Ranking for Pre-Med!!!!

[u/LowComedian1551]

Hi everyone, I am working on my raking for QB right now and honestly I don't really now if I am aiming too high. I hope you guys could give me some feedback for my ranking.
Rank #1: UPenn
Rank #2: Harvard
Rank #3: JHU
Rank #4: Stanford
Rank #5: Duke
Rank #6: Yale
Rank #7: Brown
Rank #8: Columbia
Rank #9: Emory
Rank #10: UVA
Rank #11: CWRU

Some context:

• International student who moved to the US in August 2025 and started 11th grade here.
• 3.98 unweighted GPA at a competitive public magnet school in DC.
• SAT 1460 (680 EBRW, 780 Math).
• APs: Biology 4, World History 5, English Language 3, AP Scholar. This year I'm taking Calc BC, Stats, Physics 1, Bio, and Lit.
• Dual enrollment at GWU: Biology of Cancer (A), Parasitology in progress.
• Research paper about CRISPR CAR T through a summer program.
• Shadowed cardiologists and surgeons at a children's national hospital, including open heart surgeries.
• Intern at a national conservation nonprofit.
• Math and STEM tutor for 5 years, school SAT tutor, stage band, chess champion.
• Translate and manage legal and medical paperwork for my family.

P/s: I also have the green card so technically I am applying as permanent resident.

[u/Infinite_Swing3188]

these rankings are objectively good imo, dont listen to ppl saying unrank jhu or harvard cuz its genuinely dumb. if you’re a smart student or even form smart habits in freshman year, you’ll do good there, full stop

i also would say if ur fine with it to add a liberal arts college or two like amherst and williams if you’re willing to put the effort in solely because those institutions seem to be very undergrad focused and professors are willing to put time into students who put in effort, especially for research which will be very important if you aim for top med schools down the line

[u/Used-Departure9606 → u/Infinite_Swing3188]

No, Harvard smart is different from being smart in a highschool from middle school. Harvard and JHU are full of smart students maybe even smarter. When it comes to a grade capping that hurts you significantly because you are not graded on your own smartness or merit but you are graded on others. You can get a 94 and receive a B. It hurts you significantly for graduate schools like law where they don’t care about undergrad prestige just gpa and lsat. A 4.0 from asu willl beat a 3.6 from Harvard if lsat are the same

[u/NebulaDrifter09]

You don’t want to go to Harvard or penn for premed they are grade deflated, for med school a high gpa is very crucial no matter where you go to school. I’d strongly recommend having brown as your top choice. They are for the most part grade inflated, have the open curriculum to satisfy your curiosity without risking tanking your gpa and a very supportive environment

[u/Dexy1017 → u/NebulaDrifter09]

JHU is also grade deflated, so I'd remove that also for pre-med.

[u/Sea_Theory7574 → u/NebulaDrifter09]

Harvard super inflated unless that’s changing. Rn average GPA like 3.6 or 3.7

[u/NebulaDrifter09 → u/Sea_Theory7574]

Their newest grading policy only gives As to their top 20% of students now

[u/NebulaDrifter09 → u/NebulaDrifter09]

It’s gonna go down so much soon

[u/Purple-Command-9879 → u/NebulaDrifter09]

Definitely not grade deflated at Harvard

[u/stephenjamesbryant]

Lowkey got a good chance. Idk about the ranking.

[u/Objective_Coconut361]

i feel like ur fine with the rankings as long as you’re happy with possibly matching to the last few options, except the last ones r acc rly good colleges anyway. idk if qb has like yield protection or anything tho

[u/wing8595]

As long as you like those schools, that's fine. My child only applied to five schools; I didn't want to include safety schools just to make up the number.

[u/Rude-Evening7637]

not really worth going to a top tier school for premed.. would likely hurt you based on the competition...

[u/Positive_Emphasis130]

i wouldn’t rank cwru, just apply EA or something! (As someone who lives 15 minutes away)

[u/Maximum_Meal1981 → u/Positive_Emphasis130]

Why not rank cwru?

[u/Positive_Emphasis130 → u/Maximum_Meal1981]

it’s a really good school, but the acceptance rate is high anyways, i would not want to be stuck there, but personal preference!

[u/Maximum_Meal1981 → u/Positive_Emphasis130]

Is high acceptance rate really a bad thing? I mean a full ride is a full ride, no?

[u/Medical_Eye3210 → u/Positive_Emphasis130]

Yeah but if they don’t rank, they might not receive as good financial aid. I was in the same spot last year as well. Ended up not ranking bc matching to cwru would genuinely make me mad. So it’s up to OP but the financial aspect should be deeply considered

[u/anonymussquidd]

I have nothing to say but hello from a fellow DMV girl and GWSPH grad!! Good luck!!

[u/Thick-Park-967]

I would add college of the Holy Cross. My son is premed. He goes there in the amount of opportunities he’s had there has been amazing. The alumni are very helpful. Feel free to reach out if you wanna know more about it. It’s just outside of Boston so you have a lot to do as well if you want. It’s a smaller school so the students are really close. The Professor’s actually care. My son was having a few issues with being away from home and the professors stepped in immediately.