You're in a great position with youth on your side and a lot of options for getting into medical school. 

Did you know there are undergraduate medical school programs that will allow you to go from high school to medical school? Meaning you can skip many of the steps that most premed students must overcome. I'm referring to taking the MCAT and not being guaranteed that you'll gain admission to medical school.

Each BS/MD program is going to have their own requirements so don't take my words as the absolute truth that you won't have to take the MCAT and your acceptance to medical school is automatically locked in.

But for some direct to medical school programs this is the reality as long as you meet their academic and extracurricular requirements. 

If you're set on going to medical school directly from high school then definitely click on BS/MD programs for all the information you'll need to get started. 

Don't worry if you want to take the more traditional route to medical school because I have you covered too.

Getting into College

I'm sure your parents and teachers have drilled home the importance of going to school and getting a good education. If you want to lead the good life it can only come about by getting into college in most cases and especially if you want to be a doctor.

The admissions office is not going to just hand you an offer of acceptance. You're going to have to work hard and standout if you want to get into college.

As a high school student your focus should be on getting the best scores possible on the SAT or ACT. If you can do this a lot of doors will open for you that will help you for the rest of your life. Also if you do bad on the SAT/ACT this can haunt you for a very long time.

How is that so you may ask?

Well depending on your plans after college some jobs or graduate schools will ask to see your standardized test scores including the SAT/ACT even if it is not directly related to the position you're applying for.

It serves as a way to screen applicants and makes it easy to reject because all you have to do is look at the numbers when you have so many qualified people but only a limited number of spots available.

So yes those test scores are very important not only for college but after college too.

I already graduated college and want to hear something interesting...

Each year the school puts out a report detailing the demographics and statistics of the incoming freshman class and guess what?

The test scores and GPA are constantly on the rise. It was funny that most recently my roommate from college joked that he couldn't get into our college with his previous numbers just because of how competitive admissions has become. 

I place a lot of emphasis on standardized tests because you have to start thinking like an admissions officer.

The admissions office of colleges are flooded with applicants from throughout the country who attended high schools that have unique ways of grading their students.

Therefore, one way to the admissions office to assess your academic strength is based on standardized tests because this allows for an apples to apples and oranges to oranges comparison of students from diverse backgrounds.

Using this logic you can see why you need to do everything possible to ace the SAT/ACT while in high school.

It is never too early to get started with your test prep because you want to know what you'll be up against.

High School and Choosing a College

Life has a strange way of working itself out so I have standard advice if you're on the fence between two colleges.

Always attend the school where you feel most comfortable. Don't pick a university based on whether or not it will boost your chances of gaining admission to medical school.

I know as a high school student considering you want to know more about your options so I won't leave you hanging. Here is a listing of the top 50 pre medical school programs that have a sound track record of getting their students into medical school. 

You don't want to attend a college only because they have a great premed program to later learn you love philosophy and no longer want to go to medical school. You gain life experiences and mature as a person in college so don't lock yourself into the premed track or a specific school because all you're thinking about is the future.

At the end of the day choose a school that you're willing to attend regardless of your passion for medicine.

There are many students who started out as premed and find their calling in other fields or professions and what you may have thought was the ideal career for you at 17, 18 or 19 years old may change.