Rochester/JHU

Applying to College
1

What are my chances of getting into University of Rochester/ UChicago/Johns Hopkins Univ.

GPA: 4.0/4.3
Sat: 770m/680v/600w
Sat2s: 800 mathIIC, 710 bio
Extracurriculars: Working as a tutor and interning over the summer at lab in hospital , Tutor in my school to freshman, Shadowed doctor for 2 years, Volunteered in the hospital for 3 years (over 120 hours stored up lol), FBLA 1 year, Rap Freestyle club (2 years - started it up with friends)

Awards: Awarded from Hospital for giving over 100 hours of service, Honor roll at school
…thinking of what else, i think these are the most important stuff

Can you give me my chances at University of Rochester? How about Johns Hopkins Univ.? Any similar schools ?

How about the prestige of university of Rochester, what do you think an outsiders view is of this school? Worth my 4 years of hard work, and another 4 years of high pay?? Thanks …!

2

<p>How much did you shadow the doctor? Once a week? Three days a week? Once a month? 120 hours isn't a whole bunch of volunteer service, so don't count on that being a big plus, although it will definitely play well. How much time did you spend doing the interning at the hospital lab? Did you get to co-publish anything? What did you do there? Do you have any awards outside of what you'll already list? As in club activities/science projects, etc? Also, why is your writing SAT so low? That's the easiest section to study for and I think it would help you, even if just a little, if you would study enough to get that writing score up to 700. Trying to be as objective as possible, how good do you think your essays and recommendations will be?</p>

<p>Answer these questions and I'd feel I could give a better estimate of your chances. </p>

<p>Also, have you considered the REMS program at Rochester? It's uber-competitive. I got rejected from it :( but you might as well apply to it to see what happens, if it's something that interests you. It's an awesome program for anyone considering med school.</p>

<p>I think Rochester is a pretty good school, probably with a higher regional reputation, though, than a national one. I had never heard of it before I got nominated for their Social Sciences and Humanities Award, but while I was there one girl who attends said that when she tells people around there that she goes to Roch that they automatically think she's really smart, which is a good sign. It's ranked 38, I think, on the USNWR, so it's definitely not a podunk school. But I want to say that "an outsider's view" is unimportant - what you need to worry about is whether it's a good fit for you and (if it applies) how good their grad/med school placement is.</p>

<p>Looking forward to hearing your answers to my questions...</p>

3

<p>my cousin is going to rochester next year; which is why i'm highly considering it, and he says i can get a LOT of money if i go there next year.
Shadowed the doctor three times a week on average, but many weeks i went for 2 times too, for around 3 hours, i'd say 9 hours a week. Remember, i needed to work around the docs schedule, so if there was something interesting going on, or if he was making rounds, etc i'd stay and help him out. If he was doing a lot of paperwork, or busy with something else important.....no reason for me to be there. But in my opinion its the experience overall that is important, and the fact that i was consistent with it. Also the volunteer work i was just giving the scope (i actually think i have a bit more than 120, but it was 120 last time i checked), I think tho i'm proud that i was consistent with the jobs throughout the years. </p>

<p>I dont know why my verbal score is so low...when i was taking the diags I was getting around mid 600s/low 700s consistently, who knows what happened that morning. My Recs are beautiful, i truly believe that i will have awesome recs from the doctors and teachers. My essay, if i put time and effort into it, I will also pump out good work, i enjoy creative writing anyways. </p>

<p>the lab is just basically me doing remedial labor, helping sort out the proteins, making buffers, doing some basic tests/examinations. I dont think there was enough oppurtunities for me to "copublish" stuff. I do plan to do a lot of research during undergrad tho, and be published before medical school. </p>

<p>Oh and another note, i know definitely i wont get into REMS, buutttttttt, also , i want to keep my options open, maybe go to another medical school after undergrad, etc. </p>

<p>Awards? NOpe! lol, i dont know, other people seem to have a knack for piling up these awards, but really, i didnt seen any oppurtunities that arose for me to collect awards. I mean, dont get me wrong, i do a lot of work, i'm involved, etc, but i mean where can i enter competitions to get awards....plus i'm not going out of my way to receive an award (i'm a winner inside dammit! lol jk)</p>

<p>Oh, and prestige -does- matter to me to a certain extent, and i'm fairly curious, which is why i asked. i know its not good to base a decision on just that, and frankly, if it came down to it, prestige will not arise as a factor. I really am just curious. like regarding rochester, i heard of the school from association with people that are going there..but, is it popular? like princeton/harvard/yale, you can know no one going there, but they are infamous.</p>

4

<p>listen, when u say u go to rochester, no one is going to say omg wow. First of all, many will think its a state school--when it is a private school. It does have a good pre-med program supposedly, however the overall school does not carry the weight of its new york counterparts--Cornell and Columbia.</p>

5

<p>I would definitely play up your 'consistent' dedication to your ECs to show that you were really involved in them and truly like the whole health careers route, which, I think, would make you stand out from the general "I want to be pre-med because that's what my parents want" crowd that they see. Shadowing was pretty much my biggest "activity" (along with volunteering in hospital and other random clubs) and my college admissions worked out well with both Hopkins and Rochester (admitted to both, made semifinalist stage in REMS at Rochester). Really, I think your biggest hindrance is your GPA (can you work on bringing it up for the midyear report?) even though it's not all that bad, and your verbal and writing SAT score (although it pains me to say that). I think the Rap Freestyle club would make a good essay topic/short answer sort of thing to show your more lighthearted side. </p>

<p>So, I would say you have a very good chance at Rochester and an (slightly?) above average chance at Hopkins.</p>

<p>As for your question about Rochester being famous like Princeton, Harvard, and Yale...probably people in most areas outside of the Northeast won't recognize the name "University of Rochester" when you tell them where you're going. I think it's unfair to compare Rochester with Cornell and Columbia because Ivy League membership basically guarantees name recognition and prestige. I'll tell you again though, it's not what the average joe in Iowa thinks about Rochester, it's what the med schools think, and look at the numbers:</p>

<ul>
<li>84% of the 45 applicants for Fall 2002 seeking admission were admitted to schools such as: UCLA, Mount Sinai, Yale, Duke, Rochester, Case Western, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, UVA & Emory. </li>
<li>100% of Rochester students with at least a 3.6 GPA were accepted.</li>
</ul>

<p>That is great, especially considering that Rochester does not screen out what it considers to be bad seeds.</p>