Hi everyone! I’m a high school junior living in North Carolina and I need a little help with my rankings for Questbridge’s National College Match program. I haven’t been accepted yet (nor have I applied yet) but I do hope to be selected next year and wanted to think ahead about my rankings. I’m not going to be able to visit any of these schools a) because of the coronavirus and b) financial reasons. I should also note that I’ll be considered an international applicant when I apply.
Okay now that this out of the way, I’ll tell you about my interests. I hope to be a pre-med student and a history major. I might double major with a STEM major but I haven’t really decided yet. Therefore, I’d really like to go to a school with a good history program and has many resources/research opportunities for pre-med students. As I’m sure you’re all aware, it’s really hard for international applicants to get into med school so I am going to shoot my shot for a few BA/BS-MD programs. The ones that I’m interested in, and qualify for, is Brown’s PLME, Rice’s program with Baylor, and WashU’s University Scholars in Medicine Program.
Therefore, these three universities are at the top of my list in this order:
- Brown University
- Rice University*
- WashU*
*WashU and Rice could easily switch in terms of ranking but Brown is definitely my top choice
I really want to apply to more schools but I’m a bit confused about who to rank them. I know I’ll apply to Davidson, Vanderbilt, and Emory but I’m not sure about the rest. I’m not just set on prestige but it would be nice to apply to universities that have more name recognition since I think it might help me when I apply to med school. But I’m really open to any universities you guys suggest. Also, I’m a big fan of Brown’s open curriculum. That’s one of the reasons why neither UChicago nor UPenn are on my list. I’m also still a bit fuzzy about the difference between distribution requirements and a core curriculum if someone wants to fill me in on it.
Anyways, here’s what I’m looking for in a condensed manner:
- open curriculum/fewer distribution requirements
- geography: east coast and midwest (my mom won’t apply me to apply to any CA/west coast schools)
- strong pre-med track
- strong history department
- collaborative campus
- has a thriving social scene (e.g. parties, greek life, etc)
- would be nice if it was in a big city but the school needs to be at least near a big city (e.g. Rice is near Houston)
Please ask me any questions about my stats or extracurriculars; I’d happy to give you any information I could! Also, thank you all in advance for helping me out!