Okay, so I applied to several schools, and I realized that college is very expensive! Even for a community college, $8,000 is still a lot of money, and it only gets worse from there! My dream school is Fordham University, and that cost of attendance is about $65,000! I can’t afford that, and I plan to go to medical school/PA school too! Is it worth it? Of course not! But I love Fordham too much, and I don’t know what to do. I filed the FAFSA, and I thought that the CSS Profile was due February 15, 2016, but it was due February 10 instead, so now I can’t get institutional aid. Also, my EFC is about 29,000, and there’s no way any college in general is going to cover the entire EFC. PLEASE HELP FOR ADVICE?!?! (Losing hope, but probably going to end up at cheap instate university where I can commute, but I really want the traditional college expereince :(( :(( :((
You got this backward! Your family is expect to pay the EFC (at least) not the school.
If you live in NY, there are CUNY’s where the cost would be lower and have a PA program.
Did you qualify for Fordham merit aid?
I hope I’m misunderstanding you…but are you saying you plan to go to med school AND PA school…or is it one or the other…you hope?
If your EFC is $29,000 that is the minimum the colleges will expect your family to pay.
I think you need to find a less expensive college than Fordham, if you don’t get merit aid and your parents can’t pay the costs for you to attend (which will be at least $29,000)
I can’t edit posts…
Get your Profile done ASAP.
What are your stats?
How much will your parents pay each year? With a high EFC, your parents are expected to pay a lot.
What is your home state?
You don’t have to go to an expensive school to be pre-PA or pre-med.
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Okay, so I’ve submitted all of my applications (except for one), and I was wondering if anyone could help me out with some chances. Thank you! By the way, to be honest, the only ones I truly care about are MCPHS, Fordham, and slightly St. John’s, and slightly Northeastern. I’ll only be devastated if I get denied from Fordham and MCPHS though. I’m applying to the school of arts and sciences for all of them.
-Fordham University
-St. John’s University
-Fairleigh Dickinson University
-Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
-Northeastern University
-Rutgers University
-The College of New Jersey
1/2 Puerto Rican & 1/2 Filipino
GPA: 3.4 UW 4.4 W (Cumulative GPA) & ranked 41/292 (Top 15%)
From New Jersey
Freshman Year:
-Architecture to Robotics 1 (Graduation Requirement)
-Physics
-Personal Finance (Graduation Requirement)
-Spanish 1
-Modern World History 1 Honors
-Algebra 1
-World Literature 1 Honors
Sophomore Year:
-Chemistry Honors
-Algebra 2 Honors
-US History 1 Honors
-American Literature 1 Honors
-Plane Geometry
-Spanish 2
-AP Physics B
Junior Year:
-Spanish 3 Honors
-PreCalculus Honors
-AP Language & Composition
-Biology Honors
-AP Chemistry
-Dynamics of Health Care
-US History 2 Honors
Senior Year:
-Medical Terminology
-AP Literature
-AP Calculus
-Anatomy and Physiology 1 Honors
-Digital Photography (Graduation Requirement)
-AP Biology
(and of course there is gym & health every year along with lunch)
Extracurricular Activities:
-Academic Decathlon (3rd Place Science and 3rd Place Essay Competition on the scholastic level) (Grades 10-12)
-New Jersey Chemistry Olympics (Grades 11-12)
-Biology Olympiads (Grade 12)
-Physics Tutor (Grades 11-12)
-Peer Leader (Grade 11) (Program that allows juniors in high school to help freshmen make an easy transition into high school)
-Uber Leader (Grade 12) (Same thing as Peer Leader except for seniors setting up stuff)
-Volunteer at Hospital (118+ Hours of Service) (Grades 11-12)
Scores:
SAT: 1750 (superscored) 1730 (not superscored)
CR: 510 510
M: 650 630
W: 590 590
ACT: September and June ACT are both 25, but the numbers vary
September: 28 English 29 Math 20 Reading 23 Science (Writing 8)
June: 23 English 28 Math 24 Reading 26 Science (Writing 8)
*I know Northeastern superscores, but I’m not sure about the others.
SAT Subject: 670 Chemistry & 610 Math 1 (I know, but I was focused more on Chemistry than Math 1 whoops)
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I’ll be honest with you. You don’t have the stats to do well as a premed or prePA at most/all of the schools you have listed.
It appears that you’re instate for NJ? Is that right? Did you apply to a state school that you can commute to?
Your EFC is high, and your parents would be expected to pay AT LEAST $29k, if that’s your EFC.
since $8k for a CC is high for you, then that suggests that your parents aren’t paying much. Sounds like you have to start at a CC
With a 1020 CR and Math SAT total, I would not think you would get merit aid at these schools.
In addition, you probably shouldn’t expect huge need based aid at any of these schools. Your $29,000 EFC likely exceeds the COA at your instate universities. You will be expected to pay at least $29,000’at these schools (or the cost of attendance…whichever is lower).
Did you apply to Rowan, Stockton? Are you able to commute to any universities?
What is MCPHS? Is Rutgers going to be your eventual destination? Is that the “cheap instate university where I can commute”?
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Sorry I haven’t updated everyone! I’ve been really busy lately.
- No, I've chosen to either attend medical school OR P.A. school. I still haven't decided which one I want.
- I know that I formatted my SAT scores a little weirdly, but I actually have a 1160 SAT (Math + Reading) and 1750 with everything combined.
- I know that my EFC is very high, but there is no way I can afford much. I did file the CSS Profile and explained my financial circumstances there.
- The school list is outdated, I applied to all of those schools and Montclair State University and Loyola Maryland.
- Montclair is technically the cheap instate college I applied to.
- Yes, I know that my EFC is the amount I'm expected to pay, I just rephrased it accidentally because I was panicking
- I am instate at New Jersey, so Montclair is practically the only one.
- Please help?
What financial circumstances did you “explain” on the Profile??
You’re going at this backwards.
You assumed that you would get into your schools with no costs to your family and, you really don’t have the stats to support merit aid anywhere, but you want to go to med school or PA school and haven’t realized that you need huge finances to pay the med school fees of $200k+.
You cannot afford Fordham at $120k minimum debt for your undergrad, and another $200,000 for med school. You can’t get loans in these amounts on your own and your parents would probably not qualify for these amounts later. Your SAT scores suggest that it will be very difficult for you to get the stats you need, on your MCATs, to get into a med program. You would never make enough money to repay these loans, with compounded interest, and would be in huge debt for most of your adult life. Is that what you want because Fordham is your dream?
Go cheaply to an undergrad instate and get great grades. Then take your MCAT while building up some cash and apply. Don’t get into huge debt now for something that may not happen.
The competition is tough. Not to be Debbie Downer but my dd is graduating this Spring in Biological Sciences at her UC. There are 1000 wannabe doctors graduating with her who are taking MCATs in March. That is the number at one UC! We have 9 UCs. There aren’t enough med schools to support that many wannabe doctors in California, and I’m not including the 21 CSUs (?), the CALIFORNIA privates (Stanford, USC, etc.) in just one large state. Imagine the numbers. A large number of these kids had high SATs to just get into these schools.
Prepare yourself well by going to an inexpensive school for undergrad.
I understand that merit aid is an unlikely option, and I did receive some good aid, but just not enough. St. John’s offered me $29,000, but along with calculated prices, it’s still hard to attend pretty much anything. But anyways, I guess Montclair is the way to go. I still have to wait and see if any colleges miraculously help me out. Thanks for helping everyone!