Affordable Yet Good Neroscience Undergrad

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I plan on majoring in neuroscience, and then I hope to go to med school. My SATs sucked, but I got a 33 on the ACT, and I have a 4.0 going into my senior year. </p>

<p>My family makes enough money to put me out of range of getting a lot offinancial aid, and my parents want me to pay for most of my own college tuition.</p>

<p>I want a school that is good enough to prepare me for med school but isn't SUUUUPER pricey. </p>

<p>I was looking at Pitt (I'm in state) which looks affordable AND pretty decent...
I'll probably also apply to more pricey schools in hopes for scholarships, but I need some affordable ones just in case.</p>

2

<p>Go to the financial aid forum and read the pinned threads about scholarships, especially ones with automatic full tuition/full rides. If you are going to med school, you want to graduate with as little to no debt as possible. All you need is a decent school where you can get top grades.</p>

3

<p>As you know, getting a full tuition scholarship from UPitt is iffy, especially with a 33. You need to include some schools that will FOR SURE give you huge merit.</p>

<p>I want a school that is good enough to prepare me for med school</p>

<p>Any good school can prepare you for med school. </p>

<p>Since you want to go to med school, and you need HUGE merit, you need to look at the southern schools.</p>

<p>My own son graduated from Bama in May and is starting med school in two weeks.
UA-Birmingham has neuroscience and the med school is on campus.</p>

<p>U Alabama, the flagship, doesn’t have neuroscience as a major per se, but those with that have that interest often do a custom major with bio and psychology. Bama would give you free tuition for your stats. The app is online already, so you could have an acceptance and a full tuition award within a few weeks. The app is very easy. You need to do the scholarship app as well, but that is easy, too. Neither require essays or LORs.</p>

<p>Bama’s campus is gorgeous and it has a brand new Science and Engineering Complex…state of the art science labs and classrooms.</p>

<p>Alabama does write Committee Letters, so that’s a plus for med school admissions.</p>

<p>With this scholarship money, your resultiing cost would be quite low. *</p>

<p>Pics of the new Science & Engineering Complex begin on page 6, Student housing pics begin on page 12.</p>

<p><a href=“Titanium Chef | Home”>Titanium Chef | Home;

<p>Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active.*
<a href=“http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/[/url]”>http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>school scholarships
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html[/url]”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If the goal is med school, then the specific major isn’t relevant.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for your replies!</p>

<p>I don’t really need a full scholarship, I just don’t want to go to a school with crazy tuition.
I’ll check on Bama. I’ve seen it come up a few times before in forums.</p>

<p>Med school is where I’m planning on spending more to get the best education I can.</p>

<p>If I go to a less competitive school for undergrad, will it be more difficult for me to get into a competitive med school? Or will it just depend on my grades and MCAT?</p>

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<p>It will depend on your grades and MCAT. Please read the premed section of the forums for exhaustive and repetitive discussion on this topic.</p>

6

<p>If I go to a less competitive school for undergrad, will it be more difficult for me to get into a competitive med school? Or will it just depend on my grades and MCAT?</p>

<p>First of all, you need to understand that ALL US MD med schools are competitive. They’re all hard to get into, they’re all FIRST RATE, and NONE of them are just “so so.” They’re all EXCELLENT!</p>

<p>There isn’t one US MD school that is subpar and would “hold you back”. They’re all very, very good. The US gov’t gives MD schools a LOT of money and the education is flat (the same) at all of them. </p>

<p>Admittance into a US MD med school largely depends on: GPA (both cum and BCMP), MCAT, LORs, medically-related ECs, and volunteering. The name of your undergrad is irrelevant…except maybe if you go to some really crappy unknown podunk school that has inadequate science classes. </p>

<p>As for how much merit you’ll need for undergrad… How much will your parents pay for undergrad? If they’ll pay $15k-20k per year, then you will need a full tuition scholarship. Room, board, books, fees, travel, etc will cost your parents about $15k-20k per year.</p>

<p>Ask your parents how much they’ll pay each year.</p>

7

<p>If Pitt is affordable and you like it, it seems like a no-brainer to go there. They have an excellent reputation (and tons of research $$) for neuro and several hospitals on or near campus for oodles of pre-med experience. </p>

<p>They were my guy’s second choice… URochester won out for him, but since you need merit $$ I’m not sure URoc would be a great suggestion. You would be likely to get some merit $$, but I don’t know that it would make it comparable to Pitt. You could always try.</p>