I also want to remind you that until you shadow and speak with physicians, you will not know if it is the right path for you.
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Or until you see how much of a physicianās time is spent elbow deep in body fluidsā¦even in specialties where theoretically there isnāt much body contact.
My friend is a psychiatrist on staff at a teaching hospital. He notes that the new residents are SHOCKED the first few times a psychotic patient flings feces or a drug withdrawal patient vomits all over their doc while trying to take a medical history.
Human bodyā¦runs on fluids.
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Agreed. Direct patient caregiving > shadowing and/or research for deciding/āknowingā one wants to be a physician. High schoolers can get involved in direct patient care by volunteering in a hospital, community health center, assisted living center, hospice, etc. They can also work as an asst CNA or EMT assistant (age varies by state). Relatively few docs let high schoolers shadow at this point, many donāt even let college students shadow.
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Have you looked at the requirements for these programs?
You will 100% get into UCONN (in our public high school, several students got into UCONN, and didnāt get into UMass-Amherst!).
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Iād maybe add in Brandeis, Northeastern, U of Maryland, NYU, Syracuse, and Carnegie Mellon.
While these are fine schools, I would put more emphasis on lower cost targets and safeties. The original list has a lot of reaches/high cost schools. Just my opinion.
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It goes back to - does money matter ?
OP says no but then letās see the offers.
So if it does - and thatās a yes, based on what they say, I agree.
Instead of an SU, maybe an Ithaca as an example.
But then are you gonna choose Ithaca over UMASS?
Why OP needs a budget and then to build a list based on that.
Building a list for pedigree alone is silly.
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This student is applying to the BS MD program at UConnā¦and that is a high reach.
For a regular admission to UConn, yes. For BS MDā¦not likely.
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Bs/MD at U Conn is super competitive and super prestigious in New England. Do not allow the overall stats for U Conn ( which includes elementary ed majors, communications majors etc. who typically have lower stats than the physics and philosophy majors)take your eye off the ball. Exactly one kid from my town has been accepted to the BS/MD at U Conn in the last ten years. Turned down Chicago, JHU and U Penn. Thatās the kind of academics they admitā¦along with a ton of community service, working with disadvantaged populations and teachers who write " this is the strongest student I have ever taught"
Take your shot but know the oddsā¦
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Iām just applying to see if I can get in. I spoke to my parents and they said money isnāt an issue and to just go wherever I think is best, but I just donāt feel right making my parents pay a lot for a college if it isnāt really worth it. The reason Iām applying to a bunch of reaches is because as long as I have a few safeties and matches as a backup, if I can get into at least one of them then Iād end up going there.
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