If you attend the same school as my daughter, maybe you will meet her. I think you will be pleasantly surprised that the type of student you are seeking is right with you on the same campus. Her guidance counselor recommended that she apply to many of the schools at the top of your list, but she chose not to ( getting in is another story LOL). She also wanted to attend a school with like-minded peers, but she did not think she had to attend a top 10-15 school to find it. Many of the honors programs she was accepted to ( Lehigh, UMD-CP, Pitt, etc) attract students similar to what you are searching for. Good luck to you- I think you will find yourself challenged at your safety.
As an UG, your focus is to do academically super and all the other things to get medical school interviews and a medical school slot.
You have some time to change your attitude to being a lot more positive. Close the chapter, focus on current and future.
And in the end, you may look back and be glad that you were planted in the UG institution you were.
Would love to hear back how you are enjoying neuroscience and your first semester, including the extra things you have lined up there.
Your med school dreams likely would be harder to achieve if you go to a prestigious school. For grad school, the only thing they care about is GPA and test scores. Your GPA would be much lower at an elite school. Be grateful.
<<<<
Your med school dreams likely would be harder to achieve if you go to a prestigious school
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
@CaliCash Is correct.
Every year in the premed forum, we see posts from top-school frosh/soph premeds posting that their med school dreams are likely dashed because their GPA’s are no longer med school worthy. When we look at their HS stats, they have very good stats, but they dreamed of a tippy top undergrad, and went.
Weeding goes on in premed classes everywhere. Some top schools may give out lots of A’s in other classes, but the premed prereq sciences still weed.
There’s a Vandy premed who recently posted. He transferred into Vandy after having a 4.0 or near 4.0 from a good Texas school (one very good for premeds). He just finished his soph year (first year at Vandy) and his GPA is no longer med school worthy. Are his hopes shot? Well, he probably cannot become a traditional applicant (apply after junior year). He’ll have to do a Glide Year, maybe a Special Masters Program. I’m sure he’s regretting leaving his “good school” where he’d likely now be sitting pretty with a very high GPA.
We tend to find what we look for. If you show up at the school eager to make friends you will find friends. If you show up planning to hate the place you will find plenty of reasons to be miserable.
Yes the school might cater to B+ students. But the pre med track you want will have more than enough bright students to challenge you and probably a few who will surpass you. My physician was a solid B student and she is a better doctor for it. She listens to her patients and is not afraid to admit when she is stumped.
My daughter was the youngest in her class and was #2 at graduation. Her IQ is over 140. Because of financial constraints she attended a college ranked far below yours. Her Physician Assistant courses were very challenging and when not as detailed as she wanted for a few courses she and some friends did extra reading on the side. She has wonderful friends that will be lifelong.
Work hard on attitude adjustment and head to school with eyes wide open to discover friends of equal and lesser GPA’s and plenty of stimulation and challenge.
What I would caution you against is your mindset. And hear me out! You sound like you view your college with a fair degree of contempt, as though you’re better than it. You said it over and over. The reason this is dangerous is because it can lead to you not achieving academically in college. You might get into classes and think that you don’t have to try or that it’ll be curved and everyone is only B+ students ANYWAY so you might as well just use your superior abilities to float by. It’ll be fine for the first two exams, and then reality will hit and you won’t be able to save your grades to the level you thought you’d achieve. But you won’t flunk anything. Two semesters later, you’ll either have picked up your act and realized that there are smart and talented kids everywhere and you do have to work hard, or you’ll be a 3.0 student at the very best.
I’m not saying this to be mean. I’ve seen it happen again and again and again. I go to a state school and most people who didn’t get accepted to Northwestern or U Chicago are bitter and think that it’s just too easy to swing by. And then they end up either leaving college, extending their undergraduate stay, or changing majors.
I’m a biochemistry major with minors in microbiology and genetics. I do a lot of research during the year and then during the summers. I have taken advantage of graduate classes (virology, immunology, molecular signaling, molecular genetics, etc) to supplement my education in the classroom to make me competitive for the next big step, GRAD SCHOOOOOOOL. And do you know where that’s gotten me this summer? Harvard University. I got into a program here with ~2000 applicants for 20 spots and do research at Boston Children’s Hospital on immunology (hematopoietic stem cells and transplantation medicine). I’m not an URM and I didn’t have the elite magnet school HS experience and I still have made it this far. I’m telling you this because I want you to get pumped that you’re going to college at your university! You have no idea where you will be in 4 years. I never imagined I’d be here at Harvard for the summer and applying to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, etc for grad school. It blows my mind what my undergrad at a state school (Iowa State, if you want to know how UNcompetitive it is to get accepted) has prepared me to do with my further training.
I get what you’re feeling. I really do. But feel free to PM me just to have a sounding board of someone who’s done the safety undergrad education for scholarship reasons but is moving onward and upward (hopefully!) to the top tier schools.
OP, I do understand how you feel. I m in a different situation(foreign student), and I was NOT accomplished like you(no oversea volunteering and whatnot due to financial reason) but when I saw some of my peers who worked as hard as I did, or did even less work got in supposedly better school, it wrenched my guts because I put so much effort in high school and college application(applied to 27 and got all rejected except one.)
However, I guarantee you that studying pre med in wherever you go will make you find people who are fit to be your friends/companions. Plus, for medical schools, it barely matter which undergrad you go. In fact, it’s HARDER to go to med school if you go to tippy top schools because everyone in that school are as smart or smarter then you…
as someone in NYU I do realize the polarization here. for freshmen, many either picked NYU as their top choice OR NYU was their safety school because all the other schools they applied to were Ivies. For the second bunch, many wanted to transfer. But after a year, most of those from that second bunch just stayed on. So make the most out of your freshman year at your school and if you are really determined to get to a better school, transfer. Freshman year is going to be a major factor and many people do change their minds about their schools after freshman year
I highly recommend a book called “Becoming Dr. Q,” written by Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa. It is a true story about a young man’s journey of becoming a neurosurgeon via Harvard Medical School and UCSF neurosurgery residency. His journey started from Mexico (I had put this in for our beloved Donald Trump) and a community college called San Joaquin Delta College. Please remember that how you end your journey is as important or even more than how you start it.
A true story here. One of our patients went to NYU crying after rejected by all Ivies even though she had excellent grades/test scores from one of the most competitive high schools in U.S. One of her high school friends with similar stats went to “high” Ivy as a “pre-med” after entering and placing in major science competitions, which usually require either proper networking or a large sum of money. At the end of their college journey, NYU graduate not only got into the similar medical school as the “high” Ivy graduate, but she got in one year earlier than her friend.
Another true story:
Just find out from SND site that one of Ivy graduate (H/Y/P/C) did not get into any MD medical schools this cycle. Student’s stats are: 3.2 GPA and 31 MCAT. Student stated that he/she has graduated from top 5 college in US.
Ivy did not carry much weight in this case
Truly, this is a blessing in disguise. You will attend an excellent school - one where most students were in the top 10% of their hs class, if not valedictorian/salutatorian, so the peer quality as well as instructional quality and resources will be excellent. You are, after all, attending a college in the top 1-2% nationwide (3700 colleges, top30-40,the math is easy). Med school will admit you based on GPA+MCAT+ research/professional experience. For them, there s NO difference between top40 and top25 or top10. Absolutely none.
Yet if you are as driven as you say, you will find it a bit easier to be top 10%in every class to have a high GPA (and don’t underestimate the difficulty of the classes you’ll be taking nor your peers).
Now, when reading your first post, one thing jumped at me: you graduated a year early. It means that compare d to incredibly accomplished and driven peers, you had one less year to show how exceptional you could be, that you had 1/4th of a potential application missing. Graduating early is only acceptable if you attend a school where the average act score is 15 and there is no college for dual enrollment nearby, or where alfh the budget goes to athletics so that the Spanish teacher “teaches” French (which they don’t actually know) and coaches teach random subjects- both true cases. In virtually all cases"missing" one year will go against you.
I’m only mentioning this in case you plan to do the same in college, which is a big no-no for med school. Use all 4years to the fullest extent.
Take this as an opportunity to develop some humility. If you don’t some of those “B+ students” will mop the floor with you–if not in undergrad GPA, then in life.
@ChaunceyGardner - I know you may not believe this, but there are going to be a lot of kids at that 30-40 school who actually chose it over a top 10 or top 30 school. Sometimes the reason is financial or geographic, but lots of other times, the kids just preferred the vibe. I know at least two kids who chose Temple over Penn and Columbia not for the money but because, after doing all that work to get in, they just couldn’t stand the attitude at the Ivy League. I know lots of kids who choose Boston College over Notre Dame and Georgetown and at least one kid who chose BC over Harvard. This kid loved the Boston/Cambridge area and he just felt like he fit into BC better. I know that might not make you feel better since the Ivy League vibe is what you obviously prefer. However, you should think about that. Just because the kids at your school might seem less hardworking or less intelligent does not mean that they are. And truth be told, unless you change your attitude, these kids - particularly these Ivy League material students whom you consider your true peers - are not predisposed to be crazy about you either. So stop thinking you’re superior. Go to college. Find your friends - there are going to be lots of really, really smart kids there. Get your straight A’s. And lighten up. Enjoy this time. Enjoy the people with whom you’ll be spending the next 4 years.
I can understand being disappointed about working as hard as you can to reach a goal of being admitted to your dream school and not be admitted. What I can’t understand is the level of anger throughout your post. I would recommend that you address that early on in your college career . You’ll be better prepared for your goal of becoming a neurosurgeon in the long run.
I think where you got in IS a blessing. Top 30-40 schools are no slouches when it comes to academics. You will have plenty of highly talented peers, many of whom didn’t get into the same schools you applied to. Keeping your GPA up should be your top priority.
I know one kid who choose UCD over UCLA and another choose UCSB over UCLA without any financial merit consideration. Gasp, never heard of on CC, every year kids come here and mention the word prestige like it’s a thing, one must stamp on one forehead, otherwise life fails.
We are currently attending orientation at a school listed in the range of ChaunceyGardner’s " safety." We were told that 65- 75% ( don’t remember which number) of the incoming freshman class graduated in the top 10 students- he stressed that this number is top 10 students- not top 10%. I actually got very nervous despite the fact that my kid is one of those 10 students. I am hoping her stress level stays in check.
I think the best way to change your attitude is to think about why you have it. You seem to be bitter about attending a highly ranked school because you think you’re smarter than everyone else. I think you’re mistaken. You’ve determined a top ~30 ranked school is full of B+ students based on a few posts on social media and a ~6 hour accepted students’ day? That seems like a rush to judgment from someone whose career is going to require in depth analysis. Your professors are going to expect better than that.
I understand being disappointed that you didn’t get into one of the top 10 colleges that you think you deserve. I suspect that nothing about this school is going to make you happy because it doesn’t have the right name. If you can’t be satisfied at this college then you may need to take a gap year and apply to schools you will be happy to attend. The other students at this college don’t need your attitude. Smart people, by the way, don’t look for external motivators to perform well. They do their best for the personal satisfaction it brings.