Also, I hope I’m not beating a dead horse, but just remember there are a LOT of bright students everywhere, and I think you’re just a point where you need validation, whether that be someone with a higher GPA than you, higher ACT/SAT, better ECs, or whatever, from Rutgers to tell you that they go there.
I understand you, really, and I’m not just saying this to make you feel better. You probably feel like all your hard work went to waste, sleeping 4 hours a day, sacrificing your social life for grades and ECs. But at the end of the day, there are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of students doing the same thing, fighting for the same spots you fought for the past few months, and some things just didn’t line up at the schools that didn’t take you. Now that doesn’t mean you weren’t good or that you weren’t that great of a person, it’s just…there’s not enough room.
Also, I realized that graduate school (at least for me as a PreMed) will cost a LOT, and really the “three pillars of Graduate school” is your undergraduate GPA, your test (MCAT, BAR, DAT), and your research experience. Based on the stats you’ve given and all the hard work you’ve put in, you can knock the GPA and Test out of the park with the same work ethic and diligence you put in during High School. The research is there for you to do and figure out during your next four years at Rutgers - and you know what? Rutgers is KILLER for research - I’m not even buffing this; probably even better than UPenn not going to lie.
So chin up, and nay nay on your neighbor school, telling them the Scarlet Knights have kicked the Tigers’ arses since Day 1.
I agree with @MYOS1634. If you had simply set the goal at the beginning as “I will go to med school” rather than “I will go to an elite college for undergrad (which I haven’t even given good reasons for wanting, much less needing)”, you’d be happier right now since going to RU wouldn’t hinder your med school aspirations at all.
Of course, getting into a medical school is much harder than getting into any of many good colleges like Rutgers. Most pre-meds who make it to applying to medical school get shut out completely. Of course, many pre-meds never get to the point of applying because they realize that the GPA and/or MCAT scores are too low, or they lose interest upon seeing what medical practice really is like while doing the expected pre-med extracurriculars, or they realize how costly medical school is in both time and money before getting to practice medicine.
@ucbalumnus: “Of course, getting into a medical school is much harder than getting into any of many good colleges like Rutgers”
Harder than getting in to RU, yes. Harder than getting in to Ivies/equivalents/near-Ivies for undergrad as an unhooked applicant who doesn’t ED to a reasonable choice or two (which was what the OP was aiming for), I would argue no.
However, there are no safeties (or even matches) when applying to medical school. Applying to medical school typically means applying to 15-30 reaches and high reaches and feeling lucky if you get 1 admission.
I agree. Applying to medical school is much more difficult than getting into the Ivies - in fact, as concrete as it may seem (GPA, MCAT, etc), I feel like the sheer amount of work outside of school (researching, lab experience, reports, and publishing) is a factor that cannot be ignored, and there are plenty of people who apply year after year without a single acceptance from a medical school. To be fair, applying to medical school is similar to having to apply to ONLY T20/30 Schools and hoping you strike a chord with just one.
The first hurdle is not getting weeded out of your premed intentions. In so many respects, a public uni is a better shot at getting to the needed committee approvals, etc.
Sometimes, it helps to ‘come to clarity’ with your ultimate goals, not stumble over any one pothole.
I didn’t realize your ultimate goal was medical school. If this is the case, then going to a school like Rutgers might not be a bad idea. The GPA/MCAT is king for med school admissions.
Just keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of undergrads each year from RU applying for medical school. One of the parts of the med school application involves a ‘committee letter’. These letters tend to be a bit impersonal from a school like RU where they have to write hundreds of letters. Going to a smaller, liberal arts college helps with getting more personalized letters.
Lots of people warned the OP about dropping the class but the OP insisted that with his 11 matches he had a good chance of success. The real world result disagreed, to which the response is “One thing I cannot accept is that if someone tells me I didn’t try or skipped rigor”. Hmm…
Now the OP wants to apply to med school. Once again informed people will tell the OP what it takes to be a strong candidate but I fear we are in Dunning-Kruger territory here
I know you are not going to believe me but what happened is actually a blessing in disguise. You will be in the honor’s program at Rutgers. You have the work ethic to perform well. One thing that is very important is to have an identity outside being a premed student. Med schools want wellrounded people. GPA and MCAT help you get through the initial screening but academics alone is not enough. You need interests and hobbies and need to show you have a life outside being a premed student. That’s what will help you get the interview.
Your high school experience seems to be 99% focused on academics and colleges have enough high stats students to fill their classes. They want well rounded students who will take advantage of all the opportunities the school has to offer. (not just sit and study in the library night and day) They need students that will be involved in making the community a better place.
My daughter just graduated from an instate public with a full tuition scholarship. Engineering, honors program, and premed. She shined in college and is now applying to med school this summer with no debt from undergrad and a strong well-rounded application.
One thing to keep in mind at one of those elite schools you would have had work 10 times harder to outshine all the other stars at the school. Just strong academics alone wouldn’t have made you stand out since that would describe most people at that school.
Please, please stop comparing yourself to others. Each one of you have your own interests and your own unique journey to experience. Consider attending the honors program at Rutgers with an open mind and a positive attitude. This will make all the difference in the world. Life is not always how we planned. and this is a lesson you need to learn and accept and make the best of what you do have.
The impression you have given is that your identity is defined by your academic performance and the school you attend. To me that sounds like a robotic person and that is very sad. You need to learn time management so that you are able to manage social and academics. If you don’t learn to do this you will burnout very quickly and be miserable. The path to being a doctor is a very long, stressful, and expensive one. There will be many road bumps along the way. You have to have the resilience and motivation to keep pushing forward when there are setbacks. You will always be busy but you have to make it a priority to do things outside of your career goals that give you fulfillment and happiness.
A life skill we all need to learn is how to deal with failure and learn from it. We need to learn how to get back up on our feet and keep pushing forward. What’s done is done. Once you get to college no one will care what you did in high school. You get to start out with a clean slate.
There are many super smart students that are qualified to attend elite schools but can’t afford to attend. You will find brilliant students in your classes. One of my daughter’s classmates (came from a low income single parent home) attended the instate public on a full scholarship. He is now attending JHU for his PHD in BME. There is more than one path to reach your goal. Going to an elite school for undergrad is not the only path.
Getting caught up in prestige drives smart people into making unwise decisions. I’ve seen people graduate with over $200k in debt for bachelors degree for the sake of prestige. That kind of debt would financially cripple you for life. It’s not worth it. Make the best of it and be happy.
There’s nothing you can’t do at Rutgers - thy have more than 150 majors and I’m not counting the minors. So, what’s your new interest? Or what are your possible interested? Have you looked at all the more, one by one?