
3x selection for prestigious sporting event in other states as referee, officiated final this year (youngest from state selected, I am considered in the top 1% of referees for this sport in my state)

Extracurriculars
refereeing sport (top 1% of referees in state, don’t want to get too specific)
clinical volunteer at 2 area hospitals (one of which by very selective competitive application process) - accumulated over 100 hours in patient-facing volunteer roles
offered internship at hospital for next summer
raised over 20k for non-profit organization, recognized publicly for efforts chairing fundraising team
leadership positions at 4 organizations
president of student advisory council at non-profit (council has >15 members)
competed in science fair 7th-9th grade, placed 2/3 years

Essays/LORs/Other
Strong LORs, Strong unique essay that ties in my ambitions (specific field of medicine as a doctor) to my family heritage (native american)

Cost Constraints / Budget
Not a factor, I am fortunate enough to not have to consider budget while choosing a college. I will not qualify for any need based aid.

Schools
Preferences:
->>2500 students, <30k students (big range I know, knowing myself I think I can succeed anywhere except a super small school)
→ Preferably on the US West Coast with a few exceptions such as Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina or Florida
→ Absolutely will not go to school in Wyoming, Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, North or South Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia or Alabama

Please provide schools for the safety/target/reach categories

My thoughts as of today:
->I am deciding between applying ED to Northwestern or REA to Stanford
->Plan to apply EA to UMich, UNC Chapel Hill and probably other public universities with EA
->Extremely interested in UCSD so will do UC Application and likely apply to 5 or so UC schools
->Will also apply to the ivy I am a 2x legacy at and Brown’s PLME program (yes very competitive but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take so…)
->100% applying to University of Colorado Boulder and then University of Colorado Denver’s BS/MD Program

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Congratulations on being an accomplished and competitive applicant. I will only address the California UC’s in this post.

The UC’s are test blind so your ACT score will only be used for course placement so not part of admissions or scholarship consideration. They also cannot consider Race/Ethnicity in the admissions review.

The UC’s have their own GPA calculation and they consider 3 UC GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped weighted and Fully weighted.

The calculator below will calculate all 3 UC GPA’s for the a-g course requirements taken the summer after 9th through the summer prior to 12th. Extra honors.points are only given to OOS applicants for the AP/IB or DE UC transferable courses taken during this time.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

2022 Admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 0%
Davis 58% 20% 5% 2%
Irvine 35% 10% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 13% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 95% 85%
Riverside 95% 83% 42% 17%
San Diego 37% 8% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 41% 8% 3% 0%
Santa Cruz 69% 45% 16% 4%

As a potential “Pre-Med” student, just be aware that CA is one of the most difficult states for med school admissions. Only 17% of CA applicants matriculate to an in-state (public or private) medical school so attending a CA school could be seen as a disadvantage.

https://www.aamc.org/media/6016/download

Below are some UC Biology major admit rates:
2022 admit Rates

Campus Biology
UC Berkeley 12% for College of L&S
UC Davis 45% for College of Biological Sciences
UC Irvine 23.7%
UCLA 10% for College of L&S
UC Merced 93%
UC Riverside 66%
UC San Diego No data but <20% Capped major
UC Santa Barbara 27% for College of L&S
UC Santa Cruz 52%

Depending upon the UC campus and where the Biology is housed, some do not admit into the major directly but into the College and then require you to declare the major later.

2022 UC admit rates by residency
2022 Freshman admit rates

Campus CA RESIDENT OUT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL
Berkeley 14.5% 8.6% 5.5%
Davis 32.3% 59.8% 43%
Irvine 18.2% 36.6% 21%
Los Angeles 9.2% 8.9% 5.8%
Merced 100% 78.6% 81.7%
Riverside 66% 88.1% 68.%
San Diego 23.8% 31.5% 15.5%
Santa Barbara 26.7% 28.8% 19.7%
Santa Cruz 43.2% 70.7% 55.4%

Best of luck.

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How does your school do with Stanford? Our great public, IB school sends 2-3 students to Stanford every year - and every single one of them is a recruited athlete. If it’s your dream and you’ll always wonder, shoot your shot. My daughter watched the valedictorian with perfect scores and wonderful, non-athletic ecs get rejected while Stanford picked up 3 athletes with good, not great academics that year and realized what Stanford was looking for and didn’t bother applying. As I said, if it’s your number one and you’ll wonder, make the best decision for you - but Stanford really, really likes CO athletes.

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Don’t mention the ones from 7th or 8th grade; colleges are only interested in 9th grade on up.

My suggestions from your previous thread still stand, though I’ve unbolded the ones I think you might be less interested in. Also, you may want to have a conversation with your family to see if they are will to cover all your educational expenses through medical school (8 years), or if they would be willing to use any savings from college towards medical school. (What I mean is, if you attend a college that is $30k/year rather than $90k/year, would they let the $240k savings ($60k/year) be applied toward med school instead.) If they’re willing and able to pay for all 8 years of your planned education, great. If not, I would strongly urge you to spend less on undergrad so that you don’t have to take as much out in loans for medical school.

I’ll think of some more schools for you, though.

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Not fully knowing the complete vibe of what you want (but getting a bit of a sense from your current list), I’ve sorted some schools by my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be. The bolded schools are possible additions to your list. The unbolded ones are the ones from your list, placed according to my idea of what your chances are.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • U. of Colorado - Boulder
  • Cal State-Chico: About 13k undergrads and a WUE school
  • Gonzaga (WA): About 5100 undergrads
  • Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads
  • Sonoma State (CA): About 6k undergrads and a WUE school
  • U. of Denver (CO): About 6200 undergrads
  • Washington State: About 23k undergrads, a WUE school, and offers an undergraduate certificate in Native American studies
  • Western Washington: About 14k undergrads, a WUE school, and the surrounding area might also be interesting from your heritage perspective

Likely (60-79%)

  • St. Olaf (MN): About 3k undergrads. An intellectually rich place less than an hour from the Twin Cities.

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Loyola Marymount (CA): About 7300 undergrads
  • U. of San Diego (CA): About 5700 undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • U. of Miami (FL): About 13k undergrads

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Northwestern
  • Stanford
  • U. of Michigan
  • UNC-Chapel Hill
  • UC-San Diego
  • U. of Colorado – Denver BS/MD
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If truly going to med school, go to CU. You’ll need to save the money.

It’s likely where you’ll end up with this list anyway.

You’ll need a great MCAT and another $400k, not UCSD vs CU.

Best of luck.

Great candidate but way overreaching.

Ps your essay will help them see your ethnicity, which can help.

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This is my opinion only but think this through carefully.
Going to a highly competitive school with your rank and stats will make your college life very stressful as a pre-med.
Since you are full pay, the smart choice is looking at schools that have guaranteed early assurance programs into med school as reaches. Just giving you my local perspective, all high stat kids salivate to go to Duke or UNC and 40% of the entering class at UNC are pre-some type of health major. Do you think committees are looking to write 1200 med school reference letters? What happens then? You guessed it, kids get culled. On the other hand, I come across very few kids that are exploring the early assurance programs at ECU or Campbell (DO).
Not saying you won’t make it but let’s be honest here, you are top 10% not top 10 in your class.
So, the TLDR version is find schools where you can excel, not the brand and think outside the box. Have you considered Atlantic Bridge?

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I’m generally not a fan of BSMD programs, unless it’s flexible enough to allow you to explore other majors in college. Only a select few “premeds” out of high school decide to go to medical school. It’s seriously not for most people, and students find other passions as they mature. My advice…keep an open mind.

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Not to mention, kids good enough for BS/MD should have no problem getting into med school.

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We usually send 2-3 athletes annually who are usually track or cross-country state champions.

I cannot recall someone going to Stanford without being recruited for athletics from my HS in recent years.

Naviance data for 2018 (lastest year displayed) shows 12 applied, 1 accepted, 1 enrolled. Not sure how accurate the scattergram test scores v gpa panel is but it shows the following were accepted:

  • SAT 1280 | GPA 4.5 | EA
  • SAT 1360 | GPA 4.1 | RD
  • ACT 36 | GPA 4.5 | EA

All of those except the third one seem like student-athlete recruit numbers to me

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Thank you for your honest response!

CU is certainly in consideration but I really want to go out of state if that is at all possible.

Very good points about the 400k being a big part of the med school plan :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

In terms of this; what if the med school plan doesn’t pan out? Won’t I be better off with a BS from UCSD than one from Colorado for my professional future? Or will that not matter

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It won’t matter.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I will keep this in mind while looking for schools. Unfortunately, the only school with a EAP in the western US is UC Riverside. I don’t know much about ECU or Campbell, do they have a substantial out-of-state student population/are those two specifically worth looking into.

No, I haven’t heard of that! Do you mind sharing more about what that is?

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Depends on major and circumstance abd what you want to do.

Success is mainly based on your hustle and drive, not the school.

You might go to Wyoming or N Colorado and be more successful than UCSD. Both my kids chose safeties over reaches and both are kicking butt - they hustle.

In general terms, the answer to your question is no - but you never know who you meet or are exposed to anywhere and you’re unlikely to be better off at UCSD than CU or vice versa. Bith have their own strengths. A pre med, if a science, without med is more likely to struggle than say a business or engineering major.

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Interested in premed and extremely interested in UCSD?
Random thoughts:

UCSD COA starting in fall 2023 for non residents living on campus is over 72k. This does not include such additional costs as travel to and from Colorado.
https://fas.ucsd.edu/cost-of-attendance/undergraduates/tuition-stability-plan/undergraduates/undergraduates_2023-2024.html

UCSD only guarantees 2 years of on campus housing. After that you can move into pricey La Jolla, or go to less cheaper housing further away from campus but that may entail the need for a car and associated costs.

Except for Cal and U Merced, all other UC campuses including UCSD operate on a blazing fast 10 week quarter system. You have to stay on top of material from day one. 10 weeks goes fast.

In LD premed reqs, you can find yourself in a lecture hall with perhaps 250 students many who have stats very, very comparable to yours, and all competing for the limited number of precious As.

Preferences:->>2500 students, <30k students
In article below, note that as of March 2023, UCSD has just over 42k students (probably includes both undergrad, grad, and others etc). The point is it’s a busy place.

I just came across an interesting website below about being a premed at UCSD. Please note that I have NO connection to this company.

Good luck to you.

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That’s a lot to consider regarding UCSD (also just FWIW UCSD claims ~32000 undergrad students and that’s close enough to my 30k cap for me especially because of the way they set up their residential colleges).

What are some other schools that have good weather, nice/modern student housing, and have invested a lot into their natural science programs in recent years? Those are some of the main reasons I am drawn to UCSD so I would like to explore other similar options if anyone knows of any.

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Have you looked at Santa Clara University?

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Santa Clara’s dorms get a good grade on Niche and is in a lovely location.

I don’t know what the investments in natural science programs have been like at the schools below, but they seem to meet some of your other criteria. I used Niche ratings for dorms & food which is received based on student surveys. It’s not the greatest methodology, but it’s a data point when few are available.

  • Christopher Newport (VA): About 4600 undergrads, dorms get an A+, food gets an A

  • Coastal Carolina (SC): About 9800 undergrads, dorms get an A, food gets a B+

  • Elon (NC): About 6300 undergrads, dorms get an A, food gets a B+

  • Florida Gulf Coast: About 14k undergrads, dorms get an A+, food gets a B+

  • Mississippi State: About 18k undergrads, dorms get an A, food gets an A+

  • Sonoma State (CA): dorms get an A+, food gets a B, WUE school

  • UC-Merced: About 9k undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets a C-, WUE school

  • U. of Mississippi: About 17k undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets an A

  • U. of North Carolina – Asheville: About 2900 undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets a C+

  • U. of North Carolina – Charlotte: About 23k undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets an A

  • U. of Richmond (VA): About 3100 undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets an A

  • U. of Tampa (FL): About 9600 undergrads, dorms get an A-, food gets a B

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Those were two random examples. There are many others. Also, it is easier if you are willing to venture a little further from western states. Look at University of South Florida and their assurance programs.
Atlantic Bridge is the program to study in Ireland. It is a much easier admit if you can pay as you indicated. Galway is fabulous.

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