<p>Hi, I have my heart set on going to medical school and need to know the best way to go about it. I am currently midway through my freshman year at stonehill college in MA. I am a biology major, in the honors program here, recieved a 3.9 gpa my first semester and have been asked to TA for two of my classes next year. Only problem is I really do not like the school.</p>
<p>In high school my gradepoint average was about a 3.7 unweighted and I took entirely honors/AP classes. I recieved 5's on both the AP psych and bio exams. My combined SAT score was 1920 with a 1300/1600 on the old scale.</p>
<p>I feel that graduating from stonehill college, even with a very high GPA will put me at a great disadvantage when applying to medical schools so I am looking into transferring to a school with better rates of students being accepted into medical school.</p>
<p>So far I am considering applying to Boston College, Holy Cross, NorthWestern and Johns Hopkins, (I know the last two are big reaches).</p>
<p>So my questions are:
Do you think my concern is a valid one about graduating from stonehill?</p>
<p>Do you think I have a legitimate chance of being accepted into any of these schools? </p>
<p>How would you rate BC and Holy Cross as premed schools assuming they're students to very well?</p>
<p>Which one of these schools is the best and would give me the best shot? </p>
<p>right now I think my two favorites would have to be Northwestern followed by BC. I really like Holy Cross and Johns Hopkins but i've heard it is just extremely hard to do very well there.</p>
<p>Not liking your current school is definitely a legit reason to transfer. The question is: Do you really like Hopkins or Northwestern, outside of the med school acceptance rates?</p>
<p>I also wouldn't worry about your ability to do well at JHU or NU. Given your stereotypical 2100 SAT scorer that matriculates at JHU/NU and a student who managed a 3.9 his freshman year at another college, I have more faith that the college student will do better after entering JHU.</p>
<p>The reason I like NorthWestern so much is because I spent 3 months there two years ago having a stem cell transplant at NW medical center, during some of the downtime I decided to visit there and UChicago, loved them both.</p>
<p>I have never been to Johns Hopkins but know many people who love it there, If I was accepted I would visit but I don't know if i'll be able to find time before then due to being in school. </p>
<p>Also, during High school I missed a ton of work due to severe crohn's disease, the stem cell transplant and surgery, missing about 60 and 50 days junior and senior year respectively. Do you think this is a good thing to write in the extra about me section on the applications as an explanation for the less than stellar high school record or do you think it would seem like asking for pity?</p>
<p>Any more answers to my previous questions would also be greatly appreciated and thank you to norcalguy.</p>
<p>The Pre-Med Topics forum doesn't really know anything about undergraduate admissions, transfers included. You'd be best served trying in the Search and Selection Forum, or the Transfer Students Forum.</p>
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I feel that graduating from stonehill college, even with a very high GPA will put me at a great disadvantage when applying to medical schools so I am looking into transferring to a school
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<p>Hmm...I thought undergraduate institution didn't matter too much if you have a high GPA.</p>
<p>Well, what we can tell you is that excellence from any school is not going to be punished. So on career purposes alone, there's no reason to transfer. But you said you're unhappy. So we here affirm your transfer. That's about the best we can do.</p>
<p>In terms of chances and such, that's their... uh, forte.</p>