<p>Consider your budget. You may want to try the net price calculators are various colleges’ web sites to determine whether they are likely to be affordable.</p>
<p>Consider majors offered. Pre-med is not a major, but a set of courses taken along with a typical college major (even if the student is in a streamlined undergraduate to medical school program). The student needs to be at a school that offers the courses and major of interest.</p>
<p>Of course, if the student is interested in the streamlined undergraduate to medical school programs, that is certainly a consideration, but be aware that getting into those programs is very competitive, so there should be some plan for the common case of not getting into such programs. Getting into medical school the usual way by applying as an undergraduate not in a streamlined program is also very competitive, so the student needs to consider the possibility of not getting into any medical school (most freshmen intending pre-med never go to medical school, often deciding not to do pre-med after getting grades too low in chemistry and biology courses).</p>
<p>Be sure to have one or more ironclad safeties. A safety is a school that has assured admissions, assured affordability, academic offerings appropriate for the student, and good or acceptable fit otherwise (so that the student will like the idea of attending that school). In-state public universities (e.g. SUNY schools for you) are common candidates for safety consideration, but be aware of the possibility of budget cuts causing capacity reductions and therefore increased selectivity. Schools offering guaranteed scholarships for certain GPAs and SAT/ACT scores (e.g. the University of Alabama campuses at Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville) can also be safeties. Schools with greater emphasis on subjective admissions criteria like essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, “level of interest”, etc. are less predictable in admissions and are less likely to be reliable safeties. Some students use community college with intent to transfer to a four year university as a junior as their safety.</p>