<p>I am currently a junior in high school and have been researching schools that I would be interested in that have great pre-medical advising programs and that are associated with competitive medical schools. I am getting closer to putting my applications together for this summer, but so far have decided on Yale, UPenn, Columbia, and BU as my top choices. I would like to know what my chances might be like from people who have more experience in what these schools look for. I will have a 4.33 and have taken around 11 AP classes by the time I graduate. I am in the top ten of my class. I recently took the ACT plus writing and scored a 34 composite. I have played various sports, but none that I am very passionate about. Last summer I spent 50+ hours in a university biology lab, which was a fantastic experience. I plan to return this summer for more shadowing and possibly even conducting my own supervised research. I am in National Honor Society and have won various awards in my high school. Although I don't have much to show for them, some of my hobbies include programming, learning foreign languages, swimming (not competitively), singing, playing ping-pong, economics, and reading medical research papers, which I hope to convey to admission offices as signs of being well-rounded and involved. Also, I am not ethnic, but from a possibly underrepresented state (I don't know it this actually makes me look more attractive). Please give me an educated idea if you think I will be okay in these admission processes or if I am out of my league and should consider more realistic schools.</p>
<p>I did research too, but I also had 3 other unique activities and many national awards under my belt. Regarding my research, I have 4 published papers and I spent over 700 hours in the lab over the last 4 years. I really don’t know what the Ivies want. I only got into Penn, Dmouth and Brown. You should keep a lot of safeties. I kept Cal/USC as a safety. One piece of advice, LOVE YOUR SAFETIES. You should also know that Pre-med at Columbia is very very hard, well that’s what one of my friends tells me. Also, Yale is not a strong science school. Only 15% of the Students at Yale pursue the sciences. There are 68% humanities degrees. Look into other strong schools like Georgetown, USC, UMich, BU. Also, a 4.33 is low-ish to compete for Ivies, in my opinion. Good ACT score! Apply to Cal, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Duke. If you are really serious about medicine, I would recommend Early Decisioning to Johns Hopkins, but I am working with the information you have given me. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I honestly think the best opportunity for me would be to take a full ride to my state university where I could double major in two different areas and receive more attention from professors that I know personally who will care about helping me attain my goals for medical school.</p>