<p>I’m a rising senior and am planning to apply to Northwestern, Rice/Baylor, USC, and UMiami and would like to see how i would stand</p>
<p>Stats</p>
<p>SAT: 2290 (2nd sitting) 800M 730V 760W (does this make a difference if this is retaken?)
SAT Subjects: 800 Chem, 790 Math II
GPA: 3.95/4.00 unweighted and 5.61/6.00 weighted
Rank 4/530 may rise to 3 as new ranks have not been posted
National Merit Semifinalist</p>
<p>EC
300+ hours at hospital
ViceP of Science Club
Secretary of Volunteer Board at Hospital
I am starting Hospice Vol. this summer
Active member in Mu Alpha Theta(math), Spanish Honors Society, Red Cross
Also have volunteered 75+ hrs at library</p>
<p>Your stats look fine but two questions come to mind…What did you actually DO while you volunteered 300 hours at the hospital? and how would you answer the question…Why do you want to study medicine?</p>
<p>I keep hearing that Rice/Baylor always “goes by the numbers”, accepting kids that are nearly perfect SAT wise, National Merit, etc, and thus other kids that might be impressive resume wise yet do not have the absolute best scores (still decent though) have no shot… Any truth to that?</p>
<p>Hellotoyou: your scores and stats look great. I don’t think it matters that you retook the SAT I as long as you went up in all the subject areas on the second time. I took the SAT two times also and got R/B so I doubt they’ll hold that against you.</p>
<p>MedNerd: I like your username. haha =)</p>
<p>And I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is true, to some extent. Here’s why:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Baylor College of Medicine is taking a gamble on you as a student. They’re gambling that you’ll do well at Rice and that you’ll be as qualified in four years as all the other students they accept to BCM. So from a risk perspective, they’re probably very reticent to take a risk on anyone because of grades/less than great test scores. After all, they have TONS of kids to choose from, and can easily get someone who has the scores that show they’ll likely do well, academics-wise, in undergrad and grad school.</p></li>
<li><p>Kind of related to the first point…BCM can afford to be EXTREMELY picky. There are only so many med-related extracurriculars applicants can do, and unless you invented a genome or something, most people do relatively the same stuff–volunteer at a hospital, doctor’s office, health care club, etc.etc.etc. with some sort of research thrown in possibly. So. If Kid X and Kid Y have the same activities, personality, sense of compassion, etc., and Kid X has amazing scores and Kid Y has average scores, and there are only 14 spots available for hundreds of applicants, it usually works out that Kid X gets the spot. Not because they only care about scores but because it’s an apples to apples way of comparing kids.</p></li>
<li><p>This is not to say that R/B cares about scores ONLY. Scores will get you considered by BCM. From there, it’s about your personality and the essays you write. The essays aren’t even really about academics or scores at all so obviously it takes you a lot more than scores to get in.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I will leave you with this:
You can have amazing scores and not get R/B.
You can have amazing scores and get R/B.
You can have average scores and likely not get R/B, but it’s a possibility.
You can have bad scores and you will not get R/B.</p>
<p>Thanks for the awesome post college316 (and the username compliment haha)</p>
<p>Yeah I mean if you take my superscore, I have a 2260, but my highest in one sitting is a 2190 :/. So yeah… I’m not really confident in that. Besides that, I think I’d be a decent candidate.</p>
<p>I am applying and I have a 2300 SAT (first try!). 3.98 UW GPA (our school doesnt do W or class rank). </p>
<p>My questions is how many SAT II’s are required? For some reason most people only have two. I have 3 but one is not too good. If i only need two I am set for tests!</p>
<p>the admissions committee reviews all of your essays (common, rice supplement, + rice/baylor app) right?
so…none of the essays can overlap in subject?</p>
<p>You are correct.
It’s really to your advantage to not write any essays on the same topic…basically, they should all present different sides of your character, so the admissions committee can get as broad a picture of you as possible.</p>
<p>If you do write on the same topic, be very very careful to address it from a completely different angle…like you could theoretically reference the same event, but put that event within a totally different context.</p>
<p>Hey do you think its worth my time to apply for rice and baylor if my best scores for rice were:</p>
<p>sat 2150 cr 690 writing 740 math 720
sat II - bio - 650
chem 690
math 1- 700</p>
<p>act-31</p>
<p>i got 300 hours at a hospital, and an internship there. i was also a bausch &lomb honorary science award winner. thts it for my medical related ec’s. my cousin goes to baylor and i know some friends who go to bcm too. </p>
<p>i was also 6th place in the scripps national spelling bee in my 8th grade year.</p>
<p>im in 4 ap classes, i think im gonna be valedictorian or salutatorian. i took the highest level courses in every science subject in my school.</p>
<p>do u honestly think i have a shot in this? yes or no.</p>
<p>is anyone 1000000000000% sure that the dec 1st deadline is postmarked???
i need an answer from someone who actually turned it in the day of the deadline or the day before. ive read through this whole thread and it said it was postmarked but i don’t want to be screwed by taking their word for it.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I got a call from VCU’s GMED program today. I have been invited for an interview, but I am honestly not sure if I want to go. I am already going to PSU, Miami, and BU’s program interviews, and VCU is probably number 8 on my list. I know it’s a good program, but I’m really shooting for my top choices. Kind of confused :/</p>
<p>Yeah I did do Northwestern HPME (barely made the deadline for app). I signed up for the undergraduate interview for Northwestern b/c I might actually go there anyways HPME or not.</p>