Match Me for Pre-Med - Ideally West Coast or Northeast [WA resident, 3.88 UW, 1490 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Live in Washington. Competitive public high school. White. Junior right now.

Probably want to major in chemisty, biology, or maybe chem engineering.

UW GPA: 3.88ish when I apply is my guess. SAT: 1490- 750 reading and 740 math

Coursework: Freshmen year: straight As, took core sophmore classes. Sophmore year: AP Chem, APUSH, all As except for Bs both semesters of precalc and B second semester of AP Chem. Junior year: AP French, AP Gov, AP Physics, AP Calc AB. Probably getting a C in calc 1st semester but a B or A 2nd semester. Math is not my strong suit. I plan on retaking the 1st semester over the summer which will show on my transcript that I took it again with my new grade so my gpa doesn’t tank and hopefully shows I’m working for it. Senior year: probably going to take AP stats, AP bio, AP Psych, AP Lit

Extracurriculars: 2 years red cross club, 2 years unicef club, 4 years fire explorers with local fire department, 4 year track and field, 4 year cross country, 60ish hours volunteering at local nonprofit for kids. (plan on doing some sort of hospital internship next summer before apps as well as a job).

I plan on getting my LORs from a teacher and my fire explorer leader who is a battalion chief. No real constraint on budget but preferably something under 50k a year

Dream Schools: University of Washington, maybe Boston U. I really don’t know whats good for pre med though so any suggestions would be awesome.

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So you have a fine record overall but let’s discuss a few things.

I’m not opposed to retaking Calc but it may be in college. You need to see if you’re even allowed with a C. Beyond that, a college may not like it. But you can always repeat in college.

So if you have interest in engineering and given math is not your strong suit, that might not be your best choice but if you truly have interest, then you need to go to a school that offers ChemE. You can always switch to bio or chem but it’s likely to be very hard the other way. It may not be your best choice for med school but it’s likely you’ll never make med school (that’s just statistically), so it’s a great major for having a great job.

Pre med can be anywhere - it’s really a group of classes. You can major in what you want. And the where doesn’t matter. Doing well does.

So - first question is - what is your budget. Med school is another 4 years - so for example, BU at full pop will be $400K. Then med school another $400K. Where you go undergrad will not matter for med school, provided you do well.

So how much can your family afford to pay each year? Do they qualify for need aid?

I put the BU net price calculator below. They should fill it out.

College is very expensive. It’s nice to have schools in mind, but one needs to realize they cost potentially $100K a year - and many don’t realize.

Let me know - and I’ll come back with some thoughts.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

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For the C, I can retake calc 1st semster over the summer through an online provider. My transcript will say for 1st semester: C - 0 credit and new grade - 1 credit and my gpa will be affected by the new grade. Will seeing a C affect my chances even if they see i retook the semester? I think I would lean towards bio or chem for my major. Parents said they will pay for undergrad as long as tuution is around or under 70,000 and they don’t qualify for aid. I’m sure they would prefer a lower tuition though.

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OK - so BU is out.

But here’s the thing, they’ll pay $60-70K now - but it’s 8 years and the last four years are $400K and you can only borrow $200K - so - you have to plan further out.

U Wash won’t see your SAT. They only use it for a few - so yes, they’ll see your C but that doesn’t mean you won’t get in. What is your unweighted GPA thus far?

Given you are from Washington, you have lots of great options, in addition to UW also WWU and WSU. And then you have WUE options. It seems like you like bigger so I won’t bore you with small schools although a school like Whitman will give you a merit estimate up front but in WUE, you have flagships or large schools like Montana/Montana State, NAU, lots of Cal States like very residential Chico, Colorado State, Idaho/Idaho State, Nevada Reno, New Mexico, Oregon State, Utah and more. They will all crush $60-70K.

In the NE, you can look at schools like UVM, UNH, Umass, URI, UConn and SUNYs such as Stony Brook, Binghamton and Buffalo. LIkely the strongest for Chem would be U Delaware, also affordable. Delaware is the chemical capital.

Why UW may be the desire, where you go won’t impact medical school - and you likely do want to save - so take that into account if you don’t get in.

8 years is a long time - and you don’t want debt.

Don’t worry about your C. Your record is your record - you can’t change it - and if you get in, you’ll never know why. If you don’t , you’ll never know why. The key is - making sure you get in somewhere affordable. The rest is gravy.

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Thank you so much for the suggestions- I will definitely take a look at all of these. I’m not that worried about the C, I figure with the semester retake and a better 2nd semester grade plus doing well on the AP test. My parents are the ones more concerned. My unweighted GPA thus far is a 3.88 and assuming I do the retake it will probably stay around there. I’ve heard University of Washington is a bad choice for premed given it is much harder to keep a high GPA although it seems like a great school for research. Any advice as to prioritizing GPA or research/clinic opportunities?

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I think you need to do your best so - for example, if you are ok in a big bureaucratic school, with large classes in a bustling area, it’s likely great. On the other hand if you might excel with a slower pace or smaller classes, then maybe a mid size or LAC would be better.

Most any school is great for research - that’s a fallacy that research is only at top schools. My kids showed me so many research emails - profs are always looking for people.

Then there are schools that might have pre med supports. Not in your zone but under $25K all in with merit is U of Alabama which has the McCullough Pre Med Scholars.

Va Tech has shadowing opportunities on campus. A previous poster praised Wofford but I forget why - small school. Some schools have healthcare living learning dorms. UW and Gonzaga do

I think you go where you can perform best academically. But also know, most kids who start pre-med don’t finish and most who apply to med school dont’ get in.

But budget is critical - and you can spend $30K or less in state or WUE.

You might contact pre-med advisors at different schools of interest to see what type of support they provide.

Program Description – McCollough Scholars

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The required courses for medical school applicants will be filled with high achieving students…and some are hard no matter where you take them (anyone know an easy OChem course?).

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

I would suggest you look at minimizing costs for undergrad, especially with the new loan limits for federally funded loans (a total of $200,000 and that includes any undergrad loans). Medical school will likely cost you more than $100,000 a year. So if that’s on your radar screen, plan ahead.

I agree that your instate public universities would work well.

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If you would like to explore a wide variety of college ideas, this site may be helpful:

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I agree you don’t really need to choose a “good for premed” college in that most colleges are going to be reasonably good for premed. Really it mostly depends on you, not where you choose for college. So you can first focus on things like cost, and where you think you would do well overall.

And finally, I agree with your budget you could look a lot of different directions. There is nothing wrong with a premed just choosing their favorite instate offer, but looking at WUE schools or chasing merit at some privates can also make sense.

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I would remove BU as it will not come in at or under your budget.

I would strongly consider your instate schools due to costs, but some other schools to consider would be the University of Delaware, University of Vermont, Pitt, Rutgers, SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Binghamton.

Note: you will find extremely strong students at all of these schools, and they will be in your classes.

Don’t you need 2 letters from teachers? You listed one.

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Depends on their final list..my 25 had no schools that asked for 2 teachers (all only wanted 1 teacher and counselor) though they didn’t apply to any top 50s….

and w/i budget..I think below will be under 70K w/ your stats….

UNH, UVM, URI, WPI, RIT, Temple, Drexel, Clark (no engineering)…

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UW, the top choice, no letters but you are spot on - it’s an “it depends” on what each school requires.

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My mistake. Each school will have its own requirements regarding letters of recommendation.

I would add SUNY Geneseo and TCNJ to the list of school to research. But really…your instate schools are fine.

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Of course, but UW specifically seems to get more than its share of these comments from students. It’s unusual, for example, for grade anxiety to come up in Niche comments about “the typical student” but this is what you see for UW:

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I have wondered if part of this grade anxiety may be due to UW’s unusual grading system where grades are reported in 0.1 increments?

It also seems that UW students complain a lot about the grading in lower division weed out courses (multiple students advised my S that the best plan was to take as many as possible of these courses at community college to preserve GPA, and I’ve also seen this advice coming up on their subreddit).

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This advice was given to premeds?

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Not to premeds specifically. General advice given to students, particularly those competing for secondary admission to a desired major. (Many majors at UW have a competitive secondary admission process.)

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OP: it looks like Washington has tuition reciprocity (?) with some schools on the west coast. I would look into that as well.

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WUE - I named some large but there’s many more small on the list as well. See post 4 for some names.

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You are way ahead of schedule in math for someone who is not super strong at math. Math is an area where what you learn today is based on what you learned last week and last year. Jumping ahead in math can be a big mistake. It is way better to learn each step very well before you move ahead to the next step.

And I am pretty sure that calculus is one of the premed required courses.

I think that it is worth thinking hard, and talking to your math teacher and guidance counselor, about how to get yourself back on track to do better in math. You might need a tutor. You might need to step back in terms of which classes you are taking.

Here we can help you. There are a huge number of universities that are very good for premed students. Almost any university ranked in the top 200 in the US would be very good. You might want to avoid very specialized schools such as music conservatories, but almost anything else would be very good.

However, medical school is very expensive. To keep open the option of medical school you need to budget for a full 8 years of university where the last 4 years are likely to be expensive. If you take even half of the cost of medical school as debt, that is a LOT of debt even for a doctor.

Most students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. Some cannot keep up the necessary GPA in very tough premed classes. This is a reason to avoid jumping ahead unnecessarily in any classes (whether math, or organic chemistry, or anything else). However, some students just decide that they want to do something else. As one example, some students who are easily maintaining a very high GPA in premed classes get into a lab and decide that they would rather do research. Regardless, while sticking with medical school as the goal is going to happen for only a small minority of premed students, you do not want finances to rule out the option before you even start university.

So find a university which will be affordable. This suggests that BU would only stay on a reasonable list of schools for a premed students if either you get very good financial aid there, or your parents are okay paying something in excess of $800,000 over a full 8 years of university. Most of us need to find more affordable options. We had a daughter who was pre-vet, and we did rule out BU (and NEU) and go with a more affordable option.

You should seriously consider your in-state public options. The University of Washington is very good although it will be academically challenging and admissions is hard to predict at this point. Washington State University is also very good and worth considering. One small oddity there is that Washington State University has a very good DVM program, which suggests that there are likely to be a number of very good pre-vet students there. Given that the pre-vet and premed required classes are the same, this suggests that if you are premed there you will get to meet some of these pre-vet students. Of course they will compete with you for grades in classes, but they will not be competing with you for medical shadowing opportunities. I expect that there are other in-state public schools that you should consider but I am not familiar with the other pubic universities in your state.

You are also in a WICHE/WUE state. This suggests that you might want to consider your various WUE options. This is again an area where I am not personally familiar with the undergraduate options but it is something that you might want to look into.

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