Our bs/md journey ends here. My C decided to commit to Hofstra. Wish you all good luck! Thank you all for your help!
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Think you are the only one here with Harvard. My D would love to take the spot. She was in tear when saw Waitlist. She recovered fast. We were wishing we should have done REA. Wish wishâŠ
I wish she had got in. Life moves on in any case.
So finally time to make decisions, my son got into Princeton, MIT and Penn State BSMD, but he wants to go to either Princeton or MIT, yes both are hard for premed Princeton grade deflation and MIT is very difficult. So very tough choices to make. If anyone have advice really appreciated and waitlisted every other IVYâs.
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Somewhat similar boat - I will go with MIT. No second guess.
Had it been Harvard, a little tossing.
The reason is MIT UG ( many friends) and Penn UG are like sky and earth differnce. Dont worry and let the chip fall where they may after 4 yrs.
Curious! How colleges determine the need-based aid, without FAFSA then?
I think Medical School application and match process is totally different for doctorsâ kids. Not suggesting nepotism- itâs just that I am sure the parentsâ contacts help as well as they can help guide their kids UG EC etc.
FAFSA is used mainly for federal Pell grants (free money) and threshold for income and assets is very low for most ORMs on (CC) to qualify. Your EFC is calculated based on all your income and assets reported. If your EFC is high, you will not qualify for Pell grants. Almost every one qualifies for 5500 of unsubsidized loan. If you do not want any loans and your EFC is high, there may be no need to file FAFSA. Most merit based awards or scholarships do not need any financial documentation, IMO. Private schools may need CSS and FAFSA. It all depends on your EFC, whether you should file a FAFSA/CSS or not.
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My sonâs classmate and chemistry partner (they won national silver together ) is a UPenn senior now and he has at least 2 T20 admissions last I checked. So results vary from person to person and you canât go by N=1 examples.
Cornell, Princeton and JHU are known grade deflation schools amount private T20s. However within each school some majors could be harsher than others.
If parent has time and maintains connections they could help somewhat. However most ORM doctors are too busy making money and for lot them any medical school or residency is fine.
Only help my kid got is finding shadowing, everything else he did it on his own and some advise from me based on what I read on CC and SDN.
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What major will he do at MIT or Princeton?
What do you mean by forced curve here ? Is it not a normal distribution ?
@muscarf - I would go with Penn State BSMD fir the reasons youâve mentioned if confident about decision to pursue medicine. If unsure, then may go with MIT or Princeton depending on the major he/she decides to pursue.
What will happen to medical school dream if MIT is too hard and GPA nose dives ?
You take a gap year and do GPA repair, not end of medical dreams.
Our journey ends with PLME. He is thrilled and though GW gave him better money, it is hard to push back against the Ivy and a guarantee. This has been A LOT of work and he is where he wanted to be so the journey seems worth it!
Kiddoâs tradâl ug results:
UNC-CH (OOS)- Accepted
Duke-Accepted
Georgetown- Waitlisted
Swarthmore-Accepted
UVA- Accepted
CMU- Denied
William and Mary-Accepted
Tufts-Accepted
Vanderbilt- Accepted
Boston College-Accepted
Northeastern- Accepted
Stanford-Accepted
UF (in state)-Accepted
FSU-Accepted
UW (OOS)-Accepted
Emory-Accepted
Yale- Rejected
Dartmouth- Accepted
UPenn- Rejected
J Hop- rejected
Columbia- Waitlisted
Harvard- Rejected
BSMD Applications
GW- ACCEPTED!!! 
Brown-ACCEPTED!!!
Others:
Pitt, Penn, FAU, NJMS, BU, Temple- Rejected pre interview
VCU, Drexel- offered interview and declined to accept
Hofstra- sent supplement/no interview invitation
URochester- Interview, not selected
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only 20% get A, all remainings get lower grades, eventually dropping GPA for them below from what they expect! Look at each Univ policy regarding curve thing.
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Hi everyone, high school senior here returning for some advice.
I was accepted into Harvard, Yale, Columbia-Juilliard Exchange, and Penn MLS. I was also accepted into BU SMED and Brown PLME!
Iâm not quite sure what to pick from hereâIâm currently conflicted between Harvard and Brown PLME. I am certain that I want to pursue medicine. What route would you suggest me take?
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Your son is a T20 medical school caliber, donât short sell his potential to BS/MD program.
Let him explore his potential by joining MIT/Princeton where he can thrive.
Forced curve in every course or class means this: say, there are 10 kids in Multivariate Calculus. The weakest student of the 10 gets a final grade of 95, followed by the second weakest student who gets a 96. Those 2 kids will get a C+, while the highest 2 scorers will get an A each. The middle 6 will get B &/or B+. Some colleges only have whole grades: A, B or C -no + or - . Donât know about UPennâs policy wrt. At Harvard College, the grading is absolute, meaning anything 90 or above gets an A. So no curve.
Scary!! Does anyone know BU grading policy?