Good morning,
Some colleges/bsmd require a student to submit a resume. A student’s resume would mostly consist of activities, awards, scores, courses taken etc which all are already mentioned in one or the other place in common app/awards/activities/scores/courses etc. So is it ok to repeat the same things again in resume? What do colleges expect to see in resume that they cannot see in other sections of the application? We are confused how to approach writing of the resume for DD. Any suggestion would be helpful.
Your GPA, ACT score, subject test scores, ECs (science fair, volunteering) seem very good and are on par with other BSMD applicants. 800 hours of Research is above average for BSMD students as well.
Although any Hospital/Red Cross volunteering is good but patient facing is better. Was Red cross patient facing? Was your research in the Bio/neuroscience/medical area? What did you do in the Hospital?
Is it possible for you to ask few local doctors for shadowing/volunteering and get this experience before the application deadlines? This is certainly a gap but you still have a few months…
BSMD programs have a wide criteria and each looks for different student type. You should apply widely to various BSMD’s (avoid those who specifically ask for shadowing). Also apply to several strong UGs as well.
@rk1235rk - Usually it’s not possible to include all of your ECs, medical experience, Awards, Sports, Leadership, Volunteering, etc… in the common app. You can include only a few that are most significant.
For example just mentioning the name of an award you received is not enough. You need to provide some details. You should not expect Admission officers to know automatically or do their google search for every entry in Common App.
Resume consists of 2 pages and allows you to add some of these details as well as add more of the - ECs, medical experience, Awards, Sports, Leadership, Volunteering, etc…
@Vicky2019
Thank you for your response;
The research was done in Biochemistry and the other was an independent neuroscience research at a local University.
His volunteering was helping patients reach their clinics in the hospital and fill out forms.
With COVID, area hospitals cancelled the shadowing/so he took an online med school program this summer but I don’t think it was close to the real world.
You haven’t mentioned how you fared in your APs. Hope you have 5s in Bio and Calc BC and wish had taken at least one of Chem or Physics C by now. In the absence of subject test scores, AP scores may gain further prominence to reflect one’s strengths in core subjects.
I wouldn’t worry too much about your ACT or SAT, you may be able to pull them up in subsequent attempts. But suggest you submit only one score, the stronger of ACT or SAT.
Also am a little surprised by the choice of your senior year APs. I think you should consider replacing Env Sci, Human Geo and may be even Government, if the load becomes too much, with preferably Chem and Physics C. The admissions folks of these highly competitive programs also pay attention to what your senior year subjects are and how you fared in them till the 1 st marking period. I know, it can be challenging with the applications and all that, but is the hard reality. But pretty much every one in this path go through anyway.
@rk2017
Thank you for your feedback. In my school, AP chemistry (I took regular chem in 10th grade) and physics are the hardest class and I have to take physics to complete my graduation requirement, so I was advised to not to take chemistry in addition to physics my senior year. The reason I have “extra” AP classes for next year is that I was going to take an EMT course at a specialized academy which would have taken 4/8 class slots but that got cancelled due to COVID; this means that I had to add four new classes and Env Sci and Human Geo are two of those additional classes.
@Nebula1 - I thinking the volunteering in the hospital can be considered for BSMD. From all the information you shared, he seems on par with other BSMD candidates…with some differences. He should be ok if he applies widely to various BSMDs and UGs
You have already taken - US history (DE), APs (Calculus BC, World History, Psychology, Biology, Language and Composition)
Next year, it looks that you are taking the following 6 DE/AP courses - multivariable calculus, physics, and English, environmental science, government, and human geo
Multivariable calculus is not necessary. You could replace with Statistics which is much easier. This will enable you to add Physics and Chemistry (AP or dual enrollment courses). Instead of 6 courses, you could only take 5 DE/APs which looks like below - Physics, Chemistry, Statistics, Government, English
Will your school allow you to change your course list now?
Please try to improve your scores SAT I or ACT if you can. Can you take SAT II subject tests ? These are more important than 5-10 APs you can show on your transcript. Usually APs are used to get college credits, once you are admitted. SAT I score 1450 is too low for the most bsmd programs and you may be screened out by many bsmd programs in your list. NJMS prefers much higher SAT I score. You may be screened out by several feeder schools for NJMS even before first interview (NJIT, TCNJ etc).
Are there any BSMD’s that prefer SAT over ACT ? My son took his ACT but could not take SAT because of cancellations. At this point I am debating if it is prudent for him to take SAT in October or just not worry about .Also rumors are female applicants have an edge over males in admissions. Is this true ?
Thank You
@Nebula1, I don’t think there is any BSMD that says they prefer one over the other…Some people have previously interpreted Northwestern’s BSMD language for standardized test (on their webpage) as - they prefer SAT over ACT - but that is just their interpretation. I would say if your son’s ACT score is competitive (>=34), then don’t worry about SAT and utilize the time on essays/applications. I have seen many students getting selected into competitive BSMDs in previous cycle with just ACT scores.
moms2boys1999 and rk1235rk, Thanks. Unfortunately that did not work for us. Finally I was able to get hold of ACT folks after a 3-4 hrs long wait. For some reason, the data was not transferring with the email that was already attached it. We had to use a new email and then transfer the data.
Someone here had commented that REMS has been lately capping the merit awards to max of 10k per each of the undergrad years. Would you be willing to share your first hand info/insight on this for the benefit of others who may be interested down the line?
@rk2017 I cannot confirm why or even that UR is capping merit aid at 10k. However, I know that UR has 2 measures in place that can increase merit aid awards for admitted students. The first is a priority deadline on December 1 (I’m pretty sure that is the date). If you apply to REMS on time you should be good for this deadline, which will essentially guarantee you at least some merit aid. However, this does not explain the reported 10k cap. The second measure and the one I think may have more to do with this is the optional interview on or off campus that UR offers. On UR’s website and in a Youtube video called “The Importance of Interviewing at the University of Rochester,” UR states that this interview is highly recommended and that it increases your potential for merit award and even admission to the school.
From my experience, I did an interview on campus and recieved more than 10k in merit aid, which leads me to believe that those two are related. I also think that it’s possible the interview contributed to my admission to REMS. Do not mark my words though, this is pure conjecture based on my experiences and research.
I would advise future REMS applicants to take an interview because it’s really the best way to ensure that you will get the maximum chance of admission to REMS and the maximum merit aid award. There is really no downside to doing this. With COVID I have absolutely no idea how they will conduct the optional interviews (maybe zoom or something). If they don’t replace it with something concrete, I would absolutely get involved with any sort of online open houses or other activities UR holds. Showing interest is one of the best ways to make yourself stand out in a pool of extremely competitive applicants and it may contribute to a greater merit aid award if they don’t have the interview to distinguish between applicants’ demonstrated interest.
Hi, question about sending transcripts to colleges - my DD has taken some dual enrollment courses from a local university which gets entered in her high school transcript. Now, when we have to send official transcript to colleges, is it necessary to ask that local university for the transcript (meaning we send 2 transcripts - 1 of high school and 1 of college)? Or is it enough to just send her high school transcript?
Hi! Does anyone have a list of “easiest” BSMD programs to get into? Bc I only want to apply to a few; if I don’t get in, I’m also fine with just undergrad. Thank you so much!!