My type of Pre-Med

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey my name is Ishraq. I am a high school junior in Ohio and just arrived in the US last year from Bangladesh 2nd semester of my sophomore year. My aspiration is to become a doctor. To be honest, I think my strengths lie in Sciences like Biology and Chemistry, complemented with my ambition to become a doctor, I think its possible for me to survive. However, I'm not really familiar with too many colleges here and don't know which one is right for me. So below are some things about myself, so please feel free to advise me and suggest a college:</p>

<p>1) 4.2 GPA by end of junior year, 4.3 possibly by Mid-October of senior year.</p>

<p>2) Haven't taken SAT/ACT yet but will take ACT Prep and ACT in June.</p>

<p>3) Financially not too strong, dad is unemployed and mom barely earns. We live on savings atm. (How do I afford prep class? hard work by mom .. off topic :D)</p>

<p>4) Taking AP Chem, AP Language, AP Psychology exams this year. For senior year, I'm taking a)AP Bio, b)AP Lit, c)AP Gov, d)AP Phys/IB Phys SL (AP Phys exam in either case) and e) AP Calc AB/BC (depends on my summer study). *Did not mention regular classes. *Could have taken more AP's thus higher GPA if arrived in US earlier.</p>

<p>5) I know how to speak 3 languages fluently (Bangla, Hindi and English) and how to write 3 (Bangla, English and Japanese). </p>

<p>Main stuff:
1) I like smaller sized classes compared to large gargantuan classes where student professor interaction is insignificant. Of course I dont want to chat with my professor all class but I want to be able to ask questions to thoroughly comprehend.</p>

<p>2) I heard about dual degree programs like BS/MD which dont really require too many electives. I am interested in those since I prefer to focus on medicine and medicinal courses alone as much as possible. But its tough to get into a decent one. On the other hand, there are other great universities like Duke (dont know if i have a chance).</p>

<p>3) I wont lie to you. Rankings do kind of matter to me, but not like in absolute magnitude. I wouldn't want to do Pre-Med in total self study Johns Hopkins (though self study is my specialty). </p>

<p>So please let me know what Uni you think is right for me. Advises are welcome heartily but do try to name colleges that you think are right for me. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Please people, i need some help here. I urge you to post your views.</p>

3

<p>Are you a green card resident? </p>

<p>If you’re still considered an int’l, then you could have additional problems getting aid.</p>

<p>Until you have some ACT scores (take the SAT, too), no one can really advise you.</p>

<p>Since money is a problem, you need to set aside rankings and have a strategy to get college paid for.</p>

<p>If your stats are high enough, then your strategy will be to apply to elite schools that meet need without big loans AND to apply to some lower tier schools that will give you huge merit for your stats. Since you’ll be pre-med, you’re only concern needs to be going to a school that has good math and science classes, a strong MCAT score, and strong GPA for med school.</p>

<p>However, if you’re an int’l, things will be even more difficult.</p>

4

<p>Since you don’t mind self-study, get a copy of “The Real ACT”, which has several practice tests. If money is an issue, don’t rule out your local community college. It can be a good way to start. You may want to check out NEOUCOM’s program if you are an Ohio resident
[NEOUCOM</a> | Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy](<a href=“http://www.neoucom.edu/]NEOUCOM”>http://www.neoucom.edu/)
or to find out more information, check out the pre-med forum listed towards the bottom of the main discussion page.</p>