Could y'all kindly chance a nervous rising senior? [NV resident, 4.00 GPA, 35 ACT, 1560 SAT, likely NMSF, biology pre-med]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi everyone! I’m new to this forum and found it interesting! So I decided to list in my CV and see what chances I have for where and why and how. I trust your judgement and opinions, please be brutally honest. Thanks and have a nice day!

Demographics

  • Gender: female
  • Income Bracket: Above 250K
  • Type of School: any university with a great medical program
  • Hooks: I wish lol

Intended Major(s): biology major on a pre-med track (maybe poli-sci minor? time will tell)

Academics

  • SAT: 1560 (790m, 770r)
  • ACT: 35 (36 E, 36 M, 36 R, 33 S, 10 W)
  • PSAT/NMSQT: 1510 (index 226)
  • UW/W GPA: 4.00 UW and 4.95 W (the GPA cap at my school is 4.95)
  • Rank: 1 out of 804 (then again the GPA cap exists in my school so there are like 30 other #1s)
  • Coursework: I’ve taken 11 APs so far and have 5 more to go for my senior year. I am also taking dual enrollment psych next year. This is a list of the APs I plan on completing by the time I graduate:
    • AP Human Geo - 5
    • AP CSP - 5
    • AP Bio - 5
    • AP Calc AB - 5
    • AP Seminar - 4
    • AP World - 5
    • AP Calc BC (confident in 5, hopefully!)
    • AP Chem (expecting 4, hopefully 5!)
    • AP Research (expecting 4/5!)
    • AP Lang (hoping for at least a 4)
    • APUSH (confident in 5, hopefully!)
    • AP Spanish
    • AP Gov
    • AP Lit
    • AP Stats
    • AP Physics 1

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  1. Free Educational Local Nonprofit: Founded a weekend tutoring club at a local mosque to provide homework help to immigrant and low-income community youth. We have about 40 students at the moment and expect more.
  2. Medical Intern: Recently got accepted into one of the largest hospital systems in my state as an intern; I’ll start next week and work in labs and surgery centers, to name a few. I’ve done some work assisting physician assistants (such as entering in patient data) in the hospital prior to this.
  3. Research Assistant and Published Author: Part of a team for a project to develop a new diagnostic test for liver fibrosis, my job was to aggregate data for 300 patients into spreadsheets and do mathematical analysis. The paper is published in a top 100 medical journal.
  4. Paid Instructor: Have been working as a paid instructor at an after-school tutoring facility for three years now.
  5. American Cancer Society: chapter founder and president at my HS, raised $1000 for cancer awareness, organized donation drives (such as books and art supplies) for youth and adult cancer support groups across my city, have travelled to my state senate with our team to extend support for beneficial legislation in front of state legislators.
  6. Mu Alpha Theta: Have been chapter historian, VP, and now president. I oversee 50 tutors’ service hours and also tutor myself.
  7. Academic Quiz Tournament: There is a state-wide high school trivia competition that hosts about 30 schools. I have been part of my team for three years now, captain for two. I am the youngest captain in my school’s history (sophomore). Also, in the three years that I have been in the team, we have had a consecutive State Championship streak for that amount of time. This would work really well in my favor considering that we haven’t seen success like this in a while (previously there was this one magnet school that would constantly dominate our school’s team, now we’re doing far better!). I’ve also done promotional content for the TV channel that supports this tournament, such as public speaking and coaching. There is a scholarship for the best senior to participate in this program, I hope I can get it!
  8. National Science Bowl: Been a member for two years, captain for 1 year. We’ve won 5th and 4th place so far, amounting to $1500 won for our science department.
  9. Aside from these, I’m a general member in FMP/HOSA and NHS. Our HOSA doesn’t actually participate in HOSA, though. Long story. I’ve also done a month-long SAT bootcamp.

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

Honestly these aren’t top-tier but here we go:

  • Quiz Tournament - State Champions 3x, All Stars 2x
  • Science Bowl.- 5th and 4th place
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • Science Olympiad 3rd place in state (Anatomy)
  • Local writing contest 3rd place
  • National Merit (confident and hopeful!)
  • Quiz Tournament Scholarship (confident and hopeful!)
  • I’m also working on apps to numerous scholarships and awards at the moment!

LOR: AP English Teacher (9/10) - very strong/personal

AP Bio Teacher (9.5/10) - very strong/personal

AP Calculus Teacher (9/10) - very strong/personal

A bunch of my other AP teachers have promised me rec letters as well, and I’d say that they are solid because I tend to talk a lot in class and strive to do well. But these are just a few!

chance me for:

  1. UNLV
  2. UNR
  3. UCLA
  4. UCSD
  5. UMKC
  6. U of Arkansas
  7. Stanford
  8. Cornell
  9. Brown
  10. Johns Hopkins
  11. Rice
  12. Duke
  13. Vanderbilt
  14. Emory

Also if I could get some advice on what to do next. Thanks everyone!

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Are you applying to any of the accelerated BS/MD programs? I’m guessing yes because I see UMKC there -but you need to mark that specifically. Because UMKC undergrad vs UMKC BS/MD are vastly different chances of admission.

I’d look at ALL of the accelerated BS/MD programs since that seems to be your clear goal.

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Where do you live, i.e. what is instate for you?

Have you developed a budget with your parents?

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Your background is very impressive. You are a legit contender for some of the highly selective schools on your list.

Now, here comes the hedging. Most legit contenders still don’t get into the most selective universities. I think you will get into a couple, but I could be wrong. It is a black box…a mystery managed by people you will never know with biases & preferences that will never be made clear to you.

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And if your undergraduate is less expensive than the parent contribution, would the remainder be available for medical or other professional school after?

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What does this mean ?

Almost any fully accredited school should suffice for a pre-med major/focus.

Assuming that you are a resident of Nevada, can you/your family afford your non-Nevada target schools ?

How will you pay for medical school ?

If you will graduate from a Nevada high school, you should be in contention for the UN-Reno BS/MD program IF this program is accepting new students. Otherwise, I do not understand why you are applying to UNR.

Check out Baylor University/Baylor Medical School program and the University of Pittsburgh BS/MD program.

OP asked for advice on what to do next?

Talk with parents about financial means for both college and medical school.

Consider applying to universities which offer merit scholarships for strong numbers (GPA & SAT/ACT).

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I assumed California!

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You have nothing to be “nervous” about. Enjoy your senior year and the process. You can’t force this outcome. Have fun with your friends and family. It goes by in a blink.

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Congratulations on the strong profile you’ve developed in high school. You’re a strong candidate for any school in the country, but a number of the schools on your list are low probability schools for even the strongest of candidates. As you have not indicated that you’re looking at BS/MD programs, I have chanced you for regular college admissions only.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • UNLV
  • UNR
  • UMKC
  • U. of Arkansas

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • UCLA
  • Stanford
  • Cornell
  • Brown
  • Johns Hopkins
  • Rice
  • Duke
  • Vanderbilt
  • Emory

UCSD…I will defer to @Gumbymom

A few things to note:

I don’t know of any school that asks for three teacher recommendations. Generally, the most is two (one STEM and one humanities), so you can probably choose one between Bio and Calculus. Since you gave Bio a 9.5 and calculus a 9, sounds like Bio might be the better one to keep.

Has your family run the Net Price Calculator for the private schools on your list? If not, they should do so to see if they are willing and able to afford them. Stanford, Cornell, and Brown don’t offer any merit aid so if the NPC is not affordable, the school will not be affordable. The other low probability schools do offer merit aid, but only to a very small number of students, so if enrolling in one of them is dependent on receiving merit aid, realize that makes them even reachier reaches.

I am slightly concerned that the schools I classified as extremely likely admits have very little similarities to the schools in the low probability bucket. If your only admissions are the ones in the extremely likely bucket, would you happily enroll and attend for four years? If not, I’d suggest finding some different schools that 1) are extremely likely to admit you, 2) be extremely likely to be affordable for your family without loans, and 3) that you’d be happy to attend for four years.

If you’d like assistance in finding some extremely likely admits that are more like your low probability schools, please let us know what it is about these particular schools that you find attractive.

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Okay, I didn’t wait for you to respond. In looking at your low probability list, it appears as though you have a preference for medium to medium-large schools, usually in an urban location or in a college town, often with a reputation for healthcare. Based off those criteria, here are some additional schools that you may want to consider, sorted by my guesses as to your chances for admission.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Creighton (NE): About 4300 undergrads

  • Duquesne (PA ): About 5200 undergrads…and students can cross register with other Pittsburgh colleges like Pitt and CMU

  • Ithaca (NY): About 4400 undergrads…and students can cross-register at Cornell

  • Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads

  • Mercer (GA): About 4800 undergrads

  • Saint Louis (MO): About 11k undergrads

  • U. of Alabama – Birmingham: About 12k undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • George Washington (D.C.): About 11k undergrads…and students can cross-register with other D.C. colleges like Georgetown and Howard. You must show demonstrated interest if you’re interested in an admit.

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Case Western (OH): About 6200 undergrads. You must show demonstrated interest if you’re interested in an admit.

Low Probability (less than 20%)

If you ARE desirous of additional suggestions for likelier admits, let us know more about what you want (and if anyone’s suggestions are appealing or repelling, and why), as that would help us to suggest schools that would be a better fit for you.

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You can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about every four year college in this country, arts conservatories excluded.

Could you clarify if any of the colleges on your list are for BS/MD programs? If they are, they should be moved to the reach category as acceptances to these programs are highly competitive.

It sounds like your family can afford to send you to undergrad school. And that’s good.

I’d put medical school on the back burner for now and concentrate on finding an undergrad that you really like, where you can see yourself happy for four years…that is affordable. Medical school applications come later (unless you are doing BS MD applications…so please clarify that).

You are a strong applicant and that’s great.

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“Premed” is the first thing that jumps out here. There are at least three things that come to mind when a student is going off to university thinking “premed”.

The first may be that there are a very, very large number of universities that are very good for premed students. Your in-state public university or universities are almost certainly included on this list. If you look at the students currently studying in very good MD programs and DO programs, you will find that they come from a huge range of different undergraduate universities.

The second thing that comes to mind is that medical school is insanely expensive. Getting an MD requires 8 years of university, and in the US 8 years of university are expensive. It is generally easier to save money on the first four years (your bachelor’s degree) rather than the last four years (the MD or DO). This does bring up the issue (also mentioned above) regarding whether any money that you save for your bachelor’s degree can be put towards the cost of medical school.

The third thing that comes to mind is that of all the students who start university thinking “premed”, most end up doing something else. Some cannot keep up the medical-school-worthy GPA in tough premed classes. However, just as many decide that they want to do something else. Some forms of “something else” are medical-related (eg, one daughter is currently getting a PhD in a biomedical field), and some are not. There are lots and lots of forms of “something else” to choose from.

If your parents are earning something north of $250,000 per year then need-based aid seems unlikely. However, even for parents earning this much the cost of 8 years of university can be tough, and even for doctors the cost of paying off medical school debt can be tough. Debt would best be avoided or at least minimized as much as is reasonably possible.

I am assuming that you mean any university with a great premed program. There are hundreds of universities and colleges that fit this description.

I doubt that there is much point in getting a minor in political science. You can take elective classes in pretty much anything that you want, including political science. My understanding is that political science is mostly useful for people considering law school as a possible future path. However, you can major in almost anything and go on to law school. I happen to know quite a few lawyers, and most of them have bachelor’s degrees in engineering, computer science, or math. However, this is mostly because of the type of lawyer that I know (they mostly work on legal issues that are related to engineering or computer science). There are of course legal issues related to a wide range of other things, including medicine and biology (someone has to for example write those medical-related patents).

The ability to speak more than one language is useful for pretty much anyone who is going into a medical-related field with direct customer contact.

Regarding your list of universities: I would keep cost pretty high on your list of criteria. If you are in-state in California, then there are lots of excellent public universities there. However, if you are out of state in California, then the various universities of California are going to be very expensive and are probably not worth the cost. If you do not qualify for need based financial aid, then private schools such as Stanford and Johns Hopkins and Cornell and Brown are going to be expensive. I personally got a master’s degree from Stanford and loved it, but I am not sure that I would pay full cost for four years for a bachelor’s degree there.

This is a very important question.

And this is another very important question. However, I think that the budget should include a full 8 years.

I like your list of ECs. Your stats are excellent.

Getting an MD is a long and demanding path. One daughter got her DVM just in the past two weeks. While this is not quite the same path, it is similar. The required undergraduate classes are the same and she knew quite a few premed students from her undergraduate classes. The eight years of university is similar, although she does not face an additional 3 or more years of residency. I have said that determination and a drive to do it might be the most important skill that has gotten her through this difficult 8 year path. Your high school stats are actually a bit better than hers were, which suggests that if you have the same high level of drive and determination then you should be able to succeed also, but you need to want to do it and be driven to do it.

And other than me, everyone in my immediate family either has a graduate degree in a medical-related field, or is currently getting one. All of them have reported that the other students in their program came from a huge range of undergraduate universities. Two doctors I know have said the same thing.

The last thing that is worth mentioning is that the main point of your excellent results and hard work in high school is NOT which university you get to attend for your bachelor’s degree. Rather, the main point is that all of this hard work has helped you to get ready to do well in tough premed classes. Even if you attend a university ranked for example somewhere in the 100 to 150 range, you will find premed classes to be academically demanding and to be full of very strong students. Your hard work and excellent results up to now have prepared you to do well in these tough classes, but you will need to arrive on campus on day 1 ready to work hard and to keep way ahead in your class work.

And I think that you are doing very well up to this point.

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With your achievements to date (grades, rigor and test scores), unless there is something screwy with your LoR’s or your essays, I am more sanguine on your chances.

The only far reach is Stanford, because Stanford is a far reach for everyone other than recruited athletes. But for schools like UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Brown, JH, Rice, Duke, Vandy and Emory, I think you have over a 20% chance, maybe closer to 50/50 for some of them. I think you have a good chance in getting into one or more from this list.

You have too many safeties. If your home state is Nevada, I’d go for UNLV’s Honor College. It looks like you would be an auto admit. If not Nevada, the honor college of your state’s flagship is still probably close to a safety and likely affordable.

I’d narrow down your reaches to maybe 3 to 6, so you can do good customized applications. Maybe choose another 3 to 6 “look a likes” that are a tad less selective. If med school is your goal, I’d choose the school where you will fit the best and have the best chance of a high GPA. Definitely run the NPC’s with your parents. The most selective schools if you can get in are usually the most generous in financial aid.

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Congratulations on being a competitive applicant with an excellent academic record.

For UCLA and UCSD, they are currently test blind so your SAT/ACT score will not be considered for admissions or scholarship consideration, only course placement. They also do not participate in the National Merit Scholarship program and do not accept LOR’s.

That said, here is some 2024 Freshman admission data for Biology majors. Please note that if you are not a California resident, the UC’s offer little to no financial aid so although your family has a healthy income, the UC’s can cost upwards of $80K/year to attend. If Medical school is your goal, you should budget for 8 years not 4.

The UC’s calculate out 3 UC GPA’s which are the Unweighted, Capped Weighted and Weighed Uncapped. Only AP, IB or DE/CC UC transferable classes are weighted if you are not a CA HS student and they use only 10-11th a-g course grades for the GPA calculation.

Here is the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Also, the UC’s require 1 year of a Visual/Performing arts course so will you meet that requirement?

UCLA focuses on the Unweighted and Weighted Uncapped GPA while UCSD will focus on the Unweighted and Capped weighted GPA. The GPA ranges are the 25th-75th percentile of admitted Freshman.

UCLA: 12% for College of L&S/Capped weighted 4.22-4.32 Uncapped weighted 4.40-4.74. Unweighted 3.95-4.00

UC San Diego: Estimated 33% UC Capped weighted 4.13-4.29. Unweighted 3.84-4.00

Best of luck.

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I’d also note you have a lot of Reachy private research universities, but no Target or Likely privates. As another poster implied, kids I have known in your position have included colleges like Rochester or Case Western on their lists, both for admissions purposes but also because they might offer merit. Which is nice even if you do not strictly need it for college, particularly if you are looking at the possibility of med school.

Another I like to mention sometimes is William & Mary, which is not a private but it very much feels like one in many ways, including size. OOS they are automatically cheaper than full-pay privates, and they also have an Honors scholarship program, the Monroe, which apparently added a $10K/year tuition scholarship for OOS Monroes. So that is a great deal if you can get it.

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Hi! Yes, I’m interested in the BS/MD programs for UMKC and Brown. Sorry, I should have clarified.

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Both of these programs should be considered very high reaches. In my opinion, they are THE most competitive options in the colleges you listed in your OP.

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Thank you! I would really love to get into a BS/MD program, particularly from UMKC or Brown. I should have clarified.

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Oh, I didn’t realize that I have too many safeties! Am I just underestimating myself or paranoid?
Also, yes I should have clarified that my back-up back-up plan is UNLV honors.
Thank you!

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Interesting! I thought that UMKC and U of Arkansas were matches for me. (I used BigFuture to create my college list). But I’ll have to edit that. Thank you!