<p><strong><em>Posted in multiple places, just looking for advice</em></strong></p>
<p>as the time nears for making college decisions…i remain in a pickle.</p>
<p>i plan on studying medicine, becoming a doctor (hopefully at a prestigious institution) and having a good time in school at the same time.</p>
<p>at the undergraduate level, i hope to study bioengineering or BME. herein lies a big issue. i declared biochemistry as my major at UCLA but am considering changing to BME. i do this because, while my primary interest and skills are in the sciences, i hope to have that sort of “twist” on a med school app, getting away from your normal bio applicant towards a more applied, “useful” degree. at the same time, BME provides more research opportunities. still, i can consider that there is tons more work and hte major hit towards the all-important GPA.</p>
<p>here are my college stats:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted, all honors/ap/ib classes available, all A’s
4.97 on our scale but that cant really be translated well
senior year courses (straight As first semester) :
spanish lang AP
TOK IB
chemistry AP
Statistics AP
history of the americas IB
psychology AP
english lit AP/english IB HL</p>
<p>SAT I : 700M, 790W, 760CR
SAT II: 770 Biology, 800 math 2, chemistry in dec (lookin at 800)</p>
<p>ELC student (i made the top 4% thing and have guarantees to the lower ones)</p>
<p>AP IB tests:</p>
<p>biology 5
us history 4
eng lang 5</p>
<p>math studies SL 6
physics SL 3 </p>
<p>more about me:
national merit scholar semifinalist (prospective finalist)
ROP hospital occupations program for 2 years (360 hours total, 120 in hospital, internship in OR/Radiology)
dental office job shadowing
science olympiad VP
STEP (Society To End Poverty) Founder/Project Manager (top pos)
Interact VP
12 year piano player (most advanced student)
basketball 2 years (MVP)
NHS, CSF member (seal bearer-with distinction)
IB Diploma candidate</p>
<p>school does not rank.
most challenging coursework available</p>
<p>End Stats</p>
<p>This is the list of colleges and stuff I got into:</p>
<p>Accepted
Northwestern (rejected HPME) - biomedical engineering
Union/albany-8 year bs/mba/md prog
UC Berkeley - molecular biology
UCLA - biochemistry (gunna try to change to BME) honors, REGENTS!
USC - biomedical engineering (biochemical), premed with presidential scholarship.
UCSD - bioengineering, premed with regents (nothing from med program, #1 choice)
UCD - biomedical engineering, premed with regents
UCI - biomedical engineering, premed
UCR - bioengineering, premed with regents
UOP (university of the pacific, NOT upenn haha) dental prog, 5-year, w/presidential scholarship</p>
<p>waitlisted
Johns hopkins - biomedical engineering</p>
<p>REJECTED
CalTech - biology and med program
Stanford - biology
Princeton - biology
Harvard biology</p>
<p>so, as you can see I got a tough decision to make. Ive been accepted into a medical program. I also have the opportunity to study BME at UCSD as a designated pre-med (though its not ABET certified, it does have less rigor because its designated for premeds.
At the same time, ive been accepted to cal and northwestern (though I was rejected from the HPME program, after an interview).</p>
<p>But right now, im leaning towards UCLA w/regents cuz I like it there and I think regents is a great opportunity.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know mi turning down some big opportuntieis in the med program, dental program, northwestern, and cal.</p>
<p>Also, if I do get the UCSD medical program (which is almost NO chance), I will 100% go. Lets just assume I dont? :)</p>
<p>thanks in advance.</p>