Chance me please; Low GPA Asian in NJ striving for T20 [3.7 GPA (top 10%), 1550 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hey everyone! Would love your thoughts on my chances at Ivies / T20s. Stats feel weak, but maybe hooks & ECs help?

Demographics:

Indian male
Muslim
Low income, single parent household

NJ public school, Public & International Affairs/Arts/History PRE MED

Stats:

SAT: 1550 (770 EBRW / 780 Math)

GPA: 3.7 UW, 4.3 W — Top 10%

Upward trend: got a C + few Bs freshman/sophomore due to family responsibilities (helped grandma w/ cancer). Junior year mostly As, senior courseload strong.

Coursework:
APUSH, AP World, AP Gov, AP Lang, AP Bio, AP Research, AP Macro, AP Physics, AP Calc

ECs:

Founded nonprofit bringing mobile medical vans to Native reservations

Gave tip and contributed to investigative piece published in major outlet (on systemic failures in public schools exposing lack of care of child neglect)

Congressional internship

Internship @ Stanford Medical School (published)

EMT Cadet

Camp counselor for kids (paid)

Class President

Varsity tennis

Hospital volunteer

Helped care for grandmother w/ cancer

Founded Muslim Student Association, also active in mosque youth programs

Awards:

YoungArts Finalist

Scholastic Gold Medal

Princeton Prize in Race Relations

GMC All-Academic All-County Athlete

Presidential Volunteer Service Award (Gold)

Schools aiming for:

Princeton (top choice)

Harvard / Yale / Columbia / Penn / Brown / Cornell / UChicago / Northwestern

Rutgers BA/MD, Penn State BS/MD

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Would really appreciate some insight :))

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Have you had your parent run the net price calculator on Princeton’s website to see how much financial aid you qualify for?
What is your family’s budget?

And what is the hook you alluded to? I didn’t see you mention what it was.

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There is bad news and good news. The good news might be more important.

The bad news is that your reaches are unlikely with a 3.7 unweighted GPA and top 10% ranking. Any BA/MD or BS/MD program is unlikely with a 3.7 unweighted GPA. You can apply, but do not count on getting accepted. You need to also apply to safeties.

However, having some medical/hospital experience might help with admissions to BA/MD or BS/MD programs. This can be difficult to predict. Your internship at Stanford also sounds interesting.

Some good news is that other than some high reach schools, and combined Bx/MD programs, a 3.7 GPA is quite good, your SAT is excellent, and there are a very large number of universities that are very good for premed students. Also, after you complete your bachelor’s degree and are applying to MD or DO programs, your high school grades, specifically including your high school freshman and sophomore years, will not matter at all. The specific university where you get your bachelor’s degree will not matter much. How you did as an undergraduate student will matter a lot more.

Highly ranked universities such as Princeton and Harvard get a higher percentage of their undergraduate students into MD programs. However a LOT of this (and some might speculate maybe even all of this) comes from the consistent quality of the students who start as incoming freshmen at Harvard and Princeton and other highly ranked universities. There will however be quite a few similarly strong students at Rutgers, and Seton Hall, and a wide range of other very good universities. There will also be excellent professors and a wide range of opportunities at a wide range of universities. If you look at the students at highly ranked medical schools, you will find that they came from a huge range of undergraduate schools (one MD I know said “all over the place”).

So, your first task is to find one and preferably two solid safeties. These are schools that you know you will be accepted to, and know that you can afford to attend.

And you need to pay attention to your budget. Look for schools that are likely to be affordable. The suggestion above that you run the NPC for Princeton (or have a parent do this) is a good one, although I do not know what impact having a single parent will have on financial aid (some schools seem to care about the income of the non-custodial parent, some do not, and this is an issue that I do not know much about).

The other thing that comes to mind is that the large majority of students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. There is a wide range of “something else” that is possible. Some options are biomedical-related, some are not. However, you have lots of time to figure this out.

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Yes, my mom has run the net price calculator and she is expected to contribute a total of $0. My hook is being low income, Questbridge scholar, and living with a single parent.

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Thank you for your advice. Am I completely cooked for T20s based on my ECs and Awards, as well as SAT? Additionally, since there’s no Pre Med major I plan on going in studying public affairs/public health/arts and then applying to Medical School

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Not necessarily. I do not think that we can know for sure. Your SAT is really very good. Your uptrend might help (it will help in general, but whether it is enough for top 20 schools we don’t know). You might want to see if your guidance counselor can write about the family responsibilities that you had freshman and sophomore year.

When you do get into premed classes, plan to work very hard in your class work and put in a strong consistent effort. This is not easy for anyone.

Yes, you can major in anything and be premed. Many premed students major in biology since there is an overlap in required classes. However you do not need to. A while back I found a video on-line from someone who majored in art, went to medical school, and became a surgeon specializing in robot-assisted surgery. In the video he painted a very small picture of the hospital where he works, using a robot-assisted surgery system to do the painting. It seems like manual dexterity is a common requirement.

Given how many premed students end up doing something else, it is a common choice also to major in something related to what that “something else” might be.

One reason to apply to Princeton and Harvard is that if you do get in, they have very good need based financial aid. However, these are high reaches, and you definitely also need to apply to solid safeties.

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If your custodial parent is widowed, then Princeton will use finances of that parent only. However, if divorced or separated and the other parent is still alive, then Princeton will generally require both parents’ finances for financial aid calculations.

Most other highly selective private schools have similar policies (Chicago and usually Vanderbilt may be exceptions).

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If you are a Questbridge Scholar, you’ll have lots of great chances - there’s only great schools on the list.

Why must it be Ivy?

What type of research did you do with Stanford that got you published? That’s a big thing - but you may need to show it. You also say congressional internship and founding a non profit.

If you have no money, why are you going for Penn State BS/MD?

Where you go undergrad likely matters little for med school. I was a patient at Vandy and looked at Radiation residents at Duke, Vandy, Hopkins - they come from schools like SE Louisiana and Arkansas and U of Puerto Rico and Hope College - and some good ones.

Given your need profile, you need free - as otherwise you have 8 years of school - and Penn State is likely not cutting you a break.

So anywhere you get in on QB - from Ivy -but use all your slots - is a home run.

Even at Rutgers, you’ll have Room & Board.

So in my mind, you might get into a school you list - but you might have a better shot at a Denison or Holy Cross or Grinnell or Richmond.

Apply widely.

The goal is to get an education - and this would be a free education.

I can’t say you won’t get into your list of schools but acceptance rates are in single digits and your GPA is low.

Good luck.

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Hi, thank you for your reply. I have no contact whatsoever or any rememberance of my non-custodial parent and will be applying for a waiver. My schools health department has the record of all court documents that stipulate that my non custodial parent is to have no contact whatsoever with my HS.

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I plan on having Rutgers and Penn State be my safety schools

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At Stanford, I did research with a Professor on nicotine chemicals in vapes such as ElfBar. At my Nonprofit, I coordinated mobile medical clinic vans owned by charities to assist Native reservations in my region through providing healthcare services. Congressional internship speaks for itself.

As for why Ivy, they are all very wealthy private colleges located within important research universities. And that can have some concrete advantages, most importantly that I’d be having a full ride. Additionally, dedicated recruiting and networks. For example, it is much more difficult to intern at Goldman Sachs without coming from a “target” like Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, etc.

For Penn State, I’m really into their BS/MD Program and research facilities, but if I don’t get heavy financial assistance/full ride I can’t accept. Just trying to apply widely like you advised me to.

As for Rutgers, its 15 minutes away from me and I would commute.

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How will you afford - for example - Penn State. It’s over $56K for tuition, room and board - you’re not going to get a big discount.

Rutgers has a plan for low income - or if you need low cost, you need to go to places you won’t want - but like Alabama where you’d get $28K off $50.5K…so $22.5K. Or smaller UAH or Mississippi State or Ole MIss. Or W Carolina or Central Michigan would be low cost - $20K-ish.

Or find a second NJ school like TCNJ or Ramapo.

But if you’re a QB person - really that should be the focus of your list.

Forget BS MD and find something affordable.

What can you afford? Maybe you think the Ivies are richer - but if you get turned down, that doesn’t help you.

So what is your budget - the safety school is the most important on your list. At Rutgers, you still have room and board, etc.

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Wont have to pay room and board at Rutgers as I live 15 minutes away, but would still have to pay regular tuition. Although, it is not a Questbridge school so I can forget about that because a full ride would be a home run like you said. For QB, I was thinking about Duke/Notre Dame/Northwestern/UChi/UPenn/Yale/Princeton/Harvard/Brown/Columbia/Cornell.

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Even that may be too expensive for a student with low income parents. More affordable would be full rides at Tuskegee, AAMU, and PVAMU.

Do the Rutgers and other NJ public university net price calculators indicate affordability?

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Don’t you get 15 QB slots?

Rutgers would be free tuition - as might other NJ schools - so Penn State makes zero sense. The issue with Rutgers is living at home doesn’t give you the four year experience I’d think you’d want.

There’s lots of meets need schools - it shouldn’t be Ivy or bust. @ucbalumnus put up some where you might qualify for a full ride…Troy in Alabama is another.

Yes, it’s easier to get to Goldman Sachs from some schools than others - but firms like that don’t just have grads from top schools - and anyway, you were looking at med school. And going to a top school doesn’t assure anything.

Bottom line - if you can only afford the Motel 6, you don’t set yourself up having to pay for the Ritze Carlton - shoot your shot through QB but if you only pick the top ranked schools, you might find yourself only at your safety.

AGI Annual Net Cost for Tuition and Eligible Fees*
$0-$65,000 $0
$65,001-$80,000 no more than $3,000
$80,001-$100,000 no more than $5,000
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I get 15 QB Slots but I don’t want to be forced to go to random LAC…

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A top school giving you a free $90K+ education doesn’t see like having a gun forced to your head - but that choice is up to you ultimately.

But would you rather have a 4 year experience at Denison or Holy Cross or Case Western - or live at home and commute to school, not living in the dorms and experiencing what college is about?

Make no mistake - you have incredible ECs but typically they are a consideration. Nothing trumps academics.

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If you find 15 schools that you like (LAC or otherwise), then you can fill up those 15 slots and maximize your chance of Questbridge admission.

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I don’t get the Goldman Sachs reference. You want to go to Med School, right? Your undergrad schools name doesn’t matter for Med School.

The places you’re talking about have microscopic admissions rates for people with even your profile. Lean in on QB and broaden your list at the base, as others have said.

I assume you’re not recruit-level at tennis?

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