my chances of getting accepted to NYU for pre-med?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>NYU is my top choice right now.
I applied in the ED II agreement to hopefully increase my chances of getting accepted. I applied to the College of Arts and Sciences for a major in Biology. I have a 3.89/4.0 Unweighted GPA. Im ranked 13 out of 807 students. I was president of HOSA (health occupations for students of america) my senior year and historian last year. I have been an intern at 2 hospitals within a program at my school last year. I volunteer at the hospital every friday as well. My senior class schedule is as follows:</p>

<p>1st & 2nd-EMT (emergency medical tech)
3rd- Chemistry AP
4th- Phlebotomy (this is a certification course)
5th- Gov. Honors
6th- English Honors
7th- Phlebotomy
8th- Biology AP</p>

<p>my highest ACT scores are as follows:
English-29
Reading-28
Math-28
Science-27
Writing-27
Composite: 27</p>

<p>what are my chances of being accepted? and does NYU have a good pre-med program?</p>

2

<p>I think you have a good chance getting in at NYU.</p>

<p>I’m sure NYU can provide a very good pre-med education.</p>

<p>Since you’re applying ED to NYU, does that mean that your parents will pay for you to go there? If not, that will be a bigger problem.</p>

3

<p>Well my parents would help me a bit but I figured I will have to get loans. I’m also going to be looking for any outside scholarships that I can find.</p>

4

<p>You need a better ACT score for NYU. I don’t think a 27 will cut it in your situation. I have seen friends with 32s get rejected, and they had better EC’s and similar class ranks.</p>

5

<p>*Well my parents would help me a bit but I figured I will have to get loans. I’m also going to be looking for any outside scholarships that I can find. *</p>

<p>Birene…</p>

<p>If your goal is med school, then do NOT take out extra loans for undergrad. Borrowing for med school is a big deal (some have to borrow $200k or more). If you also borrow a good amount for undergrad then you’ll be buried in debt.</p>

<p>Don’t borrow more than $25-30k TOTAL for undergrad. </p>

<p>As for private scholarships…they are often hard to get, for smallish amounts, and for only freshman year. That will likely leave you “high and dry” for soph, jr, and sr years. </p>

<p>I really don’t think NYU is a good idea for you. Too much debt. And, your stats do not suggest that you’d have a top GPA at NYU when competing against kids coming in with ACT 32+ </p>

<p>If you REALLY want to go to med school, go where you can afford to go and where you can get a high GPA. Don’t sabotage yourself by going to a school that is too expensive and will likely result in a GPA that is low for med school acceptance.</p>

<p>Where else are you applying? What is your home state?</p>

6

<p>well I’m in Texas so I also applied to UT and Baylor.</p>

7

<p>Are you in the top 8% of your school and have guaranteed admittance to UT?</p>

<p>Did you only apply to 3 schools?</p>

8

<p>birene,</p>

<p>I’m a college senior right now and am in the process of applying to medical school (it’s gone quite well!)–I have a few thoughts for you because I was faced with a similar situation when I was applying for undergrad.</p>

<p>The first thing I would do would be to identify exactly why you want to go to NYU. What is special about NYU? Why is it the best place for you? What does NYU offer that you think is so absolutely amazing? Write all of these down, and challenge yourself to be really specific. For example, “I want to go to NYU because they have a good biology program” is not as indicative of your motives as “I want to go to NYU because their biology classes are really small, taught by renowned professors, and I learn best in small environments.”</p>

<p>Once you’ve fully explored everything there is to know about NYU, take everything that you’ve written and find their analogues in the less expensive schools you’re applying to. Continuing with the biology example, if you know you’re looking for great profs and small classes, you might discover that UT’s honors college has a bunch of really cool upper level bio classes that fit those criteria. Continue going through each of your NYU items until you’ve found an equivalent (or discovered there isn’t one) at UT (or any other schools). I bet you will find more equivalents than you imagine–at least, that’s what happened to me.</p>

<p>Now you need to analyze the differences between your lists. So let’s say one difference is that NYU offers small bio classes with great profs for all four years, but UT only offers those small bio classes with great profs for two years. Are two years of bio classes–which would amount to maybe 3 or 4 classes total–really worth the extra money you’d be paying to attend NYU? Figure out an answer, then repeat with your comparisons. </p>

<p>In the end, you should have a much better idea what you’re looking for in a college and how much you’re willing to pay to get it. As a high school student you probably don’t have any concept of what it would be like to owe $30k after undergrad and $150k after medical school (assuming you even get there, which is a huge challenge)–and that’s OK. I’m only barely starting to come to terms with my upcoming medical school debt right now and I’m up to the ripe old age of 22!</p>

<p>There’s a lot to be said for saving your money for medical school even if you can’t understand those reasons right now. It’s the route I ultimately chose, and I am relieved that I will not have to pile on huge undergraduate debts after I graduate.</p>

9

<p>As a high school student you probably don’t have any concept of what it would be like to owe $30k after undergrad and $150k after medical school (assuming you even get there, which is a huge challenge)–and that’s OK. I’m only barely starting to come to terms with my upcoming medical school debt right now and I’m up to the ripe old age of 22!</p>

<p>Good point…and a total of $30k in undergrad debt is about the amounts for federal Direct loans. That is really the max amount any undergrad should borrow if the student wants to go to med school. Kristin mentions borrowing $150k for med school, which is a lot, but for those who go to private med schools, the loan amounts can be much higher.</p>

<p>There’s a lot to be said for saving your money for medical school even if you can’t understand those reasons right now. It’s the route I ultimately chose, and I am relieved that I will not have to pile on huge undergraduate debts after I graduate.</p>

10

<p>ive already been accepted to UT and those are the only schools I’ve applied to so far. I didn’t think I needed to apply to any more.</p>

11

<p>Well, as long as you know that your family can afford to pay for UT without taking out big loans, then you’re fine.</p>

<p>however, if all of your schools require good-sized loans, then you may need to also apply to a financial safety school. </p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay each year? If you haven’t, then do so. Do you know what your likely EFC will be?</p>

12

<p>thank you Kristin for your insight :slight_smile: I honestly don’t know what it’s like to be in so much debt, but no matter what school I go to I will be in a lot of debt. Probably around $70 K at the least. I don’t qualify for financial aid because my parents make too much and they don’t really want to help out. So I’m pretty much screwed no matter where I go. And I like NYU because they have so many opportunities for internships and they help you find them. I just feel like it would be the best college experience.</p>

13

<p>birene, where are you planning on borrowing that $17,500 a year for UG? If your parents

does that mean they won’t co-sign notes? If they don’t, it is difficult to imagine a fact situation where you could get that much in loans.</p>

<p>BTW, my niece’s dream school was NYU/Tisch and she got in. She was very proud. Then she got the FA “award”. They didn’t give her squat. She’s a happy Boston U Terrier and loving her college. Student loans don’t exist for you at NYU under the circumstances you outlined. They didn’t exist for my niece either, even if she would have taken them out. They simply weren’t there to take out. It doesn’t sound like your parents are going to co-sign a quarter million dollars worth of notes for you. </p>

<p>NYU is notorious for gapping low efc kids. High efc kids don’t stand a chance.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>This is EXACTLY what I meant when I proposed that you challenge yourself to figure out precisely what it is that’s drawing you to NYU. Tear apart their websites and viewbooks. Send lots of emails. ■■■■■ around their CC site. Do whatever it takes to figure out how to make that quote as specific as possible so that you can begin to figure out if those opportunities are available elsewhere (and maybe I’m biased, but I’m confident that you’ll find them). It’s what I had to do with my dream school (UVA) and my safety (U Missouri) for me to even be close to satisfied with my decision to stay in Missouri–and now with the benefit of retrospect, I absolutely can’t imagine myself anywhere else. </p>

<p>Does that strategy apply as much if UT is nearly as expensive as NYU? (For me, there was a considerable financial argument in that Missouri was wayyyy less expensive than UVA) I’d argue that it does. But that’s just my personal opinion. Either way, I’d definitely recommend figuring out precisely why you want to go to NYU, because even if you still decide to go there, you’ll have that many more reasons to want to go :)</p>

15

<p>I haven’t asked my parents how much they will be contributing each year for college. I think it’s estimated they should give $10 K a year but they are also paying everything for my sister’s school. They already told me that they won’t be co-signing any loans. And congratulations to your niece for getting accepted :slight_smile: As far as NYU goes it truly is my dream school because everytime I learn something new about it it just sounds more amazing and exactly what I’m looking for. But I don’t think I will have to worry about too many loans because I don’t have a good chance of getting accepted. I will most likely end up at Baylor or UT.</p>

16

<p>* I honestly don’t know what it’s like to be in so much debt, but no matter what school I go to I will be in a lot of debt. Probably around $70 K at the least. I don’t qualify for financial aid because my parents make too much and they don’t really want to help out. So I’m pretty much screwed no matter where I go.*</p>

<p>You may not understand how financial aid works. For you to borrow more than the federal loan limits, you will need your parents to co-sign your loans each year. If they aren’t willing to help you much with college costs, then they probably are not going to be willing to co-sign large loans. Many, many parents will NOT co-sign large loans.</p>

<p>I’m telling you this because every spring/summer kids are posting that they didn’t know that their parents were going to have to co-sign there large loans and their parents won’t do it. At that point, the kid is screwed because it’s too late to apply to affordable schools.</p>

<p>If you go to NYU, you’re talking about $100k-200k in debt (depending on how much your parents contribute.) That is just a ridiculous amount. And, again, it’s unlikely your parents will co-sign for that much.</p>

<p>*but no matter what school I go to I will be in a lot of debt. *</p>

<p>That is not true. There are always less expensive alternatives to big undergrad debt. Always.</p>

<p>What state schools can you commute to?</p>

<p>What schools will give you merit for stats? As a pre-med major, you do have options to attend a school that will give you merit for stats. Schools like Troy U or Miss St or UArk give merit for stats…and UArk (I think) will give you instate rates for being in Texas.</p>

<p>another option is to start at a CC to save money, and then go to UT for junior and senior year. </p>

<p>If you do the above option, then you and your parents might be able to save/set aside money for those last 2 years in college.</p>

<p>If you think that your only option is “big debt” then you won’t look for more reasonable options…and they’re out there.</p>

<p>As Kristin points out, she gave up her dream to go to UVA because of cost and chose to go Mizzou. Now, that she’s on her way to med school, she’s very glad that she doesn’t have big debt from her undergrad years.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you really have to protect yourself from making a decision that could ruin your adult life. Newish doctors are not earning enough to pay back big undergrad debt AND big med school debt. </p>

<p>How much WILL your parents give you for college? Even if it’s just a few thousand, at least that is something. I’m assuming that they DO want you to go to college right? If so, how do they expect you to pay for it?</p>

<p>I also suggest taking the SAT and the ACT again. If you bump your scores up, you have a better chance at merit.</p>

<p>Is your ACT 27 a composite from one sitting? Or is it a super scored composite?</p>

17

<p>I am an NYU CAS graduate who’s now in their 4th year of medical school, so I think I have some insight that could be helpful for you.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’ll be straight-up with you. I did not have a good experience with NYU pre-med advising. In fact, I very nearly did not get into medical school because somehow, I fell through the advising cracks and just did not receive the help I needed. It was essentially through my own effort and the help of people like BRM and BDM that I managed to get off waitlists and get acceptances. I also didn’t feel the opportunities for pre-meds were that great, in terms of activities and advising, but that may be the result of my feeling that I wasn’t plugged in well with the pre-med office. Maybe they’ve improved since I graduated in 2007, but I don’t think it’s likely.</p>

<p>You must know that NYU is not the coddling kind of school. You’re dumped into the big city, and you’ve got to learn fast. Other than the pre-med advising, I had a very good time at NYU, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a good time. Are you generally a mature individual? Can you figure things out on your own? Do you want to be at a school that is sometimes at odds with the community in which it exists? Many people have also very wisely pointed out that money is a big issue for many students, and I will be frank - I couldn’t have attended NYU if it weren’t for a big scholarship I received. These are all things you should consider before going.</p>

18

<p>well I’m definitely not going to community college because I don’t want to miss out on the college experience, and I’ve heard that med schools frown on doing pre-med courses at cc. And yes, my parents do want me to go to college :slight_smile: they just don’t like the price tag that comes with it. Can I really take the ACT again at this point? since the deadlines have already passed to submit applications? I scored a 26 the first time, then a 27 the 2nd time but I didn’t study for either, which is definitely one of my biggest regrets. I’m pretty sure I could have brought my score up to a 30 if I studied. </p>

<p>I like to think that I can learn fast and I’ve always been mature for my age. I’ve heard that they don’t have the greatest pre-med advising program or physics courses, but everything else seems to be pretty good. I kind of like that NYU doesn’t coddle students. I don’t want to be babied. I’ve always been pretty independent. but do you think that NYU prepared you for the MCAT?</p>

19

<p>Birene…</p>

<p>Are your parents going to co-sign big loans for NYU? If not, then NYU is really off the table and you need to be thinking of more realistic alternatives.</p>

<p>What Texas state schools are near you?</p>

<p>my parents do want me to go to college they just don’t like the price tag that comes with it.</p>

<p>Well, I can understand that they don’t want a $50k per year price tag. But, are you saying that they won’t even give - say $10k per year - for another school? You need to ask them what they are WILLING to spend on college.</p>

<p>Perhaps your parents don’t understand the whole college process. They want you to go, but don’t know that YOU can’t just borrow your way thru. So, you need to inform them. </p>

<p>Certainly they don’t want the alternative of you not going to college, right? So, you need to educate them about the facts.</p>

<p>YOU can only borrow the following amounts</p>

<p>frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500</p>

<p>Once they know that, they will realize that you need some affordable options that will likely include their contributions.</p>

<p>* Can I really take the ACT again at this point? since the deadlines have already passed to submit applications?*</p>

<p>Yes, you can take the SAT and ACT again for schools that are still accepting applications. Many schools are still accepting apps…some will accept apps up til May. So, study and retest. </p>

<p>Again…what state schools can you commute to? There are many other UTs and TAMUs. Do you live near any of them?</p>

20

<p>I live really close to UTD, but I took a tour yesterday and really don’t like the campus. I think UT is where I will go if I don’t get into NYU. I asked my parents how much they are willing to contribute to college for me and they won’t give me a straight answer. I just told them that whatever they are willing to pay they will have to split in half so they can pay for some of my education as well as my sisters.</p>