Hello! This is my first time using College Confidential, so please bear with me. I am currently enrolled at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York and will be returning in the Fall as a Sophomore. I feel as if I am not being academically challenged by my professors or my peers. I feel as if I I am an extension of high school in which there are only an occasional few who actually want to pursue a meaningful career. My Stats are as follows :
High School:
W/UW GPA: 4.5/3.83 (About)
All Honors Courses, Three College Courses, No AP’S (I was more than capable but was very lazy)
SAT: 1720 ( My SAT was the reason I did not pursue a much more competitive school. I took it twice, and was never really too concerned about it. Stupidly, I was too proud to label myself as a test score and refused to study or take the test practically. ((No excuse)) Also, mind you, most colleges neglect standardized testing scores after the first year of college. They usually just want the first year GPA.
Four Years of Sports, Student Council, Hundreds of Service Hours, et cetera.
College: Pre Medicine Track
3.75 GPA, Chess Club Secretary, Soccer Club Team, Volunteer, Etc.
I am also, for esteem purposes, a self acclaimed musician and linguist.
Now, after all this, I was wondering if I should consider transferring to a more competitive school in which I will regularly be challenged by my peers and professors and the courses I am enrolled in. Going to a school when you are surrounded by students who catalyze learning is something that I am not akin to. Also, Albany is not the most exciting area and definitely not the location I would like to continue my life.
I have not been able to shake the idea of attending a school such as Boston University. Now, do you think that I should give it a shot, and better myself not only educationally but socially and mentally as well? Or, are my scores and grades simply not up to a school like BU’s standards.
I truly appreciate any response and ask for honesty when answering. Thank You All, AR
So what was you gpa for freshman year?
I just saw that, 3.75. I would pause. Your gpa after the easiest year of college during which you felt unchallenged is almost uncompetetive for medical school. You classes will get harder, especially in the premed core classes If you transfer, you are prone to lose some credits which could put you off pace for premed. I would save feeling challenged for medical school and in the meantime do your best to ace your classes.
WISdad23, I appreciate the comment and insight. I agree with you. What do you think of transferring after this year, when I would have taken much more challenging courses such as Inorganic Chemistry, Cell Biology, Physics and so forth? ( Granted I maintain the same if not better GPA?)
If your ultimate goal is med school then it matters little which school you go to. If you are able to get a GPA between 3.8-4.0 then you should be fine for med school.
If you transfer to BU will it be harder to get a good GPA? Probably.
Going to a smaller school also means you’ll have a better letter from the health professions advisor. BU probably has hundreds of premeds each year.
I assume you could take all of those classes at your current school. I would be reluctant to transfer. Except for P-chem you will do all of those classes in med school.
Pre-med is a sprint, medicine is a marathon. Keeping your head down and forging ahead is a good attribute. A cat darting to shiny lights is not. Do your absolute best where you are and don’t second guess.
I appreciate it more than you both can imagine. Thank you So much!
Kudos to you for being willing to reconsider your position. It seems like pride caused you to avoid doing the practical thing previously when taking the SAT, so it would be a shame for pride to again lead you down the less practical path.
Yes, you are probably capable of gaining admission to, and excelling in, a more rigorous and/or highly-ranked university. But a few more years of “suffering” in Albany could well get you into one of the nation’s top medical schools. Hang in there!
Thank you Dream SchlDropout. I truly do appreciate the insight.