Help me pick out a good college to go to for pre-med?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I don't really know many colleges out there, and I understand that the college should fit me. With this realization I would like to say,</p>

<p>I like the attention LAC's offer.
An environment with people who are passionate about the sciences.
Not an insane work load where i can't spend time researching, working or ECing</p>

<p>I am in the top 10%, 1470/1600, 8 clubs (NHS, EHS, Mu alpha theta, M U.N, FPA, MPA, Debate, YES)
Bible school teacher, church choir, won for singing and dancing at a national level
Leading school science UIL.</p>

<p>freshman yr
4 honors/AP</p>

<p>sophomore
6 honors/AP</p>

<p>Junior
6 honors/AP</p>

<p>Senior
7 honors/AP</p>

<p>*Taken the max amount of science, and math classes possible (double doubled in AP math and sciences junior year).....low gpa (3.4/4)</p>

<p>Again I may sound horribly lazy to ask this, and I admit that I am lazy in that respect. :)
I want to know more about colleges in your area/region that are good. Those colleges you feel are amazing for pre-meds, and would like to point out to a naive child :)</p>

2

<p>yup yup so…bump</p>

3

<p>laaa laaa laaa bump!</p>

4

<p>I am going to assume you don’t need financial aid. Case Western, Grinnell, Kenyon, Swarthmore, Haverford, Hamilton, Carleton.</p>

5

<p>Haveford, Grinnell, and Carleton.</p>

6

<p>Washington and Jefferson is a small school just out of Pittsburgh, and they have a great track record of placing kids in med school.</p>

7

<p>Ursinus Haverford Swarthmore Franklin & Marshall Hobart</p>

8

<p>Many colleges are “good” for pre-med. As Amherst says,

</p>

<p>I suggest you give us some criteria that would be more helpful. Knowing that you’re looking for LACs is useful but insufficient.</p>

<ul>
<li>Which part of the country (Midwest, Southeast, etc.)?</li>
<li>Public or private?</li>
<li>Rural, suburban, or urban?</li>
<li>Is financial aid a concern?</li>
<li>Do you want certain extracurricular activities, like a fencing team?</li>
</ul>

9

<p>IB,</p>

<p>I don’t really mind going to school in any part of the country. I do have a slight dislike for locations that get really cold. My feet freeze up by one in morning.
I am interested in various parts of the country, so anywhere CC’s find is an amazing location. (In their opinion)</p>

<p>I typically like private schools.</p>

<p>I grew up in suburbia, and am not adverse to either rural or urban.</p>

<p>Financial aid is a concern, although it depends on the college. I am not limited to choosing a college just because it does not offer me amazing Financial aid; although, it would be quite painful on my family.</p>

<p>Also If there is an EC I want that is not there, I’ll make it. </p>

<p>Please tell me if there is anything else that I can add to help you make suggestions easier.</p>

10

<p>Would you qualify for good FA? If you actually need merit aid go to the financial aid forum and look at the sticky for Best Merit Aid Schools.</p>

11

<p>Holy Cross, Tufts.</p>

12

<p>You need to determine if you’d qualify for EFC</p>

<p>Is that your weighted gpa</p>

13

<p>It’s not particularly large, so I’m going to go on and suggest William & Mary. Great pre-med from what I’ve read in the past, and the campus is beautiful.</p>

14

<p>Wow, thank you all for your posts! They have been very helpful to me so far. :)</p>

<p>Also, mom2collegekids, that is my unweighted gpa. I thought most colleges would give me FA based on the unweighted.</p>

15

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Some will give merit based on weighted GPA… My kids’ university gives merit based on the highest GPA on the transcript - that’s usually the weighted one (if your school puts a weighted GPA on the transcript.).</p>

<p>What are your ACT and SAT scores (including your M+CR SAT score)</p>

<p>BTW…FA is different from merit.</p>

<p>FA doesn’t consider grades or scores, it only cares about demonstrated need (from FAFSA, etc).</p>

<p>Merit scholarships are from GPA and scores (and sometimes some ECs, too)</p>

<p>What do you think your family’s EFC is? Can they pay their EFC? Have they told you how much they can contribute each year?</p>

16

<p>mom2collegekids,</p>

<p>My SAT score (m+Cr) is 1470, and I have never taken an ACT. I my weighted gpa is a
5.3, which will go up to a 5.4 by the end of the semester.</p>

<p>Right FA is by merit…that thought escaped me for a while. </p>

<p>Also I am really glad for your last sentence. My parents and I haven’t had a serious discussion on how much we can spend. Your statement made me realize how I need to start having such a discussion. The general idea was to take out loans if a year cost over $10,000 after aid.</p>

17

<p>The problem you may have is this.</p>

<p>Aid isn’t determined by the family, it’s determined by formula. So, if the formula believes that your family can afford to pay $20k per year (even if that would be impossible for them to actually pay), then your aid package would be short of what you really need. :frowning: There could also be a gap in the FA package if the school doesn’t meet 100% of need (most schools can’t meet 100% of need). </p>

<p>There could also be large loans in your FA packages. </p>

<p>Example…</p>

<p>College A
Cost of Attendence… $45k per year (tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc)</p>

<p>Financial Aid package from school
…school grant…$10k per year
…FA loans…$10k per year</p>

<p>EFC…$20k per year
Gap in FA package…$ 5k per year</p>

<p>EFC amount that is unaffordable $10k per year</p>

<p>So, in such a scenario, you could have to borrow $25k per year. (yikes)</p>

<p>BTW…merit does not reduce EFC. Merit only reduces FA unless it exceeds the total of FA.</p>

<p>You need some financial safeties. You need some schools that will give you BIG MERIT - Such schools can be your financial safeties in case there are huge loans and/or or gaps in your FA packages from your “top” schools.</p>

18

<p>Deadlines for big merit scholarships are approaching, so you may need to act quickly, but that’s ok :)</p>

<p>For instance… </p>

<p>With your stats you could get free tuition from The University of Alabama</p>

<p>Presidential Scholar [Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)
An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the **December 1st **scholarship priority deadline, has a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and **will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years. **</p>

<p>**This scholarship is worth about $80,000 ** :)</p>

<p>Alabama has strong academics, a beautiful campus, fab facilities, and awesome dorms.</p>

<p>The application deadline is soon, but the app process is super easy. No essays, no teacher recs. First you apply to the school, then a few days later, you’ll get an email with “log on” directions, then you apply for scholarships. BTW…if you’re going to major in either Engineering or Comp Sci, you’d get an additional $2500 per year. That would make the entire scholarship package worth $90,000.</p>

<p>Here are some links that I think you should look at.</p>

<p>Website [The</a> University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>http://www.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>Online Virtual Tour [Campus</a> Tour - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>http://tour.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>Academic Info [Academics</a> - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama)</p>

<p>Honors College [Honors</a> College - Home](<a href=“http://honors.ua.edu/]Honors”>http://honors.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>Here’s a link to the “Super Suites Housing” - scroll down for all pics. Each student has a private room in a 4 bedroom suite [Housing</a> & Residential Communities - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/ridgecrestsouth.cfm]Housing”>http://housing.ua.edu/ridgecrestsouth.cfm)</p>

<p>Because of the deadline, you should at least submit an online application ASAP. It literally will only take a few minutes. Super easy.</p>

<p>I have 2 kids at Alabama. One has the NMF scholarship and the other has the Presidential and the Engineering scholarships. If you have any questions, post them here or pm me. :)</p>

<p>My younger son is pre-med.</p>

19

<p>I wanted to edit the above, but time ran out.</p>

<p>My younger son is pre-med at Alabama. He is double majoring in Engineering and Biology. He’s able to do that because of AP credits. He put Engineering down on his apps to get the extra Engineering scholarship along with the Presidential. </p>

<p>Alabama has an amazing new mega Shelby Science and Engineering Complex.<br>
[University</a> of Alabama News Design for UA Science and Engineering Complex Takes National Award](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2009/06/design-for-ua-science-and-engineering-complex-takes-national-award/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2009/06/design-for-ua-science-and-engineering-complex-takes-national-award/)</p>

<p>Here’s a link to Phase I click on the smaller pics to see more pics</p>

<p>[Shelby</a> Tour](<a href=“http://www.bama.ua.edu/~chem/facilities/buildings/shelbytour/tour.html]Shelby”>http://www.bama.ua.edu/~chem/facilities/buildings/shelbytour/tour.html)</p>

<p>Phase II is now complete…here are more pics of that… [Home</a> | TuscaloosaNews.com | Tuscaloosa News](<a href=“http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=TL&Date=20090720&Category=FRONTPAGE&ArtNo=720009998&Ref=PH&Profile=1007&Params=Itemnr=1]Home”>http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=TL&Date=20090720&Category=FRONTPAGE&ArtNo=720009998&Ref=PH&Profile=1007&Params=Itemnr=1)</p>

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<p>Wow!, thank you sooo much! I truly cannot express how thankful I am to you for giving me this. UA is really a beautiful campus, and I was surprised to see the amazing scholarships they offered out of state students. How is your son doing there? Does he find the double major in bio and engineering quite difficult? For instance does he regret doubling because he could have done better without it? By the way, I must say that what he is doing now is ridiculously amazing. You have a really smart son. :)</p>