Extracurricular Advice for High School JuniorAnswered
Hey! Im a Junior and I've been really stressed about college applications and extracurricular activities. I am interested in going into medicine, specifically bs/md programs and currently my top school is Rice University and the Rice Baylor BS/MD program! I'd love any advice about what I need to do to equip me to be a better applicant! Thank you so much!
Demographics
Asian
Female
Academics
4.0 uw/4.7 w GPA
36 ACT
Top 2-3% of my class (1435 people)
Taking the most rigorous course load 14 AP classes
1490/1500 PSAT (national merit semifinalist??)
AP Scholar
Duke Tip National Merit Scholar
Member of National Honor Society & National Spanish Honor Society
Presidential Education Award (2015/2018)
Extra-Curricular/Volunteering
Founder/ Executive Director of Global Non-Profit Organization (Over 100+ volunteers in Germany, Canada, Kenya, India, USA) 2020- now (600+ hours)
Recognized by US House of Representatives as 'hometown hero'
Featured on prominent local, state, and national news sources
Keynote speaker at Global Conference with almost 2,000 viewers
Recipient of $500 Grant from International Corporation
Collected nearly 1000 books for Students in Schools and Delivered 3,000+ Handwritten letters to hospitals across the world
Molecular Biology Research Intern at UT Southwestern Medical School
Co authored a study published in prestigious biology journal
Invited to attend national Conference August and affiliated with the RBK Consortium
Volunteer at Nursing Home in the healthcare building (2020-now)
Executive Board Member of my family's non-profit
Volunteered in low income areas through my religious community (200+ hours)
Led numerous programs in my area while working with many notable organizations
Youth Leader for global non-profit aimed at raising money for premature babies for the past 5+ years
Helped in projects to raise over $20,000
Speech and Debate
Varsity Debate/Speech Captain
Made finals and out rounds at many local and district circuit tournaments and won best speaker awards
Member of National Speech and Debate Honor Society
State Qualifier in Original Oratory
HOSA
Top 10 at area competition for my event
Traditional Indian Singing
Helped raise $50,000 over the span of three years for St.Jude medical center through leading and singing in a musical concert for charity
Accepted into a pretty selective hospital volunteering program set to last from 2020-2023 (but wasn't able to attend yet due to COVID cancellation)
Youth mentor and 2-time recipient of a distinction level certificate for the Hindi Language from an accredited university in India
Royal Conservatory distinction level certification for Music Theory and Piano examinations
Levels 3,5,8 passed with honors and distinction
Some of the BSMD programs I'm interested in are Brown PLME, Rutgers, UPitt, Rice/Baylor, Texas Tech, Boston University, Case Western
and other universities are Rice, UT Austin, Duke, UCLA, Northwestern, NYU and Johns Hopkins.
I'm open to all advice!!! Thanks
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2 answers
Geesh, you have about 3 to 4 times as many ECs as other top applicants candidates.
1. Your post will be taken down because you didn't bother to read the rules about posting.
2. I would open a Common/Coalition app profile and study it. You have way too much information to put on a college application, so I suggest you fill out a mock one. Then you will realize that no one in college admissions wants to read 25 ECs because it's overkill and they will all assume that you spread yourself too thin over too many things.
3. You can't be a National Merit Scholar Finalist without taking the SAT and getting a high 99% percentile score, so even if you have a high PSAT score, you can't get the upgrade and scholarship opportunities for colleges the give NMS Finalist awards. It's doesn't seem like you'd care for those schools anyway. So I'm just pointing that out.
4. @YeshDatar who is a Collegevine Expert has some great blog posts on BS/MD programs so I'd highly recommend that you look at them.
My only advice to you as a human is in the form of a question. Why are you in such a rush to become a doctor at age 16 or whatever your age is? You'll probably live to 90 if you take care of yourself and have a very long career whether you finish medical school in 7 years or 8 years from now. I personally have no interest in the medical field but I do know that the best doctors in the world might be excellent at STEM subjects but they are also well rounded, well travelled, well-read people who have great bedside manner and are interested in having a life and family outside of just spending 80-100 hours+ at the hospital.
Think about it. If you force yourself on a fast track medical trajectory, you will never have the time in your life to study abroad in another country, take a variety of interesting liberal arts classes, explore things outside of your comfort zone and just grow up organically like other super-smart cohorts at Ivys or Elite or Top Liberal arts colleges. Regret may bite you in the bum later on.
Please get off the hamster wheel once in a while, you are certainly doing a ton of things but not in what appears to be in a well-balanced organized way. Do you even know how to have fun???? Admissions officers may actually feel sorry for you if all you can do is talk about your grades, test scores, 25+ ECs and awards/honours.
Hi. I believe the guidelines request you refrain from requesting chancing here. But, since you did...
My advice is to take a deep breath: breathe in....breathe out. You are a rockstar, and in more ways than one. Keep doing what you're doing, and don't forget to enjoy High School while you can.
If you must, shadowing would be great for BS/MD, but it isn't necessary. I was considering BS/MD before, and for pt contacts acquired EMT certification through an accelerated summer course (I do not recommend this...it was like I never left school).
I wish you the best, and much less stress!
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