I really want to go to Vandy and i’m thinking about ED’ing…but i know i have low chances of getting in. i love vandy because it is on the smaller side, but its not in the middle of nowhere, i love Nashville. i want a school that is know for being a very “smart” school i guess you would say. I live in Georgia and would like to stay in the south however i will definitly consider else where. UGA i a top choice because of the Zell Miller Scholarship but i would like to get away being that i live very close to UGA. Money is a big factor, and vandy grants alot of financial aid, so somewhere like that would be nice. also considering ETSU because i think i can get into their honors college.
intended major- Biology (pre-med)
ACT-28 (took it with no studying, will get new scores later this week hoping to get a 30)
GPA-3.86 (i have a ton of rigor, i have never taken a regular level class) i
Will graduate with 6 AP classes and 2 Dual enrollment courses. and have taken 3 levels of Spanish
I am also in the process of self teaching American Sign Language
All A’s and 3 B’s (Honors gov and accelerated geometry freshman year and Math 1113 PreCalculus-dual enrollment course junior year)
clubs- HERO club (gen ed kids interact with special needs students), Beta club, National Honors Society, Secretary in Leo Club (life long service club, leads into lions club), HOSA
Special Olympics Rhythmic Gymnasitcs Coach and Adaptive PE student
awards- acheivement awards in gov and math freshman year because although i got a B i worked VERY hard, received the Furman Scholar Scholarship to Furman University
extra curricular- i have played a sport or been involved every season of high school…softball 9&10, Athletic Training for my school football team 11 & 12, basketball 9-12 (team captain 10th grade and co-captain 12 grade) ,varsity track and field 9-12
I am also doing an Internship senior year with university of Georgia football head athletic trainer where i will be hands on learning and involved with UGA football and their Athletic Training program.
Check out the University of Richmond.
It’s on the small side, is not in the middle of nowhere, and is a bit less selective than Vanderbilt.
You might also like Rhodes College or Davidson.
You should look into Elon and College of Charleston. Even if you raise your ACT to 30, Vandy will be a big reach
Unless you are a recruited D-1 athlete or an URM, you have no chance at Vandy with your current test scores and GPA (I am assuming that it is weighted). You will need well over a 30 on the ACT (probably 34+), and well over a weighted 4.0 GPA, to be competitive for admission there if you are not a D-1 athlete or URM.
What about Mercer? Or Birmingham-Southern or Samford? Or, if you want to be in Nashville, look into Belmont Unversity; I know someone who started out in nursing there and then went on to medical school.
that is my unweighted GPA @gandalf78 i do not know what my weighted gpa is…I am considering Belmont, UGA, Lipscomb, and UNC…I am confident i will get into UGA and i think i would grow to like it but i want to expand my options so i dont have to settle
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GA i a top choice because of the Zell Miller Scholarship but i would like to get away being that i live very close to UGA. Money is a big factor, and vandy grants alot of financial aid, so somewhere like that would be nice. also considering ETSU because i think i can get into their honors college.
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intended major- Biology (pre-med)
ACT-28 (took it with no studying, will get new scores later this week hoping to get a 30)
GPA-3.86 (i have a ton of rigor, i have never taken a regular level class) i
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You have virtually no chance at Vandy, even with a 30, and frankly be glad about that. Even with an ACT 30, you’d be in the bottom quartile of students…not a good place to be…particularly if premed.
If you are SERIOUS about being premed and going to med school, WHY WOULD you want to go to a school where you’d be one of the weakest students in the premed classes and you’d likely end up getting weeded out???
If you are serious about being premed, then your goal should be attending a school where you will be a STAR…not a school where you will be drowning amongst a bunch of ACT 34-36 classmates who’ll be grabbing all the A’s while you end up with a GPA that med schools will not accept.
Vandy is very intense for premeds. My nephew went there as a premed ACT 33, 4.8 GPA, top student at his private high school. He got weeded out very quickly for premed.
Another premed student here on CC started at UTDallas for premed (I think he was a NMF). He had a 4.0 GPA at UTDallas, but he wrongly thought that he needed to go to an “impressive” school, so he transferred to Vandy. Soon he was posting that he no longer had a med school worthy GPA…what a huge mistake it was for him to transfer. If he had not, he’d likely be enrolling in med school this fall.
Go to a school where you’ll easily be in the top 25% of the school. Study hard, get top grades, do well on the MCAT…and then…voila!
OP, you also are not competitive for UNC-Chapel Hill (that’s what I presume you mean) with those statistics; and even if you get in there, you will not get money from them as an OOS student.
If your school has Naviance through its guidance counselors, you might use it to determine what the placement of students from your school has been over time to the colleges and universities you are interested in.
Good points above by @mom2collegekids regarding being at the low end of the academic spectrum compared to your peers at the college of your choice.
I agree with @mom2collegekids .
You don’t have a shot at Vandy with a 28, or even a 30. Use your ED on a school where you have a reasonable chance.
I think that some premeds think that a top school will somehow “teach them better” or will “prepare them better” for the MCAT or med school. No.
Undergrads don’t prepare you for med school and they don’t prepare you for the MCAT.
A top undergrad is not going to turn a good (ACT 28-30) premed student into a star.
Frankly, even the top students are going to get weeded. Even at Ivies where they are loaded to the gills with ACT 34+ students, the premed classes weed rather heavily.
I recently spoke with the parent of a premed who attended a top 20 school for frosh/soph years. NMF, tippy top high school stats, etc. Against his parents’ wishes, he insisted that he “had” to go to a top school. His GPA is now below 3.0 after frosh/soph years and he’s crushed. His premed high school pals that went to their flagship all have GPAs much higher than his. Imagine how upset he is.
He’s now transferring last minute to another school in hopes of salvaging his GPA. Please don’t misunderstand. If he transfers to a good-but-lesser school, it won’t be easy. He’ll still have to learn and work hard…but all of his classmates won’t be tippy top like him.
I know it can seem counter-intuitive, but med schools don’t care where you go to school…and going to a top school can end up hurting you big time.
@gandalf78 UNC-CH is actually one of two public schools (the otherness UVA) which guarantee to meet need for OOS students. However, OP will not get in as an OOS.
^ I meant merit aid, I wasn’t clear; my mistake.
I understand my chances at some of these schools are low, that is why i was asking for other options. I wasn’t asking to be told something I am already aware of.
How about Dickinson (meets 96% of need)?
I think that we are trying to suggest that with some of these schools you have mentioned as considering (Vanderbilt and UNC-CH) your chances are not just low, but so low as to be futile. There are some good other options that have been mentioned.
Unless you’re affluent and have oodles of time, you’re going to have a limited number of schools that you can apply to…due to money for apps, sending scores, & CSS Profile…and due to the time it takes to devote to each application (essays, etc)…
Will your parents put a limit on how many applications, scores sending, and CSS profile submissions? Each school will cost about $100 to apply to. So, 10 schools will mean $1000.00 just to apply.
Why bother with schools that not only would be a waste to time and money, but would be a bad idea to attend if you somehow miraculously got accepted.
You’ve said that money is “a big factor,” so why not create a reasonable list?
Guilford and Eckerd might offer you very generous merit aid packages, although not necessarily enough to meet your needs. I think both offer application fee waivers and non-binding Early Notification. You could consider one of the other UNC campuses or Appalachian State.
I remember calculating that score sending and CSS profile (I sent both ACT and SAT reports) was $38/school, even if there’s no application fee. It would be $25-26 without one of those score reports.
Earlham has very good med school placement results, offers good merit aid, and is not impossibly selective. It is in Indiana, though, so not all of your criteria. …
Davidson College? Your ACT is on the low end, but if the other parts of your application are solid, LACs might overlook. I had a friend get into Davidson with a 29 this year. I’m a Furman Scholar too, although I hope to be pre-law. In fact, I’m wearing my Furman sweatshirt right now!