Standing out in the college admissions process?

I'd say the best thing any pre-med person could do is get some practical experience in a lab. I work at a large research university in the Chicago area right now doing departmental stuff in the sciences, and for one of our grad programs (which is considered a "gateway to med school" M.S.) what the admissions folk care about is A) test scores and B) Lab experience. Students without significant lab experience are not considered.


That's good advice for an undergrad, but I don't see any research labs allowing a 17 year old junior in high school work there or maybe even shadow there without some serious connections. Too big of a chance you'll break something, screw up an important assay, or (I swear this is true) be a PETA spy if there's animal research involved or track around radiation, which can bring down a whole department. The four years I was in a lab in undergrad and grad school, we had one high school student shadow (just sat quietly in the corner and watched for maybe 3-4 days for about 2 hours at a time) and that was only because her father was very good friends with our PI.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Eh, I'll throw my hat in the ring, why not.

I was just as, well, neurotic as you were in high school, so I get it, kind of. Let me give you a couple of vignettes of people I met who were quite successful and got into top 10 schools.

1) Guy named Scott. He wasn't terribly involved in EC's, didn't do much as far as I could tell besides go out on weekends, but he somehow got a 4.0. Got a perfect 1600 on his SAT (when it was still out of 1600, God I'm getting old), took a bunch of SAT II's (math and physics-related) and rocked them all. Did AP Physics as a Junior (the only one in our class). His hook? He was a seriously amazing golf player, his dad is some big golf magnate of sorts. Got into Princeton ED.

2) Girl named Katherine. Great grades, good SAT score (I think it was about 1400, although I'm not sure), good SAT II's. Really didn't have too many EC's except she was an amazing athlete- nationally recognized as of High School. Had her pick of Ivies but chose Stanford because it had the best athletics. Her athletics were, of course, her hook.

As for me, I did a LOT of stuff in high school, and let me tell you, no one asked me about the things I actually wasn't that involved in. Interviewers could smell "resume padder" from a mile away. I was asked about my "hooks" (I speak a bunch of languages and I have some music/literary stuff) and little else. And I got into my top choice. Incidentally, my GPA was good but not amazing (around a 3.6 if I recall correctly) and my SAT was pretty good (1480 maybe?). And while I'm thrilled with the outcome of it all, I made some big mistakes in high school. 1) I didn't have much of a life. 2) I did WAY too many things JUST to pad my resume and which I eventually had to quit. I played sports, which I was terrible at, and quit after a semester. I actually "started a couple of clubs" and they ended up failing because I didn't have the time or the passion to really nurture them and make them hugely successful. It sounds like you have some free time, but it's on weekends- that doesn't really count as time you could be doing something for your club. Most of the club meetings and events happen on weekdays. And it has to be a pretty compelling idea for the school to give you funding to "organize lectures" and all the other stuff you mentioned. Ambitious, not impossible, but certainly improbable when you already have so much on your plate.

I'll agree with everyone else on one point: your weekends are free for a reason. I know you want to be proactive about getting into the college of your choice, and that's certainly admirable (and no, technically where you go to college doesnt matter, but I picked the place I liked best and I'll never regret it, even if my state school would have been cheaper). However, part of getting into college is being able to talk about your life- which means that you have to have one. When admissions people ask you what you do for fun, are you going to start listing EC's? Do you have stuff to talk about other than what you DO? If you're bored of being home playing videogames, read a book. I'm serious. Oftentimes, you can come up with new and exciting ideas when you read random stuff. Teach yourself a language, teach yourself to cook. Learn pottery. The sky is the limit, and anything you do that is unusual and "personal" will be a great, interesting "hook" and talking point for your interviews.

Colleges want to know who you are and will pick you based on your personality. So have one. Having a hodge-podge of activities, regardless of their "quality", won't give them an idea of who you are. They'll just see someone with less-than-stellar grades and way too much stuff on his plate, and wonder if 1) you were too immature to realize your activities were ruining your gpa, or 2) you overextended yourself trying to look impressive. Trust me, it's much better to present yourself as a focused and cohesive individual than an overwhelmingly busy one. It won't be impressive, it'll just be puzzling.
 
admissions committees don't have time to look at the entire application. when it comes down to it they just look at your SAT score & GPA.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
admissions committees don't have time to look at the entire application. when it comes down to it they just look at your SAT score & GPA.

very untrue.
 
Just a quick question. If you are really interested in a particular school (NYU in my case), would attending a summer program/class/ internship give you an edge at all?

No. We had a guy who was a college counselor for like 30+ years come to my school and give us a few pointers and how the college admissions process goes. There's more to it than grades and extracurriculars. Colleges have their own agendas, too. The summer programs are to fill up empty space and get some $ in all reality.

Stop waiting for suggestions. You have a good idea to start a club. You said you have a lot of free time. You said that a club takes a lot of time. Well there! That's your time filled.

Other than that, there's not much you can do. You're doing a lot already.

Focus on getting good scores on tests and good GPA. Colleges don't like to see you doing a billion things superficially. Really really stick to some things you like and dive deeply into 'em (especially the medical research center - that sounds awesome!)

Good for you that you wanna utilize your time the best way, but don't go overboard. Keep sane.

That's all I can say.

habibah
 
Last edited:
If your so desperate of being the "best" so that your app stands out like a ray of light: go make world peace, make a cure for cancer and aids, make South and North Korea become brothers, stop terrorism, and catch OsamaBin Laden.
Those will keep you busy and you wont have the time to play Halo 3, there problem solved.
 
The only thing I can think of is writing a book of some kind. I have Epilepsy so maybe I can write a book about that. Don't know what KIND of book, or how to get it published but I guess that is an idea. I am also looking into starting a club for high schoolers who want to go into medicine (seriously considering this), but that was for leadership. Honestly, the only hook I can come up with is the book which has crossed my mind a few times. Do you think it can be done?

You're being ridiculous. Do you know how much time goes into writing, editing, and publishing a novel? It's not something you do because you want to pad your resume, it's something you do because you enjoy it.
 
You're being ridiculous. Do you know how much time goes into writing, editing, and publishing a novel? It's not something you do because you want to pad your resume, it's something you do because you enjoy it.

I've kind of given up NYU now. The way I see it is no matter what I do, I'm not going to NYU, Vanderbilt, or Cornell for UG. I've pretty much just accepted that. I mean, as long as I get into University of Kentucky, or University of Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, whatever, and get a high GPA I have a chance to go to an even better school for medical school. I mean, in real life, whether you are making 2M or 200k or whatever, working in a hospital or private practice, it really does not matter where you go to Undergrad as long as it isn't a piece of crap school.

Even though I deserve (and have the potential to get into) Cornell, NYU, etc. my high school resume will not be up to par. Most aren't. I guess a MD degree at a high ranked school speaks louder than a B.A in a high ranked school so whatever.

I decided not to start the club. I really love writing and volunteering though and honestly, before I was just doing it for my resume. Now I'm actually volunteering because I want to. I have also started tutoring little kids after school and am part of the local YMCA (bear in mind I just started last month). Its actually nice doing all this knowing that I will get into all of these top 100 schools (schools outside of top 50) and get a great education there and not having to worry about whether or not I will make it into NYU.
 
Even though I deserve (and have the potential to get into) Cornell, NYU, etc. my high school resume will not be up to par. Most aren't. I guess a MD degree at a high ranked school speaks louder than a B.A in a high ranked school so whatever.

I don't get this. You say you "deserve" to get into these schools, but then say that your resume is not up to par. Why do you deserve to get in if your resume is lacking? I would try to get out of this mindset that you "deserve" anything. Just work hard, and let the admissions committees determine who deserves to get into their schools. They don't owe you anything...
 
I don't get this. You say you "deserve" to get into these schools, but then say that your resume is not up to par. Why do you deserve to get in if your resume is lacking? I would try to get out of this mindset that you "deserve" anything. Just work hard, and let the admissions committees determine who deserves to get into their schools. They don't owe you anything...

Alright, I'm not going to argue. Yeah I know it doesn't make sense. Basically, I failed 8th grade, and 9th grade. Don't ask why, I don't even know why I didn't do anything. Last year I basically told myself that if I was going to get into college, I needed to try. I did, and got straight A's. I took three classes last summer that were whatever is below honors for my school. This year I am in no honors classes and have straight A's and will probably still have straight A's. Next year I will have all honors and AP. I am currently studying for the SAT which I will take this coming spring. I also volunteer, etc. I'm in pretty good shape and got out of the hole I dug for myself.

Why do I "deserve" to go to these top universities? Well, I've basically come to realize that I should have been in Honors and AP since I started high school and if I actually did what I was "supposed to do" since high school started I could have been a good candidate for these top schools but thats my own fault, you're right, they DON'T owe me anything.

I shouldn't have said deserve. Potential yes, because now I realize "wow if I actually tried in 8th grade I could have easily made it into the honors program". And actually have done well. So yeah thats it. Besides, I already said that I have moved away from those schools and am focusing on schools outside the top 50 like Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, etc. Schools that will accept me and hopefully help me get into medical school if I still decide thats what I want to do.
 
Top