Kansas State or University of Kansas? Have heard a bit about the latter from a family friend, but will also look at the former.
IME counselors are terrific when kids go to the usual schools. Where the internet is better is when one wants to find schools outside the typical ones kids there attend. Two of mine attended such schools. One of those has since come into the āregularā realm of suggested schools (for the right fit student) at our high school.
Either one have good departments. Kansas State has really ramped up their research over the past 6 years. My son is now in their vet school. His soon to be fiancƩ was pre med (she has everything to get into med school but decided to go to PA school for less debt and less school). She starts PA school in August at another school. It is a place to visit if there is ever a chance. K-State, KU, and Iowa State can all be done in one trip and are worth looking at.
Looks like you want a combination of what is available generally in public(lower cost, diversity) and private(small, attention from professors) schools. Would a honors program in a public school work? If so, consider arizona (with honors admission) where would get $20K scholarship and costs would work out.
If New Mexico isnāt too far, consider University of New Mexico. This student I believe would qualify for the Amigo Scholarshipā¦which is guaranteedā¦and costs would be within your price range.
Take a look at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. With merit, based on current GPA it could fit into your budget. School flies under the radar but as you do research you may find the school and the area to be a good fit.
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Thanks, will look into that one.
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Check out Ursinus in PA. Offers large merit scholarships. Not sure about diversity , but I am familiar with students that went on to successful careers in healthcare . ( med school, working for drug companies.)
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How is easy/difficult is the grading at Ursinus? How easy/difficult is it to get volunteering, internship, research opportunities at Ursinus?
I donāt know about medicine, but I know someone in a STEM field who got good internships and was then accepted by Yale for grad school.
has your daughter checked our case western? pre-med is very popular, the students (from what i researched when applying for colleges) are not competitive, it offers merit aid, itās a mid-size university in a city, and it has strong connections with the cleveland clinic! greek life is popularābut not too popularāand it was something i looked past when applying because itās much different than greek life at, say, washington and lee. i definitely think she should look into it if sheās up for it/if it sounds like a good option.
rhodes is a fantastic school (i also applied there solely because my mother wanted me to apply to at least one school in tennessee), but do be wary that if she is seeking diversity, it may not be the place for her. as someone from tennessee, rhodes is a very white student body (around 70%), and the students also tend to be very wealthy and very middle-of-the-road politically (perhaps leaning a liiiiiiittle on the conservative side, but not by much). continuing, memphis itself is rather racially segregated due to gentrification (among other things), and the institution, as drop-dead gorgeous as it is, does not reflect the area itās in. if youāre wary of uofrichmond, i would be wary of rhodes as well.
some other schools i also thought of that could be in the cards for her: macalester (good if she wants a more diverse liberal arts college experience while still being in a city), occidental (same reason as macalester), franklin and marshall, and uofrochester.
Our daughter is waitlisted at case-western. So, that is out of radar for now. She is not interested in Rhodes.
Her choices are Fordham, Ursinus and Union College in NY, Philadelphia area.
Of her choices, unless there are other considerations that you havenāt mentioned, I would rank them Union, Fordham, and Ursinus, in that order. Union is a good āsecond tierā smaller school, Fordham has the advantage of location (near NYC) and is also now considered a good 2nd tier school. Iād say that Ursinus is a notch below them.
If your daughter is worried about her undergrad grades and attending a non-competitive school in order to achieve a high GPA for applying to med school, honestly, Iād have her look into your local 4 yr state college (which probably is still open for applications for fall). Unless sheās gotten spectacular fin/merit aid at the privates youāve mentioned, it will be your cheapest option by far, and probably the easiest at which to achieve a high GPA (Iām not talking about flagship state U, Iām talking about the branch school or 4 yr public college closest to home). Or decide now to go for the nursing track, with the intention of becoming a nurse practitioner. She can do a very inexpensive RN at a community college, then an inexpensive RN to BSN at a state college, then a relatively short nurse practitioner or ādoctorā of nursing practice program. The requirements are far less, the academic rigor is far less, and the time commitment and tuition commitment are a fraction of the path to an MD.
If she wants medical school, and has the ability to make that into a reality, Iād say Union.
Thank you so much for the insights! Her tuition at Ursinus comes to be lower than our state schools and Ursinus is financially appealing.
Tuition at Fordham and Union is 30-40% higher than Ursinus and aid offered at Union and Fordham are almost same.
So what it really comes down to, is are you willing and able to pay more for Fordham or Union for her, and is she able to compete at Fordham and Union, which are far more selective than Ursinus.
Sounds to me as if, under the circumstances, Ursinus might make more sense, since it costs less, and she has a better chance of being at the top of her class in science classes. Fordham has over 2200/year, Union 500, Ursinus about 400.
When it comes to med school admissions, IF she has a great MCAT score, and has a high GPA and a high science GPA, she could get into med school from Ursinus. I would suggest that she look at her SAT or even better, ACT, if she took one. The MCAT is an achievement test that tests knowledge in various science subjects, plus English literacy. It should be predictive, to some degree, of her score on a standardized test for college. This may give you some idea of what to expect in the future.
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