Chance Me for McGill & Match Me for bio/medical [MA resident, 3.99 UW GPA, 1340 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi welcoming any feedback. I feel behind cause I’m not MASC president or have 5 independent researches already published, so I feel a little stuck with my EC’s as they’re pretty mediocre. I would love to know what other schools I should add to my list: Cannot be more south than like south carolina as I get migraines, medium+ schools (10k+), preferably urban

Thank you!!

Demographics

  • Massachusetts -applying international
  • Decently competitive suburban high school (my grade is especially competitive)
  • Female
  • Will not qualify for need based scholarships

Intended Major(s)

  • Biology, Microbio, immunology, etc.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.99 self calculated as my school does not provide it
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.62 (+1 for AP, +.5 for Honors)
  • Class Rank: top 20% (at minimum), school does not announce rank/a more specific % until June of junior year
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 690 RW 650 Math (will be retaking in May & August)

List your HS coursework

  • Freshman: AP Human Geo, Hon Envi Sci, Hon French 3, Hon Lit & Comp, Alg. 1 (parts 1 & 2), Visual Arts
  • Sophomore: AP Bio, Hon Bio (required prereq for AP), Hon French 4, Hon US I, Hon World Lit., Hon Alg 2, Hon Geometry
  • Junior: AP Comp Sci P, AP Lang, AP Psych, Hon Chem, Hon US II, Hon Trig, Hon Precalc
  • Senior: AP Stats, AP Lit & Comp, AP Physics 1, APES, AP Gov, CP Calc (Only options are regular and AB/BC), Honors Anatomy, Yoga (I will be dropping the last 2 if I am placed in the school internship program)

My school only offers up to French 4 since the teacher’s pretty bad, and my counselor couldn’t find anything online/dual enrollment that was French 4 or AP

Awards

Freshman Language Award

2x Outstanding Effort Award (school award)

4x Pride Pin Recipient (school/community award)

Extracurriculars

  • 3 years Varsity Swim & Dive (1 year managing)
  • 4 years Varsity Track & Field - javelin
  • 3 years Barista/Manager in Training at local coffee shop
  • 2 years Ice Cream Scooper/Manager in Training at ice cream shop
  • 2 years President and Social Media Manager French Club (+ expected next year too)
  • “ member 3 years
  • 2 years Executive Officer in Above the Influence Club (+ expected next year too)
  • “member 3 years
  • 3 years American Cancer Society member
  • 8 years Camp Kesem at BU camper/Teen Leadership Program
  • Will be attending a summer program (accepted into McGill Pathways to Health & Neuroscience, waiting on admission to NYU-Simons, if accepted I will go to NYU because it is free, otherwise will go to McGill)

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Chem teacher: most likely strong, I was one of the only people who participated, one of few who got an A on the final
  • AP Psych teacher: probably strong, only person in class who actively participates, however test grades are a little lower (but she liked my sister so i think she likes me)

Schools

  • Assured: >95% to WNEU (they auto admit like everyone in my school w/ $32,000 per year scholarship)
  • Extremely Likely: UMass Amherst, U of Oregon
  • Likely: URI, U of Oregon, UVM,
  • Toss-up: Trinity College Dublin??, University of Toronto- still working to expand this section!
  • Lower Probability: McGill?? (top choice as of right now), U of Michigan (EA)
  • Low Probability: UCLA, UC San Diego, BU (EA), Northeastern
2

My understanding is that this means that you are very close to having straight A’s. Is this correct?

Also no Nobel Prize? :slight_smile:

I think that your ECs are quite good.

Personally I think that your chances at McGill are very good. Admissions at McGill is largely stats based. Your GPA is very good, and your SAT should be okay. If you can pull it up so much the better. I would be inclined to get your application in early, and you might hear back early (or might not – how long it takes to hear back can vary a lot at McGill).

For your intended major U.Mass Amherst is also very good for an undergraduate student. You can go on to a very good graduate program with a degree from U.Mass. Actually one daughter is currently getting a PhD in a biomedical field in a very good program, and I am pretty sure that there is someone in the same program with a bachelor’s degree from U.Mass Amherst, so I guess that we have an existence proof that this is possible (but we would expect it to be in any case).

What citizenship or citizenships do you have? Do you also have permanent residence anywhere?

You do not need any French at all to attend McGill. Knowing some French is likely to make living in Montreal more interesting.

If you want to do it, there are some very good French intensive courses over the summer in Montreal, and more in Quebec City, as well as in Moncton New Brunswick and elsewhere in Canada. My younger daughter took a course in Moncton over the summer. The first day they explain the rules in English and test your French ability. After that you have French lessons in the morning and various activities in the afternoon. The morning classes at least where my daughter was were split into I think seven levels, ranging from strict beginner to nearly fluent. The afternoon activities are done entirely in French. When they play “le soccer” if you are open you might for example shout “ici” rather than “here”. This program at least for us was very reasonably priced, although if you were interested you might (or might not) get a better deal after you have been signed up as a student at McGill. If you wanted to take one before the school year starts, I would ask them about it and see what they recommend. After five weeks my daughter and I were able to just sit and have a simple conversation in French (which is all I can support at this point, having grown up in Montreal but having lived in the USA for decades).

Best wishes / Bonne chance.

4 Likes
3

Did you calculate on a 4.0 scale? I 3.99 would be all As, maybe 1 B. Or did you based it on a 4.33, where you get 4.33 for an A+.

Give yourself 4 for an A, 3 for a B - doesn’t matter if it’s plus or minus.

Add up the scores and divide by the # of classes. That’s your unweighted GPA.

hmmmmmm - you’ve got far more ECs than - pretty much 99% of kids.

You do sports, you work as a barista and in an ice cream store, you’re in clubs - hmmmm - your ECs are exquisite - not always needed.

So you seek urban, 10K+? Any budget issues? Do not qualify for need aid doesn’t mean mom/dad want to pay $100K a year - so you need a budget.

From what I understand, McGill bases on stats. No clue if your SAT is enough.

U Oregon is highly likely - Eugene is a small city - I wouldn’t say urban. You don’t have a skyline.

I’ll call UMASS likely based on the SAT. I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get in.

You have Oregon twice - but I’d go with extremely likely.

URI is not urban and UVM - very small city - so i’m not seeing urban in your choices.

U MIchigan - not with the SAT - but that’s ok - you can try. UCSD - not urban - even though it’s in the San Diego city limits - it’s in the UTC area but yet it’s sort of hidden. Hard to explain. One thing you have going for you is the UC schools are test blind. U Washington will be an easier admit - and is also test blind (in most cases).

I don’t love your list for “urbanness” - if that’s what you really want….

If I wanted urban (really urban) - well you mentioned South Carolina - U of SC is that. College of Charleston as well. You have your DC schools - like GW - very urban. Those might be too far South.

Others urban to look at - ASU (on same plane as LA, so likely not far south), Case Western, U Denver, , UMN, New Mexico, Ohio State, Pitt, U Tennessee, VCU.

Good luck

1 Like
4

Are you an international student with respect to the US? With respect to Canada? With respect to Ireland?

2 Likes
5

McGill: They’ll look at your grades in mostly relevant subjects; French is a plus since you need basic speaking ability to graduate from nay Quebec university (recent law but makes sense). If you can increase your SAT score a bit (to 1400) you should be okay. Apply as soon as you have your Jr grade, final senior schedule, and sufficient SAT score.

Trinity Dublin and UCD (Dublin rivals) should be okay too as long as you have strong AP scores in relevant subjects. You might want to add St Andrews and U Edinburgh.

In the US, American University and GWU should be possible. Both are in DC which means internship/externship access, including at stem labs, institutes, etc.
Same idea wrt Atlanta: Emory, GATech would be big reaches but you can try, and if you don’t mind small but in an urban consortium Agnes Scott is excellent&a safety as long as you show interest.
UMass is a match but do apply to their Honors College.

6

Agreeing here, UMass Amherst more a likely/match as admissions will be more competitive than URI, Oregon and UVM. Being a MA resident should help,good odds with these stats. Also, selection to Commomwealth Honors College at UMass would be automatic, no need to apply as an incoming freshman.

7

yes sorry respect to Canada and Ireland. I wrote this initially for mcgill then started talking about the other schools whoops

8

I calculated it as an A- is 3.7, which is the only grade I have below A or A+ (both 4.0 on the scale I used)

1 Like
9

Here are some French 4 options:

2 Likes
10

If you have one A-, and your other grades are all A or A+, then I think that your chances for McGill are excellent. I also think that you have very good chances for U. of Toronto, UVM, and U.Mass. UVM does give some merit aid for out of state students (which we were offered with grades that were a bit lower but SAT somewhat higher). My understanding is that the merit aid at UVM (and U.Mass) is available to international students but this is based on just a quick Google search because this did not apply to us.

I think that getting your SAT up a bit might help with admissions, and possibly might also help with merit aid for those schools where merit aid is possible. Good luck with the retakes.

You SAT is already over the median for UVM, but a higher SAT might help with merit aid. For U.Mass your SAT is below the median, and a 1400 might help your chances for both admissions and merit aid. McGill and Toronto I think admit by program, and I have not seen program-specific SAT figures for either, but again improving your SAT might improve your chances for admissions assuming that you are considered an international student in Canada.

McGill and Toronto are pretty much right downtown, and in two cities that are IMHO good places to spend four years. UVM is in the city and pretty close to the downtown of Burlington VT, which is a small city but quite pleasant. I do not think of U.Mass as urban. I like the location, but Amherst is more like a small college town.

With a major in any of “biology, microbiology, immunology, etc” you will have quite a few classes that overlap with premed classes. Some of these classes will be tough, and you will have plenty of very strong students in your classes at any of these four schools (these are the four I am focusing on just because I have some familiarity with all of them). Just as one example, UVM has a very good pre-vet program, and the required pre-vet classes are the same as the required premed classes. One daughter was pre-vet at UVM (she is a veterinarian now) and had one friend who she met from these classes who had never had a B in his life, and another friend who had only had two or three B’s in her life. Both of these friends are MDs now. They were both also very nice people. You will find at least some very strong students such as these at any of these very good universities, and quite a few of them will be in some of the same classes with you. Given your high school results to this point it looks like you are ready for this challenge, but plan on working hard and making a strong effort to stay ahead of your classes starting the first day of classes.

2 Likes
11

That law never went into effect. Students do not need any knowledge of French to attend or graduate from McGill. Although as mentioned above, a basic knowledge of French will make living in Montreal more interesting.

12

Kinda too bad - after the changes to make it workable, it had become a minimal requirement that made sense (being able to understand and reply in every day conversations/tasks, akin to your “making life more enjoyable”.)
Visas DO take into account English/French abilities (it’s tricked some recently after the decrease in student visas awarded in general and specifically for universities in Montreal) but being admitted to McGill would supersede that.

2 Likes
13

The Canada wide crackdown on student visas was caused by many “students” entering Canada and never actually enrolling at a college or university. This affected primarily students accepted at career colleges, not so much at universities.

My son entered McGill with four years of high school French and graduated fluent in French. But that was his plan.

1 Like
14

Very true as to the culprits.
But the impact on legitimate colleges/universities has been real in an unexpected way; both Ottawa and the Québec government are looking into correcting the corrective so that it targets the culprits, because the decrease in visas has unfairly impacted others and has had unintended (?) consequences. The lower visa numbers especially targeted students who wanted to attend university in Montreal and Quebec city, although the Trois Rivières University reps were loudly complaining just ten days ago.

Anyway, to get back to this student, having had French is a plus and most importantly the straight A GPA should make McGill a very good match (I hesitate to use ‘safety’ but the numbers+curriculum prep would matter most).
If @caroline.r wanted to ensure something in Montreal, Concordia Montreal would definitely be a safety.

15

Hi guys small update: I got a 1410 on the May SAT (730 Math 680 RW) so my superscore is 1420 now! but my parents are making me take it for the third time in june..

I have added UMD, UBC, University of Toronto, Pitt, and University of Wisconsin to my list so if anyone has any insider/uncommon tips or information about the schools or their bio program pls lmk!

1 Like
16

What will you be doing this summer? Just curious, since you mentioned a couple of possibilities in your original post.

Another school you might want to look into, based on the schools in your list: UW Seattle. It’s beautiful there, and has the urban vibe you seem to like. :slight_smile:

17

UC (UCLA UCSD) does not count pluses and minuses. They also count AP/Honors as the same (+1), so at least on the UC application, you have “perfect” grades and high GPA. They are also test blind.

People here always complain about some internal OOS quota they have (approx 10-15%). I would say, if you have the budget for OOS fees at UC, you have a high chance to get into any of the “top” UCs.

18

I will be going to the NYU Simons Science Explorations program, as well as virtual shadowing (if I can find any) for nursing/healthcare

2 Likes