<p>I am planning on applying to no more than 10 colleges. I live in the suburbs of Chicago and would slightly prefer to stay close to home.
My Stats and a little back ground:
GPA: 4.455 weighted, 3.85 non-weighted
Top 5% of my class of about 800 in a very competitive school
ACT: 33
SAT: 2130, retaking in a week hopefully raise into the 2200s
Have taken a very rigorous schedule throughout high school, including most honors and AP classes offered at my school.
Where I lack most is extra curricular activities
I've won a few awards for business club i participate in, a few small academic awards, and a couple cross-country dedication and improvement awards.
I have done volunteer research at University of Chicago last summer,but mostly as a learning experience. I didn't do any research on my own that i could get published or anything.
Also I took part in Mini Medical School.
Finally, I plan to major in something like biology and then go to med school.</p>
<p>Colleges Im thinking of applying to:
U of C
Northwestern - HPME
UIC - GPPA program
Wash U. St. Louis - University Scholars Program
Cornell
Johns Hopkins
Brown - PLME program
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
University of Illinois
UC Berkeley (might not apply)
UCLA (might not apply)
Stanford - I know its a huge reach but id love to go there so I think I will try none the less</p>
<p>Northwestern, UIC, Brown, and Wash U. im going to apply to their straight medical programs but I know its pretty hard to get into most so I figure if i don't get in they still consider me for just undergrad. (right?)</p>
<p>Also, I think that a lot of my schools are reaches but I think that I should be able to get in U of I without to much difficulty and I would be not happy but content on going there.</p>
<p>Im really looking for some advice on what everyone thinks and if they have any suggestions?</p>
<p>I think that your list is all right. Double check that the schools still consider you for regular premed undergrad if you do not make the guaranteed admission program. Loyola in Chicago would be a good safer school for you. If you really truly want a guaranteed med school admission, you would probably do better to drop Brown and Stanford and replace them with some good but less prestigious schools. Also, Berkeley and UCLA don't make much sense. UIUC is similar in rank and will cost you less. You should have a good chance at U Chicago and Northwestern, but as everyone says, nothing is guaranteed these days, so take care to put together good applications.</p>
<p>I'd bet you are in at UIUC and even the GPPA program at UIC. Michigan regular admission is a solid match. Would you be happy with just these choices? (If not, look into Vanderbilt, Case Western, Emory and others in that vein.)</p>
<p>Everything else is a reach, as you probably know, from a low/medium reach (Cornell regular admission) to must-walk-on-water reaches (HPME, PLME). It's a nice list, although the schools are very different, and I get the feeling you haven't visited many of them. Visiting might help you reduce your list of reaches somewhat. </p>
<p>You should think about an EA/ED strategy. I believe most ED schools allow you to apply simultaneously to the programs like HPME, which have an early submission deadline. Hopkins and Cornell do have significantly higher admit rates for ED; it's worth considering.</p>
<p>DHRBCO7: Thanks for the advice but do you have a suggestion for which schools could be a better match for me? I think I'll apply to Loyola as OneMom suggests for a better safety school and thanks again for everyone's help.</p>