<p>I'm currently a junior, new to all this college selection stuff... and I'm not really sure what would constitute a "match" for me... any suggestions?</p>
<p>White, middle-class female at a public high school in California. I want to eventually go into medicine.</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0
SAT: 2360 (800CR/ 770M/ 790W)
SAT II Math IIC: 800
Plan to take SAT II French, and SAT II Chem</p>
<p>Honors classes taken (soph year)
Chem
French 4
Precalculus</p>
<p>APs taken (junior year)
Chem
French 5
Calc BC</p>
<p>APs I plan to take next year:
Biology
Lit
possibly Physics HONORS</p>
<hr>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Taekwon-do, since 8th grade. I'll have my black belt by the time I apply to colleges. About 5 hours a week. Occasionally volunteer to help with the younger kids' classes.
Cross country, two years of JV and varsity this year. Will be a co-captain next year.
Track, JV every year so far.
School clubs:
- French Honor Society (Treasurer this year. Was a member since I was invited at the end of freshman year.)
- Link Crew leader (the group that organizes freshman orientation and stuff. Will be 2 years.)
- National Honor Society (will probably be 2 years)
- French Club (will be 4 years)
- Gay-Straight Alliance (will be 3 years)</p>
<p>Awards:
Freshman year: single person chosen for school-wide Computer Aided Design departmental award
Soph year: single person chosen for school-wide French 4 Honors departmental award</p>
<p>You're kidding, right? With a 4.0 and a 2340 you can go anywhere. What kind of school would excite you- Small, large? What would you like to major in - engineering, science, liberal arts? Location - urban, rural?</p>
<p>No, I'm not kidding haha :) ... I probably will major in something science-related, to prepare for medical school. Urban or suburban location, I guess. Not sure about size. Just suggest schools, and I'll read up on 'em.</p>
<p>You should look at Ivies and other top schools. You can realistically look at programs that guarantee admission to the med school if you commit to undergrad there. Look at Cornell, U Chicago, Northwestern, MIT, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Emory, U Penn, Harvard, Duke.</p>
<p>It's still early, but you're smart to begin your college search process now -- typically, many juniors plan their Spring Break period to visit schools, and frankly I don't think there's a better way of truly knowing your likes and dislikes than to do some college visits to discover what you like. Very often, high schools spring break periods are different from colleges, so its quite possible to visit a school that is in session.</p>
<p>I would urge you to consider Emory University as well. My daughter (from No. California) attends as a freshman and is on a pre-med track while majoring tentatively in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology. Emory provides tremendous resources for those wanting to pursue health sciences careers, whether that be medicine, public health, or related disciplines. She has had no trouble getting all of her desired classes (both current Fall term and for the Spring 2007 term), with her biggest problem being the huge choices available academically. Class sizes are generally small, and professors are accessible (7:1 student/teacher ratio). Emory has a lovely campus, located on the edge of Atlanta in the Druid Hills neighborhood but being only 20 minutes into downtown Atlanta. The students are focused on academics without being grinders -- with possible exception of pre-med students, who admittedly have to work hard. My daughter is a lab/research assistant to a professor in the Biology Dept., and internships opportunities abound. Relevant to your planned pursuits, Emory has the influence of graduate schools in Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, as well as the Yerkes Research Center and Emory Hospital.</p>
<p>In particular, your academic stats look as if you would be a real contender as a finalist for the Emory Scholars Program. This requires nomination by your H.S. in the Fall of your senior year, and Im sure you would easily get a nomination. It provides for a potentially compelling merit scholarship that could range from partial tuition to full-ride awards.</p>
<p>I would suggest you take a look at the five US Service Academies.</p>
<p>Your qualifications are competitive and the science and engineering programs are very good. </p>
<p>They are definately not for everyone. If you are interested, I suggest you attend one of the Summer Seminars the Academies hold. They are a week long programs that will give you a good idea of what you can expect both academically and physically.</p>
<p>As someone mentioned earlier, I know that Rice, Brown, and Northwestern, along with a number of other universities, offer guaranteed med-school admission programs if that's something that interests you. These programs are, of course, highly competitive, but you have stats that would give you at least a decent chance.</p>
<p>I was just talking to my counselor today, and she very highly UN-recommended those guaranteed admission medical school things. She said it's not as good an education-- it's not enough time to accomplish all that. That was the first bad thing I'd heard about such things though... anyone have any thoughts?</p>
<p>schrizto-- yeah, I'm probably applying to Stanford, but I don't think my ECs are really strong enough :-/</p>
<p>
[quote]
She said it's not as good an education-- it's not enough time to accomplish all that.
[/quote]
While I'm no expert when it comes to the field of medicine, as far as I know the guaranteed programs at schools like Northwestern and Rice take just as much time to complete as it would for anyone else to finish undergraduate and a medical degree. The only difference is that acceptance is guaranteed.</p>
<p>Could be; you'd have to look that up individually, as I have very limited knowledge about those programs. I think there are various threads about them on CC, so you may be able to find out by looking around.</p>