ChanceMe as someone trying to do Pre-Med [NJ resident, 3.7 GPA, 1440 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Wondering if I got a chance for bs/md since I’m interested. Wondering ig I can get any advice, or tips on how to strengthen my ECs at this point.

Stats:

  • Gender/Race: Male, South Asian
  • Income/Class: Middle class
  • School: Large public high school in NJ
  • GPA: 3.7 unweighted / 4.36 UW / 5.1 weighted (out of 5.6 scale)
  • SAT: 1440 (Retaking August)
  • Course Load (For senior year):
    • AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Euro, AP Psych
  • Academic Note: Junior year was a bit rough and took a hit on my GPA (had harder classes), but otherwise things have been solid.
    • Freshman: 3.8/4.3 Unweighted/ 5.09/5.6 Weighted
    • Soph: 4.0/5.3
    • Junior 3.5/5.0 (not sure how accurate this is though since my school made a mistake on the transcript)
    • Senior: ???

ECS:

  • Science Olympiad (1 year — junior year only): For Science Olympiad, I participated in various levels of competition during the year I was involved. My team placed 6th at the state-level competition, and individually, I placed around 17th at the Princeton Invitational. Although I only did it for one year, I won’t be continuing it in my senior year.
  • Hospital Summer Program ( This summer): In my Hospital Summer Program, I’m currently volunteering at a local clinic under the supervision of an Internal Medicine physician. I help out with various small tasks, assist with patients, and provide support to doctors and staff. I also do community volunteer work.
  • HOSA (3 years): For HOSA, I’ve been an active member for several years. I’ve volunteered at a number of events, helped organize activities, and participated in fundraising efforts for organizations like the American Heart Association. I also competed in one of the events, but didn’t place.
  • National Honor Society (2 years) and Social Studies Honor Society (1 year): Just honor societies, pretty explainable.
  • MSA (4 years): Finally, I’ve been involved in MSA (Muslim Student Association) throughout high school. I regularly helped with setting up events, managing supplies, and organizing fundraising drives for local food pantries. Food pantries are open to anyone no matter their faith.
  • Last summer, I helped organize a STEM education program for my local religious community. Over the summer, I taught basic science and math concepts to younger students, which was a great way to give back and share my interest in STEM with others. The program still continues, but I don’t lead it currently.

Awards and Leadership:

  • None, unfortunately, there’s hella nepotism, but it is what it is.
  • No Awards other than AP awards, unfortunately.

Colleges: Colleges: Rutgers, Penn State, Hofstra University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Brown, Rice, Boston, and NJIT BS/MD, or any other BS/MD or BS/DO programs. I am open to more

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BS MD and BS DO programs should be viewed as reaches. Boston which one… (although both Boston College and Boston University are reaches), in my opinion. So are Brown and Rice.

If affordable, Hofstra, RPI and Penn State (not if they are BS MD programs) seem probable to me.

Is Rutgers your sure thing for admission? I would suggest you also look at Rowan, TCNJ as well.

And consider going the regular medical school application process.

You should look at the LECOM BS DO program. It requires that you apply to and get accepted to one of their partner schools. @momsearcheng can elaborate. There are a number of fine undergrad partner schools.

And finally…remember that you can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about every four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded).

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Damn I might be confused, but do you think I don’t have a good shot for Rutgers? I do understand that BS/MD or BS/DO might be reaches for me, but idk if I should apply if that’s the case

4

Are you applying as a regular university student at Rutgers?

My opinion is…all BS MD programs should be viewed as reaches. @WayOutWestMom can clarify if I’m correct.

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I see Rutgers as a target school for regular admissions. For BS/MD it is a reach.

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Nah I was thinking as a regular student at Rutgers. I thought I could count it as a safety since most people in my school consider it as one

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Oh also I forgot to add I’m starting to work as a Pharmacy Tech soon, but idk if it changes much. If you guys need any add information to make a decision pls lmk

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So let’s separate a few things.

  1. Pre med is not a major. It’s an intention, an advising program. For some schools major matters - so do you plan to do English or Chemistry or Business. You can be pre med from anything.

  2. Your GPA is a bit low for top schools and your trend is downward.

  3. Do you have a budget? Some of your schools are approaching $100K - and then med school is another $400K. You always need a budget before you start any search…if the budget is unlimited, then you’re ok with any school. If there’s a limit, then you need to factor that in vs. picking pricey schools with no merit most likely such as Penn State (unless it’s a high budget).

I don’t see math on your schedule. What’s the highest math you’ve taken? What is the highest you will take? Same with science - besides AP Bio, what have you taken?

Assuming your STEM rigor is top notch, here’s my guesses:

Rutgers - likely (like 60/40). Penn State - yes. Hofstra - Safety RPI - likely if you are full pay (minus merit)…target if not.

Regarding Rutgers as a safety, well for Arts & Sciences (assuming your school), the SAT range 25/75 is 1350 to 1510. GPA is 3.8 - 4.2 but that’s weighted so a bit hard to analyze. I like your odds - I’ll say that. But would I bet my house on you getting in - no.

Brown, Rice, BU and BS/MD - no chance. Perhaps BU if apply early decision but I don’t really think so.

For med school, find the place you can excel. Not the top place. Doctors come from all sorts of schools - lesser known state schools, unknown privates, and more.

Best of luck to you.

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Thank you for responding.

  1. Yeah I know pre-med isn’t a major I was planning in majoring in biology or biomedical engineering (still don’t know.
  2. Yeah I know my GPA has a downwards trend, but that’s because I had a lot harder classes.
  3. Budget not really, but I’m middle class (160 k with both parents), so I’ll prob go for a cheaper option. Also I do take math but its not AP its Calc-H (this senior year). Also I do take sciences like I took AP Physics 1 in junior year. Also had chemistry but couldn’t choose it since I’m taking bio.
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What classes did you take?

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So you need a budget.

Your parents making $160K - can they afford $56K for tuition, room and board this year? Likely not. So I’d lose a Penn State and a Delaware will be cheaper and a WVU will be much cheaper. URI too. And of course TCNJ, Ramapo, Rowen, etc. But you need an actual #.

Those are the kind of decisions you make where you won’t lose anything but you will save money.

So your majors - bio is tough - historically not good career outcomes. Doesn’t mean you can’t but on an overall basis not good. Others say engineering and pre-med don’t mix because it’s your GPA that matters - and engineering is tough. Just something to think about. Biomedical is one of the disciplines with the lowest salaries and tough outcomes…just something to think about if med school doesn’t work out - and statistically it won’t.

If you do try biomedical engineering, look at the ABET site to choose a school that is accredited in the major.

There’s 180.

Low cost options might include UAB, U Hartford (assuming big merit), Delaware, Kansas State, Louisville, Maine, Mississippi State (low 20s), Ole Miss, TCNJ and Rutgers, SUNY BUff, Hostra, West Chester PA, URI, and Marshall in WV.

As for a school like Brown - can I afford it. You’re not getting in but each school has what’s called a Net Price Calculator. You’ll find it on the school’s financial aid page or google Brown + NPC

Have your folks fill it out. For privates (not publics), you’ll find out what kind of support you might get. Hofstra, I believe, also predicts merit aid on their NPC.

With $160K in earnings and schools down South paying you to come - not saying to go - but when you have $100K+ a year in med school, it’s something to think about - as many NE kids do. But with Rutgers, TCNJ, and W Chester all going to be low cost nearby, you have that angle covered too.

Good luck.

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AP World, AP Physics 1, AP Lang, Pre Calc H- (infamous for being one of the hardest classes in our school)

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Ty, and yeah Ik I have to be realistic if I’m look at selective schools. Regarding the major situation, what would be some good ones. I’m open to any suggestions because I don’t really have a strong interest in anything (I just want to take my prerequisites). I’ll prob stay in NJ, and just try to save money I guess.

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Did you have a plan in place such as extra help, etc? The reason I ask is because you will be taking organic chemistry, and this is the class many students consider to be a “weed out” class. If it is hard for you- you will need to stay on top of it, go to office hours etc.

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Im confused by your question. Are you asking if I tried to something extra since Pre-calc was hard for me?

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Perhaps you’ll explore…and find something you like.

Good majors are the ones that you’d like to do or learn about. Could be a science, a humanity, a profession (like accounting), engineering (very math heavy though), nutrition, archaelogy - I don’t know you.

You don’t have interests so take a variety of classes and hopefully one will pop.

At 17, you don’t need to know what you want next year!!

You can go OOS for cheaper than NJ - that’s my point. But NJ is great too. I’m sure Hofstra will have a great cost - fill out the NPC. Schools like Drew or Seton Hall might too.

I’m not saying you need to go the lowest cost.

I’m saying you need to talk to your folks about what they are able and more importantly willing to spend - and factor in $400K+ for med school.

You need to attend, not necessarily the cheapest, but an affordable school that will allow them to continue their lifestyle and one that sets you up for grad school.

Hence you need a budget - maybe it’s $10K and you have to live at home and go to community college. Maybe it’s $50K? Maybe it’s somewhere in between.

Have that discussion vs. simply guessing.

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Yeah I’ll have that discussion and might repost again. Thank you everyone for all the advice

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I wanted to toss in some general advice. This is technically specific to possible premeds, but it is pretty good college advice in general.

(1) Unless your family is very wealthy, try to save on college costs to the extent reasonably possible. Med school is expensive (as are various other grad and professional programs), and saving during college may make it a lot easier to launch a professional career and actually start building a real life without having to spend many years paying off loans first;

(2) Go somewhere you feel comfortably well-prepared to do very well in your early college classes, the kind that on a premed track might be considered “weeder” classes. I note you don’t necessarily have to go crazy with this idea, but I would definitely think carefully before choosing a college where your academic qualifications/preparation would not put you toward the higher end of their typical enrolled student distribution;

(3) Understand that most people who start premed end up not going to medical school, including because they simply realize there is something else they would rather do, possibly in the health industry or maybe something else entirely. So choose a college where you would have many other options;

(4) And finally, speaking of which, I don’t think you need to worry too much about your major right now. You can basically start taking the prereq classes in combination with whatever else your college curriculum requires for graduation, and see how it goes. If there is anything in particular you both do well in and like, then you can major in whatever that is. Maybe it will be Bio or Chem. But maybe it will be English, or Sociology, or Spanish, or so on. You can major in whatever you like before med school as long as you do the prereqs, and then if you do decide to do something else in general, that could help you decide what else to do.

I note I think a lot of people who follow all that advice end up at one of their in-state public colleges. Which makes sense, they are typically designed to be good for purposes just like this, and they are subsidized for in-state kids. Good deal!

But I also know savvy premed kids who chased merit, and they ended up in a variety of places, including other public research universities which actually have OOS merit, sometimes private research universities, and sometimes various Liberal Arts and Sciences colleges (LACs) (which can be quite nice for premed purposes, and also check the other boxes as long as they are comfortably affordable).

OK, so obviously Rutgers and NJIT seem like good ideas. As for the others, though, I would just think carefully about what you are really trying to achieve. Like, even if admitted, would it help you save on college costs? Help you be as prepared as reasonably possible to do really well in your early classes in light of the other students enrolling at those colleges? Would they have the flexibility you would want in the event you decide to do something else?

I’d suggest keeping that all in mind.

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Moving forward you will be faced with difficult classes. I would devise a plan to deal with this (not saying you did not). This can include tutoring, extra help, office hours etc.

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Yeah, I’m starting to realized that I want to focus on costs being low, but also having a backup plan. Regarding the major situation, I’m just stressing about if I decide not to do med school route, what can be my backup plan and whether or not the major I eventually select will help me get there. Regarding schools I’m probably staying in state to maximize savings. I’ll prob remove all my OOS schools (like ivys and other unis) from my college list

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