seekingknowledge, it is hard to know when the interviews will come, but if your son or daughter has to pick only one semester to take a lighter load for interviews, I’d choose Fall if the application is submitted early. D had 3 II in all in October. Fortunately, her professors were good about letting her make up work. A student I know at another college wasn’t so lucky and had to reschedule an October interview for January to avoid an F on a major test. I would guess that more IIs are offered between September-December than January -->, but I don’t have hard data to back that up.
I would agree with texaspg, an under dog would have an MCAT more like in the mid 20’s. The mean MCAT for 2014 MD school matriculants was 31.4.
dheldreth, thanks. DS is indeed trying to figure out lighter semester. From older threads, it looks like the bulk of interviews take place on Monday and Friday. Does that still hold true?
I guess I was just referring to MD. I think a 30-31 may be a little rough to get an acceptance. I hope Im wrong.
there are a handful of MD schools that have average MCAT scores in the high 20’s. My d has found one MD schoolwith an average MCAT of 24. Granted, the one with a 24 only has an 88% residency match.
Theoretically, your underdog status has pretty much to do with your residency. I think many schools in Texas average 29-31 scores but I don’t think any in California do.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1745941-texas-medical-schools.html#latest
On interview dates: D had one interview on a Monday, one on a Wednesday, and one on a Friday. It varies by school.
On 30-31 MCAT being tough to get an acceptance, that isn’t necessarily true. Kristen5792 already wrote that she had a 30, and she is an M4, and my D had a 31 on her 3rd attempt - 1st 2 were in the 20s - and she had three acceptances early in this cycle. There is a thread on that “other” site for students with 27-29 MCAT with acceptances, and there are quite a few. They attribute their success to applying early (like the day the application opens) and broadly. Also, if the rest of your app is strong, like my Ds was, that matters just as much as the MCAT. And as texaspg said, your state of residence can help or hinder your chances of an acceptance.
According to this table, with data from 2012-2014 combined:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstable24.pdf
If you have an MCAT between 30-32 and a GPA of 3.60-3.79 you have a 64.1% acceptance rate. With the same MCAT range and a GPA 3.8-4.0 the acceptance rate goes up to 76%.
MCAT is important, but so are other aspects of the application.
It also matters what your home state is. Some state med schools are more protective of in-state applicants than others
See:
Questions about student loans for med school. Is there a limit of how much per year and how much total for 4 years the students can take out? Do parents have to co-sign the loan? It’s a lot of money. Does the bank just give it to anyone?
Federal direct student loans for med students have a limit of $40,500/year and lifetime limit of $224,000 (Lifetime limit includes all federal student loans a student may have, including any from undergrad and any capitalized interest on under/grad/med school loans.)
Federal Grad Plus loans are capped at the stated annual COA minus any other aid received. There is no lifetime limit on the amount a student can take out.
To qualify for grad plus loans, a student must have a clean credit report and a credit score. (IOW, if your child has never had a credit card/utility or cellphone contract/rental agreement, etc–there could be a problem obtaining a grad plus loan.)
All federal loans for medical students are unsubsidized.
Current interest rates are 6.21% for federal direct; grad plus loans currently have an interest rate of 7.21%. Rates are adjusted [upward] annually on July 1.
Parents are not required to co-sign for federal direct loans or grad plus loans.
Some private med schools may offer some students private loans from their own sources. Interest rates and qualification for those private loans vary tremendously.
Banks and credit unions also offer student loans for med school. Their interest rates are much lower than those offered by the feds, but a parent will probably be expected to co-sign and these loans are not eligible for federal loan repayment programs.
Does a student has to qualify for a federal loan through financial aid or its unrelated to iincome? At which point in the application process do you apply for these loans? Is there a deadline to apply?
The student (not the parent) needs to file a FAFSA in order to be eligible for federal loans. This is done in early in the year s/he will be starting med school. Each medical school will have a specific date by which time applications for FA need to be filed. Information about how to apply for FA (including deadlines for application) will be sent to accepted & waitlisted applicants after they have received their status notification. Usually around December for rolling schools; mid-March/early April for non-rolling.
Occasionally, merit awards may be offered at the time of acceptance.
Federal direct loans and grad plus loans are not dependent on student or parental income.
Students must go through an on-line loan counseling session and sign their master promissory note before they can receive federal loans. This needs to be done about a month or more prior to the beginning of school. Loans are disbursed shortly after the school begins. (Within 4-6 weeks in both Ds’ experiences.) A student will need a cash cushion to start school (to pay for rent/damage deposit, books, moving expenses, utility hook-ups, food, etc.).
However, private medical schools and many OOS public med schools do require parental financial information. A few require a parental FAFSA; most privates require Needs Access from the parent(s). (And if you thought the CSS Profile was intrusive–wait until you see NA!) Any school that requires NA will send the applicant a link to necessary online form.
(HINT: if a school doesn’t ask for parental financials, there will be no aid other than federal loans.)
Some scholarships and all institutional need based aid require parental (and spousal, if the applicant is married) financial information. The requirement for parental financial info exists even if the student is older and has been self-supporting for many years. (Often until they are 32 or older; age cut off dates vary by school. Also if parental financials are required for MS1, they will be required for all 4 years.)
Schools that do offer institutional aid will calculate a family contribution based upon parental financial info. Private schools require a base (or unit) loan plus the family EFC before any institutional aid is awarded.
How much is unit loan?
Thanks @WayOutWestMom As usual you are a wealth of information.
EDIT: Private schools require a base (or unit) loan plus the family EFC before any institutional need-based grant aid is awarded.
The amount of the unit loan is school-specific.
The unit loan only happens at the most generous of private med schools (think Harvard, Yale, etc) since most med schools do not offer need-based grant aid to all students.
Generally the unit loan is more or less equal to the full federal loan amount. Or about $32-40K/year.
We just finished up helping D with FAFSA, NeedAccess, and CSS profile. Some public schools require more than FAFSA (CA public at least) and we were required to do parent portion of all 3-- including FAFSA.
We started with the worst (kind of a toss up for us between the CSS and NA) and it helped make FAFSA seem easy. This was all done after spending many many hours doing our taxes. There really should be a better system-- especially when all loans are expected.
@c@ Cheer up! Maybe your D will get a small merit award for all your tedious paperwork.
D1 received a small schollie based on “merit + need” as a second year. Not a lot, but even a $1000 or two meant less she had to take out in loans. (Her schollie just about covered the cost of her health insurance for a year.)
As far as unit loans go WOWmom is correct in that it is school specific. Son and I filled out the Need Access as well as the FAFSA with parental info. His “unit” loan from the privates varied, Dartmouth to Cornell to Harvard, all gave different amounts in his financial aid package. His merit scholie was awarded initially at one amount and then changed two more times, once again after matriculation. His is full tuition (not a $ amount since tuition rises) plus some extra for fees and health insurance. He choose the school with the merit offer after figuring out his “get of school debt” would be much less than the “unit” loans from the privates.
He was interested in a combined program and he also took the cost and time needed of that additional degree into account when looking at his options. He was offered a full fellowship for the second grad degree (not usual for b-school) plus living expenses and now a summer internship that is paying close to his remaining loan. He knew that would not be the case with the privates, since b-school is much, much pricier than med school. Along with the tuition and fees he also took into account the cost of living in the various locations. Again our home state is substantial less than the ones offering “unit” loans so that was the one he went with.
It has made the concern of paying off loans no longer in the equation of what residency, especially since he was leaning to primary care. And he knew he was solely financially responsible for his med/b-school COA. He seems pleased with his decision so far, he begins MS4 in June after completing his MBA.
Another note that some of the privates offered their own financing in addition to the fed and grad plus loans.
Hope this helps.
Kat
Kat - so he chose not to attend H for medicine?
Nope. And the price for their b-school was also a HUGE issue. Same with Tuck. He had taken his GMAT well before his MCAT so they had contacted previously and the b-school money would not be as forth-coming as it was from where he matriculated. When he was initially looking at schools his current school did not offer the combined program, upon his deciding to attend they started up the program. Again the amount of money vs. debt played a large factor in his decision.