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

Chance Me / Match Me
181

Have only been skimming this thread, so apologies if this has been said earlier/better by others.

OP, you have a current stated goal of attending medical school. Medical school cares greatly about undergraduate GPA and especially the GPA in pre-med required classes, many of which are very challenging science classes. They care much, much less about prestige of the undergraduate college and from what I have learned, will not say to themselves " oh, this med school applicant got a B in organic chemistry from Harvard, so he/she is a better candidate than this medical school applicant who got an A in organic chemistry from Rutgers/TCNJ/any LAC that you (the OP) donā€™t want to go to". From what I have learned, it is the opposite. They will take the A over the B, regardless of the prestige of the undergraduate college (@WayOutWestMom , I am happy to be corrected).

If this is true, and I believe it is, then you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice by targeting your QB options only/mainly on the most highly-rejective colleges ā€“ colleges that reject tons of 4.0 kids from very rigorous schools who have a track record of excellent grades/mastery in their science classes. I am concerned that if you do get into and decide to attend one of these schools, you will not be able to compete against the kids who also got in but who have a much stronger mastery of these subjects (and perhaps study skills) in the very classes that you need to do extremely well in to meet your current long-term goal.

If you really want to go to medical school, the common advice given to many in other threads is to find a college where you will be at the top of the heap in your college classes, especially in your pre-med classes. Right now, with the information you have provided, that sounds like one of the colleges that you currently donā€™t want to go to ā€“ whether one of the less prestigious QB LACs (and honestly even those may have the same problems in this regard as Harvard, etc) or a non-prestigious college.

On the other hand, a huge number of kids who want to go to medical school when they are 17 or 18 get to college and change their mind and lose interest in medical school ā€“ often when they learn more about a) what it takes to go to medical school, including how very challenging Organic Chemistry is for many students or b) how many other interesting options there are out there for studies/careers. That may very well be you, regardless of your current mindset. And in that regard, what I posted above would likely not be relevant.

Hoping this is helpful as you consider your next options.

Wishing you the best, and hoping you succeed in whatever you choose as your future path.

8 Likes
182

On this subject - I donā€™t know exactly how widespread this is because my elder kid was not a STEM major, but I believe a number of these classes are graded on a curve - which makes the ā€œcompete againstā€ a very real thing. Happy to be corrected on this if my understanding is wrong.

5 Likes
183

Itā€™s quite common for STEM classes to be graded on a curve, with colleges limiting the number/percentage of As in a class.

You always want to be the smartest person in the class, regardless of where that class is. An A from your state U is better than a B- from ā€œbrand nameā€ U.

And @MMRose is correct, medical schools care little about the ā€œbrand nameā€ (prestige) of the undergrad you attend. You will not get any special attention just because you graduated from Cornell or Columbia or Chicago. You will not get any ā€œbonus pointsā€ added to your GPA because you graduated from a prestige college (or from one that allegedly has grade deflation, or with a major that is allegedly hard like physics or engineering.)

Med school application reviewers are often ā€œblindedā€ to your undergrad when they review your application. IOW, they donā€™t know where you went to undergrad. Just like they donā€™t know your gender or race/ethnic background.

If you want to see what adcomms value in applicants, look at p. 38 of this report:

https://www.aamc.org/media/77326/download

It reports the results of national survey of actual adcomms and how they value different factors in applicants. Selectivity of undergrad is of the lowest importance.

4 Likes
184

And ā€“ isnā€™t it true that a large percentage of med school applicants donā€™t get any acceptances, and very few get more than one?

Would you be able to provide those stats for the OP? I recall that youā€™ve listed them in the past for other threads.

1 Like
185

Only about 40% of med school applicants get any acceptances at all.

The vast majority of applicants get only ONE acceptance.

The document linked above also has a grid of acceptance rates by GPA and MCAT score. (p. 31)

And even more interesting is a national research study of 110 major US universities that showed that only about 18% of freshmen pre-meds even finish all the required pre-reqs.

So the rate of college students falling off the pre-med path is huge.

Most do not fall off because of academic issues. Most quit because they found a career that better suits their interests and personalities, or they decide they are unwilling to postpone starting their adult lives and careers until they are in their mid-30s. (Which is when most young physicians finish their residency training and get their first actual job. Before then, the medical establishment absolutely owns you. You go where they tell you when they tell you and when they tell you to jump, your only question is how high. Graduating med students donā€™t even get to choose where they do their residency training. It is assigned by a computer program. You either go or thatā€™s the end of your medical career.)

4 Likes
186

Thanks! Iā€™m sure this will be useful to the OP.

187

Hi everyone, I had a question and wanted to ask for your insight. My momā€™s income is less than $65,000, but she does own 1/2 of a duplex that is fully paid off (no mortgage). Our family originally pooled all of our funds together to buy it two years ago for about $325,000 after I moved to NJ from Chicago to assist my grandmother with cancer, and now Zillow says itā€™s worth around $481,000. Will this hurt my QuestBridge application, since Iā€™ve learned that assets are considered along with income? And if it might, what would be the best way to pivot and still aim for a full ride, for example, focusing on schools that guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need, or applying through other scholarships?

Thank you so much for any advice!

188

deleted based on new information received from OP

1 Like
189

If my mom sells the 1/2 of that duplex, we will be homeless. We are living in that 1/2 of that duplex. It is the only real estate property my mom owns.

190

Ok. Then thatā€™s not investment real estate, itā€™s your primary home. So that changes things because you wonā€™t report that on FAFSA, so likely still will qualify for some Pell grant.

You need to run the NPCs at all the schools on your list. Do a couple and let us know what they say. Some schools will hit home equity, some wonā€™t. You might target your QB list to the schools that wonā€™t. Schools that consider home equity will ask that question in the NPC. For those schools, run the NPC with and without the home equity to see the impact on your estimated COA. Because your mom only owns 1/2 the duplex, only put in 1/2 of the estimated value.

2 Likes
191

Full ride scholarships are extremely rare. (Full ride = tuition, fees. housing, meals)

Do you mean full tuition?

192

Does your family own both halves of the duplex or just the one unit your family lives in?

If they own the entire building, who lives in the other half? Do they pay rent?

193

Will do that this afternoon

1 Like
194

Just the one unit my family lives in, 1/2

195

Here is the most recent financial document for questbridge, so you know what they will ask you on the application. Iā€™m not sure this is for this year, or the one for Fall 2026 matriculants is yet to come and will say 2026 income and assets guide.

Note that like many CSS profile schools, QB will require an NCP waiver.

196

Fafsa does not require a NCP waiver though, correct?

197

Correct. FAFSA will just use you and your momā€™s income and assets (not counting the duplex you own and live in.)

198

But she can borrow against the home to raise money for schoolā€¦

So itā€™s still an asset - for those schools that count home equity.

This is a 3rd party list so you have to validate each school - but it might be a guide.

I think and others can correct me if wrong - you might still qualify for need based aid but I think the better approach might be to apply to those schools directly vs. through QB which is meant for students who have less than you have.

Also, QB helps with the need aware portion. Schools may turn you down if they deem your need too high whereas on QB they wonā€™t. The reason a school may turn down a high ā€œneederā€ is because they have a budget and need that budget to las amongst many people. So if a school has 1 million dollars and they give $50K to 20 peopleā€¦or they can give $20K to 50 people.

Thatā€™s a bit simplified - but some schools prefer not to spend the budget on few.

CMM-Home-Equity-used-by-CSS-Profile-College-2021.pdf

199

Thatā€™s going to be a mess, having to run through the NCP waiver for 15+ schools INDIVIDUALLY and QB

200

So I shouldnā€™t apply to Ivys through QB?