@Hamurtle My bad, I meant to remove MIT and add Case. I plan on applying for their PPSP so let’s see how that goes!
@cypresspat Thank you for the input. I’ll definitely be looking more into some schools that offer strong aid packages in which I can succeed, and also look more to see if BME really is for me if I’m pursuing medicine. I appreciate the insight and I’d love any more information you may have!
If you need $15k/year more than the federal student loan your parents would have to borrow it. Are they willing to cosign ~$60k of loans for your undergrad? Graduating with ~$87k of loans before you even apply to med school is a very bad idea.
@atbha09 I am not an MD, I am a lowly PhD, but I work along side many MDs. I would urge you to spend a lot of time investigating life as a physician. Very, very different than life as an engineer! The reason colleges and medical schools care about EC’s being aligned with courses of study is they want students to be realistic and SURE about their choices. So don’t just volunteer in medical settings, really talk to the docs. Ask them what they do and do not like about heir jobs. Ask them if they would choose medical school all over again, and why/why not. Forty years is a LONG time to commit to a single profession. Be sure.
And be very honest with yourself about what attracts you to that, or any, occupation. How important is intellectual stimulation to you? How about career flexibility? Do you get bored easily? Because these are the complaints I hear from the docs I know. Many are bored and feel that their job is the same, year after year. Some see their profession as a calling and cannot imagine doing anything else. Those who saw it as the most intellectually challenging path were dissatisfied once they really started practicing.
Are you driven to help people? Are you empathetic and a good listener? Or, do you have fantastic hand coordination and are a stickler for details and precision, so you would make a good surgeon? Because with the way medical diagnostic programs and AI and all that are headed, soon docs won’t be in the business of diagnosing much. Computers will do all that. They will either be great at actually caring for people’s health, one on one, or they will be great at something mechanical, like surgery. Think about that and be sure you are okay with it.
I am very familiar with CWRU and the U of R. Both are very strongly linked to major medical centers and are great choices for a pre-med. I would argue they need to give you a great deal of merit aid to make them a good choice for you.
I know you are targeting big name schools with hopes of going to a big name medical school. But there are lots of people, also with an MD after their names, who went to directional schools which are strongly affiliated with specific medical schools. Youngstown state, U of Akron and Cleveland state university have an agreement (via state mandate) with NEO Medical School. That medical school is must take a majority of their students from those three schools. Upon graduation they, along with cWRU Medical school, all take the same medical board tests and pass at the same rates.
Investigate situations like that in Missouri. Graduates of NEO Med have a fraction of the debt their counterparts 30 miles to the north have. They have FAR more options upon completion of residency because their bankers are not determining what job they need to take.
@austinmshauri I would prefer that we wouldn’t have to do that as I know I’d be racking up debt from medical school as well.
@cypresspat I actually had a six week internship at an orthopedic surgery center where I had the chance to not only shadow doctors in the clinic and visit patients, but also be in the operating room with them and shadow them during long, tedious surgeries. It was actually through this internship that my interest and will to pursue medicine has become so intense. Not only did I get to shadow these doctors and learn from them, but I actually got to speak with them truthfully and learn all of the ups and downs of being a practicing physician. They honestly shared with me their particular gripes and issues with being a physician and dealing with patients. I was with doctors from 6 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon on some days (though they were there from 5 to maybe 6) and they very much expressed how grueling some of the days were. I got to witness firsthand their frustrations and annoyances, but also their fulfilling moments and times they really enjoyed their jobs. One of my doctors actually went to Case for both undergrad and medical school and spoke very highly of it, but also shed light on the difficult parts of the process (research, exams, USMLE, etc.)
Though I express an interest in engineering, after working with these doctors and learning from the cancer representative at my charity event, I truly would like to work towards dedicating my life towards this. I’ve understood and learned about the struggles I will have to endure through this process, but shadowing these doctors has also allowed me to understand why the process is worth it. My internship was absolutely amazing and really made me want to pursue medicine, which is why I’d like to line everything up now from the beginning so I can eliminate even the slightest amount of friction from the process. And if that means ridding BME because it’s not as practical, I think I may just be willing to do so.
Also take a look at University of Iowa for pre-med and bme.