Geometry Honors
AP World History
Biology Honors
English 9
Introduction to Business 1 (Semester)
Interpersonal Relations (Semester)
PLTW Biomedical Science
Latin I
Sophmore:
Algebra II Honors
AP European History
Chemistry Honors
AP Capstone Seminar
AP Art History
AP Computer Science principles
Latin II
Junior:
Honors Precalculus/Trigonometry
AP United States History
AP Chemistry
AP Capstone Research
AP Statistics
AP Physics 1
Latin III
Senior (Current Year):
AP Calculus BC
AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP English Language and Composition
AP Comparative Government and Politics (Semester)
AP United States Government and Politics (Semester)
AP Physics C
AP Latin
Summer courses I have finished:
PE I
PE II
AP Macro
Community College course: Organic Chemistry
I have had straight A grades in all my classes except Honors Bio in Freshman year with an A- and AP World History with a B+
Want to major in Psychology at UCLA or Stanford and become a Psychiatrist.
SAT Score: 1590
ACT Score: 34
SAT Subject Tests: US History- 760
Math II- 720
Latin- 786
(Taking Biology M subject test this year)
If you want to become a Psychiatrist, you do not need an undergrad in psychology, you need a degree that fulfills pre-med requirements, Psychiatrist are MDs. So you would likely need to be accepted as biology major (few colleges have a specific pre-med major).
Generally speaking, it is often better to attend a somewhat less competitive college for a pre-med degree, since your GPA is usually more important than the prestige of your undergraduate program when being considered by MD programs. So UCSD could be a better place for an undergraduate degree for somebody who wants to attend a very good MD program than UCLA or Stanford.
If you want to become a psychologist, and wish to attend a PhD program in psychology, than the reputation of your undergraduate program can be important (but it still is less important than things like research experience).
Well, for Stanford or its sisters, let’s start with: it’s not weighted gpa or your high school’s weighting formula.
The 1590 is good, but they look at the individual scores. For ACT, they look at subscores. So what subscores, what AP scores?
Are you saying sports, DECA, and sci oly are ALL you did for ECs? Is psych truly your interest? No ECs related to that or engagement with people, no community service, the sort that helps others who need it?
So I wonder, what do you know about what S looks for? The idea is to understand enough to self-assess. Not apply just based on highlights.
Wrt #2: No, UCSD has had such problems with pre-med acceptance that they started an inquiry. So, not the UC to target.
Also, a would be pre-med should NOT major in biology as there’s an oversupply of them and Psychology is a perfectly fine undergraduate major, as is Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Bioinformatics, or Bioethics - or any combination thereof.
And your sat score is top 0,1%, it won’t bar you from anywhere.
Wrt your senior schedule, I’d actually say you’re overdoing it. And, no, taking 8 APs senior year is not “worth it” for top universities. (Stanford would say “it’s not a game if ho had the most APs, wins”.) Drop AP Physics C - you’ve already taken AP physics and don’t need C for psych nor pre-med. You could switch BC for AB or not take AP Latin. (You will need to learn a foreign language in college, so you might want to take Spanish or French Level 1 instead, to get a taste of it - or take level 1+2 at a community college).
Run the NPC on Whitman, Pitzer/Pomona/Scripps depending on preferences. WWu which is WUE should be on your radar as a safety, as should Lewis and Clark. Run the NPC on LMU-LA? Occidental? UPuget Sound?
(What’s your EFC v. Budget? Are you interested in looking out of state?)
One quick note is that the a-g requirements for UC schools do require one year of a visual/fine art so make sure you have that completed by end of senior year if applying to UCLA, unless your AP Art History covers that. Then you’re good.
I have volunteered for every single year in high school at amnesty international. I have also gone to psychology camp for two summers and loved it. I am loving AP Psych so far and really want to major in psychology and then do medical school. Also, AP Latin satisfies the college language requirement for almost all universities and satisfies it for all the unis I want to attend. I might not submit my ACT score.
All my AP test scores were 5 except a 4 in AP World History and a 4 in AP Chemistry.
I agree about translating a 1590, richinpitt. But lots of kids dont realize it’s the individual scores. So they emphasize that total. Sometimes makes me wonder, along with other things.
Yes, AP Latin will be sufficient for a college language requirement, but… it’s very useful to speak another language when preparing for med school. It doesn’t need to be a language taught at college, it can be a language you learn from Community Education based on languages commonly spoken at the clinic where you volunteer, such as Hmong, Ukrainian, Qechua, Somali, Wolof, Tèng Viêt, but it’s something that’s much appreciated (and “counts” for med school, although only after all criteria have been met, ie., it’s a differentiator but doesn’t offset a shortage in a core area).
Excellent wrt volunteering and truly loving Psychology.
