Please let me know how I stand against some colleges!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics: Bay Area, meh school, South Asian

Intended Major(s): Undecided, Dentistry, or Pre-Med. Most likely will go in as undecided as I want to test things out.

ACT/SAT/SAT II: N/A

W/UW GPA and Rank: Academic GPA (9 -11) - 4.1852/3.7407, 10-11 GPA - 4.5294/3.8235, UC GPA - UW GPA: 3.82, Weighted GPA: 4.53, Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.29, I believe I am in the top 10%

Coursework: Will max out the number of AP’s I can take out my school this year (10th - WHAP (3), 11th - AP Calc AB (4), APUSH (4), APES (5), AP Psych (5), took honors chemistry and physio, will be taking honors physics and AP Bio during senior year. I have a heavier course load compared to most at my school. Did a Pre-Calc class at a CC during the summer before Junior year so I can get into Calc, and I got an A.

Awards: 1st Place Award from Junior Achievement and John Muir (It was an internship where I had to create a solution to a problem in my county, med related)

Extracurriculars: (Not in any order)

Job at Ace Hardware (11-12)

Volunteering at local crisis center and hosting food drives for them (9-12)

National Honor Society (11-12)

California Scholarship Federation (11-12)

JV Tennis (9-12)

Orchestra (6-9)

Model UN (11-12)

Dental Shadowing (11-12)

Tutoring (11-12)

Founder of a Podcast I made into a club at school (11-12)

Boy Scouts - Will get Eagle sometime this fall (5-12)

Essays/LORs/Other: My LOR’s so far are probably a 6 or a 7 (I have two, I am hoping to get two more once school starts)

Additional info: I was not born in the US, and I came to the US when I was 1-2, don’t know if it’ll change anything

Schools:

Case Western Reserve University

University of Miami

Boston University

Boston College

Tulane University

Colgate University

New York University

Rutgers University

All UC’s

Please suggest any schools you think would be a good match for me, and I am planning to ED to either Boston University or Tulane, so let me know your thoughts on that. Thanks for reading!

2

Are you a US citizen, or permanent resident (have your Green Card)?

3

I am a permanent resident

4

The University of Rochester would fit your mix.

5

What made you say that? Also, what do you think my chances are for the schools I am interested in. Thank you for your suggestion!

6

Because of their general attributes and characteristics, some schools pair well with others. With respect to your own list, URochester pairs especially well with CWRU, so perhaps they both should be included.

Regarding your chances at the schools you have listed, I am still reviewing your profile.

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7

Yeah, I’ve been looking at URochester and it seems like a pretty good fit so far. The only concern I have is the policy on switching majors, and I can’t really find much about the ease of that. I will be waiting for your review, thanks again.

8

URochester tends to define its curriculum by its accessibility. Its only true division can be found through its school of music. With that exception, all majors and most courses should be open to you if you choose to enter undecided.

9

Seems as if you have a decent shot at the schools on your list, except possibly NYU. Premed/Predental is not a major. You can major in ANYTHING and apply to med/dental school, as long as you’ve taken the required courses and the required standardized test. Have you considered a major? Can your family afford to pay for UC schools? Other schools?

10

All UC’s with the exception of UCLA/UCB look well within Reach. 2021 admit data not yet available but your GPA makes you competitive for the UC”s.

2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:

UCB: 37%

UCLA: 38%

UCSD: 78%

UCSB: 81%

UCD: 86%

UCI: 60%

UCSC: 92%

UCR: 97%

UCM: 98%

2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:

UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)

UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)

UCSD: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)

UCSB: 4.15 (4.03-4.27)

UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)

UCD: 4.11 (3.97-4.25)

UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)

UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)

UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)

Going in Undecided might make it difficult to get some of the popular/impacted Pre-Med/Pre-Dental course requirements due to students with a declared major have priority during enrollment (1st pass).

Best of luck.

11

My family is fortunate enough to afford most of these school, and yeah I meant that I wanted to take a major that would set me up for those two career paths, but I want to apply undecided because I want to try out other majors such as CS and business.

12

Thank you for your response. I know applying undecided to UC’s is difficult because it’s harder to get the major you want after your pre reqs, so I’ll probably declare my major when applying. Also, what do you think of this calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub. This is what I used to calculate my UC GPAs and I just wanted to know if it was accurate or not.

13

Thank you for this information! University of Rochester has been added to my list! But, I have another quick question. I looked at the common data, and they do not consider extra curriculars, is that true?

14

The Rogerhub Calculator is correct and one I always link. It is accurate as long as input is accurate.

15

SMU fits as a match since you’re looking at Tulane and Miami and other private large city schools. You can take some business classes but it’s impacted. All other majors are not except fine arts. Lots of Californians.

Have you taken the SAT or ACT and not done well? Just making top 10% at a “meh high school” could be a challenge with top 50s. Try to get the Eagle before you apply.

16

Are they able to afford the undergraduate schools that you list, plus paying for medical/dental school? Or do you plan to have a professional degree along with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt?

You might think about an undergraduate school where the costs/expenses will be minimized, then spend your money on a good professional school.

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17

I just spoke with someone whose kid graduated from St Olaf College undergrad and will finish with $250K in debt after med school. The parent wasn’t too worried because the kid will make substantial money with the specialty. However, the less debt to pay off the better!

18

As unbelievable as it sounds, nowadays 250k in debt after med school isn’t too bad, alas, higher med school debt would be just as common, especially for students starting college now. Minimizing debt during undergrad helps (ie., federal loans only, and only if necessary).
However, since most would-be premeds never make it to med school, the college choice needs to make sense both academically if there’s no med school later on, and financially both if med school happens and if it doesn’t.

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19

The parent is a fool; and it’s easy for him/her to say that about the debt, because the parent probably won’t be faced with paying it off!

A physician friend of mine swears by “The White Coat Investor.” Here is an article from WCI about debt for doctors: How Fast Can You Get Out of Debt? | White Coat Investor

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20

The article talks about paying off $400K in debt in 3-7 years. Typically, debt lasts at least 10 years. The first commenter said, “I’ll pay off 200k in 20 months after finishing. I am pretty proud of that.” Don’t doctors with specialties make $300K+ per year?

A guy worked for me last year who had accumulated $150K in debt for a regional undergrad and MS in Finance. He now makes over $100K and is paying it off but he’s 29 years old. He’s making far less than a doctor. It’s a burden and seemed silly to rack up such debt having fun in undergrad but he’s making it work. Hard worker.

The ones that make me cringe are folks who rack up lots of debt at for-profit colleges.

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