Hi guys!
Ok so I was recently accepted to UF. But the problem is that the tuition is around $21,000 and minus bright futures (3,000) and my Florida savings plan (4,000) I’m looking at around $17,000 for my parents to pay. I haven’t won any scholarships and the FAFSA didn’t give me any aid. I’m waiting for decisions from Johns Hopkins,Cornell, brown, Harvard, rice, and Emory. If I go to one of those schools I’m looking at $45-65,000 in tuition… I don’t really want to take out loans either. My mom says that if I get into one of those top tier schools she’s willing to find a way by taking up another job or something. But I really don’t want to burden her with almost a quarter of a million in tuition at the end of 4 years. I’m leaning towards UF because it provides a great education, has a good medical program, and will only cost about $14,000 per year but my mom is convinced that if I go to UF my degree won’t have as much curb appeal as the other schools and that I will have difficulty finding a job/getting into a good med school. Please help I just want to make sure I make the right decision when it comes to my schools
Oh my goodness. Well I have a lot of advice for you! First, contrats on a stellar high school career. I’m assuming you have great stats, or you wouldn’t be applying to places like JHU, Cornell, Brown etc. Probably it would take more than an extra job to pay for those schools (but God bless your mom for offering!). As far as “curb appeal,” I think that is only true if you are looking for a job on Wall Street, or the type of thing where you’d need East Coast connections. Now that you’ve mentioned MED SCHOOL I’d say you really don’t need Ivy-quality schools at all. What you need is an excellent GPA, which actually might be more difficult to obtain at schools where you would be more of an average student than one who is toward the top of the pack. Med schools give virtually NO weight to the name of your school. They look at GPA, MCAT scores, and any experience you’ve gained exploring the medical field through part-time jobs or internships.
So UF is looking like an even better choice from that perspective. UF has a very strong pre-med program, and of course hospital connections.
As to cost – you’re looking at total cost of 21K – well about 17,000 of that consists of tuition plus room & board. The rest is “books and other expenses.” Let’s assume your healthcare is covered by your parents! Books can certainly be expensive, but there are MANY ways to get cheaper books. Used books. Rented books. Go to class and MAKE SURE you need the book. (Rate My Professor will generally tell you which professors’ classes require the book(s) and which don’t.) If you HAVE to get an expensive book, you may be able to sell it back at the end of the semester. And there are cheap places to get books online.
Next – there is a GOOD chance Bright Futures will be raised from half tuition to full tuition starting in the Fall of 2017. A bill just passed the Florida Senate, and hopefully the House will follow suit. This increase in bright futures also includes an extra $600 annually as a book allowance. So if you are getting your books cheaper than that, you will have extra money to cover other expenses.
Finally, if you have great stats there are many scholarships you can still apply for. Sign up for Fastweb and start looking. There are plenty whose deadlines have not passed yet.
Good luck, I think you’re on the right track!