Good colleges with no-loan merit aid for Biology majors?

College Majors Science Majors
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<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>D1 is a junior in high school with a strong interest in genetics and coursework in AP Bio, Human Anatomy and Honors Chemistry by the end of her senior year. We do plan to apply to our Maryland state flagship at College Park, but I was wondering whether there are small liberal arts colleges that we could look at which would be a good academic / social fit for her and a financial fit for us. While we know it's possible to find "caring professors" in state universities, I keep hearing that developing good relationships with professors might be easier in a smaller college.</p>

<p>Current stats - 3.8 uweighted /4.5 weighted GPA, 1270 SAT (math and CR) - she will take the SAT again in June. </p>

<p>Location - can't be rural, small towns and student population probably should be more than her current high school which has about 2100 kids. Would prefer to stay in the mid-Atlantic. Prefers a school with a non-preppy, liberal, non-clique-ish vibe in a vibrant college town. </p>

<p>Family requirements - we ran the EFC calculators and although our estimate EFC is 45K, we'd much prefer not to take out loans. So we would prefer schools with generous merit aid packages as well.</p>

<p>Also, we are wondering how important the college GPA is for someone who may or may not attend medical school. We know in all likelihood she will be attending graduate or a professional school after college. </p>

<p>If anyone can recommend schools that would meet our criteria or share their experiences obtaining merit aid at LACs strong in the sciences we would really appreciate it.</p>

<p>Many thanks,
Wendy</p>

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<p>You may want to ask this on the pre-med forum (and read the stickies there). But in general, GPA and MCAT scores are the most important thing for pre-meds to be concerned with in terms of applying to medical school.</p>

<p>Note that pre-med courses can be done alongside any major, not just biology. Biology tends to give poor job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level if one does not go to medical or other graduate school.</p>