Your HS may be able to do an evaluation. You might start by speaking with your guidance counselor.
I agree with other responses that have questioned whether a “top 30” university is important for a premed student, or even a good idea.
There are a LOT of universities that can prepare you very well for medical school. If you look at the top medical schools in the US you will find that the students come from a very wide range of undergraduate schools. One doctor I know said that the other students in his MD program came from “all over the place” (his exact words). My daughter who is studying for a DVM said the same thing, except that I already noticed this by listening in to the welcome ceremony when she started the program. They introduced every student and said where they came from, and it was very rare to hear the same school twice.
Rather than “top 30”, there are several other things to think about. One is what school would be a good fit for you? Also, what is your budget for a full 8 years of university? Medical school is expensive, and you would be best to avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree. Even better would be to get your bachelor’s degree with money left in the bank for medical school.
Another issue is that most students who start off intending to be premed do not end up applying to medical schools, and the majority of students who do apply to medical school do not end up getting accepted anywhere. This leads to the question: What is your plan B? What might you do if you do not end up in medical school? What university would be good for that plan?
You have some very good public universities in Texas. Are you likely to be on-track to be auto-admit for either UT Austin or for Texas A&M? Either would be a very good choice for a premed student, and would also be very good for quite a few other majors and possible career paths.
The University of Michigan is a very good university. I do not understand what advantage it would have over UT Austin (if you can get into UT Austin). I do not think that your chances of getting into a top medical school, or any medical school, is going to vary much (if at all) whether you get your bachelor’s degree at Texas A&M, UT Austin, U.Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, or any other top 30 university. I think that your chances of getting an MD while minimizing your debt load is likely to vary quite a bit depending upon which undergraduate university you attend. Even MDs have trouble paying off their debt load in many cases.
This is very true. Both daughters had majors that overlapped heavily with premed classes. The classes will be full of students who are used to getting a lot of A’s and A+'s from high school. The competition will be tough. I also would recommend avoiding schools where your stats would put you in the lower 50% of incoming freshmen.
Unfortunately this is not my area of expertise. Learning how to be a good student is however something that is important. Premed classes will be very challenging at any “top 100” university, and most likely at any “top 200” university.
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Michigan is a big target for me because I visited the campus over the summer and really like the campus and just general environment. Going to try and visit it when its operation soon as well. Either way, I’m still going to apply to state schools as well. In terms of auto-admissions, i am just outside of top 6% (40-50ish kids out of the 700+ class size). I just need to work on my study habits and I think I’ll be fine.
My first visit to U.Michigan was years ago in December. At the time we were there it was on-track to be the coldest December in recorded history. It never got up to zero while we were there. Unfortunately a heat wave over the last two days of December, after we had already left and gone home, pushed it up to be only the second-coldest December in recorded history. Rats. We could have been there to experience a record!
I did like the campus also. You might want to see it in the winter.
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Our health insurance covered my child’s neuropsych evaluation minus our typical dr’s copay ($30). The process should be covered by insurance but to what extent would depend on your insurance plan. Honestly, if your parents are willing and able to $40-60k+ a year for college, a neuropsych evaluation is a drop in the bucket. The info provided by the neuropsychologist was very helpful; the diagnoses and his explanations help us better understand how our child thinks and functions.
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Talk to your guidance counselor and parents about getting a neuropsych eval. It is important that you receive a proper diagnosis so that you can be treated for ADHD if, in fact, you have it. If you do not have ADHD it is important to develop good study habits, strategies etc.
You have been given excellent advice by people who are very knowledgeable. The only thing I will add is that while I agree premeds need a plan B, this is not something you need to think about as a HS junior. My daughter was premed and had a plan B at the age of 25 because she realized she did not like primary care…at all…and discovered another profession that was much better suited to her interests. You have time to figure that out.
Your immediate goal is to determine why it is difficult for you to study, and to develop a plan to improve it.
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Can your parents pay the full cost of attendance as an OOS student at Michigan? The school does not guarantee to meet full need for OOS students.
You say that $40k-$60k would be ok…you think. So between $160,000 and $240,000 just for undergrad school. Many medical schools will likely cost $100,000 a year should you actually get that far.
I personally think you need to get a firmer budget from your parents.
But I’ll swing back to my original comment. If you have difficulty studying, attention, whatever…finding out why can be very helpful. Then again…your grades don’t look awful to me. There are a lot of colleges where you would be a welcome student with the grades you have.
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That should be your and your parents’ #1 goal now. If your attention keeps slipping without your meaning to, if you start a task and somehow end up doing somehing else, these are red flags for ADD/distractive. (You can look up Driven to Distraction and Adhd 2.0 for instance. ) If you’re really smart, your intelligence may have helped you find ways to compensate the ADD without your ever being able to achieve to potential because so much brain power is used dealing with the ADD. (Look up 2E or twice exceptional - gifted with ADD).
Once you’re properly diagnosed and get proper treatment, everything else will fall into place.
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This.
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If your parents can afford $90,000 a year for college, they might be able to swing a $4500 evaluation. My niece and nephew were diagnosed senior year in HS, my son had one done freshman year of college for different issues. My tiger son got a diagnosis from his pediatrician in 6th grade, but his executive function issues peaked in 11th, that is something you can work on. With a diagnosis you can most likely get accommodations in college (more time, separate testing facilities…).
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At least around here there are huge waitlists for providers who take insurance (over a year), many just pay OOP.
I think you’ve got a lot of good advice here about broadening your horizons outside of T30 schools, and preparing for pre med/med school in general. I’m surprised no one has questioned the premise of your post. You’re worried that an unweighted GPA of 95, being in the top 10 percent of your class, and successfully completing 5 AP courses with scores of 4 or 5 by the end of your sophomore year is not impressive to top schools? That’s just silly. Your GPA and rigor are on track for a top school (though top schools are still a reach for everyone due to their low admission rates). Your SAT score is on the low end for a top school but you have time to raise it and most schools are test optional anyway. So consider all the advice people have offered here - that’s great. But really I think your worry is misplaced. You’re a top student. You have a shot at a top school. It’s not a guarantee.
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The OP can try having his parents request an eval through the school. But I’m guessing with his current grades, it will be something they need to justify somehow. Often schools have a relationship with providers and can get an eval done more quickly. But the school will need to and want to do their own educational evals first.
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I agree.
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Our schools here aren’t evaluating anyone with a 95 average for anything, plus since adhd is a medical diagnosis schools will tell you to talk to your pediatrician (and will set up a 504 with a diagnosis). Accommodations at college will require a diagnosis.
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Way less expensive than paying for college!
I do think ADHD is over diagnosed but some people really do have it and benefit greatly from medication and/or other modifications and techniques. See if you can be disciplined and get your study habits under control and talk to your parents about your concerns about your attention wandering. If you are still unsuccessful at studying then it might be time to get an evaluation.
At your age in high school your brain is very much still developing. Some of the executive functioning skills are still coming online as your pre-frontal cortex develops. Be kind to your brain! Give it plenty of good food and exercise and plenty of sleep. Avoid the phone scrolling. Do something hands-on like something creative or sports if you’re into that or just take a walk around the block or take 5 minutes to straighten up your room (set a timer).
You are a good student and there definitely will be a good college for you.
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Asian Males are among the most discriminated against to be admitted by top schools (at least based on stories of people being portrayed on TV with perfect GPAs and scores).
Based on the above story, it seems like Texas recognizes talent since one of the the top computer science programs at UT Austin seems to have admitted him.
With Texas schools recognizing top 6-10% from any school in texas, it should be easy to get in as long as you have a good rank. If you are serious about being a premed, attending top schools is completely irrelevant to get into a medical school. Connections are completely irrelevant too. I still remember my daughter did an alumni interview with someone from Stanford a few years ago who turned out to be a neighbor and a pediatrician. She asked him how it helped to attend Stanford in his career and he told her for a doctor it was almost useless. You truly want to attend these schools for connections, IN CASE you DONT want to be a doctor.
Texas is biased for residents (90% instate) for their medical admissions and the expectations are very high for GPA and MCAT. There are no brownie points for attending top schools if you dont get 3.8-3.9 GPA from any school you are attending, especially an Asian. MCATs need to be at or above 514. Most people who get into Texas medical schools are attending Texas colleges. There are also people who are doing extremely well from places like UT Austin. I have talked to couple of them last year who made it to Columbia and one applying now who has an admission to NYU. They end up in those schools with 4.0 GPA and 524-526 MCAT scores.
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