I am a US Citizen currently attending a public school. My dream univesity is UMich. I am out of state. It has almost everything I want in a school. My parents wont be able to pay for almost any of my post-secondary and I will be trying to get scholarships when I can figure those out. (Honestly Dont care about affordability, My family is at that weird spot where we have enough money to not have finacial aid but too broke for this. I will live on scholarships)
I intend to major in Neurology in UMich or somewhere medical. I would do a lot to get into UMich and want to improve chances of getting in. Here’s my current information and predictions:
Im a freshman
Predicted Unweighted around 3.75-4.00
Unsure about my schools weighing system and no Class ranks yet.
I don’t have ACT or SAT scores yet but I do predict around 30-35 ACT, 1400-1550 SAT
(Will be getting ACT tutor)
My courses:
(A)- AP
(H)- Honor
English: 3yrs (H), 1yr (A)
Math: Calc BC (A), Stats (A)
Science: Bio (A), Chem 2 (H), Physics 2 (A),
History and social studies: Gov (A), US His (A), World His (H)
Language other than English: Spanish 3, (Maybe I can fit in Spanish medical terminology)
Visual or performing arts: cough cough uh…
Other academic courses: Anatomy & Physiology, Phlebotomy, Med terms, Health Care Research
Awards
Not yet….
Extracurriculars
Debate & Forensics +4yrs State all 4 yrs and hopefully nationals sometime, Buisness professionals of America +4yrs, HOSA +4yrs with fancy recognition events and striving for state officer, Superintendent Advisory Team, Council on mental health club, everything (Meeting, content…snack) arranger for some LGBTQ+ club. More but I dont care as much about my others
I know some archery, but not competitively. Trying to get my parents to let me do fencing.
I am hoping to log over 800+hrs of medical/food related volunteer work by senior year.
Maybe 100+ hrs of shadowing if I get bored this summer.
I do know I will go to a policy debate camp over one of my summers for 2weeks possibly. Either cheap affordable boring ones… or attempt to self fundraise to apply to UMich’s Classic+ debate camp!
Also Im learning Piano and hoping to learn Lyre Harp
Essays/LORs/Other
Emtpy for now, but for LOR, I am a very expressive out there student and always been very active in many of my clubs (more than everyone in 3 of my big big clubs.). A lot of the club sponsors and teachers like me as a student…
Michigan is over $80K a year and even more the last two years. You cannot live on scholarships.
Med School is at least another $400K. In 3 years, UM might be over $90K a year.
Dl you have $800k for undergrad and grad - forget scholarships?
You can do pre-med anywhere - and certainly a heck of a lot cheaper than Michigan - which, by the way, shares many traits with many schools.
As a 9th grader in first semester, you’re way too early to be worrying about this and you have no idea of your GPA as you’ve not even finished a semester.
We don’t know anything about rigor, test score and more. A 30-35 is like sunny one day and rain storms the next with Michigan.
Come back after Junior year first semester - but in the meantime, find out a range from your parents - and include medical school.
Lots of schools like Michigan and they cost less - and you have some great ones in state.
And tastes change.
No need to recommend any schools now (the rest of your thread)- you’re waaaaaaaaaaay too early.
Be a student, do well, get involved outside of class and don’t think about college. In two years, talk to your folks about budget.
It’s great to think about college early in terms of making sure you’re taking challenging classes and doing well in them. But a lot will change in the next few years. Work hard, explore things of interest and expect to grow and change as you navigate high school. Unless one is expecting to be recruited, freshman year is too early to think about specific schools. My kids did visit different universities strategically if we were in the area to get a feel for the type of school that might be interesting. Best of luck to you.
“Don’t care about affordability” and “premed” do not belong in the same sentence (except this one). If you are even remotely considering medical school as an option, and if your parents are not willing or not able to spend something in excess of $800,000 for 8 years of university, then you have to think about affordability.
Another issue to think about: Premed classes are very, very academically challenging. A premed student probably should not want to attend the academically most difficult university that they can possibly get into for a simple reason: You do not want to be in tough premed classes that are full of students who are entering university as stronger students than you are. Instead, it is a good idea to attend a university where you are in the at least the upper 1/2 of entering students, if not the upper 1/4 of entering students. Even with this your premed classes to be tough.
Both daughters had majors that overlapped with premed classes, so I can give you examples (one daughter is a veterinarian, the other is studying for a PhD in a biomedical field).
My older daughter at one point referred to organic chemistry (which represents two of the required premed classes) as “the most difficult B- that I have ever had in my life”. She worked very hard for that B-. However, from what I have heard the difference between a B- and a C in organic chemistry does make a difference in terms of medical school admissions (and also for DVM admissions). One point is that it is a hint as to how you might do when you get to the very tough medical school classes. Once she got into veterinary / medical classes in her DVM program she did say that they were on average about equal in difficulty to organic chemistry.
My other daughter in her freshman year “biology for biology majors” class found the class to be full of very strong premed students. The first mid-term, with all of these very strong students, had a class average in the mid 40’s. Professors really can make exams pretty much as difficult as they want to. In that class an 85 turned out to be an A+, but there weren’t many 85’s. I expect that this tough exam, early freshman year, is the professor doing the premed students a favor. In particular, the students who had trouble with this tough exam got a hint very early in university that they needed to either increase their effort considerably or give up on ever attending medical school.
I have a question about your post:
Is this what you are taking now, or what you expect to take before the end of high school?
The reason that I ask is that jumping ahead can be a mistake in many cases. There really are some classes that you are not ready to take, yet. You are very likely to be a stronger student in three or four years, and an even stronger student as you get into your upper years of university. I for example took classes in university that I just could not have handled in high school. I took classes in graduate school that I could not have handled as an undergraduate student. We all need to pace ourselves, and take classes that we are ready to take. Also, math is an area where what you take now depends a lot on what you were supposed to be taking last year, and what you take next year is likely to depend upon what you are taking now and what you took last year. Thus you want to be careful about getting the prerequisites done and thoroughly understood before you jump ahead to more advanced classes.
Scholarships tend to be very rare for out of state students at public universities.
My understanding is that you are a freshman in high school. If so then you have a long way to go, and plenty of time to think about what path you want to take in life. The majority of students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. There are a lot of forms of something else to consider. Some students get into tough premed classes and find that they cannot maintain sufficient grades to have any chance to get into medical school. Some students get into medical shadowing and find that they do not want to spend their careers in a medical environment. However, some students do maintain high grades in premed classes, get into a lab in university, and discover that they love lab work and are good at it and they would rather do research in a lab rather than deal with human patients.
In terms of maximizing your chances to get admitted to very good universities, you should start with an effort to do well in your classes. Part of this is staying way ahead in your homework. Part of this is seeking help when you need it. Part of this is taking classes that you are ready to take, and being very cautious about jumping ahead. In terms of extracurricular activities, pretty much anything that you do outside of class is an EC. If you do something that is constructive and involves interacting with other people then almost anything can be a good EC. A job can be a good EC. Many different clubs can be a good EC. If you do eventually get into a leadership position, remember that leadership is about listening, and making an activity better for everyone.
And there are a LOT of very good universities in the USA. Most of them are very good for premed students (the exception being very highly specialized schools, such as music conservatories).
You are a HS freshman. You don’t even have one year of high school grades yet. You haven’t taken the SAT or ACT. Your high school ECs aren’t well developed…yet.
By the time you apply to college in a few years, your perspective might change completely.
Let’s talk about cost. U of Michigan is quite expensive for OOS students. It’s very unlikely you will get sufficient scholarships to fund your costs there. The school gives mostly need based aid, and does not meet full need for OOS students. Plus it sounds like your family isn’t really eligible for need based aid.
You can take the required courses for medical school admissions at just about every four year college in this country, arts conservatories excluded.
I would also suggest you read up on how medical schools are funded. Federally funded loans are now limited to $200,000 per student…and med school will likely cost you $100,000 a year.
Please take the next couple of years to research colleges that have characteristics similar to Michigan. There are some. THE most important school for you to identify first is a sure thing for admission, that you would be happy to attend, that is affordable. Start there. Then build your list up.
Please don’t dismiss your own instate public universities!
Once you have a real junior year GPA, and SAT or ACT, and better defined ECs, folks here will be able to better help you.
What does this mean “or somewhere medical”. As I mentioned above…the required courses for medical school applicants can be taken at just about every four year college in this country.
I am an ambitious student and I am well aware that UMich can cost $800,000. I love challenges and being pushed. I know as a student I will never be satified with myself if I don’t go to a pritigous college. I do want to enter a university with stronger students than I. It means I have room to grow and everywhere will be a learning oppurtiny. Everyone can teach me.
My Math classes is at the end of highschool. I know I’m not ready for Calc now and my school wouldn’t let that pass. I will be taking Calc in my senior and Stats in Junior. Right now I’m just finishing geometry, having skipped pre-Algebra.
I am a desperate bored only child. I will get an scholarships I can find as anything helps. I am hoping to start fundraisers at my school to help me out. I understand that even getting $50,000 will be rough but I am a student who will keep trying.
Even though I am a freshman I believe that looking up to UMich is good for me even if I might not want it in the future. It has pushed me to be a better persona and try harder in my clubs and classes. I will be doing medical, law, and any other shadowing oppurities I can explore this summer. Though my current goal is to try to go into neurology, psychology, and speaking. Hoping to be a keynote speaker one day with my main career something with neurology as behavioral health has always been a passion of mine.
I have always been a straight A student and I’m completive, I always want to be a head of my classes. Mainly I want to go to UMich because of the debate team, fencing/archery options (and more things to explore!), BPA, LGBTQ+, Weather (severe fear of bugs…. I’d rather freeze), pre-med, top ranked university, Research..
Every college you go to will have stronger students than you - so don’t worry. Every flagship in the country likely has students that are Ivy caliber.
Enjoy high school. It’s great to have goals so if that motivates you, then great.
Come back in two years and let us know how you are doing and you can do a chance me then.
Pre-med courses commonly have competitive grading, which can impact your chances of getting the high college GPA that is necessary (but not sufficient) to have a chance of medical school admission.
If you do decide to take the required courses for medical school applicants, you will most definitely find students who are stronger than you think you are.
Please open your mind to many options. And remember, admission to medical school is not guaranteed for regular applicants. Most apply to over 20 medical schools and are happy IF they get one acceptance.
I would strongly suggest you put medical school on the back burner for now, and concentrate on finding an undergrad school where you will be happy and thrive (note…I did not say a prestige school). Happy students tend to do better on college…and you will need to be at the top of your game IF you do end up applying to medical schools.
The strongest graduates from U. Mass Amherst who I have worked with were just as academically strong, and just as smart, and just as successful, as the best graduates from MIT and Stanford who I have known.
One daughter got her bachelor’s degree at a university that is not ranked in the top 100 (it is in the 100-120 range in most rankings) and at one point had a boyfriend who had never had a B in his life. He was definitely “Ivy caliber” but attended a school in the 100-120 range because it was near home, was affordable, is a good school, and he wanted to save $$ for medical school. Today he is a doctor (I am not sure if he has completed his residency yet, but he did get his MD a few years ago). The same daughter, again after attending a university in the 100-120 range, then got a DVM at a highly ranked (“top 5”) program, but more importantly in a program that was a good fit for her (for example it has a very good large animal program, and is in an attractive location). She is also called “doctor” today, but her patients are animals (“big ones and little ones”). Both of them focused on affordability for their bachelor’s degree, and this has payed off in the long run.
And my other daughter is getting a PhD in a very good program, and is studying beside other students who graduated from a very wide range of other colleges and universities. They are ALL very strong students. Some attended “top 100” universities for their bachelor’s degree, some did not (and one attended Harvard, and is a very strong graduate student, but not necessarily any stronger than the other students in the same graduate program).
You can do very well in life with a degree from any one of a very wide range of colleges and universities. You will find some very strong students at any one of a very wide range of colleges and universities.
However, getting someone to loan you $50,000 or $80,000 per year to attend university is just not going to happen. Getting large amounts of financial aid from out of state public universities is very unlikely to happen.
You can get all of this at Michigan, but you can also get all of this at any one of a very, very wide range of other schools, some of which will be way more affordable compared to Michigan as an out of state student.
You are still a freshman in high school. You have a long way to go and will have a lot of opportunities in the future.
One thing that might be worth thinking about: Some of the very highest ranked private universities have very good need based financial aid. If you can manage to get accepted to a school that meets full need, you might have the opportunity to get a very affordable and very good education. This will require very strong grades, and will be helped if you participate in ECs that are right for you. This is again something that you can hope for, but it is way too early to know whether it will turn out to be practical or likely to happen.
At this point being a responsible student and a strong student should be the goal. Everything else will work out over time.
I think OP now realizes he’s a Freshman but in essence is using Michigan as a North Star to guide to - even if his world changes in the next two years.
I can appreciate that - as long as he focuses on learning vs. grades - because we all know it’s a grade inflation world, and many advance too quickly and then struggle or even bomb later (math as an example) because they went too fast and too rigorous for their abilities.
It’s always good to have goals so I think it’s great and i look forward to hearing from OP in two years, after first semester Junior year.
D2 lived in Ann Arbor for 2.5 years after graduation and before she started med school. There are plenty of bugs in AA, especially mosquitos in the summer because there is a river that runs right along the edge of UM’s campus. (Huron River)
Not to be too pendantic–but behavioral health is falls under psychiatry not neurology. Neurology diagnoses and treats organic damage and physical diseases of the brain and nervous system. (Stroke, migraines, epilepsy and seizure disorders, neurodegenerative diseases like myasthenia gravis or muscular dystrophy.) Psychiatry deals with diagnosing and treating mental, emotional and behavioral disorders.
If you’re going to aim–you need to know the correct language for what you’re aiming for.
Actually, I want to amend this. At this point, you should be concentrating on being a high school student, and this includes both academics AND social things like friends and activities.
Sure, start researching colleges (look for ones with characteristics that you want). But don’t lock yourself into thinking that only one college can meet your college academic needs.
And do put medical school on the back burner for now.
You’re out of state for Michigan. Your parents have not paid resident taxes to the State of Michigan, so the school is not obligated to provide ANY financial assistance.
You need a minimum of $80k per year.
Money issues will be addressed first.
Where and what scholarships have you researched?The best scholarships come from the universities themselves and you’re OOS, so you’re grasping at straws wanting a public university to fund you.