I agree, these seem like much more attainable reaches.
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-Stuck in Chicago traffic now. OP-Are you in a Michigan private /public school?
Public, huge public school though
Is it a Michigan feeder? How many people apply and how many get accepted? Ask your counselor.
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Any of these?
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I think rather than feeling discouraged, you should see this as an opportunity to be encouraged about a wider range of possible schools than just the few you mentioned. There are so many colleges where your improved grades, test scores, and ECs might open the door that would normally be closed to someone with the same GPA.
As an aside, here is Michigan’s latest available CDS:
According to box C11, 38.0% of enrolled students had a 4.0, 54.4% 3.75-3.99, 6.4% 3.5-3.74, and only 1.2% had a 3.49 or less. According to C12, their average GPA was a 3.90. Although sometimes that might be weighted, usually when a college like Michigan reports under a 4.0, it is unweighted.
And a lot of those lower GPA students will be recruited athletes and such. Maybe being in-state, your test scores, and ECs will help, but my point is it is quite rare for Michigan to admit people with GPAs in your range, sufficiently rare that absent really good evidence from your HS to the contrary, I would still treat it as a reach.
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Yes it’s top 20
About a 30% rate
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Whoohoo, my old HS was still top 20!
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@Knowsstuff what are your thoughts?
OK. I was looking for top 10. Why? Some schools look at the top schools in the state a bit differently. They can up point when evaluating.
Also it’s not the most Aps that win. Lots of your Aps are not the rigor ones. But still impressive. Michigan will evaluate what you took but might question… Why not this one that has more rigor?
The GPA is low for Michigan. Again stated like in the 6.5% of acceptances. Your ecs are outstanding. Also they don’t care for dual classes over Aps also unless that was your only option. The deal with Aps is to take them and do well in them. Sometimes it’s better not to take Aps and actually do a bit better GPA wise. But Michigan and the AOs go by your schools performance. If students are getting in with a 3.5 unweighted then your competitive. If not, then your not.
Talk to your counsler. I think your entire list needs to be reevaluated or your not going to have a fun acceptance season. You have plenty of time to think this through. Go to each schools CDS profile and look at the “C” sections. This will tell you exactly for most of your schools what they are looking for. Do the Michigan schools and you will get the idea of your chances.
Where does your school see you going to? Wayne (my alamater) has come a long way. It’s an in-demand school now. Michigan state is solid but getting tougher each year so that is not a safety anymore. But they are likely to look more at your upward trend and Sat then Michigan will. Have them in play.
Sorry for the delay but Chicago traffic. Don’t text and sit not moving in traffic. The White Sox are playing the Chicago Cubs tonight and for some reason people want to see that game. It could end in a 0-0 tie 
… Keep asking questions. But I think to be honest the bubble has bursted and we all have to help you with a more realistic list of affordable colleges with a few reaches.
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Can I message you privately?
Please do.
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This. Section C7 of the Common Data Set will tell you how schools weigh different academic and non-academic admissions factors. In your case, look to see how GPA and standardized tests are weighed: you should probably focus on schools that give greater weight to standardized tests and less weight to GPA. Sections C9-C11 give objective criteria for recently matriculated students; so you can compare your objective numbers to those of the matriculated students.
University of Michigan, as I recall, recomputes high school GPA by disregarding all plusses and minuses: so, a B+ in your high school class is considered a “B”, an A- is considered an “A”, and so on. If you got lots of B+ grades in high school, then that will hurt you because they will be factored in as 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Other schools may recompute your high school GPA based on their own criteria, also.
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Assuming that you get to medical school, by the time that you finish medical school, that could be $900,000 (including both the cost of a bachelor’s degree plus the cost of medical school).
I would be surprised if you get into any of U.Penn, Duke, JHU, Stanford, WUSTL, Brown, Northwestern, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, UC Berkeley, U.Chicago, or UCLA with a 3.4 unweighted GPA. I am under the impression that Stanford and the Universities of California will not care about your freshman year, but even with a 3.5 unweighted from sophomore year on I would still be surprised if you get in. This is a LOT of reaches and a lot of essays to write for someone with a 3.4 or 3.5 unweighted GPA, even with superb ECs and SAT scores. I would try to cut the list, while of course making sure that you apply to safeties. You might want to try to figure out which 5 or so of your reaches are the best fit for you, and cut the rest of them from your list.
However, for a premed student you can do quite well with a bachelor’s degree from any of your public schools in Michigan, including MSU.
I want to leave however with two things that you can be encouraged about. First of all, congratulations on your strong uptrend in grades. This is huge. This will help significantly to get you prepared to do well in university wherever you go. Whatever you did to achieve this uptrend, you will want to keep doing it when you get to university. Premed classes will be academically demanding, will have tough exams, and will be full of very strong students. Your SAT score and your uptrend both suggest that you can do this, but it will not be easy.
Also, MSU can prepare you well for applying to medical school. So can Michigan (if you get in). I do not know Wayne State at all but I expect that it will also be quite good. Premed classes will be demanding and will prepare you well at any “top 100” university and probably any “top 200” university.
One daughter by the way attended a university that is ranked lower than Michigan State for her bachelor’s, got a very good education, completed the pre-vet required classes (which are the same classes as the premed required classes – her classes were full of premed students), and is getting her DVM in a very good and very highly ranked program. You can do the same thing with a degree from MSU, except in your case aiming for an MD or DO program rather than a DVM program.
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Thank you for the compelling words, I honestly do not expect to get into any of the reaches, I am just applying for the shot they look past GPA and weigh ECs/SAT a bit more. I am really hoping to get into UMich though, do you think I have a decent shot for them?
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Wayne State has always been great for like Psychology and Pre med BTW.
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As many have stated, it would be wise for you to include a couple targets and maybe another safety that you would actually like to attend. Your gpa will definitely make attending any test blind school or T20/25 unlikely. You should apply to T20 and see if you get fortunate, but I wouldn’t rely upon that.
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I do not know. I think that it is worth an application particularly since you are in-state and with your strong uptrend.
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If interested in coming out West some schools that may be targets even for OOS would be UC Riverside, possibly UC Davis, or maybe UC Santa Cruz. Davis is still hard to get into, but could be pre-med options a bit easier to get into than Cal or UCLA. What about school like Loyola Chicago? I hear they have a good pre med program and may give good merit scholarship?
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