“It might be a shame to make decisions about undergrad based on future grad school costs.”
Many in D’s medical school class felt completely opposite. They regretted attending costly Ivy colleges when they realized that their UG did not result in any advantages to them later. They wished that instead of graduating with huge student loans, they could have spent family resources paying for medical school. While name of the UG may be important in some fields, in engineering, CS and many others, including pre-med (I do not know about pre-vet) the name of your UG is practically irrelevant. How do I know? I was in engineering, switched to CS in my mid. 30s, my H. is an engineer, most of our friends are engineers and many of their kids are also either in engineering or CS. I also know lots of MDs and many D’s friends who are either finishing medical school or currently are residents. Most attended in-state publics or private (like Case Western) that offered large Merit awards. Everybody is doing fine while some are doing absolutely outstanding, including very selective jobs and Graduate schools. All were top caliber public or private HS students.
I believe that the pursuit of $$ vs prestige is regional. In NE they seem to be after prestige and I would say that is true in CA. But in Midwest, most are after Merit awards and that includes a lot of families that have physician parent(s), who themselves have been thru paying their student loans and want to avoid the same situation for their kids. I have talked to some parents like this. One of them explained to me why all 3 of their kids went to our local college on full tuition Merit awards (and lived at home, not in dorms) and then went to the local medical school, which was free for them as their MD dad was teaching there. All 3 are MDs now without student loans. I imagine that the vet. situation is the same, I am simply not familiar with it, I have no examples.
Also if she finds out that she is NMSF then she has to have a confirming SAT score from a test that was done in a certain timeframe from the junior PSAT. So check on that and then decide if she is done.
I have not read this full thread, but MS State has a vet school program where they accept 40 students freshman year for the vet school track - as long as they maintain solid UG grades and meet the vet school requirements, they can continue on with MS State vet school. I know two students that have used this program - one has finished vet school; one is a current UG sophomore - was one of my DD’s classmates through HS. If one is passionate about vet school, consider this school. These two students absolutely were passionate and had the academic chops. MS State offers excellent OOS scholarships. It is a school in a rural setting. Lots of eng students. We live in N AL, and it is the 3rd school students from our area go for engineering - behind UA and AU.
If you are in TX and student wants to attend TAMU and then their vet school, that is certainly a consideration. I know a student who attended AU as an in-state student and then completed vet school there. Just like medical school, vet schools are very competitive to get in.
For many students that are 16/17/18, the student may truly not be passionate about med school, vet school, etc for the long haul - they may find other interests in college, better aptitude for other things, fall in love with another field.
Why exactly does she want to be a vet? Many kids say they love animals. Has she ever dealt with sick or injured animals? Sometimes that’s a reality check for kids.
A neighbor had a similar dilemma, trying to choose between engineering and pre vet as she loved animals. Another dad advised her to be an engineer and adopt a dog.
Thanks @SOSConcern – that is just the kind of “information we’re missing and don’t even know to ask for” I was hoping would bubble up via this thread. The MSU early entry program certainly does sound intriguing … we’ll definitely investigate that when we go to visit!
@Chardo << Why exactly does she want to be a vet? Many kids say they love animals. Has she ever dealt with sick or injured animals? Sometimes that’s a reality check for kids. >>>
Chardo makes a very good point. If I had a dollar for every high school student who said that they wanted to be vets, but ended up changing their minds, I’d be very rich!
That’s not to say that none ever end up in vet school. Some do! I know a NMF Bama grad whose mom was on this CC board is now a second year vet student. One thing that she’s very happy about is that since her undergrad cost so little, her parents have been able to help her pay for vet school. This is particularly important because many vets, particularly during their early years, aren’t making a lot of money so affording big loan payments can be a problem.
