Chance lrising senior for reaches and possibly BS/MD's

With you having taken so many APs, I suspect that admissions counselors will find it odd if you’re not reporting most of your scores. And it may not necessarily count against you, but many applicants (far more than the universities can take) will be sending their scores…with all 5s or mostly 5s and some 4s to match their As on their report cards. With that as your competition, what will make your application stand out and granted an acceptance?

I sympathize with you about the testing anxiety. As you scored a 35 on the ACT and a 1530 on the SAT, how much do you think is related to testing pressure vs. the content? Also, if you truly do become anxious on tests, take steps now to work on strategies to overcome that. Many of your university science classes may be graded on a curve (pitting you against other top students), you have to score high enough on the MCAT to get into college, and then you will need to pass your Boards as well. There’s a lot of importance placed on tests for pre-meds and doctors.

Like others, my concern is that you have been biting off more than you can chew. Your “weak” areas are math, science (at least physics), and stats. For someone who is interested in going to med school, that is concerning. Even if your high school is very competitive with many students taking 20 classes, that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you to be doing. It’s better to learn the material at a slower pace and really master it than it is to try and push through and manage as best one can to get to the “finish line” as quickly as possible. Med schools aren’t looking for 20-year-olds to enter. They’re even hesitant about 22-year-olds coming in and desire to see more lived experience!

Taking 20 AP courses should be equivalent to taking two years’ worth of college courses while in high school. People’s bodies and minds develop at different paces, and many students are not developmentally ready to handle some of the material, but in two years they would be. Nothing could change but the student’s age (and therefore development) and there can be a significant difference in academic outcomes.

Slow down and think about what it is you really want. You say that UT is your ideal school because it’s relatively inexpensive and a nice school. What’s nice about it? What do you like about it, apart from the cost? Knowing that can also help people give you suggestions of other schools you may want to consider to create a balanced list of schools with a range of admissions possibilities.

For instance, Trinity University in San Antonio is located in an urban area, has a defined campus, strong pre-med programs, and gives very generous merit aid so that the cost would be far less than many of the other schools on your list. But if you like UT because it has tens of thousands of students, many of whom pack the football stadium in the fall, then Trinity would not be a good school to consider. So, what do you find attractive about UT, or about what you would like to have in your college experience?

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