I have doable grades when compared to higher-tier schools like Emory, Rice, and UC Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins ( check my other thread for the details) , but I have a relatively bare EC history because I was an idiot until around 11th grade. I was selected for a class of 15 seniors at my school where we spend two-periods a day learning and training to become medical assistants. The process was very selective as the teacher had to choose from 60 applicants and it was made clear in my letters of rec from my instructor and guidance counselor that I was one of the earliest students to be selected.
Right now I’m almost halfway through my medical assistant training at school and will be doing 9-weeks of clinical training sessions at Cedar Park Regional in March. Now how good will this look for the colleges I’ve mentioned above? I don’t have a good measure since I wasn’t able to find anything on other students who have done this. Maybe that’s a good sign since I have something pretty valuable that not too many others have.
Give me your best opinion, even if your not sure.
Besides that, I’m a National member of HOSA who’s competing in medical terminology and I also participate in some community service and charity events with my father who’s a lifetime member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity ( though this only adds up to like 20 hours I guess).
This is concurrent enrollment vocational training in many high schools, in my kids school it is not the pathway for the academic kids, because it blocks too many academic classes for IB/AP kids aimed at 4 yr schools. You could be right that kids aimed at selective schools won’t have chosen this kind of option, but it isn’t an EC. It is totally part of your C.
I think you are going to have to give it a hard sell because it meant sacrificing 4 (I assume it is a 2 yr track, sorry if that is wrong) AP classes/the IBD, your competition is going to have all sciences as AP or IB, you are not going to get the GC signing off as taking the most rigorous curriculum. You are going to have to make the case that you chose this out of passion because it won't have been a choice for academic rigour. In an IB school you could have had HL chem and Bio, 2 yr deep science classes and the diploma. You have 3 AP and I IB class (none science), is that right? That Is the total of your rigorous classes? I don't see it it as an advantage at all as a parent in a school that offers this type of pathway. Your school may well have sold it differently though.
Overall by the time I finished high school, I would have six sciences in total ( 3 on level, 1 Honors, and 2 Pre-AP.) 2 of the on level ones were the med-related courses that I couldn’t go any higher on.
In grades 9-11 IB was the most rigorous available level for science with AP not being a thing until senior year.
I wasn’t able to get those senior AP classes because I moved from another state where students took the main sciences in a different order. Even worse my 9th grade Honors IPC course was changed to on-level because it wasn’t available as Honors in my current school district.
Math I believe I took the most rigorous path because I was all Honors/Pre-Ap for Math grades 9-11 ( which was as high as you could go) and I’m currently in AP calculus BC.
Social Studies for 9th and 10th were on-level, my 11th and 12th grade ones were completed through dual-credit college courses over the summer. I did it to make room for some more medical stuff.
English was on level for 9th & 10th and AP for 11th and 12th.
Most of my other stuff were medical related electives. I still rank fairly well in my school as 70/476 in my class.
Like you said, I’m mostly selling this as a passion.
I also had like 4-years of Latin in there as well. I took the highest levels available for those course and I’m on Distinguished Honor Roll plan. I though to help balance myself out I thought my SAT and SAT II scores would somewhat even out my academic display.
I think Sybylla is right. Medical assistant in many areas is a support job for kids not headed off to a 4-year academic degree. If you were a junior, I would say see how you can transform that into volunteer work in healthcare delivery, asap. But you’re already a senior, a month away from submitting apps.
This training can’t replace rigor in hs academics. And your rank is hovering at the edge of the top 15%. Plus, it’s not about positioning yourself as really, really interested in a medical career as a physician. For competitive colleges like JHU, Rice, and Emory, it’s how you “show, not just tell.”
So take a quick and deep look at what those schools look for, the whole of it, the actions as well as the personal attributes and get some idea how to present yourself. And be sure you are good with safeties where you can grow and that you can afford.
?? But you say “physician scientist” in the other thread. That’s a different track.
And you don’t get into a highly competitive college based on saying the summer after hs grad you will do X. Those private colleges are among the picky ones. They will look for rigor in the transcript,the right rigorous lab science classes, the grades. Not just that, somehow, you got X gpa. They will see the 15% rank, few ECs, none health related except HOSA, which is a hs thing, often aimed at kids not intending a 4 year degree.
The usual CC advice may be to aim a little lower, work hard in college, toward a goal of med school.
@looking forward The medical assistant training was just one of my med-related courses, I have also taken other courses such a pharmacology, medical terminology, medical microbiology, principles of biomedical science, health science technology level 1&2 and human anatomy and physiology. I’m also a National member of HOSA.
I guess I was just under a different impression than the rest of you guys when it came to this class because most if not all of my fellow trainees were also planning on going to college then med school and our time as CCMA’s was just to build some experience in the healthcare field before med school. Our instructor was aware of this and treated the course as some prep before we hit pre-med and med school. This was the norm with many of her students.
@ looking forward A CCMA was what I planned on as a job as during my undergrad years. Being a physician-scientist was what I planned on being for medical school.
Actually 2 AP Science classes were impossible for me because I started at a school where IPC was the mandatory 9th grade science ( you were then expected to double up). It was an Honors course and I aced it, but it was turned into an on-level course when I transferred to my current one. I wasn’t allowed to double up on the main 3 ( Bio Chem, and Physics) in my current school and you needed to complete all three before any AP sciences. So I had to spend my last 3 years getting those out of the way with IPC being my 4th credit.
Medical Microbiology and Human A&P was making the best out of my situation as they were the best main sciences available for me that I didn’t need to finish the main three for.
Joe, you’re dealing with 3 parents here. You are not wrong for looking in that direction for side work. But it and the misc pre-job classes, like terminology, are not tips into JHU, Rice, or Emory. Not a replacement for science rigor, math-sci ECs in hs, and first hand health delivery experience to-date.
The 15% rank won’t help, despite it earning distinction at your hs. You need to go back and dig into what they look for. And find true safeties. You have a chance for success in the future, but seem to need a better understanding of what makes a match.
I guess I should also inform you guys that these colleges are just my reach schools that I thought I should try at. I still have safety schools aside because I’m well aware that I can easily be rejected by any of these private schools ( doing otherwise would be suicide).
I should just say now that I may have unintentionally frustrated some of you in this forum, I’m still very grateful for your input and giving me some perspective. All of you proved yourse;ves to be very informed and experienced. Mille Grazie