I’m asking for someone to chance me, not to give me their opinion on what I should major in. That being said, I am open to all advice, but I’m not going to blindly follow it if I know better.
I think you stand an average chance for all schools listed. If you could potentially take the SAT or ACT again and squeak out a higher score it may help. You should consider Rice for BME, heard great things about the atmosphere and premed there, and same with UCBerkeley (only for BME). UCBerkeley’s average Bioengineering gpa awarded is a 3.56 http://projects.dailycal.org/grades/ (only if you can afford OOS though).
Thank you for your response. Rice and UC Berkeley are too far away for me. And I am definitely not going to take any more standardized tests until the MCAT!
Looking into it a little further, I partly agree with the other posters. Med schools look good if they have a high average GPA, so they look for that regardless. So I would be careful about BME at a top school if you are set on med school.You can also switch to another premed major if it doesn’t seem to be working out with the grades. Somewhere about the level of Berkeley might be less pressure doing BME.
I think I’ll do well in anything that interests me. BME is most interesting to me at this point, so I will definitely stick to that! I’ve done a lot of research into what medical schools look for, and I am well aware of their GPA requirements. I think Premed BME has become a popular route, so I’m hoping everything will turn out fine. Thank you!
OP take the advice you get with a grain of salt. These days with a 3.2 gpa you are lucky if you get into a Carribean school. You won’t even get a recommendation letter for med school with that gpa. Whomever thinks that a med school will admit a bme with a lower gpa does not know what they are talking about. BME is a very rigorous curriculum. Major weedout of bme and premed students. You really have to be the best of the best at these schools that you are applying to. You will be lucky if you graduate in four years and if you make it take the MCAT and apply to med school. Most probably you will have to take a gap year to apply.
My D is a senior bme student that is completing a 9 semester premed/bme program in 8 semesters. That means she is taking a minimum of 17 credits a semester. She is also in the honors program and has a dean’s list worthy gpa. She is taking a gap year to work on her ec’s to strengthen her application because she didn’t have time to take the MCAT junior year because her priority was to complete the bme prerequisites to graduate in four years. She will be taking her MCAT exam senior year instead of junior year because her schedule did not allow for her to complete all her premed classes in time to sit for the exam.
This is a student that had three years bme research published in high school and had a patent pending. What is going to matter for med school is MCAT and gpa. If you do poorly in any of these schools you are discussing you are not going to make it past the first year. You will be surrounded by students equally if not smarter than you.
My sibling is a graduate of the UPenn bme/premed program and does alumni interviews for that school. Nearly 50 percent of the students that start out bme/premed drop out of the program. Same thing at my D’s college. Out of the 60 students admitted freshman year more than half dropped out because they did poorly and now in senior year only one student is applying straight to med school. Two are taking a gap year and the rest dropped out of premed.
Think long and hard what is your goal. Is your goal to be premed/bme at a top school or is your goal to get into med school? Going to a tippy top school is no guarantee you will get into medical school. I know too many ivy league graduates that could not get into med school because it was too competitive and they could not maintain the gpa required to get accepted to med school.
Regarding your chances. All these schools are reach schools. Apply widely to reach, match , and safety schools.
My nephew actually went through this path and is in now the fourth year in medical school working in hospital. He graduated from Berkeley in BME in 4 years with GPA around 3.9. He was a top student in high school with a lot of DE/AP credits and SAT 2350. He applied to several top privates like OP but only got accepted by all the UCs from in-state. He went to UMich for summer research in the medical school before college and continue to do research in college. At the end, he got accepted by two of the 6 or 8 medical schools applied. So there are some successful story, it is just not an easy path.
@billscho I agree that it is not an easy path. Not everyone is successful choosing this path but there are a few students in each class that are the top students like you mentioned that do make it through. That is why I am saying you have to be the best of the best because at these schools everyone is very smart but not everyone is going to be successful. You need a plan B. Also the other issue is costs. Medical school is very expensive. You want to graduate from undergrad with zero debt if possible because you may have to take out loans for medical school and by the time this student will graduate from college medical school will be more expensive that it is now. Have a discussion with your parents regarding how much they can afford to spend especially if you have siblings with future college plans.
Once you get into medical school at that point where you attended undergrad is not going to matter. At medical school you will see students from a variety of backgrounds some from private and others that graduated from state schools. Those students that truly have what it takes to become a doctor will be successful wherever they attend.
It is also a known fact that as freshman many students start out as premed but that most don’t make it to senior year.
Also once you get to that point only 40% of those students that apply to medical school actually get an acceptance.
I am sure @WayOutWestMom who has expertise in this area could give you some honest advice on applying to these schools and the whole med school application process.
Duke Pratt is heavily focused on the numbers, which is quite good for you. You have a good shot at Pratt.
But as others caution, getting into medical school with an engineering degree is no easy feat.
Best of luck
If BME doesn’t work out, OP can shift.
Of course, he should have safeties. It’s not how much OP believes in himself, it’s going to be how the whole app package comes across to adcoms and what the competing applicants offer Penn, Yale, and Duke. They’ll have top scores, relevant ECs, with both depth and breadth, and the right qualities/attributes showing in the writing.
@raclut I agree with what you said. Basically I said the same thing in my early response to this thread. I also pointed out BME is not a good plan B because of the job market. Most job would require a master degree.
I would look at these schools that offer BME programs and see what concentrations they offer. For example medical imaging , data analytics, or healthcare informatics. Look at what kind of bme research is taking place at these schools. Some places have a combined 5 year program where you can obtain a BS/MS degree in bme. That maybe something to look at when coming up with a list of schools. One school to consider is University of Michigan. I know you want only top tier schools but there are a lot of good bme programs out there. Apply widely.
My D is currently interviewing with consulting companies that are looking to hire students with a bme background.
The schools you have selected get lots of good applicants and they only have so many seats available.
Have you considered 7 or 8 year medical programs? I know GWU has a very good program. Also many schools have partnerships with medical schools where if you maintain a certain gpa you are guaranteed a medical school interview through an early assurance program. You would have to check with each individual school’s specific requirements.
I have looked at all of the concentrations the schools offer as well as the research they conduct, so those have all been factors in selecting the schools I like. U of Michigan is awesome from everything that I’ve seen, but it is a +7 hour drive away from me, and I am an out of state applicant, so I have not greatly considered it.
Here is the list of all of the schools I am applying to. I believe I am casting a decently wide net.
UPenn
Yale
Duke
Cornell
Hopkins
U of Rochester
Lehigh
UVA
Penn State (honors college)
I have looked at the guaranteed med school programs, but I don’t like most of them, but I will apply to Rochester’s program. I will look into the med school guaranteed interviews, but that likely will not be a deciding factor. Thank you for the response!
A good list isn’t dominated by reaches.
Will you get the aid you need from Penn State?
UMich’s BME is by no mean lower tier than than any schools OP is looking at. It is also a reach for OP from OOS with chance in the teens.
5/9 schools I’m applying to are reaches. The other 4 are safeties or low matches at worst, which is plenty in my opinion. 9 schools is more than what the average student applies to, so I think I am ok adding in a couple extra reaches. But I am seriously considering dropping Hopkins because their program is not for me (if you have any suggestions as to another school to apply to, please let me know).
In terms of Penn State, my family sat down and estimated that I would get better aid at one of the Ivys than Penn State, but it still is instate so it would not be overly expensive.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I am considering Rochester a safety. I received an award that qualifies me for a scholarship of at least $10,000 per year to go to U of R. Plus, they sent me a letter saying they would guarantee at least another $10,000 in merit scholarship on top of that award money. Again, please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that if a college is offering me a scholarship before I’ve even applied then they want me to go to their school.
Thank you for responding so actively! I really appreciate that!
UVA isn’t safe for anyone. Complicated, but it revolves around a focus on instate geo and instate SES diversity. That makes it hard to predict, a reach for so many, even accomplished instate kids.
Here’s the rub, apologies for being direct. Your 4 in physics, for BME at a tippy top. You have to understand how fierce the competition is. And that reviews are holistic. This means more than stats, a good essay, good LoRs. They’ll be looking at how you think, which is partly in the writing, sure. But also in your record of challenges you took on, depth and breadth, the level of responsibilities and some impact. For engineering, also collaborative math-sci ECs.
TSA seems your only in-school stem activity, the only one related to engineering. As I said before, the hospital work seems short. You describe Pulse as lectures.
So, yes, you may have a chance. And you’ve done some research into programs, etc. But you’re looking at 6/9 targets that are reaches. Roch and Lehigh may be closer to matches, but no one can know who else in your area might stand out, be your local competition. Or if some issue will come up with financial aid. That leaves Penn State. Did you actually run the NPC, to see the aid you might get? Is that what the estimating is based on?
I just think you might see if there are other schools that are true® safeties.
I was also going to say UVA is not a safety for even instate applicants. Are you aware at UVA you apply to the college of Engineering but that is not a direct admit to BME? It is also quite expensive as an out of state applicant.
As a UVA incoming student you apply for your engineering concentration end of freshman year. (BME being most competitive)
^ For the last sentence, it is pretty much the same case at UMich. Except that they just dropped the high GPA requirement for declaring BME major.
Update- class rank is now 9/570 and GPA is 105.22% weighted as of the first quarter of my senior year.