Which colleges should I apply to?

College Search & Lists
1

I am done with (well almost done with) junior year and I should start working on my college apps, and I havn’t decided on which colleges i should apply to.

Here are my stats:
Freshman GPA: 3.7
Sophomore GPA: 4.1
Junior GPA : 4.4
Although, my GPA isn’t up there, I did do good on Math & Science related subjects. (I just do shit in regular History and English bringing the GPA down so much)

ACT: 34 (Grammar-30, Math-36, Reading-34, Science-36, Essay-10)
Subject Tests: Math lvl 2-800 (Planning on taking Chem and Bio, which I should get over 750, prob around 780)
AP: AP Calc BC (walk-in), Computer Science A- the results aren’t out yet, but I am very confident that I got 5’s on both

EC: Just some volunteer works
Awards: Just some Math Competitions
Sports: Track - Freshman (won first place in 200M 9/10 in county)
School Club: Math Olympiad, Science Olympiad, National Honor Society

I am thinking between engineering or medical for colleges. For medical, I would probably do Neuroscience and/or Psychology. For engineering, I would probably do Biomedical engineering or Biomolecular Engineering

I heard that It would be better to go to a bit easier school for pre-med, so I was thinking UCI and UWash
For Engineering I was thinking about GT, UCSD, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, UWash

Complete List being:
UC-Berkeley (Bio Engineering - Reach)
UCLA (Bio Engineering - Reach/Match)
Georgia Tech (Bio Engineering - Match)
UCSD (Bio Engineering - Match)
UC-Irvine (Neuroscience/psychology - Safety)
U-Washington(Neuroscience/Bio Engineering - Safety)

What are some suggestions on the list? What should I add? and What should I get rid of?

P.S. - I didnt put UIUC, because as a korean citizen I hav to go to the army for 2years but UIUC said I am not allowed to go in middle of undergrad years
P.S. - I didn’t want to include liberal arts, because I do want some college experience(no offense to liberal art ppl)

2

Are you an international student from Korea? If you don’t hold American citizenship be aware that getting into US medical schools is nearly impossible for non Canadian internationals.

3

I will have permanent residentship by the time i apply to med school

4

Can you afford all the schools you listed? You would be paying out of state rates at all of them.

5

Yeah i would have no problem paying dem

6

Do you live in California? If not, I recommend going to a state school for your state, for example, SUNY Stony Brook, which is a fantastic school.

7

Unless you live in California all of these schools would be a reach. Your scores are impressive, but you are
competing with students that live in state with equal or more impressive scores. Also applying out of state requires you to pay full tution, which is nearly the same as applying to private universities. I suggest applying to schools in the state you live in. They are less expensive and most of them offer an education that are just as good as UC’s. For example, if you live in New York SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Stony Brook. Others include University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and so on. I think you get the point, also it seems your grammar is not the greatest so that might hurt you on the application essay.

8

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didnt put UIUC, because as a korean citizen I hav to go to the army for 2years but UIUC said I am not allowed to go in middle of undergrad years


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But, you’re going to have a green card by the time you apply to med school?

Anyway, if your plan is to get a green card and apply to med school here, then stay away from Calif…too many med school applicants in that state.

9

So, you can google lots of lists like these:

http://study.com/top_10_biomedical_engineering_undergraduate_universities.html
http://study.com/articles/Best_Neuroscience_Undergraduate_Programs_List_of_Top_Schools.html

It’s a good place to start exploring. And I wouldn’t fret to much over the English since it’s not your first language. Admissions will take that into account.

You might also want to think about the option of getting your military obligation over with before you start school. It’s hard to step out for two years - you’ll lose a lot of momentum and contacts, and have to relearn a lot of material especially if you are then going to prep for your MCAT.

10

@UVAclassof2019 I think i could goto uc irvine, correct me if im rong, n for the grammee part i would actually proofread and actually spend good amount of time writing college essay ofc

11

@N’s Mom i was planning on goin to army after freshman year, i heard sophomore is when shiit gets real

12

@daniel970601 You could probably make it into UC Irvine, and although it is a good public school, there is way too many Asians in California who are looking to find jobs in the medical field. Therefore, most medical areas will look for people who are in UCLA or UC Berkeley and are more qualified, and there are, believe me, A LOT of asians who go to top schools and are looking for jobs. By the looks of it, it sounds like you are in New York. I would agree with most people and suggest you stay in the Northeast. It is improbable that you could make Dartmouth or Harvard, which have good medical fields, so I would suggest you go to a SUNY, since undergraduate education is worthless. It would be a lot better to spend the money on a graduate school. Californian schools are more open to applicants who desire a graduate’s degree because there are less people who apply. Therefore, go to a good research university such as University of Rochester or Stony Brook, depending on your financial degree, for premed.

13

@daniel970601 also, although the UC’s are highly ranked in the medical field, they are becoming more engineering and computer science oriented. It would be easier to find a job in the Northeast. The good thing about Stony Brook is it is connected to a hospital, which will insure you find a job almost immediately.

PS: I had a 4.76 GPA in High School and a 2380 SAT, and I went to Stony Brook for premed. Although I am not Asian, it was the best decision I could have made because I went to Stanford for a graduate’s degree. (It was rather easy for me to achieve a top rank at Stony Brook and go to Stanford afterwards.

14

Freshman year in an American university and then two years in the Korean army? Is there any better definition of culture shock? Yes, freshman year is less critical in that you are usually getting distribution requirements out of the way and more large lecture/intro classes (101 whatever). But the friends you make freshman year will have moved on and, after two years away, it will feel more like being a transfer student…starting over socially.

Are you really sure you want to split up your education that way? The person coming back to the US is going to be a lot different from the one who left for military service. You might want to rethink your fit at that point as well.

I also think its a bad idea if you are pre-med. You’ll need to relearn everything in your bio and chem classes in order to do well on the MCAT.

15

@math800 Stanford was the grad school im aiming at. I was just gonna do good ucirvine n go there but i guess it was a bad idea. My parents being korean parents doesnt rly want me to go to sunys. Do you have any other suggestions for college (little lower so dat i can get good goa) or should i just try to convince my parents for stony?