Can anyone comment on this plan for college? I think I have determined an optimal route to acceptance at a top tier school and would like comments.
- Currently in honors college for premed with triple major in history, biomedical science, and Chinese
- Taking elective and humanities requirements this term
- More humanities and electives this summer
- Chinese will be easy because I am naturalized and fluent. So easy As throughout with many credits. Same for science classes. I took all AP classes in HS but will retake to get easy As and increase Science GPA.
- Finish humanities requirements next term. Begin looking for leadership opportunities.
- Summer use for volunteering and research. Aim to get first author quality data this turn for publication next term.
- Sophomore year complete all science courses which double as biomed science courses. Also finish Chinese major requirements.
- Summer sophomore year study abroad (so I will seem well rounded on application). Also submit journal article.
- Junior year take Orgo 2, Physics 3, begin MCAT prep. Finish history degree in junior year. Continue volunteering someplace medical
- 2nd semester Junior year, begin to send letters of interest to admissions offices. Also begin work with premed advising.
- Junior year summer: dedicated 2 month MCAT prep and MCAT
- Senior year all electives, volunteering, research. Applications.
- Interview
- Acceptance.
Any thoughts? I think I might need more leadership activities and I would like to have time to go out so I'm not sure how I can efficiently volunteer to look impressive on my app without getting too overburdened.
Will schools be impressed that I started college at 17?
I've always felt it never hurts to plan, as long as you accept that your plans will more than likely change. I did the same thing starting undergrad, planned out exactly which courses I wanted to take for all 4 years of UG to major in honors bio, medical microbio and immunology, so I can tell you from experience it is helpful to plan but almost impossible to really know how things will play out until you get there.
Some thoughts:
Chinese major - many fluent speakers of foreign languages feel that majoring in this will be a piece of cake. However, I have friends (spanish speakers) who tried to major in their language but gave it up due to the grammar/nit-picky requirements in upper level language courses. I'm assuming this differs school by school, but I'd suggest you take a look into the content of the courses you'll need to finish the Chinese major to make sure its not something terribly hard before going down that path.
History major - thats awesome that you have interests outside of science, but I'd again caution you about this. Definately do it if you are interested, but definately don't do it if you think it will be an easy extra major. History/social sci classes were the bane of my existence in UG (of course difficulty varies by school) so I would only do it if you're legitamately interested. Also from experience, 3 majors isnt necessairly better than 2, so if you are just doing history to add on a major dont do it, save your time and use that time to have fun, drink, and volunteer/shadow/research/other EC's.
Retaking Science classes for easy A's when already have AP credit: If you have passed out with APs I'd just move on to the next thing - would be less of a credit load overall leaving you for more time to do research/volunteering/work/other ECs. Also, a lot of the intro science classes are actually a fair amount of work (not as easy an A as you'd think, depending on class and institution) and if you have done the work to avoid them I would avoid if possible (but, depending on subject, would double check with med schools that AP credits count for their pre-reqs).
Research: great to get started early, but just make sure you know it will be extremely difficult to publish as early as you are hoping for...I find that publishing in undergrad is just as much attributed to luck and circumstance as it is to effort, especially with research funding the way it is today. Also, sidenote, make sure to stay in contact with your old lab(s) even after undergrad to make sure you're included on paper they publish with you work (I recently got screwed out of a paper from UG). If you don't get published as early as you are planning dont worry about it! Look for a supportive lab environment in something you are interested in and it'll be a worthwhile experience publication or not.
Studying abroad - go if you want to, but it wont make you seem more well rounded in my opinion...
Also Im not sure being a younger applicant will help, actually might be a slight disadvantage if Adcoms assume you are immature due to your age (unjustly so of course...)
Also, add shadowing in early and often, but that's kindof assumed...
MCAT - I would try and plan for at least 3 months for MCAT prep, if preparing while taking classes maybe 5-6 months. IMHO, I think it is best to try and take the MCAT in April or May so that you get the results by June when the medical school primary application opens up. Applying early is important for many schools, and schools usually dont review your app without your MCAT score. Therefore, if you were to study junior summer for the MCAT and take it in say, August, this would push back your app. So, I'd suggest trying to plan you Junior spring to be as easy as possible - take minimum # of credits and save your easiest courses for Junior spring. Then study 2-3x more per day for the MCAT than for your classes that semester (hit it hard over winter break to start fast), crush it in April/May, then Apply as soon as primary App opens June 1st so you have it in quickly.
Overall looks like a great plan, good early volunteering and hopefully leadership!! You'll do great, just make sure you can adjust your plan and keep looking for new and interesting opportunities once you're in UG that you might not have considered in your plan. best of luck!
