<p>I am the mother of a rising senior. She has had her heart set on attending NEOMED since she was a freshman in high school. And that has been her only plan, we have visited Youngstown, Akron and Kent but have not gone on any other college visits. And the both of us have always just figured that is where she will go. It just occurred to me she probably should be applying to some other schools just in case her plans don't work out. So now I'm trying to come up with a backup plan for her. She really wants to minimize her college debt and stay within in the state. (I'm open to looking outside the state) We live in Ohio. She will not qualify for any financial aid.</p>
<p>Right now I'm suggesting she apply to Miami and OU because of the generous merit offered. She wants to apply to Ohio Northern and possibly Ohio State. </p>
<p>She attends a small rural school.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Her GPA is 3.95. Her school does not weight. She has taken Calculus AP and Biology AP.</p></li>
<li><p>ACT - 32</p></li>
<li><p>She will have about 36 college credits through PSEO when she graduates.</p></li>
<li><p>Spanish club officer, Marching band president, FFA secretary, FFA team 1st in state and another team was 3rd, Ronald Reagan leadership award as a junior, 4 years varsity soccer, 4 years basketball, student council sophomore year.</p></li>
<li><p>shadowed a local doctor and participated in NEOMED's healthsuccess for 3 years</p></li>
<li><p>volunteers at church and at a local nursing home with alzheimer patients.</p></li>
<li><p>summer job at a local campground.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I would welcome any suggestions for schools that would be a good back up if she isn't accepted into NEOMED.</p>
<p>First, she has a good chance of being accepted to NEOMED. My D. was, but turned it down for the non-accelerated bs/md and later applied out of it anyway.
Miami is great with Merit offers. It also has a very good pre-med programs (most pre-meds are Zoology major). I also heard (not sure about it) that Miami is part of NEOMED.
OSU is very stringent with Merit awards. D. did not get much there. In addition, she did not favor such a huge place, but it is a matter of personal preference.</p>
<p>She should pick 6 combined programs in the area of the country that interests her. She should also consider the combined programs that give the best merit aid. I would further consider some state schools that offer a full ride for regular UG BIo as a safeties.</p>
<p>Finally, I would absolutely consider ACT tutoring to get a 35 if possible so she is in the highest group of candidates under consideration.</p>
<p>She needs to retake ACT. She may not even get an interview at NEOMED with an ACT of 32. NEOMED only takes ACT or SAT no SAT II’s. Her grades are fine. There is really not a good backup in Ohio. Toledo and Cincinnati are even harder to get into (do not even think of Ohio State). Other OOS schools are even harder to get into. The state schools prefer in-state students. The only other program that can serve as backup in my view is St. Louis University. Their program is not really guaranteed but if you maintain good GPA, you generally do not have much trouble staying in the program. If she does well on SAT and SAT II’s then she will have many options. Otherwise she should try to improve her ACT to 34, so that she has a very good chance for an interview. Rest of the admission decision really depends on how well she does on the interview. NEOMED just like other BSMD programs is getting very competitive but still is the easiest one for Ohio residents to get into.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice so far. I should add her back up plan does not have to be a bs/md program. But it should be school that will give her a strong foundation to apply to medical schools.</p>
<p>With the 32, we still think she has a good shot. In 2012 only 25% of the class had a score above 32. If she gets an interview, I think she will do well. </p>
<p>How about St. Bonaventure/George Washington School of Medicine? SBU is a Christian school, so her volunteer work in the church would be a bonus. SBU/GW is comparable to NEOMED (I think)</p>
<p>Your D has the grades and EC’s but you might want to reconsider ACT tutoring of some kind.
My D had SAT tutoring even as a Val since she had cadence / time problems with the test since she was a perfectionist. It is money well spent since you will likely wind up with more offers of merit aid. Otherwise you might be spending even more money on MCAT tutoring in 4 years. Good luck.</p>
<p>"Finally, I would absolutely consider ACT tutoring to get a 35 "
-I disagree about retaking ACT. My D. had 33, took only once, prepared herself (about 5 hours total), said that tutoring for the SAT was a waste of her time and our money. My D. had choices of 3 programs, all in OH at public schools and was on full tuition Merit award at one of them. My D. has graduted #1 from very small private HS. She also was the top pre-med at graduation from UG (received award for that, otherwise we would not know). D. said that taking Kaplan for the MCAT was worthwhile. She did well and had great choices of Med. Schools in addition to her spot in bs/md. However, she passed all MCAT prep. books to somebody else with exactly the same background as herself (the same HS, the same UG) and he did very well just using books and NOT taking very expansive class. He was not in bs/md program. He also passed all MCAT prep. books to somebody else. Apparently, taking or not taking prep. classes for MCAT is a very personal question. MCAT is way way harder than ACT/SAT, they exist in a different universe basically.</p>
<p>Miami, your D took her ACT 6 years ago? The average GPA and SAT/ACT for accepted students seems to have climbed like the US dollar inflation. Read the accepted student threads on CC. I have also seen college GPAs to remain in these joint programs go from 3.2 to 3.5 in that time. I agree with the former Dartmouth admission officer that colleges view SAT/ACT scores as applicants’ intellectual horsepower.</p>
<p>I know the MCAT is in a different league in difficulty and in cost of test preparation but I did spring for the tutoring since I believed it makes for a less stressful life to have the luxury of skipping the MCATs completely.</p>
<p>^Are you familiar with the NEOMED specifically or you are talking in general terms. Keep in mind that D. was rejected pre-interview from 3 programs. I do not believe that stats has changed so much. Stats for in-state at NEOMED are not as high as HPME, PLME, PPSP and many others. In addition, there are other bs/md programs in a great state of OH, I would advice to apply to them all.</p>
<p>I was talking in general terms but I attended the University of Akron for one year and rooted for the Zips. I then went to a commuter University back east since I had to work two jobs while in college. I studied for the MCATs in 1974 but didn’t take them since I knew I could only get into foreign med schools.</p>
<p>I have seen Albany Medical school go from 3.2 to 3.5 for science courses and overall GPA in those 6 years. I would hate someone to kick themselves by saying if I only got a 34 ACT things would be different . It is human nature to wonder about the road not travelled.</p>
<p>I just checked NEOMEDs website , the class entering 2011 had an average ACT composite of 30.4, in 2012 it was 31. They haven’t posted the average ACT score for 2013 yet. NEOMED always shared this information with the healthsuccess students ( high school program). My daughter noticed the scores have been going up every year. But hopefully her 32 will get her an interview. </p>
<p>She did study for the ACT on her own. She might have a chance at raising it, but we were pretty happy with the 32. If her score would be lower would that hurt her? She took it twice already. The first time she had a 28 or 29.</p>
<p>I do not call .6 is a real increase in stats.
We are talking about second ACT like she for sure will have 35 second time around. Keep in mind there is a good chance of having it lower than 32, nobody can guarantee a 35 after aditional prepartion. The girl can do whatever, as a parent of the one who was accepted to NEOMED (to her preferred UG also), I can say that the OP’s D. has a very fair chance of being accepted and she also should apply to Cinci program, U of Toledo program and couple more selective. It is a shot in a sky, nobody can tell for sure, you need a bit of luck, but NEOMED is more predictable than others.<br>
Anyway, I always will be advertising Miami, it is a great place for UG and specifically for pre-meds, great opportunities…and as I saind, they might be part of NEOMED (not sure, needs to be checked). Miami’s original bs/md has been cancelled.</p>