Match my Rising Senior in CA, PreMed path [3.88 UW GPA, 1500 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: California
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
No constraints but value for money is expected, would love to find scholarship opportunities

Intended Major(s) Pre-Med Biology or Neuroscience or BS/MD

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.88
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.48 (High School)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: Not sure but possible since parent consent was requested for ELC
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1500, looking to improve by 20-30 points in October SAT

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: AP Lang
  • Math: (including highest level course(s) completed) Calc-2 (CC), AP-Calc AB (Score of 5), Stat (CC)
  • Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics) AP- Bio, AP-Chem (Score of 4), AP-Physics C (Sr Yr) , Hons Chem
  • History and social studies: AP WH (Score of 4)
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed) Spanish-3
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses: AP-Psyc, Biomed Hons courses

Awards

Extracurriculars
Selective summer research; produced formal report

Highest HOSA service honor; 500+ documented health service hours

250+ hours direct client support in crisis settings

Mental health advocacy writing for real community audience

100+ hours, specialty clinical shadowing

Original research; unpublished but demonstrates scholarly inquiry

CNA; plan to complete this summer

Direct care for cognitively disabled youth

Health science academic competitions winner at state level

Essays/LORs/Other
Can easily get LOR from science teachers,
Also do you recommend getting from extra curricular advisors/mentors ?

Schools
Plan to apply to all UCs and open for suggestion OOS

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With respect to finances, will you be eligible for need-based financial aid?

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This is very broad. Any preferences in a college (urban, rural, big, small, Greek life, outdoor opportunities, etc?) Would you be aiming “high” for OOS or would you be looking to use your good stats to get merit (re “value for money” comments)?

The general recommendation for colleges that require 2 LORs is to get one STEM and one non-STEM. There are not a lot of colleges who will look at a third LOR, especially if not from a teacher, but if you have someone who you could easily get to write one that might be useful somewhere, maybe worth it; I would first check each college website to see what they say about LORs.

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Budget for a full 8 years of university, where the last 4 years is likely to be expensive. It would be a lot better if you will be able to help your child in a very significant way when they get to medical school (assuming that they do).

The large majority of students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. Some cannot maintain a medical-school-worthy GPA in the tough premed classes. Some students, including some student who breeze through the premed classes with high grades, just decide that they would rather do something else. However, with either a biology or neuroscience major, some form of graduate school is still quite likely. Budget accordingly.

For most of us, this means that we need to look for relatively affordable undergraduate options. I wonder whether it would be worth considering a few CSU’s in addition to the UC’s.

Also, premed classes are tough (both daughters had majors that overlapped with premed classes so I have heard many stories). To me this suggests that the highest ranked and most academically challenging university that a student can get accepted to is not necessarily the best choice. Certainly medical doctors and students in MD and DO programs come from a huge range of undergraduate universities.

This is a very good list of ECs, which makes me think that medical school might be a bit more likely in this case compared to the average. Also, your child’s stats are excellent. Again this makes me think that medical school is a very realistic possibility.

You are in a WICHE/WUE state. However, given how excellent your in-state options are, it is not obvious to me what would make it worth going out of state unless there is something that I have not picked up (looking for a smaller school or colder weather, or wanting to establish residence outside California, or something else?).

Regarding budget, it might be worth describing our experience. We had a daughter who was pre-vet (again 8 years of university, the first four with the same required classes). She got into a couple of very good full-pay private universities and we straight out said we wouldn’t pay for them. She went to a very good public university with very good merit aid, and graduated four years later with no debt and a pretty good (or at least “good enough”) GPA. At that point she thanked me for not letting her take on any debt at all for her bachelor’s degree. She is a veterinarian now. You might similarly want to be strict on budget, avoid debt, and save money for medical school or whatever other form of graduate school comes along.

To me it sounds like your child is going very well.

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Have you considered University of New Mexico? Your student would get decent merit aid at this university via the Amigo Scholarship. Cost would be less than instate CA schools…I believe.

But the bigger bonus is…your student would be a candidate to apply to UNM school of medicine. New Mexico doesn’t normally accept OOS students to their medical school BUT if you graduate undergrad from UNM, you would be a candidate. Your tuition for medical school would be the OOS rate for the first year, but you could reclassify as an instate student for the rest of medical school. UNM medical school is one of the least costly in the country.

Of course, there are not guarantees you will be accepted to the medical school…but you seem like a strong candidate…if you keep up the fine work you are doing.

@WayOutWestMom do I have that all correct! If not…please post anything I got wrong!

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California is a famously difficult state for pre-meds. Too many talented students and too few seats. (The applicants from UCB alone could fill every available public AND private CA medical school seat and still have applicants left over.)

The majority of successful CA med school applicants will end up attending med school out of state. So budget for the cost of a private med school or OOS public (which will charge an OOS tuition rate). Plan on med school costing around $100K/year (or more) when you are budgeting for the 8 years of education required for a medical career.

The good news is the medical schools really don’t show a strong preference for what undergrad a student attends. Pick a college that will allow you and your child to minimize any loans needed to pay for undergrad.

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I’ll add, for health professions, find a school where your student will be successful academically - a place where they will be the top of their class and can maintain top grades. Sometimes that means choosing a school that doesn’t have the most recognized name. And find a place where your student will be happy.

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Note that a year of high school art or a semester of college art is required for frosh applicants to UCs and CSUs. Will the student take an art course in 12th grade?

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I would think so

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Top notch academics is highest priority, campus type/scene is no big deal

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Already done at CC and will be transferred into HS transcript

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Great insight, ty, will keep in mind

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You may want to edit the original post to list the CC art course. Also, were there additional history and social studies courses?

It is not necessarily for UC or CSU purposes to transfer college courses to the HS transcript, since all high school and college courses need to be self-reported on the applications (and transcripts from all high schools and colleges need to be sent at matriculation).

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That’s fine - just recognize that, apart from the GPA considerations mentioned earlier, realize that the chances of merit scholarships fall or disappear as you go higher up the rankings. So you would be looking at need-based aid, if any, or full pay.

There are many good options open to a profile like this so something to narrow down options would be helpful…

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I am so sorry, I am not able to find way to edit my OP, thanks for your patience

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There should be a pencil icon at the bottom of your post that is for editing the post. However, there is a time limit for editing, so the pencil icon will not be present if the time limit has passed.

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If interested in purely undergraduate-focused schools, consider those with strong programs in the biological sciences and good medical school matriculation rates, such as Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Swarthmore, Haverford, Pomona and Grinnell.

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Are there any geographic limitations?

The SUNY schools are priced lower than many others for OOS students. Take a look at UB, Binghamton, and Geneseo.

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A student can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about every four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded). I think it’s important for a student to actually see themselves being happy, and able to see themselves doing well at their undergrad school. So…this component needs to be discussed with this student. @WayOutWestMom

I’m not sure “top notch academics” for a premed will matter all that much when they apply to medical school.

That being said, this is a strong student who likely will have options to choose from in their college acceptances. I think!

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The top 50 feeder schools for US medical schools are almost universally large public universities.

See: Table 2A of AMCAS Facts 2025 FACTS: Applicants and Matriculants Data | AAMC

Any of these, and any of the top 250 or so of national universities and LACs will provide sufficient rigor for a pre -med student.

Adcomms really don’t care too much about where a student attends undergrad. Med students come from a very wide range of undergraduate schools ranging from ivies down to regional state colleges.

Strong academics at a college or university alone do not predict a student’s success on the MCAT. In order to do well on the MCAT, the student will need to invest a substantial investment of time and independent study. (And possibly a prep class…)

Campus life is much more important that you’re allowing for. Adcomms at med schools are not looking for academic automatons. They want students who are active and involved on their campuses. They are looking for qualities and competencies the are wide ranging and go far beyond mere academic competency. (see 13 Competencies for Incoming Medical Students )

Besides, undergrad is 4 years in your child’s life they will never get back. They should enjoy their college experience while they are maturing emotionally, socially, and intellectually into an individual who is ready to take on the challenges of medical school. There is empirical evidence that happier students do better academically than students who are unhappy with their college experience.

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