I’m entering my senior year of highschool, and still have no idea where I want to go for my undergrad. My ultimate goal is to eventually go to a high-ranking medical school. For undergrad I’m applying to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, and a few other places. But honestly i can probably only afford in-state colleges. Any opinions on the programs at ASU and U of A? Will going there limit my chances of getting into a really competitive med school in the future?
What counts for all med schools are: your grades (they need to be stellar) your MCATs (ditto) some medical-related experience or EC, be it in research or part-time job in a hospital/doctor’s office, volunteering in a medical setting etc.
You can hope for “high ranking” med schools, but really, it makes no difference where you go. I know Ivy League grads who ended up in Oklahoma, and I know small southern LAC grads ending up at Yale for medical school. I have a niece who is at an Ivy doing her residency after attending a top-ranked med school – into which she got as a CC transfer/state U grad.
Go where it’s cheapest (you’ll rack up enough debt in med school) and where you think you can succeed. A long way of saying ASU and U of A will not impede your chances of med school, elite or not.
No limitations. It’s all on you.
Instead of applying to universities you can’t afford, you need to
- talk with your parents: how much can they invest in your education from their savings and income?
- then calculate your efc together
(first, fafsa/federal eligibility; then, institutional )
If there’s a difference between your parents ’ target and their efc, you’ll need to look for merit aid. If it’s low (5k and under) you’ll want 100% need schools. - run the net price calculator on these universities : asu; Tulane; Trinity, TX; St Edwards; Pomona; URedlands; cal poly slo; Sonoma state.
You should see widely different results. Cross out the ones that aren’t affordable and request info on the others ’ website (as demonstrating interest will ‘count’ positively at the private universities.)
If you can, report on this thread: net price for highest, lowest, and asu as well as your efc. People here will help you find more affordable ideas.
As for premed : the key element is looking at how much support there is for premed students, hours and policies at the tutoring center, pretty health commitee and policies, collaborative atmosphere, known existence of purposely weed out courses, etc. The first semester is really rough and you’ll need all the support you can get. Then sophomore year will come orgo and for that too you’ll need help to control and dominate the beast.
For this reason, jhu is probably not a good idea unless you got 34 on your act easily and got a 5 in AP bio as a sophomore. Barely exaggerating here. You want to be in a supportive atmosphere and you want to be among the top students at your college or at least not in the bottom 50%.
Asu has Barrett, one of the best honors colleges in the country. Make it your safety if it’s affordable.
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undergrad. My ultimate goal is to eventually go to a high-ranking medical school. For undergrad I’m applying to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, and a few other places. But honestly i can probably only afford in-state colleges. Any opinions on the programs at ASU and U of A? Will going there limit my chances of getting into a really competitive med school in the future?
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What are your stats?
How much will your parents pay each year?
Is AZ your home state?
All US MD schools are very competitive. And…they’re all excellent. EVERY single one of them.
Going to UAz or ASU will not limit you at all. It’s all up to you. Med schools don’t care where you go to undergrad. They care about cum GPA, BCPM GPA, MCAT scores and medically-related ECs…and LORs.
Why do you want to go to a “high ranking” med school? Do you plan on going into Academic Medicine?
I wouldn’t mind going to the U of A for graduate school, but I want to make sure I have options when I have to choose a med school. I’ve been reading from some sources that the school you choose for your undergrad matters, but the information you gave me is great to know. Arizona is my home state. As of right now I have a 4.0 UW GPA and a 4.6 W, I’m second in a class of about 350, and got a 33 on my last ACT, which I’m about to retake. I won’t be able to recieve any financial aid, but my parents are willing to pay for half of my education. Thanks for the input, I was a little concerned because I’ve been misinformed.
You may not be “choosing” a med school. It’s not unusual for students to apply to 10-20 med schools and get into ONE of them. And yes, many grad school admissions may be affected by where you do your undergrad – but in general, that’s not how it works for med schools. That’s all about grades, scores, ECs, LORs.
And it’s not unusual for a student to apply to 10-20 Med schools and get into zero.
Odds are 50-50. Obviously the higher your GPA and MCAT the lower the odds you won’t get into at least one Medical program.
Considering your stats you’re sure ringer merit scholarships (those are stats - based). Did you run the NPC on the universities listed above?
In Arizona, the ranked choices would be
Asu Barrett > UA honors > ua > asu.
You can get a full tuition scholarship at u Alabama, guaranteed.
Tulane would likely offer merit, as would private universities.
Pomona doesn’t offer merit so cross it out.
Your “4.0 UW GPA and a 4.6 W, I’m second in a class of about 350, and a 33 on my last ACT” will get you accepted at many, many colleges, but will be unimportant to a med school. You will start college essentially with a clean slate and whether or not you even make to actually applying to med schools (most premeds don’t) and get an acceptance will essentially be on you and your post high school performance (eg GPAs, MCAT, ECs, etc.), not where you attend college, In fact do really well in college and then be rude, arrogant in your interviews and hopefully you have a Plan B ready because you’re not going to med school. The college you attend is not of zero importance, but it will not save an otherwise uncompetitive applicant, or a rude jerk. In last cycle over 60% of those who got to point of actually applying did not get into any med school…none, nada, zilch.
Focus on fit because if you’re happy you’re more likely to do well. There will be many schools where you should fit in and offer what you need to gain a med school acceptance. And as med school is very expensive and most med students borrow their way through you want to pick a school where you can graduate with as little debt as possible. Your state school is a good starting point. Good luck.
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I wouldn’t mind going to the U of A for graduate school, but I want to make sure I have options when I have to choose a med school.
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Most applicants get into ZERO med schools. The acceptance rates that schools report are based on acceptance to ONE MD school.
Every applicant is happy to get into ONE MD school…no matter where it is in the US.
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I've been reading from some sources that the school you choose for your undergrad matters, but the information you gave me is great to know.
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I have no idea what those sources were, but there is zero evidence that school matters unless it’s truly some podunk school. Surely, UAz and ASU are not podunk schools that would concern any med school.
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Arizona is my home state. As of right now I have a 4.0 UW GPA and a 4.6 W, I'm second in a class of about 350, and got a 33 on my last ACT, which I'm about to retake. I won't be able to recieve any financial aid, but my parents are willing to pay for half of my education. Thanks for the input, I was a little concerned because I've been misinformed.
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How are you supposed to pay for the other half??? Not only can you not borrow much, but as a premed, you shouldn’t borrow much at all.
When your parents say “half,” what does that mean? Half of the cost of UAz? Half of the cost of a $60k per year school???
Often when parents say “half” they mean half of the cost of their instate public. But, maybe yours mean $30k because they think that’s half of any school.
If you got a merit scholarship for full tuition, would your parents still make you pay half of the remaining costs??
Don’t apply to any UCs as an OOS premed. There’s too many premeds at the top UCs and it’s just a waste of money.
Please ask them how much they’ll pay each year. “Half” is too vague.
If they’ll say that they’ll pay half of $55k (the cost of a UC OOS), then would they pay $27k towards ANY school?
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For this reason, jhu is probably not a good idea unless you got 34 on your act easily and got a 5 in AP bio as a sophomore. Barely exaggerating here. You want to be in a supportive atmosphere and you want to be among the top students at your college or at least not in the bottom 50%.
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I agree. So many premeds think “JHU!!!”, but then they get weeded out because nearly everyone is premed and often stronger than they are. The prereqs are weeders and A’s will be limited.
It is so easy to make a mistep in the premed process. Kids try to go to reach schools…and then end up with non-med-school worthy GPAs.
Go where you will be a top student. Go where you can shine, work hard, and get the A’s.