IB Program
GPA:
(Unweighted): 3.71
(Weighted): 4.42
Class Rank % 3.68
SAT: 1490
SAT Math: 700
SAT Reading/Writing: 790
SAT Essay Score: 6
Subject SAT (Are these scores high enough to even report or use?)
Math 2: 730
Biology: 700
Course Work:
JSA - Junior States of America Debate Team (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th – State Cabinet)
FBLA - Future Business Leaders of America (9th, 10th, 11th – Treasurer, 12th – VP of Membership)
HOSA - Health Occupations Students of America (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th – Parliamentarian)
Varsity Tennis Team (10th, 11th)
AP/IB COURSES COMPLETED
AP PSYCHOLOGY
AP PHYSICS
AP BIOLOGY
AP US HISTORY
AP WORLD HISTORY
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY
IB CHEMISTRY
IB CHEMISTRY
IB HL MATH
IB SPANISH 4
Colleges Considering:
Major: Biology/biomedical Sciences
(Can we consider any other major keeping in mind goal of joining Medical school post udergraduate?)
University of Pennsylvania
Johns Hopkins University
Vanderbilt University
Cornell University
Rice University
Emory University
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Florida
Duke University
Dartmouth College
University of Notre Dame
University of Miami
(We will pick upto 8 or 9 Best Chances college from this list).
Thanks for your time and help.
Wow! This is quite some list. Honestly, your odds of getting into most of these stink…and it’s not personal, they stink for everyone. I think it’s fine to apply to a few but you REALLY need some target and safety schools on your list as well.
I am not at all familiar with Miami’s and Florida’s admissions. Maybe someone who is can chime in as to whether they are more of a target school for you. Michigan could be IF you are in state. It’s a whole different story as an out of state student. All the others are a reach for pretty much anyone.
The list is kind of all over the place, so I’m assuming you’re making the list based on premed rankings. Doctor is a very popular dream with smart kids coming out of high school. The reality is that almost none of them actually go to medical school. As you mature, you find undiscovered passions in other areas. NEVER NEVER choose a school based on “premed” prestige or rankings. Rankings are a lazy way to research colleges, and it invariably leads to a school mismatch, which becomes 4 years of complete misery. Most the time you end up accepted to a school you can’t afford, and wind up spending a year at community college.
If you do decide medicine, your best shot at medical school is through your home state because of residential preference. Get a scholarship for your bachelors degree. You’ll need it, because medical school is horrendously expensive. The college you go to makes zero difference. They look at grades and MCAT scores.
Most of the schools are going to be reaches given the UW GPA/test scores.
And also why Georgia Tech for premed? The school is somewhat of a grade deflator. And BME is pretty famous (or infamous).
Johns Hopkins and Cornell are grade deflators as well. The goal of a premed is to get as high of a GPA (at a minimum ~3.7, preferably over 3.8 for competitive admissions).
Case Western and Rochester might be more reasonable targets for premed. Also look into science focused LACs where students get more personal attention.
For UMich, an unweighted GPA of 3.71 would put you at the low-end of the accepted students posting here on CC. As mentioned above, as an in-state applicant, you’re more competitive than if OOS. uwGPA and course rigor are considered “most important” per the CDS. Your SAT score is competitive for both in-state and OOS, but test scores are considered “important” per the CDS.
UMich will be a reach. “Reachier,” if OOS.
What is your home state? Are you in-state for any of the public universities on your list?
If you are serious about being premed, then I agree that (i) you need to avoid taking any debt for undergrad if you can possibly avoid it (even better would be leaving some college $$ in the bank or 529); and (ii) you should attend a university where you can get a high GPA and be at least in the top 1/2 and preferably top 1/4 of your class.
In many cases this will point you to an in-state public school. There are a LOT of universities with very good premed programs. Also, premed classes will be surprisingly demanding at a very wide range of universities. The students sitting next to you in premed classes will be surprisingly strong at a wide range of universities. There is also something to be said for being in-state when you apply to medical school at a public university.
Thanks for all your Input, really apprecite it.
I am a Florida resident, and my safe School I think are USF (which I did not mention above) and UF (Univeristy of Florida).
The list of college I mentioned were the one I got for Biology/Bio medical related fiels from USNews Website. 9I was surpirsed to see GeorgiaTech too, as I know it is well known for CS ).
I think you maybe need to spend some time thinking about what you are looking for in a school (size, culture, location, etc.) and not just go off rankings. Is cost a factor? Is distance from home a factor? Maybe start doing some visits of your top choices and see what you think. When we did visits with my daughter it helped her decide what type of campus was best for her and based on conversations with other students she felt some campuses were better fits for her than others. There were some surprises along the way.
I think every school on this list is a crazy reach except for the Florida schools (because you are in state). SAT scores are not that great and ECs are weak for those schools. Did you get 4s or 5s on any of the APs? The schools on your list are reaches even for applicants with much better scores. You need to come up with some matches and safeties really fast. I don’t know enough about Case to comment but I’d put Rochester closer to reach than match, although it’s more realistic than the ones on your existing list. Pretty much on par with U Maryland College Park, IMO. For more likely prospects I’d consider adding Virginia Tech and James Madison and UGA, or Villanova and Pitt. Maybe Elon.
@TinyTurtleRead : Two factors which you have not addressed:
Finances–how much can you afford to pay without taking out loans–is an important consideration as is whether you are willing to apply ED to any particular school.
As a Florida resident intending to go to medical school, your in-state options may be the wisest choice due to affordability.
Of the 13 listed schools in your original post in this thread, which offer an ED option & what is the difference between ED & RD acceptance rates ? (I believe that ED agreements permit one to keep in-state publics as options.)
Rice & Emory offer an ED application option. Also JHU, Dartmouth, Miami (ED & EA options), Penn, Vanderbilt, Duke, & Cornell offer an ED application option. If any of these schools is a clear first choice & affordable, then I think that applying ED is your best chance for admission. Of course, be sure to apply to all of your in-state public schools such as USF & UF.
I recommend just adding a couple more safeties to be on the “safe” side. Strange stuff can happen. Your stats put UF as a borderline match. You should be fine with USF. I would add FSU and FIU as well. I think you could do without the big “fluffy” schools on the list, because Florida has the lowest tuition rates in the country.
You aren’t being realistic with this list. Many schools pay no attention to the SAT essay score, but your score of 6 out of 24 points is a problem for any college that requires or recommends it. Your uw gpa and test score are low for nearly all of those schools and I think you are throwing away money on app fees.
As long as you can afford and are happy to attend the publics on your list, you are probably fine. But why not give yourself realistic matches?
I should have been specific about the Essay score 6 was the average out of 8.
Total is 18/24
Finance is definitely a consideration, with all the universities above when I did Net Calculator, it showed I was eligible for need based scholarship which reduced my out of pocket more than 50%.
In-state would still be cheaper however, as my tuition should be covered and will have to arrange the dorm fees.
Adding FSU and UCF is definitely a good idea, which I would do.
In-state would still be cheaper however, as my tuition should be covered and will have to arrange the dorm fees. - ( Tuition Covered under Bright Future Scholarship)