Need Advice

Applying to College
1

Hello,

I’m currently a high school senior, and I made this thread to ask for advice regarding the rest of college and high school. I didn’t come into high school aware of all the competitiveness and feel as if I could have done better and had better shots at selective universities. However, I am planning to apply for medical school and attend after I complete my undergraduate studies, and I want to know how to be well prepared to be competitive for top tier medical schools.

Information about my high school career:
My freshman grades were not too good, I had a few B’s (85-92 on our scale) due to unique reasons, but still maintained a 93+ GPA both semesters. The next two years, I had a single B but A’s in the rest of my classes, raising my GPA to about a 95. My ACT was a 32 (35M, 30E, 31R, 31S) and I got 800 on Math II. I took as many APs as I could (took AP Eng Lang and APUSH but only got 3s since I choked), and I am taking 5 APs this year (Span, Calc AB, Chem, AP Eng Lit, AP Euro). My school doesn’t offer any higher classes than these.

Info about college application process:
Not asking for chances but wanted to list them out. Reaches include UChicago, JHU, Princeton, Rice, Columbia, UCLA, UC Berkeley. Unfortunately I already got rejected from my ED school, Northwestern. I’m not sure if this is a reach or not but I applied Engineering, Undecided in UIUC. Others include NYU, UW Madison, Loyola Chicago, IIT, UIC (accepted for chem eng), DePaul (accepted in pathway honors and chem).

The thing is, I’m split over doing Applied Math, Chem / Chem. Eng. as a major. I know engineering is very grade deflating but some are suggesting it to me saying that “if you get rejected from med school then u can still get a job”. However, I still applied as an Applied Math major to nearly all my reaches.

That was all background information, but my question is this: how can I be significantly prepared and stand out as a very competitive applicant to med school? For my final semester of high school, should I self learn any subjects, take any APs, etc? I also know very, very little bio because I felt my teacher wasn’t all that great freshman year, so should I start learning it now since you need it significantly?

Any reply would be appreciated, thank you.

2

I don’t see a difference in demand between Chem E or Applied Math. Depending on the field you want within Applied Math/the path you take, there’s actually MORE demand in math than in engineering. So don’t make the decision on your major based on what “some are suggesting”, because to be honest, they are wrong. They aren’t experts on Applied Math hiring. What I’d suggest is that you take the initial classes for both majors and for pre-med (which have a decent amount of overlap in the first term) while you look into each major, including using the resources that will be available to you via the departments and the uni career center. Then decide. Which may mean that regardless of which major you applied as, you pick a school that 1) offers both majors (so you can change your mind as you wish to) and 2) is a good fit for you overall, including financially.

You’d stand out as much out of engineering as out of math re: med school applications. Both are less common than bio majors re: applications. But having a less common major won’t balance out low GPA or MCAT scores at all, so again, this isn’t really something you need to be obsessing about. Either one would be fine. If you personally prefer math, major in math. If you also feel you can do better in math, major in math. You’ll be employable out of either field.

I don’t know that you need to fully self study bio. You may be better served by a review, rather than a full self study. What might be useful is to begin some study on human anatomy and physiology. That would be useful because you’ll need that info in college and for med school, and it’s a lot of highly detailed info to learn; some basic knowledge of what each thing is and where, what it does might be helpful. You might also start doing things (volunteer work in a hospital, informational interviews, job shadowing) related to future careers you might like in medicine, research, actuarial science, finance, chem E.)

3

  1. Major One thing to consider is which major has more overlap with the pre-med curriculum. I would think it would be Chem E because you have to take Chem, Ochem , Calc and Physics.
    It is true that most potential pre-med majors don’t end up going to med school so a back up plan is a must.

  2. What to do now? Academically, nothing. Self-studying won’t help for med school (they don’t take courses from AP credit). It is better that you take the course in college. It is also better now that you do well in your HS classes.

  3. I would try to volunteer in a clinical setting…see if you like being around patients.

4

You can always take the courses needed for pre-med as electives in a Math curriculum. Most importantly, is whether you like engineering. If you are not keen on the discipline your GPA will inevitably suffer so choose the major you like the most as a potential career path if you end up not going to medical school.

5

Is it premature to worry about med school before college admits to choose among? Yes, you’ll need to strengthen your bio soon. Yes, it will help to work on that now, rather the get weeded out in college freshman bio. I do agree the most strenuous bio review can top AP self study. Maybe get a college level bio text book, as well.

Are you happy with the admit and safeties? Maybe you did choke at the AP tests, but you want to somehow ensure you’re ready for all the college rigor, able to get a high gpa. That is not choosing a UG reach that can threaten your interest in medicine. Weeding can be brutal. It means the deck is stacked against you, at many colleges.

And, some of your chances of doing well in college engineering, math or a more general bio major will depend on what courses you got the B grades in. If they’re vital stem classes, you want to be careful you aren’t underestimating the college difficulty.