I am currently a high school junior who is stressing about choosing colleges to attend to. I am hoping to stay in California and take advantage of the in-state tuition (no private schools), and I would like to major in some sort of sciences (or clinical psychology) as I am on the path to medical school and a career in psychiatry. I would like to go to higher ranked colleges as I have been working my ass off for years, but I don’t feel like I’m good enough. I would like to apply to UCLA, UCSD, and Cal Poly SLO, but I feel like I need more options and a safety school.
About me/My concerns:
I was in Europe at a DODEA (military base) school (starting in 7th grade) until the beginning of this year and did not have enough opportunities to apply myself. Recently, I have been accepted into a summer session at Harvard med, and have taken on numerous health internships (I was starting to feel comfortable about my situation) until majority of them got cancelled due to the recent pandemic. I have always involved myself in school, clubs, organizations, and the arts, however, I was never really a part of something major and did not to a lot of extracurricular activities (I did not want to do sports and frankly wasn’t good enough sometimes). Additionally, I have yet to take my ACT, and seem to be running out of time (another opportunity postponed by the pandemic, but mainly my fault). Furthermore, my community service work has not been terribly consistent, I have plenty of hours but not dedicated to any particular activity (again, limited opportunities)
Essentially, I am worried I don’t have enough consistency, and that I haven’t applied myself enough.
My school life:
My current GPA is a 3.9 (unweighted) and a 4.4 (weighted); I have taken honors courses and did not manage to take an AP class until sophomore year (AP psych which I got a 5 on). I am currently taking AP Lang, APUSH, and AP Calc, with the hopes to take AP Lit, AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Computer sci next year ( I have also taken every available science class at my school, will have completed all available math classes, studied up to French 3, and have continued electives in the arts, additionally, I had the opportunity to take high school courses in middle school (French 1-2, and Algebra 1). (Note: My science classes before my current school had no honors opportunities.)
I am involved in many academic societies, one of which demanded 20 hours of community service per semester, and involved myself in many academic and artistic clubs. I have pursued my art and even attended a program abroad for it. (However, my art elective has changed each year meaning it hasn’t been consistent on paper record; this causes me to worry because I don’t think the schools will see my true passions). Lastly, I joined a health internship, in which I am establishing a new mental health forum for my school campus among other things.
I am passionate about learning and I’m worried that colleges may mistake it for being a workaholic, in truth, I did it all because I wanted to, but that also made my time limited for things colleges may care about.
What I want from my school:
Anywhere in Cali is fine with me, I do really like the North and would like a change in my life. I am trying to stay out of private schools because there is no use racking up debt (at least until med school). I would have to say I am most interested in Cal Poly due to it being a lower level of stress, a more personal approach, a good way to build up a resume for med school, a more home-like environment, and a nice location. However, I know UC schools are better for premed students (or so I’ve heard).
What I want from you:
I just want to know if I stand a chance at getting into these schools, and what you would recommend as safety schools for me. Thoughts on any of it? I would happily take any sort of advice on any part of what I have written, and any additions are happily accepted.