My kid has three top college choices and is looking to pursue a career in medicine. What are his chances of getting into them?
Colleges: University of Washington, Cal Poly SLO, and UCSB
GPA: 4.25 and 3.6 unweighted
ACT: 24 (retaking it twice next year)
Sports: 2 years of Varsity Rowing, 1 year of Varsity soccer, Black belt in karate, practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Clubs: diversity club, drama club, future healthcare leaders of America, interact club
Student council: freshman class officer, sophomore class president, junior class president
Community service: president’s ambassadors, homeless shelter, volunteer at the Aquarium of the Pacific, volunteered at the VA hospital, volunteered as a coach at a summer camp
Internships: an internship at a UCLA hospital
Medicine: is working on two research papers that will be published in the American journal of cardiology, has several recommendations and shadowing opportunities from doctors across the west coast
Great, just needs to have a higher ACT score (anywhere between 31 and 34 would work). And I don’t think SLO has a pre med program (if I’m not mistaken).
@ancap1 thank you. And Cal Poly does have a pre health program though. @sgopal2 at least one of the papers will be published by the time he applies. @dnstudent26 well he took his ACT at the end of his sophomore year as a practice. Would an ED to Cal poly help?
If he really wants to go to med school have you given though to a smaller liberal arts school? Especially one where he can graduate at the top of the class?
This may serve him better than to go to a large state university.
@sgopal2 he is also interested in Santa Clara and LMU. But, we are afraid the tuition will be too much and we will not qualify for financial aid. My son doesn’t want to be in debt from undergrad and grad schools. What liberal arts colleges would you prefer? And aren’t the research opportunities better at larger state schools?
SLO has a Pre-Health advising center but he still needs to pick a major. He also needs to bump that ACT up into the 30+ range depending upon major. EC’s, internships only count for around 10% of the MCA score points awarded so little impact. GPA and test scores along with HS course rigor are the areas where the majority of MCA points will come from that are needed to make him a competitive applicant.