High School Senior getting accepted into colleges. What can I do to prepare/What kind of college?

[tzuyu&yuqi]

Hi! Just discovered this forum!

I'm a high school senior that has been accepted into Ohio State, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I am Out of State from CA. Obviously, I am super happy about Michigan, and was so set on going. But after reading a couple of forum post on college confidential, I'm questioning on whether I should go to a "easier" university (since I heard Michigan is super competitive for GPA and high GPA is important for med school admission).

Right now, I haven't heard from University of Washington-Seattle, University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of California-Davis, Irvine, LA, Berkeley, San Diego and Santa Barbara.

When I hear from these college, should I go for the "easier" colleges, or go hard :^) I plan to major in biology if that makes any difference.

Also, any general tips for a high school senior wanting to pursue med school (specifically pediatricians).

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[ZedsDed]

When I hear from these college, should I go for the "easier" colleges, or go hard :^)

Ask our boy @efle!

 

[efle]

Oh boy. I'll reserve this space and add some thoughts later...

Any word on the prices/financial aid packages for each school?

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

@efle

Not yet. I expect some good aid from UIUC. Not sure about my other out of state. I will def. get some to a good amount of aid for California school.

But, let's just say for now, cost is not the concern.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Things that make colleges good for pre-med students (this is NOT in order of precedence):

1. Cost / financial aid
2. Prestige
3. Strong pre-med advising / support
4. Access to research or network for getting students into research program
5. Track record of getting students into medical school
6. Shadowing / volunteering support network
7. Ability to attain a high GPA / grade inflation
8. FIT FIT FIT FIT FIT --> if you're happy, you'll be productive and thrive
9. Having an affiliated medical school

 

[efle]

OP you mind sharing some numbers? SAT/ACT, APs, GPA?

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

@efle

ACT: 32
GPA: for 10-11 3.79 Unweighted, for 9-11 3.86 Unweighted
AP Bio: 4, APUSH: 4, AP Chinese:5
SAT 2 Bio: 740

@WedgeDawg Thanks for the list

 

[efle]

Alright so, you're right to consider the difficulty of maintaining good grades. Every year a lot of bright high schoolers make a huge mistake by attending the "best" schools they get into when they're interested in premed. When you've been a standout in high school, it's tough to understand what it means to be in a class full of other similarly smart and hardworking students and need to be in the top 1/3rd or 1/4th that gets competitive grades. This can be especially pronounced at the top public schools because their grading tends to be more deflated than private peer schools - places like Berkeley, UCLA and Michigan get the double whammy of very good students and fewer A's. I once plotted my school (WashU, which is private but sees about 2/3rds of incoming premeds drop out) against the national dataset for MCAT vs GPA, and saw that students here with dangerously low GPAs like 3.3 perform similarly to the typical 3.9 students nationwide*. That's a serious effect that for many people is going to hurt your chances for MD admissions, or knock you out altogether before getting to the application stage.

Every year a lot of bright high schoolers also make the right choice by attending a tough undergrad. That group of people that remain standouts tend to do well in med admissions. It's awesome being surrounded by fellow nerdy tryhards that will really push you hard if you like to be challenged, and these schools churn out hundreds of premeds per year so there is usually a lot of resources for premeds. The AAMC survey in my signature also lists undergrad prestige as an important factor for private MD admissions, so it can help you out if having a name like Berkeley on your app impresses them. It's all a risk/reward to consider, because it's decidedly not awesome to work your butt off, get B's to show for it, and end up calling it quits.

What I'd advise most people is:

• Money. Don't pay tens of thousands of dollars for a fancier name.
• Fit. Most people have strong feelings about things like living in a major city vs small town in the middle of nowhere, strong sports, strong greek presence, region of the country / weather, school size, etc. Don't go somewhere you won't be happy.
• Premed resources. If you're trying to choose between similar places and one has better ways of getting students research, shadowing, less overcrowding in the premed required classes (a big problem in the UCs) etc take that one.
• Difficulty. Really think about what you're signing up for if you enroll at a tough school when GPA is the single most important academic factor in medical admissions. For a lot of people, the smartest move is to go to a cheap state school they like that has an honors college, where they can hang out with a bunch of other tryhards and have special access to registration, professors for research, etc. If it was my younger siblings I was advising and they were worried about this, I'd tell them to go somewhere like Colorado Boulder >> UCLA for sure.

For you in particular, I'd wait to get back all your acceptances before worrying about picking. Of the ones you've listed, I think Michigan would likely be a little tougher than OSU or UIUC, but they are all excellent and tough schools. I doubt any choice between those three would make or break your odds. It's more like UC Berkeley vs Santa Barbara type comparisons where one is going to be a much rougher ride.


*This compares science GPAs to cumulative GPAs, and sGPA tend to be lower by ~0.10, but still a huge effect. Half a point to your GPA moves you from low odds to get in anywhere (3.3ish) to solid and above-average (3.8ish)!

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

@efle Hi! I never got to thank you for your response!

Now that all my colleges are out, there has been two more acceptances, 3 more wait list and 2 rejection

Right now I have Ohio state, UIUC, U Mich, U Washington (Seattle) UC Santa Barbara. I have been wait listed to UC San Diego, UC Irvine and UC Davis.

My question now is should I just go to UC Santa Barbara? I have heard there are far less graduate students there so there is more space for undergrads like me to engage in research. The instate tuition also sounds tasty.

Bonus question: If I were to get off the UCSD wait list, should I choose UCSD over UCSB?

Sorry over the bombardment of questions and I would very much appreciate if you could answer!

 

[efle]

@efle Hi! I never got to thank you for your response!

Now that all my colleges are out, there has been two more acceptances, 3 more wait list and 2 rejection

Right now I have Ohio state, UIUC, U Mich, U Washington (Seattle) UC Santa Barbara. I have been wait listed to UC San Diego, UC Irvine and UC Davis.

My question now is should I just go to UC Santa Barbara? I have heard there are far less graduate students there so there is more space for undergrads like me to engage in research. The instate tuition also sounds tasty.

Bonus question: If I were to get off the UCSD wait list, should I choose UCSD over UCSB?

Sorry over the bombardment of questions and I would very much appreciate if you could answer!

Mind sharing the rough price tags for each, or is FA info not all out yet?

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

@efle UCSB is around 31K (Uni estimate but I think it is a bit lower than that)
U Wash is 42K
U Wiscousin Madison/Ohio/UIUC is 50K
U Mich is 57K

 

[efle]

@efle UCSB is around 31K (Uni estimate but I think it is a bit lower than that)
U Wash is 42K
U Wiscousin Madison/Ohio/UIUC is 50K
U Mich is 57K

These are per year costs yeah?

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

Yes @efle
I wish college costed only 31k for four year though xD

 

[efle]

Unless you have a burning desire to get away from the palm trees and Cali culture, I'd go to UCSB and never think twice about it. Michigan is a little better known/represented in med admissions, but for a savings of ~$100,000 and the weather/location UCSB would be the winner for me in a heartbeat.

 

[tzuyu&yuqi]

@efle What do you think about UCSD (if I were to get off the waitlist)

Should I forgo UCSB for UCSD? Is there any negligible difference?

 

[efle]

@efle What do you think about UCSD (if I were to get off the waitlist)

Should I forgo UCSB for UCSD? Is there any negligible difference?

I'd pick UCSB - I'll PM you why.