I am currently a junior in high school. My GPA is a 4.3 W 3.85 UW with 1460 SAT, my extracurriculars are looking pretty good and I got a 1500/1520 on the PSAT so I have a pretty high chance of being a national merit scholar. By the end of high school I will have taken all 5 AP sciences offered at my school as well as 2 honors sciences, AP Calc and Multivariable Calc.
I know I want to go to medical school and will probably major in either Biology or Physiology and Neurobiology on a pre-med track. Any help or information about deciding between the two majors would be greatly appreciated.
I have about $250k saved for college and will 100% not be receiving financial aid, but due to the fact that I am at least a national merit semifinalist I can go to schools like U Texas Dallas, UC Boulder, or Fordham for no money at all.
Would it benefit me more in applying to medical school and longterm to go to a great college like Johns Hopkins or Cornell and blow my entire college fund there, or would it be better to to save all my money for medical school and go to Fordham or U-Texas Dallas for free?
I also have the option of going to USC for half tuition or BU for $40k a year total, leaving me $100k for med school with either option.
Basically:
Applying Pre-Med track
Better to spend entire college fund undergraduate at great college?
Spend half of college fund at decently ranked college?
Save entire college fund for med school at low to mid ranked college?
I’d say go for the cheapest option since they are pretty good. If you can get into the honors college at U Texas Dallas, UC Boulder, or Fordham, go for it. The honors college is pretty much the same caliber as top schools, with huge benefits (personal mentoring, early access to class registration, small classes…) within those huge schools.
Because if you can manage to get into medical school and leave with no debt, you’d be in a very good situation (mental health, rent, everything.)
You also want to go to a school where you can get the best grades possible, and where you fit in the best.
Something I’m worried about with these schools versus the top or middle ranked schools is the availability of research opportunities which is a must-have for pre-med. Is there any big difference in research or shadowing opportunities at these schools versus a better ranked school or one that has it’s own hospital.
You’d have research opportunities, it’s really up to you to reach out to professors, hospitals, physicians etc, to assist. But all 3 are great schools. Look at medical school placements if it can reassure you, you can probably find stats on their websites.
Schools with their own med school/hospital don’t necessarily favor their own undergraduate students though.
“a great college like Johns Hopkins or Cornell and blow my entire college fund”
Not only will these schools allow you to blow your entire college fund, they will also allow you to be sitting in very tough premed classes where your very good “3.85 UW” GPA will be at best average among incoming students.
“U Texas Dallas, UC Boulder, or Fordham”, “USC … or BU”
These are all strong universities.
I think that you should save at least some of your college fund for medical school.
There are research opportunities at most if not all universities. However, if you stand out as one of the strongest students, this will help you get better research opportunities.
Expect premed classes to be very challenging at any of the schools that you mentioned. Expect the other premed students to include many very strong students who study very long hours.
And understand that most premed students end up doing something else.
Choose a major that you like and can earn A grades in, and which is suitable for your backup plan, since most pre-meds do not get into any medical school.
Since medical school can cost $400k, would you rather start practice with $400k+ debt (spent your $250k on undergraduate) or $150k+ debt (spent $0 on undergraduate)? More debt will limit your career and life choices.
You should absolutely save your money and go to a college where you are engaged and are a “fit”. There you will learn what you need to and have be best chance of academic success. Research opportunities are everywhere- it might even be easier to find something at a college where everyone isn’t in cutthroat pre-med mode. I am a physician and trust me no one in the admissions office at Medical School XYZ cares where you went undergrad. They want to see GPA and MCAT scores. And know that you are a decent human being that cares about other human beings.
I totally agree with the comments. If you have 250k saved for college, taking a scholarship is the smartest thing you could do. Medical students can easily come out of school 300k in the hole. You have a massive financial advantage over your peers by coming out debt free.
Agree w/above responses.
Of all those options I’d probably recommend Boulder, which is a great college town, but only if it is not too much more expensive than UT Dallas or others.
CU Boulder would be fun but look into all NMSF possibilities, including USC and other universities that offer half tuition.
Keep in mind most premeds never make it to med school, so have a Plan B and choose your university as if you weren’t going to end up in med school. (If you don’t, you would still have money aside for another use, whether down payment on a condo, professional studies…)
Don’t necessarily choose a biology major BTW as there’s an oversupply of them.
The NMSF for Fordham is tuition only. The remaining cost is about $20k/year. The cost with the half tuition at USC is $50k/year. The reported acceptance rate for NMSF at USC is 50%.
CU Boulder is expensive. The only full ride scholarship is the Boethchler (very few of them) and it’s only for instate applicants. Unless there is a big a change for this year, CU doesn’t give NMSF any money.