What are my chances of Med School So far?

[JustinRWalters]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

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[indya]

hs grades dont matter at all when applying to medical school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

hs grades dont matter at all when applying to medical school.

Just chill out for now, and make sure you take a bunch of stupidly easy courses at the start of college so you can get acclimated. That's about it.

 

[DrOtto]

take a bunch of stupidly easy courses at the start of college

Couldn't agree more. Not for too many semesters, but this is very good advice.

 

[indya]

and make sure you don't forget everything after taking a test. It is almost funny how many people learned all of the info for General Chem, Bio, and Physics in HS, but have to relearn it all again in college because they've forgotten it.

 

[torshi]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

High school grades do not apply to medical school, but they do apply to the type of university you want to apply to for undergrad purposes.
So far that is a good GPA, at this point in time if i were you i would start to get involved with some EC's and continue with them throughout your college years such as volunteer work in a hospital/clinic setting with patient contact.

But, everything you do in college is what matters for med school. Don't worry about high school unless you want to get into a very good undergrad university which is not necessary because the fact they tend to be more expensive and you don't want to be in debt before med school, also it doesn't matter which university you go too. Also, if you want to save money you can always go to a community college then transfer out, don't listen to anyone saying that's not a good idea.

But, like i said focus on some volunteer or community service or even some shadowing possibilities.

The criteria for you to be a competitive applicant for medical school is shown below, but everything varies extremely because obviously scores isn't everything and everyone is unique. This is the standard EC's that most premeds do before they apply to medical school which is after their junior year in college, so it is smart to finish all this before your junior year.

College
GPA 3.7+
MCAT: 30+ (35+ for more competitive schools.)
Volunteer in hospital/clinic 100+ hrs (patient contact)
Shadowing (preferably 2-3 docs, include primary care physician, 60-80+ hrs)
Research work in college Maybe a 1+ yr(publications, poster etc)
Great letters of recommendation (2 from physicians, 1 from science faculty.)
Great personal statement
Also, it is good to get involved with activities non-related to medicine. such as community service etc
Leadership roles in certain clubs/organizations etc

All this is the basics...
Also, since you said your a sophomore, check your local community college to see if you are able to enroll in dual-enrollment if you are interested. You will be able to be enrolled into a community college full-time.
I was 16 when i went to college and now i am 17 and a junior in college. Dual-enrollment is where you can be enrolled in college courses after your sophomore year in high school, check it out if interested. you have to be dedicated and put forth the effort tho.

Good luck with everything

 

[Medstart108]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

We don't know your high school so we don't know if its a pushover school or a top prep school. Once you get your SAT scores you could get a better understanding. Standardized testing does have about a 60% correlation. If you study as hard as you possible can (meaning you didn't just do 2 weeks of study for SAT) you should be scoring 2000+ at least if you want a good shot at med school.

 

[i5hina]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

Obviously, we all know you have excellent grades and stats. However, I seem to think that the major determinant in your shot at med school are your college grades and MCAT. All your hs grades are just a launching pad into getting to college. If you're talking about getting Mercer in jersey, then yeah. You're overly qualified to go there. I think you can pursue tougher schools.

As far as being good for med school, here's my advice. Have fun un HS, dont over do it. BC when college starts, its another ball game. Trust me, you don't have to do all honors classes and you don't have to force yourself to get all A's unless you want to. IMO, you could get a 3.9 in hs and if you went to college and scored a sub 30 in the mcat and your GPA is 3.4, you're all if a sudden not as competitive.
What I'm trying to say is that all that matters is the MCATand college GPA. Your honors physics and chem classes will def help with the mcat but as you know, the mcat is changing so do your research.

You sound like a smart kid ahead of the game but don't forget to have fun and enjoy HS. You remind a lot of myself when I was in hs, and I missed a lot of life changing experiences . So don't rush the process yet, and first focus on developing into who you want to be and being a kid. Because when this journey starts my friend, it doesn't end. Best of luck.

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[nysegop]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

Medical schools won't even look at your high school grades or SAT (unless you are doing a 7 year BS/MD program). They simply don't care. College GPA and MCAT score are what medical schools look at (plus extracurriculars and clinical experience, etc.)

 

[Shinobiz11]

3 year old thread, come on children...

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[Zingma]

High school grades do not apply to medical school, but they do apply to the type of university you want to apply to for undergrad purposes.
So far that is a good GPA, at this point in time if i were you i would start to get involved with some EC's and continue with them throughout your college years such as volunteer work in a hospital/clinic setting with patient contact.

But, everything you do in college is what matters for med school. Don't worry about high school unless you want to get into a very good undergrad university which is not necessary because the fact they tend to be more expensive and you don't want to be in debt before med school, also it doesn't matter which university you go too. Also, if you want to save money you can always go to a community college then transfer out, don't listen to anyone saying that's not a good idea.

But, like i said focus on some volunteer or community service or even some shadowing possibilities.

The criteria for you to be a competitive applicant for medical school is shown below, but everything varies extremely because obviously scores isn't everything and everyone is unique. This is the standard EC's that most premeds do before they apply to medical school which is after their junior year in college, so it is smart to finish all this before your junior year.

College
GPA 3.7+
MCAT: 30+ (35+ for more competitive schools.)
Volunteer in hospital/clinic 100+ hrs (patient contact)
Shadowing (preferably 2-3 docs, include primary care physician, 60-80+ hrs)
Research work in college Maybe a 1+ yr(publications, poster etc)
Great letters of recommendation (2 from physicians, 1 from science faculty.)
Great personal statement
Also, it is good to get involved with activities non-related to medicine. such as community service etc
Leadership roles in certain clubs/organizations etc

All this is the basics...
Also, since you said your a sophomore, check your local community college to see if you are able to enroll in dual-enrollment if you are interested. You will be able to be enrolled into a community college full-time.
I was 16 when i went to college and now i am 17 and a junior in college. Dual-enrollment is where you can be enrolled in college courses after your sophomore year in high school, check it out if interested. you have to be dedicated and put forth the effort tho.

Good luck with everything

Test

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[pkteen]

No chances yet man.
I do have a few tips for you.
1-Get into college.
2-Go to your pre-med advisor.
3-The rest will unveil itself upon the completion of the VERY important step 1.

So, chill dude. Get into a college with a good pre-med program and go from there. Judging from your GPA, you seem to be a very good student. You'll be fine.
Cheers Man,
Shahrez

 

[Umyo]

and make sure you don't forget everything after taking a test. It is almost funny how many people learned all of the info for General Chem, Bio, and Physics in HS, but have to relearn it all again in college because they've forgotten it.

True, but after learning it once, it's somewhat easier re-learning than learning it new

 

[docwei88]

High school grades do not apply to medical school, but they do apply to the type of university you want to apply to for undergrad purposes.
So far that is a good GPA, at this point in time if i were you i would start to get involved with some EC's and continue with them throughout your college years such as volunteer work in a hospital/clinic setting with patient contact.

But, everything you do in college is what matters for med school. Don't worry about high school unless you want to get into a very good undergrad university which is not necessary because the fact they tend to be more expensive and you don't want to be in debt before med school, also it doesn't matter which university you go too. Also, if you want to save money you can always go to a community college then transfer out, don't listen to anyone saying that's not a good idea.

But, like i said focus on some volunteer or community service or even some shadowing possibilities.

The criteria for you to be a competitive applicant for medical school is shown below, but everything varies extremely because obviously scores isn't everything and everyone is unique. This is the standard EC's that most premeds do before they apply to medical school which is after their junior year in college, so it is smart to finish all this before your junior year.

College
GPA 3.7+
MCAT: 30+ (35+ for more competitive schools.)
Volunteer in hospital/clinic 100+ hrs (patient contact)
Shadowing (preferably 2-3 docs, include primary care physician, 60-80+ hrs)
Research work in college Maybe a 1+ yr(publications, poster etc)
Great letters of recommendation (2 from physicians, 1 from science faculty.)
Great personal statement
Also, it is good to get involved with activities non-related to medicine. such as community service etc
Leadership roles in certain clubs/organizations etc

All this is the basics...
Also, since you said your a sophomore, check your local community college to see if you are able to enroll in dual-enrollment if you are interested. You will be able to be enrolled into a community college full-time.
I was 16 when i went to college and now i am 17 and a junior in college. Dual-enrollment is where you can be enrolled in college courses after your sophomore year in high school, check it out if interested. you have to be dedicated and put forth the effort tho.

Good luck with everything

Wait. I am taking some courses at my local community college and I will be a sophomore this coming year. How does dual enrollment work? I still have high school classes I mean, but getting a head start in college is my main goal, and so more info please? ☺️


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[SunnyCCM]

Medicine is a long road my friends. The journey is different for all of us. Relax and absorb the information. Honestly, it's the 4.0 top of class High School students that are highest risk for burnout later on down the road (just my opinion).
From an intensivist view, numbers are just data. At the end, we don't treat numbers, we treat human beings/patients. Integration of knowledge, skill, theory & experience make solid clinicians. I doubt that our community aquired pneumonia in sepsis patient cared about my scores last night but wanted a caring clinician to explain what was going on in her body. Best wishes.

 

[addy]

Medicine is a long road my friends. The journey is different for all of us. Relax and absorb the information. Honestly, it's the 4.0 top of class High School students that are highest risk for burnout later on down the road (just my opinion).
From an intensivist view, numbers are just data. At the end, we don't treat numbers, we treat human beings/patients. Integration of knowledge, skill, theory & experience make solid clinicians. I doubt that our community aquired pneumonia in sepsis patient cared about my scores last night but wanted a caring clinician to explain what was going on in her body. Best wishes.

This has been true in my class. All of the gung-ho super academic people in my HS class are now really not doing much in their life because they got so burned out from high school and trying to get into top schools. Our valedictorian is getting a PhD from Stanford. And going down the list from 2 to 25, I can't think of anyone doing anything really remarkable or even something they're passionate about. #2 went to princeton and then ended up working as a car salesman, of all things. #3 was the one everyone was so sure would kill it in life but he's now working as an insurance agent. #7 is working for a high freqency trading firm and rolling in dough, but he sold out like crazy. #11 is at WashU in StL for medical school and doing great, actually. Of our high school's top 25, there were like 10 pre-meds. He was the only one to make it from our class as a whole (and me). Keep in mind this was a very high-functioning high school in a really wealthy area.

And of course, then there was me. Sitting pretty at #176 out of 400 kids. I got my act together in college and ended up killing it academically and extracurricularly. Got 12 interviews, 4 acceptances to medical schools (2 in top 25, declined to go to cheap state school), 2 jobs on Wall Street, 2 start up jobs, 4 jobs with non-profits and I had literally every door open. Whereas lot of those 4.0 HS kids were just looking any job because they were so burned out; my best friend is one of those people. It's sad to think about, really.

So, my point in all of this is, focus on becoming the best version of yourself in all aspects of your life, not just school. The system is wonderful for selecting for students who are willing to jump hoops and be a cog in said system. The question is if you really want to spend your life being a cog.

/rant

 

[TBMcGee]

.

 

[kkpps]

Hi,
I am dental student in the fourth year outside US can i continue me studying in US . I have green card and how can apply to study in US.
THANK U.....

 

[pyrrion89]

This has been true in my class. All of the gung-ho super academic people in my HS class are now really not doing much in their life because they got so burned out from high school and trying to get into top schools. Our valedictorian is getting a PhD from Stanford. And going down the list from 2 to 25, I can't think of anyone doing anything really remarkable or even something they're passionate about. #2 went to princeton and then ended up working as a car salesman, of all things. #3 was the one everyone was so sure would kill it in life but he's now working as an insurance agent. #7 is working for a high freqency trading firm and rolling in dough, but he sold out like crazy. #11 is at WashU in StL for medical school and doing great, actually. Of our high school's top 25, there were like 10 pre-meds. He was the only one to make it from our class as a whole (and me). Keep in mind this was a very high-functioning high school in a really wealthy area.

And of course, then there was me. Sitting pretty at #176 out of 400 kids. I got my act together in college and ended up killing it academically and extracurricularly. Got 12 interviews, 4 acceptances to medical schools (2 in top 25, declined to go to cheap state school), 2 jobs on Wall Street, 2 start up jobs, 4 jobs with non-profits and I had literally every door open. Whereas lot of those 4.0 HS kids were just looking any job because they were so burned out; my best friend is one of those people. It's sad to think about, really.

So, my point in all of this is, focus on becoming the best version of yourself in all aspects of your life, not just school. The system is wonderful for selecting for students who are willing to jump hoops and be a cog in said system. The question is if you really want to spend your life being a cog.

/rant

Agreed. Life is complicated. Anyone can move up or down the scales at any stage of life. Just remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Honestly I'd say looking back the prestige of your undergrad made little difference in getting into med school. In fact it can hurt you to go to a top undergrad where the pre-meds are really smart and cutthroat, as the classes are graded on a curve. I worked way too hard in high school, did the IB Diploma program (big mistake), and got #2 in the class, but it was NOT WORTH IT.

If I could do it all over again, I'd have a blast in high school, only really kick it into gear and get a SAT tutor/prep and do well on that... don't worry too much about grades---get a 3.0+ and go to an AFFORDABLE state school. Then you can start kicking it into gear for college, as that's all the med schools care about. To clarify: doing well in college, not what college you came from.

 

[Simpson]

and make sure you don't forget everything after taking a test. It is almost funny how many people learned all of the info for General Chem, Bio, and Physics in HS, but have to relearn it all again in college because they've forgotten it.

Your general high school courses that you take will not prepare you for college level general chem, bio, or physics. In fact, you only skim through the material without going into detail;however, If you take AP courses you will be stepping in the right direction. I would highly advise taking courses at your local university as a dual enrollemtn student;considering the fact that some AP teachers do not base their class off of actual university courses. For instance, My bio only offers 4 exams(55%) and minor 5%(of your final average) home work grades. In addition, the Lab portion of our class counts for 25% of our final grade. The final exam counts for 15% of your final grade.
In my high school AP classes, you receive 40% for minor grades and 60% for major grades.

 

[Simpson]

Wait. I am taking some courses at my local community college and I will be a sophomore this coming year. How does dual enrollment work? I still have high school classes I mean, but getting a head start in college is my main goal, and so more info please? ☺️


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Dual enrollment is probably the best idea in your case;however, there are some disadvantages that could hinder your path. As I mentioned in the previous post, you receive real college experience. Secondly, If you do not plan to attend the local university you are attending for your dual enrollment for the next 4 years then your GPA can receive benefits. If this were your case, then the courses will transfer to the 4 year university of your choice as university transfer. The courses will not count for your overall GPA at the 4 year university;however, that could really work in your favor If you do poorly in a class due to litigating circumstances. The courses you take for dual enrollment are extremely easy, this would be the downside. These courses are easy because you are paying money to attend them,unlike your high school classes. I did not do too well in my psychology course, ended up with a B;however, medical schools will not see how well I performed. They will see a "UT". Therefore, you can start to get ahead in your studies in smaller classes without jeopardizing your medical school application. I am taking as many science introduction level science courses at my local university.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Hi all
I'm a sophomore in high school. i have a GPA of 3.81 and no SAT scores (yet). I have almost all honors classes (didn't take Honors Physics last year)
If i continue on this track can i make into Mercer?
If not, what should i do to prepare for myself for the future test and trials of pre med and such.
Thanks
bye

I know medical students who had 3.3 gpas in high school. High school grades do not matter at all for med school.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Agreed. Life is complicated. Anyone can move up or down the scales at any stage of life. Just remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Honestly I'd say looking back the prestige of your undergrad made little difference in getting into med school. In fact it can hurt you to go to a top undergrad where the pre-meds are really smart and cutthroat, as the classes are graded on a curve. I worked way too hard in high school, did the IB Diploma program (big mistake), and got #2 in the class, but it was NOT WORTH IT.

If I could do it all over again, I'd have a blast in high school, only really kick it into gear and get a SAT tutor/prep and do well on that... don't worry too much about grades---get a 3.0+ and go to an AFFORDABLE state school. Then you can start kicking it into gear for college, as that's all the med schools care about. To clarify: doing well in college, not what college you came from.

Honestly couldn't have said it any better. I know a handful of people who were just like this and ended up matriculating into MD schools without taking a gap year.

However personally I would recommend at least a 3.2+. Just to be on the safe side.