Likeliness of Getting into Premed

[httpsbriannn]

Hi Guys,

I'm currently a Junior in high school and I was looking for some advice for applying to a pre-med school. My grades aren't the greatest and I want advice. I'm currently interested in BS/MD programs. I'm interested in these schools: Boston University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Northwestern University, Florida Atlantic University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Oklahoma, Rutgers, University of Connecticut (BS/MD). I'm also interested in Tufts University, University of Albany, Texas A&M, and University of Massachusetts for regular premed programs. Are these too many colleges to apply to? and what are my chances of getting in?

In high school my grades aren't amazing, I have a 4.2 GPA at my old school because I'm a transfer student, a 4.0 GPA at a community college (so far), but now I have roughly a 3.9 GPA.(I had to take all standard classes since I transferred last year.) My course load is:


9th Grade:

English 9
Algebra I
Environmental Science
World History 2
Health
Gym 9
Latin 1
Crew

10th Grade:

English 10
Algebra II
Biology
US History I
H. Latin 2
Chorus
Drama
Crew


11th Grade:

AP Physics I
AP US History
H. Chemistry
H. English 11
H. Precalculus
Professional Business Applications
Gym 10

and my prospected schedule for next year:


AP Physics 2
AP Computer Science
AP Literature
AP Psychology
AP Statistics
Gym
Culinary Arts

I'm currently taking BIO101 (Principles of Biology) at a community college, and I also plan on taking CHM101 (Survey Chemistry), ENG101 (Composition 1), BIO111 (Anat&Physiology) and MAT134 (Calculus).

Is this a good course load? Should I change anything?

And lastly, I volunteer for American Red Cross, I'm looking forward to volunteering for hospitals and nursing homes this summer. I'm apart of a hospital educational program, and I play two varsity sports, swimming and tennis.

Overall, how would I look as an applicant, what are my chances of getting in and should I change anything about my courseload, or change my college choices. Are there any other colleges you guys would recommend.

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[httpsbriannn]

I don't know much about the individual schools you're applying to, so I can't comment on your chances of getting in. However, you can take the pre-med courses and apply to medical school from literally any 4 year university. You don't need to worry about getting into a top school or a school with a "pre-med" program. Just go somewhere that YOU will be successful. Think about what will help you be successful - do you want to be just another face in a class of 200 in your intro bio course and have to work to stand out to your professor and get an LOR or research opportunities? Or do you want to be in a class of 20 for your intro bio course and have the professor notice if you don't show up once in a while but have it be easier to make a connection? That sort of thing.

I would not recommend BS/MD programs to the vast majority of applicants. If you are good enough as a high school student to get into a BS/MD program, you will probably be a good enough college student to get into a few medical schools, with the added bonuses of having more freedom to go to a different med school than the one at your program, go to a college that will be a good fit for you, take courses/major in something you enjoy and are interested in, and switch majors/careers if you decide medical school isn't for you (as do the vast majority of college freshman pre-med students).

I might be missing something but is a 3.9-4.0 GPA not good? Other than your grades, your extracurriculars like community service, clubs/sports, and leadership experience will help you get into college and possibly get scholarships. Looks like you are on the right track.

Your high school classes really don't make a difference. The only thing that I would recommend is NOT focusing on getting medical school prerequisite courses at the AP or community college level. Med schools like to see the prerequisites taken at a 4-year university, not as AP courses or community college classes. Those courses include Bio 1 & 2, Chem 1 & 2, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics 1 & 2, psych 101, and sociology 101. Even if you take those classes now, you will likely need to retake them at your 4-year university to look better to medical schools and to make sure the class is rigorous enough to prepare you well for the MCAT. Instead, I would focus on getting other "core" classes out of the way such as your writing and math courses. I would also remind you that any classes you take at the community college WILL count towards your GPA when you apply to med school, so make sure they are courses you can succeed in.

As for your planned courses, I would skip AP Physics 2 and take something different. I would take stats at the community college instead of the AP so you are guaranteed college credit. I would skip the community college chemistry course and wait to take that at your 4- year college. Eng101 will be great to get out of the way. Have you considered taking a language that will be useful to you as a physician, e.g. Spanish?

For the first paragraph, I understand what you are saying, I'm just afraid that I will be rejected by a lot of the schools I apply for, even my safe schools. I don't mind staying at one school for a long period of time but I'm afraid that if I don't get into a BS/MD program, I won't do great in pre-med and end up not getting into medical school. It's something I'm afraid of because I've always wanted to be a doctor since I was little. The 3.9-4.0 GPA is a weighted GPA. As for grades, I'm only a B and A student. AP Physics 2 is a class I just enjoy so I want to take it, but also my school doesn't have a lot of other classes with my interests. And, I've heard that you need either Calculus or Statistics for a math requirement, and I'm taking both. Also, a lot of my philosophy on taking the prerequisite courses is that when I do retake the course, I will get a better understanding and I will succeed in the class because it's my second time taking it. Is this a good idea? Also, is it a good idea to take a language before premed? My cousin is studying to be a nurse and I've heard she has to learn it because a lot of people in our area speak it. However, I'm fluent in vietnamese, is that enough or I'd eventually have to take a language class? Does it have to be spanish or does that depend on the school?

 

[ciestar]

If im not mistaken, even with BS/MD programs you must still do well enough GPA and MCAT-wise to matriculate.

 

[ciestar]

Language requirements are program dependent. In my UG, my two years of high school language satisfied the requirement..my SO for his degree required 12 credits of a language.

 

[niko327]

Hi Guys,

I'm currently a Junior in high school and I was looking for some advice for applying to a pre-med school. My grades aren't the greatest and I want advice. I'm currently interested in BS/MD programs. I'm interested in these schools: Boston University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Northwestern University, Florida Atlantic University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Oklahoma, Rutgers, University of Connecticut (BS/MD). I'm also interested in Tufts University, University of Albany, Texas A&M, and University of Massachusetts for regular premed programs. Are these too many colleges to apply to? and what are my chances of getting in?

In high school my grades aren't amazing, I have a 4.2 GPA at my old school because I'm a transfer student, a 4.0 GPA at a community college (so far), but now I have roughly a 3.9 GPA.(I had to take all standard classes since I transferred last year.) My course load is:


9th Grade:

English 9
Algebra I
Environmental Science
World History 2
Health
Gym 9
Latin 1
Crew

10th Grade:

English 10
Algebra II
Biology
US History I
H. Latin 2
Chorus
Drama
Crew


11th Grade:

AP Physics I
AP US History
H. Chemistry
H. English 11
H. Precalculus
Professional Business Applications
Gym 10

and my prospected schedule for next year:


AP Physics 2
AP Computer Science
AP Literature
AP Psychology
AP Statistics
Gym
Culinary Arts

I'm currently taking BIO101 (Principles of Biology) at a community college, and I also plan on taking CHM101 (Survey Chemistry), ENG101 (Composition 1), BIO111 (Anat&Physiology) and MAT134 (Calculus).

Is this a good course load? Should I change anything?

And lastly, I volunteer for American Red Cross, I'm looking forward to volunteering for hospitals and nursing homes this summer. I'm apart of a hospital educational program, and I play two varsity sports, swimming and tennis.

Overall, how would I look as an applicant, what are my chances of getting in and should I change anything about my courseload, or change my college choices. Are there any other colleges you guys would recommend.

Hi, It sounds like you're doing everything right and doing well. So here's what you need to do. First off, you are not looking to apply to "pre-med". What you are looking to do is get in to a combined BS to MD programs. So judging by that statement alone, you have not done very much research yet on the topic, which is OK, you got to start somewhere. Combined BS/MD programs are competitive programs where your admission to MD school is guaranteed so long as you maintain a certain GPA and do a reasonable job on the MCAT. Obviously, you already know they are competitive. But it also sounds like you are a good candidate. So what I'm going to tell you is this: Make sure you know what you are getting in to. Know what being a doctor is all about and what their life is like. Make sure it really is something you want to do and not just some cool idea. Then do your research. Find out what schools offer these programs and what their selection criteria are using internet searches and you high school guidance department. Make sure the schools you are looking at are places in which you will succeed. Some of these schools are GPA killers and impossible to do well at for all but the most motivated. Also look at what the program requirements are once you are in the program itself, such as what GPA you need to maintain, what minimum MCAT score you'll need at the end. Next step is to reach out to the pre-health departments of the Universities and let them know you are a serious student who wants to get in to their program and why. Ask them what makes an ideal applicant and find out what else you can do to achieve that. Try to get yourself in touch with other students already in the program and get an idea of how they are doing and things they wished they knew before they applied. You want to get people indoctrinated to your cause here and most importantly (now and for the rest of your professional career) you want to establish some networking with people who can help. Lastly, work all of your contacts if you have any. This will most likely be through your parents and their friends. Sometimes people are major donor to certain universities or they have the ears of someone on the admission committees, sometimes it's people you'd never expect, so ask. This may not get you in to one these programs all by itself, but sometimes is just enough to get you carefully considered. Good luck to you.

 

[AllBleedingStops]

Recognize that you are asking 2 different questions. One: Can I get into a BS/MD program? There are not that many of them so you would do well to look up the individual requirements or even communicate with the schools and their staff (email, call, meeting) to see if you are a competitive applicant.

Second: Am I a competitive applicant for a 4 year undergraduate institution in which I can complete a BA or BS (in ANYTHING) and complete the pre-reqs? The answer to this question is yes. You can get into most any undergraduate school you like and can then tailor your program of study to include med school pre-reqs (if not included in your major, whatever that may be).

Also, something I do not believe has been mentioned - I would not recommend picking any program that is specifically called or advertised as pre-med. Choose an actual field of study that can stand on its own (even if it is the standard "bio" major which is what I did and was successful). I know this isn't something you want to consider but if, God forbid, you are one of the people that isn't successful in their journey to med school or change your mind at some point, "pre-med" isn't going to stand alone or give you as many other career options.

 

[niko327]

Also, something I do not believe has been mentioned - I would not recommend picking any program that is specifically called or advertised as pre-med. Choose an actual field of study that can stand on its own (even if it is the standard "bio" major which is what I did and was successful). I know this isn't something you want to consider but if, God forbid, you are one of the people that isn't successful in their journey to med school or change your mind at some point, "pre-med" isn't going to stand alone or give you as many other career options.

This poster above is making an excellent point. Make sure you study something that you're really interested in, so that you can do well and have some other means of escape in case things don't work out. Medical school adcoms actually really like other degrees like art, music and philosophy. All that matters is that your pre-reqs are completed and you have done well in everything by the time you apply.