I am a senior in high school with an ACT score of 29 and a weighted GPA of 4.2. I am aspiring to be a pediatric doctor, so I am looking for affordable colleges that offer great science programs that will prepare me for medical school and are within my score range. I am also looking for colleges that have fewer than 15,000 undergraduates enrolled so class sizes are relatively small.
The one college I am most interested is Loyola University Chicago, but it is pricey and I know medical school will create a lot of debt too.
If anyone has any suggestions or colleges I should look into that would be great.
What is your home state? Look at the Us in-state for best pricing. There are some in the deep south and far north that are also fairly affordable. Being ready for Med school is mostly on the student.
What does “affordable” mean to you? What is your EFC, and what can you actually spend per year?
Minnesota-Morris would set the bar for an affordable smaller school with small classes and individual attention. https://academics.morris.umn.edu/medicine
(In-state total COA, before financial aid, is $21,222)
But a lot depends on your particular financial and financial-aid-eligibility situation. If you qualify for aid and want to go out of state, then private colleges can be better; if not, then the more affordable oos publics can be the better financial deal.
I’m not a big fan of the standardized testing industry and generally hesitate to urge high school students to spend more than a conservative amount of time and effort on test prep. But if you’re really committed to the premed path, the MCAT is going to be a gating factor when the time comes, so it’s probably best to face the fact that some serious test-prep is in your future, and to get started on that by trying to boost your ACT score a bit. (And/or give the SAT a try and see how that goes) Your GPA is very good, so beefing up your test scores a bit would open a lot of doors for you.
In Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa you have lots of excellent options. St Olaf would be your go-to top choice (high match). Then you have Grinnell (reach), Macalester (reach) Luther, Gustavus Adolphus, Beloit, Lawrence (high match), UMN Morris (low match), Concordia Moorhead.
Fill out the request info form for each of these, run the NPC, click on emails they send you, look into deadlines for merit scholarships.
@aquapt my older sister is going to college next fall and she and my parents are paying around $20,000 per year. My parents say they will make whatever cost work, which is not much to base anything off of, but considering my sister’s amount, I am aiming towards anything around $25,000 with financial aid and scholarships. Anything less than that would help ease my parents’ financial burden for college, even if they do not give me restrictions.
With that in mind, I will look into those two colleges you suggested.
As for my ACT score, I took preparatory classes for my ACT and it seemed to help quite a bit. I had averaged around a 29 on all my practice tests, but the day I took my actual ACT I was actually very sick, so I am considering taking it again in September.
@MYOS1634 Thank you for the options. I haven’t looked into St. Olaf much, but it seems like a great school! I will also look into these other schools you have listed. I want to avoid super large schools, but still have a city feel to it. If any other schools come to mind feel free to let me know thank you!
Sometimes people have more of a knack for one test than the other, so it might be worth giving the SAT a chance. (Especially if your science sub-score was lower than the others, since the SAT doesn’t have a science section) Khan Academy has a free SAT-prep app that you can put on your phone. A little practice every day will help to hone your standardized testing chops, which is a good investment if the MCAT is in your future.
Is your sister getting financial aid? If so, then both her aid and yours will likely be better when you’re both in college at the same time. If you qualify for aid, then definitely look at the private colleges MYOS suggested. A number of those are on the “Colleges That Change Lives” list; and if you want to look farther from home, that list is also a good place to start in exploring college options outside of your region. And consider going to the CTCL college fair in Minneapolis in August, if that is feasible for you: https://ctcl.org/st-paul-mn-august-20-2018/ That would be a great opportunity to talk to representatives from some of your best-option colleges, all in one place.
@aquapt I took the practice SAT when I was a sophomore so I might actually take that again and see how it goes. For my ACT science was my lowest score, so I will look into taking the SAT.
My sister is receiving financial aid. Thanks for the advice!
CTCL schools in/near more distant cities, that you might want to look at:
Agnes Scott in Atlanta has cross-registration with Emory
Goucher in Baltimore has cross-registration with Johns Hopkins
Rhodes College in Memphis (Can do research/shadowing at St. Jude’s, which could be a huge draw since you’re interested in pediatrics)
Clark University in Worcester (a small city in its own right but also a ~45 minute straight shot into Boston on commuter rail) Can take classes at UMass Medical which is also in Worcester.
With your stats you would qualify for good merit at University of Nebraska Lincoln. I believe total would be low mid-20’s. But I would do U Minn with instate tuition. Seems like such a great school for instate price!. U of Iowa also gives merit to OOS as well as FA for students with your scores and GPA. Great concentration of medical facilities, internships, med. volunteer opportunities on campus at U of Iowa.
Just pointing out that if your parents can pay 20k/year for your sister, that doesn’t mean they can pay a grand total of 40-45k. You can run the NPC Net Price Calculator (better if your parents are not divorced or self employed)and get an idea what aid you may be offered. When two are in college, FA numbers can shift a bit, since the family’s total cost rises. Depends on the colleges involved.
They may be saying they can work out costs, thinking they’ll take large loans. Or encourage you to take loans beyond the federal student loan amounts. That’s generally not something we advise. But if you can show them the NPC amount, they’ll be better informed.
My son’s gf is at Kansas State, pre-med. You would get automatic great scholarship money with those statistics. She loves the pre-med program, is working on cancer research, and has great shadowing opportunities. She also says her classes are challenging but reasonable to get A’s.
@momocarly That is so neat! Do you know what her ACT/SAT or GPA in high school was? I looked up the average ACT score at Kansas State and I found it was a 23, a little out of range.
thank you!