My daughter is a sophomore currently. She took AP Chemistry in freshman year, got an A- in the first semester and A in the second. She got 770 on Chemistry SAT and 5 on Chemistry AP exam. She is taking AP biology, AP Calc and AP US History along with other Honors programs. We are concerned she might end up with an A- in one of these as she is treading along the border of A/A- for these AP classes.
She does play Varsity Tennis, Orchestra along with UN Model club, does volunteering regularly. Other than that, nothing extraordinary about her.
We are just wondering what should her focus be this year and next couple of years to guarantee admission to one of the direct medical programs. Some of the colleges of her choice are Boston University, Northwestern University, etc.
Will couple of A-'s in the AP classes impact her admission? What should her test scores be?
If* she also considers pharmacy as well, look into St. Louis College of Pharmacy, it’s a direct program but please be aware your daughter is just a sophomore so give it some more time before seriously thinking about colleges and her interests. A lot* can change in over a year
Are you perchance talking about bs md programs? I’d look into shadowing and research. A publication or two would be great. Also, apply to lower level schools. Bs Md. is ridiculously competitive. For northwestern , I think the acceptance rate is below 1% (if you consider those who don’t even are allowed to apply). Try to max out stats if you are aiming high.
No guarantees. Right now, you’re putting the cart before the horse. And you didn’t say even one word that this is her desire.
If it is, get her field experience. And I don’t mean shadowing or starting a pre-med club at school where she hangs with friends and they chat. Nor collecting pennies or an expensive trip to hold orphan babies or big sister at the hs or singing to.old folks.
Your last sentence is completely a stunner. Your 15 year old is nearly an all A student and got a 5 on AP Chem last year as a freshman.
An A- in an AP class to derail her? Seriously? Nothing guarantees her admission to a BS/MD program. Stop chasing that. She needs to present herself as having resiliency and self drive. With your hovering, I doubt she can develop that part of her character. What’s driving all this? What does she want to do? While it’s OK to overwatch a kiddo’s progress – you may be seriously creeping into “tiger mom” territory.
T26E4 - Problem is, she wants to go to highly competitive schools like Northwestern, etc for the direct BS/MD programs. What we are doing is just making her set realistic expectations or put more effort to getting what she wants to do. I don’t know what made you think that we are hovering over her, but don’t have the time or inclination to do that. But we are involved enough to know what her grades are and if she is not working towards her goals.
andyis - Thanks for your reply. We will have to look into shadowing and research. I believe getting a good research opportunity is based on contacts and it might take some effort as both of us are not in medical field. Would shadowing a doctor outside US work? We are from India and can arrange shadowing for her with one of my cousins who works at a reputed hospital there.
Understood. My community has many many families like yours. I happen to recruit for a big name college so I get asked similar questions often. I think having a lofty goal such as NU’s BS/MD program is fine. I think the relative’s shadowing opportunity you can expose her to will be great. I wouldn’t worry so much about each grade. A perfect transcript isn’t required. I think your remarkable kid will guide al of you along. Good luck.
Shadowing isn’t it. It’s an ok, first-time thing and can be done for a week. But for a highly competitive BS/MD program you want direct experience in health care, work that shows compassion, commitment and your ability to roll up your sleeves. Not hands-off, just watching. I know the standards at the U that I work for.
Rather than walk around after a doctor, maybe holding a clipboard, if you’re in India, get her involved with efforts to actually work with those people the health professionals serve. There are plenty of ways and we see it from other Indian kids.
An A- in these difficult courses shouldn’t be looked at as a detriment! My S struggled in AP Chem all year to get his A- and sought out extensive tutoring. You have what sounds like a very extraordinary girl!
Has she looked into volunteering at a local hospital or organizing events with her school’s HOSA?
But more importantly, start looking into summer programs for her to work under a professor. Notable ones include RSI, Simons, SIMR, etc, which only Juniors can apply to. Sophomores can apply to lower level programs and gain early exposure as well (IE COSMOS in California or other similar medical-related programs). Once you gain entrance to a program and work under a professor, look into getting a research paper/getting published. Work hard and from there reap the benefits by submitting your research to a prestigious science competition like Siemens or Intel STS. There are also non-“paper” based competitions such as Google Science fair and Synopsys.
If your daughter can get into finals for any of these competitions it will SIGNIFICANTLY bolster her chances at making a BS/MD.
This is kind of the “stereotypical” path I suppose, but it’s hard for sure. Above all make sure your daughter really wants to go into medicine. But if she does, this will certainly be what I recommend.
If she has taken AP chem as a freshman and taking AP Bio as a sophomore, along with AP Calc, what is there left for her to take junior and senior year? AP physics 1 and 2? Taking advanced math through dual enrollment?
Please encourage her to have some activities for fun. High pressure programs will be happy to see candidates who have activities for stress relief and practice some self care.
She will be taking AP Physics for an year and then maybe pursuing dual enrollment at local state college. Sophomore year might be her hardest year course load wise. After that, she most probably will get used to the level of difficulty of AP classes or college level courses.
Last two years she should be having time for building up her resume, applications and other activities. She is a decent tennis player and likes politics too. That is usually her stress relief along with travel. I will look more into CNA, and check with her if she would be interested in doing anything like that. It might also help to make sure she has the dedication and compassion to make a good doctor.