Please offer college suggestions!

College Search & Selection
1

Hello, I am wondering if, based off my stats, you could offer me some college suggestions. I would prefer to be on the east coast and no lower than North Carolina.

Matches, safeties, and reaches would be much appreciated

My eventual goal is to become a doctor.

I am currently a junior.
Stats: 3.75 GPA (I know that some schools calculate your GPA from just your sophomore year and junior year. If so, my cumulative GPA from those 2 years would be about a 4.2)

1300 SAT (I realize it’s low, I am taking it again and will likely raise it substantially)

Male, Caucasian- PA resident

I’ve taken AP US History (and did well)
Honors Inorganic Chemistry (and did well)
And by next year will have taken AP Bio, Organic Chemsitry (which is a second year college class), and CP English.
Also, Spanish 4 which in the future will be an AP class.
My school doesn’t offer any IB or HL classes, also few AP’s

My passion is medicine.

I wrote my first proper, independent research paper my sophomore year of high school with the advisory of a Ph.D of neuroscience (Entitled: Alzheimer’s Disease: The Theory of Causation). This paper has been published in a magazine and was inspired by witnessing the progression of my grandfather’s Alzheimer’s Disease. I am currently working on my second (Chronic Irregular Respiration and The Allostatic Load), which will be finished and published by the time I am applying next year.

Also, I have a medical TV spot on a local TV show that I host (broadcasted to around 100,000 people).

In addition, I shadowed a doctor at my local hospital for a week and had the opportunity of witnessing, and to a limited degree, assisting in an actual autopsy.

I also have a website that I started which is dedicated to bringing new and “divergent” perspectives to various medical related topics (currently has 3 authors, me included).

I also co-founded a public speaking organization with the Ph.D I mentioned above, where I gave numerous speeches.

Finally, I have my student pilot’s license and will (eventually) obtain my private pilot’s license.

Other facts:
I will have recommendations from a professor of neuroscience and from a Harvard trained cardiologist (both of which have mentored me in medicincal concepts for a year+)
I am NHS president of my chapter and played varsity tennis for 3 years.

Thanks,

2

VCU could be a safety and it has an automatic transfer into their Med school from their premed program (no mcat required). UVA would also be easy for you to get into and it has a hospital where you can do residency and such. You sound like an amazing student who could go practically anywhere, nice job. I don’t want to say any reaches or matches bc it gets too competitive to tell for sure…
Also ppl could give better suggestions if they knew your situation. What’s your family income? State? Do your parents have a preference/legacy anywhere? Have you visited any colleges and which ones do you like best? Make sure you find a college that you feel comfortable at, not just one that ppl recommend based on stats alone. Can you truly spend 4 years happily at a college that others recommend and you haven’t researched…?

3

How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.

Yes, you do need to raise your test scores. Will you be taking both the ACT and SAT?

4

You need to figure out what you and your parents can afford. If you want to go to medical school (or any graduate school), plan to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree with NO debt at all if it is reasonably possible.

In many cases this might mean avoiding the highest ranked school that you can get into, and instead going to a “very good” school where you can get merit aid and where you can excel (and where you can get a GPA sufficient to help you get into medical school).

5

Would you prefer an urban or rural location?
Are you open to a LAC?
Are your parents willing to pay for a public OOS?
Would you rather go to a school where you can hopefully get merit aid or as prestigious as possible?
What is your intended major?
What schools are you currently interested in?