You need to look at your net cost, not the amount of merit aid your kid will receive. At a $70,000 a year college, a $30,000 merit award will leave you with a $40,000 a year balance.
Another thing you need to look at for OOS colleges…will your health insurance plan cover your kid OOS? Many don’t. If your plan doesn’t cover your kid in another state at the level the school expects, you will be required to purchase their health insurance and this is usually not included in the cost of attendance.
@thumper1 and @mommdc : thanks for great info. Yes, we look at net cost for potential schools and any potential merit aids to rank the reach, target, and safety schools. Still have a few more months to work this list and thank you for reminding us about cost of health insurance.
Keep in mind when looking at “admission to med school stats” that any undergrad trumpets on its website that these numbers are highly manipulated. (There are half dozen or more typical strategies that colleges use to artificially inflate their med school success rate. And every single college uses them…)
And any med school admission numbers do not capture how many freshmen pre-meds start out or how many are prevented from applying (by health committee letter requirements), the data only consider how many actually apply.
IOW, take any college’s self-reported med school admissions numbers with a large truckload of salt.
I always advise hopeful pre-meds to take “pre-med” completely out of the equation and concentrate on fit, affordability and breadth of opportunities (including opportunities that include goals other than med school) when choosing colleges to apply to.
Other unexpected costs for a pre-med---transportation to off campus volunteer sites, MCAT prep classes, etc. Rural/suburban colleges may not have convenient public transit and will require a car on campus. So don't forget to add in the costs for a car, gas, insurance, maintenance and campus parking fees. I’m reviving this thread to continue my D’s journey in the college process to perhaps, getting advices and hopefully helping others in this long hard process
After further research, input for our D, and “Covid 19”, our college list shrank to the following:
College applied:
Will apply to:
My D was able to take ACT (36) and SAT subject tests: math2 (800) and BIO(800) this fall, thus resulting her decision to try her luck applying to GT, JHU and Harvard.
Our goal is still finding a close to home and good school with COA around instate cost. UMD is ideal for me but my D likes CASE, Pitt and a few schools listed above. She likes science and math and has no reference big university or small LAC.
We should get a couple decisions from schools in 2 weeks. Hopefully more good news but the final decision for us probably will come in next April.
Any advices are greatly appreciated.
Hi. Saw you had this thread and decided to comment since we are on other threads together. Also, this is my second rodeo (D17 just finished her undergraduate degree from Tulane this week!). Did your D ever end up applying to Delaware? Didn’t see it listed. South Carolina does give great merit and has a wonderful honors program (I know 2 kids who have attended), so that’s a good choice although not sure about pre-med there (both grads I know were business majors).
Have you considered Muhlenberg? Someone we know got close to a full ride there pre-med. That was a few years ago though. He also ended up switching to PCOM for med school for some reason. Case Western is also a great school. D17 got in with merit, visited and liked it, but ended up thinking it was too small and too science-centric.
Just curious why UPenn isn’t on your list? Several friends’ kids are finishing up Bio majors there this year in anticipation of applying to med school.
Anyway, looking at your list and scholarship info so far, I would go for Pitt unless the reaches come through (which may very well happen given your D’s great stats). It checks all your boxes and is great pre-med with easy access to the hospital. It’s also really the best choice for my S (who got in for engineering), except he thinks it might be too far from home (we are in Philly). We loved Pitt and Pittsburgh when we visited (twice) with D17 who received a generous merit scholarship from Pitt and got into honors. In the end she decided she wanted to go out of state, but it was a tough choice. Also, the people are so nice in Pittsburgh!
Good luck. Will continue to follow your journey!!
Thank you for giving comments and advices.
I did propose Delaware but D did not want to go there.
We did not know about Muhlenberg.
As for UPenn, she didn’t plan to attend to any Ivies or top 20 schools before but decided to apply to Havard, JHU, and GT after she got the ACT and SAT subject score results. Is UPenn better for premed. It’s probably very expensive to attend based on what I saw from NPC.
We also like Pitt and still waiting for Honors and GAP medicine. We will try to do schools visits in March but and probably have to wait until April time frame when all notification are out to make the decision. It will come down to cost, location and kid’s input 
since they are all good schools
Thanks again for your insights !!!
Penn is very expensive unless you qualify for a lot of financial aid. I know a few local kids who are going for less than the cost of Temple!
I believe Penn is great for pre-med. I found a Collegevine blog from 2018 where it is ranked number 3 for med school (behind Harvard and Duke), partially because Penn graduates have a 76% acceptance rate to med school!
Meanwhile, good luck on the Pitt GAP medicine acceptance. I wouldn’t worry too much about Pitt Honors - it doesn’t really offer too much. Temple’s honors program is actually better in terms of perks (and South Carolina offers even more!).
Your student can take the requisite courses to attend medical school while attending almost any college (except music conservatories and arts school like SCAD).
If your kid is planning medical school, best to have zero undergraduate debt because grad school is funded with loans, loans and more loans in the vast majority of cases.
Thank you for the advice. Cost is a big factor for us that is why the majority in the list are public schools. There are also a few expensive schools in the list but we are hoping for merit.
We will make the decision when we have all the notifications FA early next year and I’m sure I will ask for help to decide
Thanks !
Harvard doesn’t give a dime of merit aid. All aid is need based.
JHU has a very small amount of merit aid awards, but they are extremely competitive. Most aid is need based.
If she adds UPenn to her list…don’t expect merit aid there either. School gives only need based aid.
What other costly schools does she have in her application list?
What is your state of residence? Have you looked at your own flagship universities? You may find out if state public universities in some states are not affordable as the bulk of their merit aid goes to instate students.
Did she apply where automatic merit is awarded…Alabama, New Mexico, Arizona? If not, why.
Thank you for quick reply.
We are in MD, so UMD would be the match/safety school for her.
The list of schools comprises of :
Some high reach and reach schools on the list may be expensive or low acceptance rate but we want to have wider options when making the decision.
Thanks
No merit aid at Georgetown either.
But you do have a nice balanced list.
Did she do the honors college/scholarship application for South Carolina? I hope so.
Thanks again for the input. The final list was a result from research and great input from CC experts.
Yes, she applied for honors in South Carolina and other schools (Pitt and Stony Brook so far) and already got accepted to Temple’s honors college. In couple weeks, we will find out decisions from Case, Fordham, Ursinus and hopefully U of SC. I will update the decisions then.
Thanks again for your help.
It’s a busy December with 5 schools admission, honors and BS/MD invitation came out. Below are summary of daughter’s stats , tables of CoA and my applied schools ranking:
Stats:
ACT: 36 (35M, 36E, 36R, 36S)
SAT: 1540 (770/770)
SAT II: 800 (math2); 800 (BIO) - Only submitted to BS/MD and reach schoools
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.79 W
Rank: school doesn’t rank but counselor indicated top 1%.
AP (place score in parenthesis): US History(4), Calculus BC(5),US Gov(5), Physics(5), Biology(5), World History(5),English(3),Statistic(5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem; AP Eng Lit; Anatomy; Multivariable Calculus,
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School Orchestra, various honors societies, school clubs, etc …
Job/Work Experience: part time’s piano accompanist
Volunteer/Community service: County First Aid Unit, Teen Musicians perform music at hospital and retirement homes.
School Cost:
| School | ACCEPTED | Estimate CoA | Merrit | Final Cost | Final Cost in 4 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pittsburgh | Yes | $49,000 | $20,000/yr (80K total) | $29,000 | $116,000 |
| University of South Carolina | YES | $48,000 | $21500/yr (85K total) | $26,500 | $106,000 |
| Stony Brook University | Yes | $46,000 | $16,000/yr (64K total) | $30,000 | $120,000 |
| Fordham University | Yes | $80,000 | $20,000/yr (80K total) | $60,000 | $240,000 |
| Ursinus College | Yes | $74,000 | 40,000/yr (160K total) | $34,000 | $136,000 |
| Temple University | Yes | $48,000 | 18,000/yr (72K total) | $30,000 | $120,000 |
| Case Western Reserve University | Deferred | $72,000 | |||
| University of Maryland | $28,000 | ||||
| Georgetown University | $78,000.00 | ||||
| Johns Hopkins University | $75,000 | ||||
| Harvard | $75,000 |
Current School Ranking:
Pitt: CoA is currently is around $3K more than UMD full price but D got invited to apply to BS/MD which is important for daughter. We are still waiting for Honors and hopefully merit increase (Not likely).
UofSC: CoA is little cheaper than UMD full price with potential more merit. We are aiming for at least full tuition discount or close to full ride to consider. Honors acceptance already.
Stony Brook: CoA is currently is around $3K-4K more than UMD full price but D may get to interview for BS/MD which is important for daughter. We are still waiting for WISE and hopefully a little merit increase.
Temple: CoA is currently is around $3K-4K more than UMD full price. We reached out to regional counselor regarding Presidential scholarship instead of Provost since her GPA and ACT score are in range of Presidential (full tuition) and still waiting for the decision.
Ursinus:CoA is currently is around $6K-8K more than UMD full price.
Fordham: CoA is currently is almost three times more than UMD full price. Most likely will be NOT AFFORDABLE unless they give more grants (NOT LIKELY).
Case: Got deferred and we are still shock from the decision. Daughter will reapply to RD and see what happened
UMD: Both my wife and my favorite schools. Cost will be manageable since we already have 529 prepaid tuition. Location is also great. Hopefully they will admit D with some scholarship (we can dream )
GT, JHU and Harvard: High reach schools and daughter just wants see if she get accepted. We also hope that JHU may offer some sort of merit.
We may have to wait until. April before making the decision. The decision will probably bases on COST but BS/MD acceptance may override that. Any advices are welcome and appreciated.
Congrats on these wonderful acceptances!! A few thoughts:
What are you able/willing to pay?
My daughter was also invited (going back 5-6 years and I recognize that things might have changed) to Pitts BS/MD but changed her mind and did not pursue/apply. The application process was quite intense and competitive. I seem to remember that the application asked a lot of questions about research experience. Has your daughter inquired about the acceptance rate for applicants to BS/MD?
I loved everything about Pitt (my daughter chose another school) but it’s not for everyone. Would your daughter still like it if she did not get accepted to the BS/MD program?
If you’re not confining your search to only BS/MD schools, Mount Holyoke is strong in the sciences and has full tuition scholarships.
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/admission/merit
Best of luck in your search!
We are hoping for full ride (impossible !!!) to instate cost which is about 27K or so. However, we also look for FIT. Daughter is ok with any of the 11 schools in that list because she was involved with choosing the schools at the beginning.
The U of SC came down to instate costs (less!) .if I am reading this correctly. That’s a wonderful option for her. Did you complete the NPC for Harvard, GT and Hopkins?
Thanks for the advices but we are late to apply so we probably will not add any more schools to the list. We are still hoping for full tuition and hopefully full ride.
We can always dream BIG, right ?
I just saw you on the other parent thread. For some reason I thought your D was a junior. Best of luck to her!