[arnoldsoccer4]

So headfi I have been gone for a while but come seeking advice. I am going into next year a senior in high school. I have had straight a's in honors and ap courses, and am pretty high up in class rank (top 5% don't know specifics). I got a 32 on my act. From what I have been told I can go pretty much wherever I want. (Can anyone verify this?) I am looking to become an Emergency Room doctor or anesthesiologist (if you have any other recommendations, please say so). I am currently in Illinois and am looking for colleges. I am looking to go somewhere warm hopefully. I lived in San Diego for 2 years and loved it, and apparently UCLA and UCSD have great medical programs. So the question really is where should I go and how should I do things. Should I go to a college around UCLA for premed, and then go into UCLA at in-state tuition? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Snicewicz]

Yes with a GPA like that and you being in the top 9X percentile in test scores you should be fine. Have you taken the SAT?

Also nothing is guaranteed though, also depends on activity in the community, extra-circulars.

I am in the same boat as you with a lower GPA (3.5), I messed around freshman year. Its kind of nerve racking thinking that this is one of the biggest decisions that will have an influence for years to come.

I guess what it comes down to is what makes you stand out from the others. For me, its a recommendation from a MIT professor, a business owner of a fairly successful company and a successful friend on the Harvard board of Alumni. Just find what makes you stand out.

If i were a school, I would take you over me :/

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes with a GPA like that and you being in the top 9X percentile in test scores you should be fine. Have you taken the SAT? Also nothing is guaranteed though, also depends on activity in the community, extra-circulars. I am in the same boat as you with a lower GPA (3.5), I messed around freshman year. Its kind of nerve racking thinking that this is one of the biggest decisions that will have an influence for years to come. I guess what it comes down to is what makes you stand out from the others. For me, its a recommendation from a MIT professor, a business owner of a fairly successful company and a successful friend on the Harvard board of Alumni. Just find what makes you stand out. If i were a school, I would take you over me :/

I have not taken the sat yet, i have probably around 80 hours of community service that can be signed off on. My gpa is astronomical weighted (4.5), but your recommendations annihilate mine, I would take you.

 

[Snicewicz]

Haha thanks but no need to be modest. My class rank is no where near yours. They will probably see the GPA and not even look at anything else.

Anesthesiology is where the money is, I believe highest paying medical position on terms of average salaries but then again most likely highest malpractice insurance

 

[hubcaps]

Getting in-state at the UC's is hard. Grew up in Chicago and went to UCLA for undergrad. You have to prove that you are financially supporting yourself for two years then you get in-state. I loved UCLA, but I'm not sure if it was worth it. There's a lot of people going there for pre-med, so classes are pretty competative. I don't think it'll necessarily help. Any med school in Cali super hard to get into. A lot of californians actual come to Chicago for med school.
One option to keep open are 7-8 year programs. That's what my sister did. It saved her a lot of trouble with applications and MCAT (she just needed the national average). She didn't go to a prestigous med school, but all her classmates got in to awesome residencies.
Hope that helps

 

[crappyjones123]

"So headfi I have been gone for a while but come seeking advice. I am going into next year a senior in high school. I have had straight a's in honors and ap courses, and am pretty high up in class rank (top 5% don't know specifics). I got a 32 on my act. From what I have been told I can go pretty much wherever I want. (Can anyone verify this?)"

while that is true in most cases, colleges can be extremely odd when it comes to admissions. the third ranked guy from my high school got into none of the colleges he applied to except for harvard and a state school to which pretty much everyone is allowed to attend. the same year some guy that no one knew got into duke when my friend (the rank 3 guy) didnt get in. i myself didnt get into a few schools that i thought i was a shoe in for but i got into schools that i had absolutely no hope for. my advice - apply to as many schools as you can financially afford to (the application fees can add up pretty fast as it varies from $30 for state schools and $75 for elite private institutions). since you have a great record in high school already, apply to a few schools that you know you will get in without any problems, apply to a few that you would like to go to, and then apply to a few that you would dream of going to given the chance. i dont believe in the fact that mit or those patzers across the river at harvard only take geniuses. my roommate sophomore year had a sat score of 1180 but he had other things to offer. basically, you wont know if a college wants you or not unless you apply. so just fill out as many applications as you can. spend a good amount of time on your essays. look at previous year's applications. you will find that there are always 2 topics that are repeated every year. start planning out a few initial drafts for each topic and see which one turns out to be the most interesting. recommendation letters - these go a LONG way so ask a lot of teachers who like you to write for you. ask them if you can see the letter before you send them in case you would like them to include something they didnt or stress upon a certain activity you took part in a lot during high school. get an early start on these things and send in your applications early if you can. you will thank me later when you are sitting relaxing in your room listening to toones while your classmates are starting to panic over deadlines and what not.


"I am looking to become an Emergency Room doctor or anesthesiologist (if you have any other recommendations, please say so)."

dont take this the wrong way but it is just an observation i have made along the years. in high school i did fairly well for myself and got admitted to a pretty good school. my dad being an engineer wanted me to follow in his footsteps and my mum wanted me to be a doctor. both had their reasons but the most important one for them was financial security. yes, i believe that money is the most powerful thing in the world. it is with money that you can buy all these awesome amps and headphones not principles. BUT i didnt care for their wishes, i still dont. i didnt care for money at the time and started with a bachelors in computer science. 3 days into the program i went to the college of science and asked them if i could join the mathematics dept. a week and a few signed sheets later i was a mathematics student. i have never been happier. find something you love to do and you WILL find a way to be successful at it. if it is med school then so be it but dont make that decision right now because you see the good life that other doctors lead. what most people dont see are the 30+ hours emergency room physicians have to work a lot of the time. they dont see the amount of effort it takes to get through med school but only the sweet pleasures of life these accomplished people enjoy after they are done. again, i am not saying that you are going to be any different from the next amazing doctor, just that dont pick a major under false pretenses. even if you do, it is never too late to change. my grandpa was an engineering major until his last semester of his university and then suddenly decided to take organic chemistry his last semester and took the mcats and became a doctor. it does not reflect as a poor decision making ability or the fact that you dont know what to do with your life but only that you know how to figure out what you arent going to be happy doing for quite a while. my advice - do a LOT of reading before you pick a major or even start filling out applications. in high school i figured that it would be about 12 years before i even thought of starting to work (4 years for bachelors, 2 for masters, 5 for my doctorate) and i was perfectly fine with that. my sister is planning on staying in school for roughly 14 years and i respect her decision to do that. but i highly doubt that she will continue with the same resolve if she is doing it only for the money. medicine is a very noble profession and a highly paying on at that. just realise that there isnt anything wrong with being an engineer or a scientist or a professional race car driver either.

"I am currently in Illinois and am looking for colleges. I am looking to go somewhere warm hopefully."

are you a resident of the state of illinois or california? state tuition only applies when you reside in the same state as the person you are dependent on. i am declared as one in my dads income tax returns so i qualify for in state tuition in florida only. i have been in mass. for 4 years now but since i am still a dependent of my dad i dont qualify for in state tuition for mass.


"I lived in San Diego for 2 years and loved it, and apparently UCLA and UCSD have great medical programs. So the question really is where should I go and how should I do things. Should I go to a college around UCLA for premed, and then go into UCLA at in-state tuition? Any advice would be greatly appreciated."

see above for questions regarding in state tuition. just because you want to go to med school at ucla does not require that you go for your pre med there as well. rather it is usually suggested that you go to graduate school some place other than where you get your bachelors from. i would recommend doing the same. talk to your peers who have the same interests as you. talk to people who are in the same profession as you hope to join some day. call up individual colleges and ask for numbers or emails of their student representatives and talk to the people who actually go there. it will be more help than any brochure you will ever read.

hope i helped. if you have any other questions feel free to pm me and good luck with everything

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Haha thanks but no need to be modest. My class rank is no where near yours. They will probably see the GPA and not even look at anything else. Anesthesiology is where the money is, I believe highest paying medical position on terms of average salaries but then again most likely highest malpractice insurance

Trust me it isn't modesty, not my thing, I imagine if you only messed up freshman year and have recommendations from and MIT prof and a Harvard alum those will carry plenty of weight.

Yes anesthesiology is enticing because of the money, I am not going to lie and say I want to do it for the greater good etc, the money would just be flat out awesome. And yes malpractice is huge, but what can you expect, most people don't want to wake up in surgery (I would, it would be interesting). I was thinking er doctor because it would just be flat out awesome and rarely boring.

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hubcaps /img/forum/go_quote.gif Getting in-state at the UC's is hard. Grew up in Chicago and went to UCLA for undergrad. You have to prove that you are financially supporting yourself for two years then you get in-state. I loved UCLA, but I'm not sure if it was worth it. There's a lot of people going there for pre-med, so classes are pretty competative. I don't think it'll necessarily help. Any med school in Cali super hard to get into. A lot of californians actual come to Chicago for med school. One option to keep open are 7-8 year programs. That's what my sister did. It saved her a lot of trouble with applications and MCAT (she just needed the national average). She didn't go to a prestigous med school, but all her classmates got in to awesome residencies. Hope that helps

Can you elaborate on the 7-8 year programs?

 

[Snicewicz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldsoccer4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Trust me it isn't modesty, not my thing, I imagine if you only messed up freshman year and have recommendations from and MIT prof and a Harvard alum those will carry plenty of weight. Yes anesthesiology is enticing because of the money, I am not going to lie and say I want to do it for the greater good etc, the money would just be flat out awesome. And yes malpractice is huge, but what can you expect, most people don't want to wake up in surgery (I would, it would be interesting). I was thinking er doctor because it would just be flat out awesome and rarely boring.

Yes anesthesiology is very appealing, I am not going to lie either and I wanted to get into the profession for the money so much I took the Medical courses in my schools "Science Academy" for a year until I realized that it was not for me.

To be honest, if I get in to one of the top five schools on my list it will not be because of my accomplishments or high school track record, it will be because of the friends my dad has. To be honest with you, I think it is wrong in some aspects because some student who may be more deserving may not get in, but the way I see it, its not how you get in, it is what you make of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldsoccer4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you elaborate on the 7-8 year programs?

Is he talking about 4 years college, THEN 7-8 years of med school and then a 1 year residency at a hospital or medical establishment? To be honest, not being able to practice until I am nearly in my 30s is what turned me away from medicine lol.

Best of luck to you in the coming year. Maybe we will end up together in Cali as that is where I wish to go! At least I would have a roommate who would understand my headphone addiction!

 

[crappyjones123]

the only 8 year program i know of is the dentistry program at brown. you basically go to brown for your undergraduate program and then if you keep up a certain gpa and do the the things they require you do to then you are awarded a seat in their medical program automatically. no need to take the mcats or reapply for medical school. but beware, they only take like 8 students every year so dont lose heart if someone else gets picked over you. those are the programs that take exceptionally qualified students like yourself. it gives you a confirmed ticket to a good med school before you even start your bachelors as long as you keep up your grades.

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crappyjones123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif "So headfi I have been gone for a while but come seeking advice. I am going into next year a senior in high school. I have had straight a's in honors and ap courses, and am pretty high up in class rank (top 5% don't know specifics). I got a 32 on my act. From what I have been told I can go pretty much wherever I want. (Can anyone verify this?)" while that is true in most cases, colleges can be extremely odd when it comes to admissions. the third ranked guy from my high school got into none of the colleges he applied to except for harvard and a state school to which pretty much everyone is allowed to attend. the same year some guy that no one knew got into duke when my friend (the rank 3 guy) didnt get in. i myself didnt get into a few schools that i thought i was a shoe in for but i got into schools that i had absolutely no hope for. my advice - apply to as many schools as you can financially afford to (the application fees can add up pretty fast as it varies from $30 for state schools and $75 for elite private institutions). since you have a great record in high school already, apply to a few schools that you know you will get in without any problems, apply to a few that you would like to go to, and then apply to a few that you would dream of going to given the chance. i dont believe in the fact that mit or those patzers across the river at harvard only take geniuses. my roommate sophomore year had a sat score of 1180 but he had other things to offer. basically, you wont know if a college wants you or not unless you apply. so just fill out as many applications as you can. spend a good amount of time on your essays. look at previous year's applications. you will find that there are always 2 topics that are repeated every year. start planning out a few initial drafts for each topic and see which one turns out to be the most interesting. recommendation letters - these go a LONG way so ask a lot of teachers who like you to write for you. ask them if you can see the letter before you send them in case you would like them to include something they didnt or stress upon a certain activity you took part in a lot during high school. get an early start on these things and send in your applications early if you can. you will thank me later when you are sitting relaxing in your room listening to toones while your classmates are starting to panic over deadlines and what not. "I am looking to become an Emergency Room doctor or anesthesiologist (if you have any other recommendations, please say so)." dont take this the wrong way but it is just an observation i have made along the years. in high school i did fairly well for myself and got admitted to a pretty good school. my dad being an engineer wanted me to follow in his footsteps and my mum wanted me to be a doctor. both had their reasons but the most important one for them was financial security. yes, i believe that money is the most powerful thing in the world. it is with money that you can buy all these awesome amps and headphones not principles. BUT i didnt care for their wishes, i still dont. i didnt care for money at the time and started with a bachelors in computer science. 3 days into the program i went to the college of science and asked them if i could join the mathematics dept. a week and a few signed sheets later i was a mathematics student. i have never been happier. find something you love to do and you WILL find a way to be successful at it. if it is med school then so be it but dont make that decision right now because you see the good life that other doctors lead. what most people dont see are the 30+ hours emergency room physicians have to work a lot of the time. they dont see the amount of effort it takes to get through med school but only the sweet pleasures of life these accomplished people enjoy after they are done. again, i am not saying that you are going to be any different from the next amazing doctor, just that dont pick a major under false pretenses. even if you do, it is never too late to change. my grandpa was an engineering major until his last semester of his university and then suddenly decided to take organic chemistry his last semester and took the mcats and became a doctor. it does not reflect as a poor decision making ability or the fact that you dont know what to do with your life but only that you know how to figure out what you arent going to be happy doing for quite a while. my advice - do a LOT of reading before you pick a major or even start filling out applications. in high school i figured that it would be about 12 years before i even thought of starting to work (4 years for bachelors, 2 for masters, 5 for my doctorate) and i was perfectly fine with that. my sister is planning on staying in school for roughly 14 years and i respect her decision to do that. but i highly doubt that she will continue with the same resolve if she is doing it only for the money. medicine is a very noble profession and a highly paying on at that. just realise that there isnt anything wrong with being an engineer or a scientist or a professional race car driver either. "I am currently in Illinois and am looking for colleges. I am looking to go somewhere warm hopefully." are you a resident of the state of illinois or california? state tuition only applies when you reside in the same state as the person you are dependent on. i am declared as one in my dads income tax returns so i qualify for in state tuition in florida only. i have been in mass. for 4 years now but since i am still a dependent of my dad i dont qualify for in state tuition for mass. "I lived in San Diego for 2 years and loved it, and apparently UCLA and UCSD have great medical programs. So the question really is where should I go and how should I do things. Should I go to a college around UCLA for premed, and then go into UCLA at in-state tuition? Any advice would be greatly appreciated." see above for questions regarding in state tuition. just because you want to go to med school at ucla does not require that you go for your pre med there as well. rather it is usually suggested that you go to graduate school some place other than where you get your bachelors from. i would recommend doing the same. talk to your peers who have the same interests as you. talk to people who are in the same profession as you hope to join some day. call up individual colleges and ask for numbers or emails of their student representatives and talk to the people who actually go there. it will be more help than any brochure you will ever read. hope i helped. if you have any other questions feel free to pm me and good luck with everything

Holy crap mate. Thanks for clearing up in state tuition everyone, no one bothered to inform me that I was not allowed to still be dependent up to this point. I am comfortable with working a lot that is fine. I realize there is a lot of hard work to get to be a doctor, thats fine. And I singled out emergency specifically because it would be exciting and new and interesting everyday (aka love my job). The ideal job would be that of Dr. House, but hey, realistically I am not the best mind america has to offer for that.

I am a resident of Illinois, so maybe northwestern if prestige is to be had.

Lastly does it really matter where you do premed, or is it really just your MCAT's?

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes anesthesiology is very appealing, I am not going to lie either and I wanted to get into the profession for the money so much I took the Medical courses in my schools "Science Academy" for a year until I realized that it was not for me. To be honest, if I get in to one of the top five schools on my list it will not be because of my accomplishments or high school track record, it will be because of the friends my dad has. To be honest with you, I think it is wrong in some aspects because some student who may be more deserving may not get in, but the way I see it, its not how you get in, it is what you make of it. Is he talking about 4 years college, THEN 7-8 years of med school and then a 1 year residency at a hospital or medical establishment? To be honest, not being able to practice until I am nearly in my 30s is what turned me away from medicine lol. Best of luck to you in the coming year. Maybe we will end up together in Cali as that is where I wish to go! At least I would have a roommate who would understand my headphone addiction!

Its not necessarily what you know but who you know, love it or hate it. I am guessing your dad is a very successful businessman? And yes someone to understand the headphone insanity would be good, my dad balked when I asked him if I could spend $500 (of my own earned money, he likes to clear my purchases) on some w500's.

 

[crappyjones123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldsoccer4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lastly does it really matter where you do premed, or is it really just your MCAT's?

thats the age old question that no one knows the answer to and med schools wont answer. in my opinion there is no such criteria. any given year a school might get a 100 applications with the same exact mcat score and in that case the deciding factor becomes your gpa and your rec letters. on the other hand they could just as well receive a 100 applications the year you apply with the same exact gpa as yourself in which case the mcat becomes their weeding tool.

i dont think there is any such preference because to be honest, no one really knows how the system works at each school. what i think will obviously be tainted by my experiences. did i get into the school i got into because of my rank or because or my gpa or because of my sat scores? i will never know. so i find it to be an exercise in futility to think of such things. instead of concentrating on just your studies or your mcats, put equal effort towards both and then leave it up to the admissions people to decide which they are impressed with more.

 

[arnoldsoccer4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crappyjones123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif thats the age old question that no one knows the answer to and med schools wont answer. in my opinion there is no such criteria. any given year a school might get a 100 applications with the same exact mcat score and in that case the deciding factor becomes your gpa and your rec letters. on the other hand they could just as well receive a 100 applications the year you apply with the same exact gpa as yourself in which case the mcat becomes their weeding tool. i dont think there is any such preference because to be honest, no one really knows how the system works at each school. what i think will obviously be tainted by my experiences. did i get into the school i got into because of my rank or because or my gpa or because of my sat scores? i will never know. so i find it to be an exercise in futility to think of such things. instead of concentrating on just your studies or your mcats, put equal effort towards both and then leave it up to the admissions people to decide which they are impressed with more.

Sucks huh? So just keep the a's and score well?

 

[Snicewicz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldsoccer4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its not necessarily what you know but who you know, love it or hate it. I am guessing your dad is a very successful businessman? And yes someone to understand the headphone insanity would be good, my dad balked when I asked him if I could spend $500 (of my own earned money, he likes to clear my purchases) on some w500's.

Ha my dad flipped when I asked him the same but I convinced him I need to learn from my purchases. He will go out and spend thousands in sports equipment because he likes it but when it comes to spending it on something he does not fully understand he hates it.

My family is comfortable. All of it comes at a price and my dad is gone half of the year.

And theres a pair of W5000 I could let you use.