UK, Canada, US Schools- College Search

College Search & Selection
1

I think I already did a post about this with

Standardized test scores :
ACT 32
SAT 1440 (770 writing, 670 mathmatics)
AP World (soph year) :4
AP Chem (soph year) : 3
SAT Chem (retaking as it is easier to study/retake than the AP test) : 650
I didn’t study much for any of these tests (horrible test taker- im that person that panics and stares at the wall for half the time lol, but I created and am following through wtih a much better study plan for all of my AP tests this time around!)
i’ve taken most of the AP courses that my school has offered, and have gotten a pretty even mix of A’s and B’s throughout my high school career. My grades are on a slight upward trend as the courses have gotten harder, but my GPA is still relatively low.
UW GPA: 3.5
W GPA: 3.9
I didn’t do that well freshman year but I have an upward grade trend- finished this semester with a 4.0 UW / 4.7 W :slight_smile:

Courses:
Freshman year:
Speech and Debate
Spanish 2
Spanish 3
Geometry Honors
Art
English Honors
Biology
Dance P.E

Soph year:
Chem
AP Chem
AP World
Alg.2 Honors
Trig Honors
Spanish 4
English Honors
Research Internship (not in school)

Junior year:
research internship
AP Bio
AP U.S.
Spanish 5
AP Spanish
Pre Calc Honors
AP Lang
Anatomy Honors

Senior year (projected classes)
AP Gov/Econ
AP Lit
AP Comp. Sci A

AP Statistics
AP Pychology
AP Physics 1
AP Physics 2

Other accomplishments/awards:
varsity cross country and track all 4 years
lifeguard/taught swim lessons at local boys and girls club since frosh year
EMT certified
organized free science confernece 2 years in a row
wrote/editor in chief for school’s award winning science magazine
finalist in MIT think competition
awards in regional/state science olympiad
placed at regional science fairs and intel
did / published research, interned for local university
volunteered as a junior counselor–> counselor at girl scout camp a few weeks each summer for past 6 years
volunteered regularly at local food bank
i have legacy at cornell (several generations) if that helps?? haha.

these are the schools I’m thinking of applying to:

UK (depending on AP / SAT scores, which I won’t get back until july…) :
Oxford- Biomedical Sciences (such a reach lol)
Durham - Biomedical Sciences
St. Andrew’s
Glasgow- Molecular and Cellular Biology with Biotechnology or Biomedical Engineering
King’s College London - Biomedical Sciences

CANADA:
University of Waterloo
Bachelor’s of Public Health Co-op Program (5 years, 4 months working, 4 months in school)
Research
Work in health overseas
University of Toronto
Co-Op
Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology
Health and Disease
International Relations
McGill University
Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology
University of British Columbia
Cellular, Anatomical, and Physiological Sciences
International Relations
Medical Laboratory Sciences

US:
Reach:
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
UCSD
University of Virginia
Cornell
Target:
University of Washington
Cal Poly SLO
George Washington University
Amherst
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
U of C Boulder
College of William and Mary
Northeastern University
Penn State
Safety:
Virginia Tech
American University
University of Alabama
UC Santa Cruz

I’m trying to narrow down this list. does anyone know anything about the canadian programs, uk programs, and just the atmosphere of the schools in general?

2

In the England, you only study the subject you sign up for. In Scotland and Canada, there is more leeway, but still less than in the US.

Canadian unis would be very much like our big state schools but without big-time sports.

BTW, Amherst would be a reach for anyone. Some of those publics may also be harder to get in to than you think if you are OOS.

Is finance not a concern?

That is a pretty eclectic list. How are you deciding where to apply to?

3

I’m not really sure yet… I’m a rising senior and was surprised that I did well this past year, in ec’s and gpa-wise, although I know there are many stronger applicants.
–I really really like the english system of signing up for a programme and just doing that for 3 years. I also feel like I would do well in the tutorial system, and I like the way that the final year of the programmes are just spent on research. i’ve worked in a lab and done ‘research’ (as much as a high schooler can do :slight_smile: ) at my local uni (which is in the top 20 in us news report for sciences)
–But I also like the candian co-op programs for sciences, and since i technically have candian citizenship, cost wouldn’t be TOO much of an issue there. i think those schools are genreally reputable…
– i’m a little clueless when it comes to the american unis, even tho i live here :slight_smile: . i really like hopkins, but that’s the only one that i know much about. if i choose an american uni i think i will do an ‘untradaitional’ premed route with international relations (focusing on languages which i love) and taking the required courses, plus studying for the mcat of course!
—i’ve wanted to be a doctor for a reallyreallyreally long time, and specialize in orthopaedics . medicins san frontiers (with a pracitice back in the states) is my ultimate dream job!! but i am also thinking of going onto diplomacy and throwing my name in the hat for the us foreign service admissions test… )

thank you so much !

4

Other people can opine, but my understanding is that American undergrads typically get to do more research (and before senior year as well) than do European (including English) undergrads.

5

Also if you are aiming at med school, it really doesn’t make sense to leave the North American system. You can always do study-abroad.

6

You have a wide range of programs for the Canadian schools. With some schools (e.g. University of Toronto), you can only apply to one program. Others, such as Waterloo, allow you to apply to a few (3 in Waterloo’s case). I would not advise someone who is interested in grad school to do an engineering program.

What is your goal? If it’s medicine or health sciences, you don’t have one of Canada’s best schools on your list (McMaster).

7

Oxford is going to be tough. You have the 32 on the ACT but you will need 3 AP 5s. Their favored subjects are Bio, Chem, Physics & Math. Since Chem is out, assuming you got a 5 on this year’s Bio AP, that leaves you with needing to get a 5 on the Physics (and I think the stats on a 5 in Physics 1 are something ridiculous like only 4%) but no real math AP. So you would need to do the Math 2 SAT 2 instead and maybe the Physics SAT 2 as well.

Getting shortlisted for an interview will depend heavily on your performance on the BMAT. Last year there were 102 international applicants, 39 were shortlisted for interviews and 9 received offers.

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/bms/applying/admissions-statistics

8

“since i technically have canadian citizenship”

Do you have a certificate of Canadian Citizenship? If you were born in Canada you don’t need this, you just get a Canadian passport with your birth certificate. However, if you were born in the US and are Canadian because you have a parent who was born in Canada, then you need to get a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, and it can take quite a while for it to show up. In my daughter’s case it took about 9 months to get this from when we submitted the application, and it might take even longer now since there appears to be an upward trend in interest. The passport was then an additional two weeks. You might need to start the paperwork this summer if you (or a parent) haven’t done this already.

The Canadian schools won’t care much about your ECs, and also won’t care about your grade 9 GPA. They will recompute your GPA based on more recent years. Since you mentioned an upward trend in GPA then this is probably good news for your chances at the Canadian schools that you listed.

You have listed the three top ranked Canadian universities (McGill, Toronto, and UBC). Waterloo is excellent and is particularly known for computer science, but is strong in many areas and when we were considering it seemed to have a relatively flexible program. As was mentioned in post #5 McMaster is also a very good university, and there are quite a few other very good universities in Canada. You have listed large and well known universities. There are also some very good smaller universities in Canada. If you want to consider smaller universities there let us know and some CC folks can post some suggestions.

Regarding the cost of university in Canada: If you have a Canadian citizenship (and have completed the appropriate paper work), then university in Canada will be very reasonable by US standards. The most expensive that we saw was about a quarter of the cost of comparable universities in the US (about a third for students that are not Canadian citizens), at least before financial aid is considered, and is slightly less expensive than many state universities for in-state students in the US.

9

Thank you for your kind reply! Yes, I do have Canadian citizenship as I was born there, but have spent 95 % of my life in the states. :slight_smile:

10

I will definetely look into McMaster! I’m at the very start of my college search and those were just the universities that I knew previously

11

If you are planning on applying for medicine, then McMaster’s Health Science program would be my #1 choice in Canada. It has an excellent track record of getting students into med school. The location of the school is third rate, but the program is first rate. I wouldn’t go there unless medicine was the goal.

12

@bouders, is grade deflation an issue for pre-med students at McMaster?

13

@ShrimpBurrito

The Mac Health Science program has an acceptance rate of 5%. Once the students are in the program, though, they have a 60-90% admission rate to med school. Students in the program have a GPA of 3.9.