I’m a rising senior and am looking to apply to BS/MD programs, and Northwestern HPME is at the top of my list. Unfortunately my SAT chem is my lowest subject test, and I heard that Northwestern looks a lot at it for the direct medicine program.
Would it be worth it to try and retake now? Are subject tests more of a cutoff or are they weighted heavily in the admissions process?
Here are my other stats and ecs.
Asian female, middle class, no hooks/legacy unfortunately
Stats:
SAT 1 1560(770 r/w, 790 m 8/8/8 essay)
SAT II Math Level 2 800, Biology M 800 Chemistry 740
PSAT 1510(likely national merit semifinalist in CA)
AP/ Courseload: Sophomore year course load: Ap calculus AB/ BC(5) Ap Computer science, AP Chemistry(4), AP World History(5)
Junior Year Courses: AP Biology(5), AP Physics 1, AP US History(5), AP Psychology(5), AP Environmental Science(5), AP English Language(5), AP Art History
Senior Year Schedule: AP English Literature, AP Physics II, AP Government/Econ, AP Spanish, AP Statistics, Anatomy/Physiology, Work Internship(EMT program)
GPA 4.0 unweighted, 4.8 weighted
EC’s:
Paid research internship for 2 years as part of competitive life science program
Internships in clinical research from freshman year- first author publication in peer reviewed journal
Second author publication in prominent cancer research journal with director of cancer center, third paper under review for publication
presented original research at a national conference
Science fair awards for neuroscience research
president of GWC and founded outreach programs to the middle school and teaching STEM to girls with autism
Provisional patent filed for healthcare device
women in computing awards, won an app challenge related to women empowerment
Volunteer at an arts workshop for cancer patients and a free clinic, started an arts program for other patients, founded a nonprofit to help cancer patients— probably will write my essays about this to showcase both humanities and science
Around 600 hours of volunteer service(PVSA 3 years Gold)
Founded bone marrow drive club, organized a STEM conference
Any advice would be appreciated!
I don’t think you need to retake the Chem
You seem like an extremely strong applicant. A friend of mine got in to HPME with a Chem subject test score that was lower than yours is, so I think you’ll be fine. If you do have extra time on your hands, however, then go for it.