<p>I'm a junior in Ohio, and I recently got my ACT score back. I'm hoping I could get some advice on what colleges to apply to, and what my chances may be. I'm interested in doing Pre-Med. Right now I'm considering Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Ohio State, UC Berkeley, Penn State's 7/8 year Med Program, and Boston University's 7 year Med Program. Am I being too optimistic? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>GPA: 4.41 (as of last year)
SAT: 2220 (670 Reading, 790 Math, and 790 Writing)
No SAT IIs yet, but I plan to take Math 2, Chemistry, and Physics.
ACT: 34 (36 English, 34 Math, 34 Reading, 32 Science Writing score hasn't been reported yet. (I took this April.))
APs: Bio: 4, Macroeconomics: 2, Microeconomics: 4, Physics B: 3
APs for this year: Chem, APES, Language/Composition, Calc BC, Stats
Extracurriculars: science olympiad, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra first violinist, piano accompanist for school swing chorus, Mu Alpha Theta, NHS (no officer positions)
Lots of volunteer hours!
Notable awards/recognition: Won district violin and piano competitions, work in a lab at the University of Akron, organized a relief silent auction and benefit concert for Superstorm Sandy, won Rotary Speech contest freshman year
Ethnicity: Asian American</p>
<p>Thank you in advance for your input!</p>
<p>Note: I posted a discussion about this same topic a little bit ago, and since I'm new to CC, I read some strings and thought maybe I should repost to get some more responses. I'd really appreciate some help.</p>
<p>I think you should put in a few more match schools. Consider colleges with good pre-med programs that are less selective than Berkeley but more selective than penn state. There are a decent deal. BC is one good option. </p>
<p>Brown - Reach.
Dartmouth - High reach.
Cornell - Low Reach.
Ohio State - You’re in.
UC Berkeley - Very High Match.
Penn State’s 7/8 year Med Program - Low Match.
Boston University’s 7 year Med Program - Very low match. </p>
<p>This is not at all true. I’m no expert on combined med programs, but I believe all are extremely competitive, even those housed at less selective universities-- we’re talking <10% acceptance rate. The OP may be a low match for Penn State or BU, but the combined programs would be reaches.</p>
<p>Also note the following words of wisdom from a med forum sticky: </p>
<p>Thank you very much for everyone’s input. I read the sticky thread. Here are some more information based on what I read:</p>
<ol>
<li>I’m 99% sure I want to go into medicine eventually.</li>
<li>The region isn’t a deal-breaker, but I’d like to be somewhere in CA, TX, the Midwest, or Northeast. I’m not too fond of Greek Life, but again, not a deal-breaker. I’d like to be in the orchestra. (I play violin.) This might be a little more important to me. Another thing that’s important is that the school has no religious affiliation.</li>
<li>My school doesn’t report unweighted GPA, but I’m pretty sure I’d have either a 3.99 or a 4.0. APs are above. Most of the other credits are Honors. Some are regular credits that I needed to graduate.</li>
<li>SAT/ACT/AP scores above. I got a 220 on my PSAT, so I’m pretty sure I’m a National Merit Scholar based on previous cut-off scores, but we don’t get that information until August. (As mentioned above, I live in Ohio).</li>
</ol>
<p>Too bad you are excluding schools based on religious affiliation. Baylor has lots of pre-med options, including the B2B medical track. As a NMF you would be eligible for the Regents scholarship which provides 4 years tuition +$. They have a recognized music program with lots of non-major alternatives, and its in TX. </p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculators? Berkeley would cost 55K (no financial aid) and Penn State would cost 45 (no financial aid) because you’re an out of state applicant.
What is your parents’ budget?
Your only safety is Ohio State, and you can probably get a nice scholarship + Honors Program there. Check out UCincinnati’s Honors program and scholarships (deadline is Dec1st). UAlabama Honors would be another guaranteed admission/Scholarship, with Honors College, HOnors Dorm, Full tuition scholarship.
Combined BS/MD programs are super selective and can only be considered reaches regardless of stats.
A good school for premed and music is St Olaf College - they have a partnership for summer research/internships with the Mayo Clinic and the music program is superb (you’d have to be an excellent violonist though because getting into the top orchestra is pretty competitive.)
You need to work on your matches/likelies list: 3-5 schools where your stats are at the top 25% marck and where selectivity is above 30%. </p>
<p>I would add USC [ Southern Calif, not South Carolina] to your list. I think it could be considered a match for you based both on your stats and on the fact that USC is eager to enroll NMS. . They have a very strong Pre Med program associated with USC’s Keck School of Medicine
and as a NMS you would receive an automatic 1/2 Tuition Scholarship.
USC also has the very fine Thornton School of Music,
<a href=“http://music.usc.edu/”>http://music.usc.edu/</a>
and you would have the opportunity to participate in the schools orchestra [ after am audition of course] and / or do a Music Minor if you wish. USC encourages its best students to double major or major and minor in diverse areas with their Renaissance Scholars Program.
<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/programs/ugprograms/renaissance/”>http://www.usc.edu/programs/ugprograms/renaissance/</a></p>
<p>How about Vanderbilt (match) and Tulane (low match)? Vanderbilt has an excellent teaching hospital, and Nashville is a rising center for the biomedical industry. Tulane is also strong in the field. Both are located in musical meccas, and Vanderbilt has a world-class music school. Tulane offers non-binding early notification, if you’re interested. They will notify you within several weeks if you apply by their fall deadline (Nov. 1, I think), and will include merit scholarship offers. That would allow you to eliminate other safety schools. Johns Hopkins is also internationally renowned for medicine, and is probably a match for you.</p>
<p>@woogzmama
How are vanderbilt and JHU considered “matches”… =<15% acceptance rates and a middle ACT of 32/33-35. And with the “Holistic” review process, the elite colleges are not matches for anyone. For him, they should be considered as reaches. </p>
<p>Well, I think someone with a 34 ACT is a match for a college where he or she is smack in the middle for test scores. I suppose that, with most Ivies now described as “lottery” schools, the next tier are reaches for most students. The OP here sounds pretty exceptional, and I think that Vanderbilt sounds like a perfect fit, given the music and medical interests.A lot could depend on the number of students applying from the OP’s school or area.</p>
<p>Small chinks: SAT CR, no medical related EC or volunteer work, maybe not the strongest program-avoiding English aps?</p>
<p>student0912, look at the thread UCB gave and try to address some of those issues. This is not the place for chances, there is an area reserved for that, but there isn’t a difference in ‘reach’ or ‘high reach’ between Brown or Dartmouth. I think you don’t mean Brown PLME or that would be the difficult admit here. However, you can save a lot of money by applying to some of these mentioned who give good money for NMF.</p>
<p>Two things about BU’s Pre-med program:
-They want you to take an SAT II in a language. Make sure that happens
If you don’t get into the pre-med program, then you will NOT be considered for regular admission. I don’t know about Penn State, make sure you check with them. </p>
<p>I think you should apply to a few more matches. All those schools but Ohio State are reaches because of their selectivity or specialized curricula. If you want to be in California, you can consider UCSD, UCD and UCLA as well.</p>
<p>Definitely take those SAT II’s soon, and make sure your essays and recommendations really shine.</p>
<p>A few more questions and items that may help:</p>
<p>I’m taking Post-Secondary classes (Physics, OChem, Calc III, English, Computer Programming, German) at UAkron next year.</p>
<p>Many of you asked about med-related work.
The work that I do at the laboratory is biochemical/medical. We get samples from hospitals in the area, and the professor under whom I’m working is best known for growing ears on polymer scaffolds on the backs of mice for microtia patients. I’ve also been involved in research regarding craniosynostosis and rabbit growth plates.
As for volunteer work, I’ve clocked 40 hours at both Robinson Memorial Hospital and Akron City Hospital, volunteering in the cardiovascular and nursing departments, respectively. Are there any suggestions of anything else I could get involved in this late in the game?</p>
<p>Other volunteer/community service events: Sandy relief (mentioned above). I sew mission quilts with Viking Sewing Machines and have been since the summer before 8th grade. The quilts get sent to places that have been hit with natural disasters. That’s where I got the idea for the Sandy relief from.</p>
<p>I kind of knew that some (well, most) of the colleges that I mentioned above were reach schools for me when I posted. Looking at the posts above, I figure there’s an extremely small chance I’ll get into the schools I mentioned. Any other universities and other suggestions are very helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>P.S. I’m female. I realized that wasn’t very clear (or mentioned at all) when I read a post above. Just FYI. :)</p>
<p>@mytwods: I had Baylor in mind for a while. I’m not very comfortable with religious affiliations, but I’ll definitely look into it a second time. Would you say that they take religion very seriously? Is going to church, religious events, etc. mandatory?</p>
<p>@MYOS1634: I will check with my parents and add to this thread ASAP. Thank you very much for your advice.</p>
<p>@BrownParent: If I don’t send my SAT scores, just my ACT, is that okay? Will it affect whether I get in? Or do most colleges ask that applicants send in all scores? (Please see last post for med-related work). I’m taking AP Language and Composition this year. Is this enough, or should I take some other classes/do other work? I’ve also been taking German for 4 years now. Also, I wasn’t looking at PLME. I know I won’t get in. Another thing: What do you mean by “this is not the place for chances”? Could you clarify what you meant? I just didn’t understand what place you meant. Is it CC? Should I be posting somewhere else? Or was it the college application process? I’m new to all this, so some clarification would be really helpful. Thanks!</p>
<p>@teenbodybuilder: Please see last post.</p>
<p>@Coriander23: Thanks for your advice. Are there any schools you’d suggest that might not be in California? I’m definitely willing to go there (as mentioned, which is probably why you suggested), but it’s a little far away from home.</p>
<p>OP: The UC’s give preference to in-state students, even with a NMF status. My son is a National Merit “winner” URM and is in-state. Only Davis offered a semi-full ride. UCLA gave some money; so I am assuming that you would be paying full fees in CA. </p>