@mom2collegekids I’ll be following Psych with a pre-med emphasis. Therefore if PA wasn’t enough for me, I could very easily apply to Med school having all the prerequisites.
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@mom2collegekids Why do you say graduating early is a bad idea? The campus I’m taking my courses are actually at an allied health campus, and many of instructors are either PA’s or Nurses and many of them I talked to said getting gen-ed courses out of the way is a good idea.
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You’re confusing two things (and if you want further explanations, please ask in the premed forum here, they will further explain. Those of us there have been helping prehealth students for a few years…most of us have children in med school or PA school.)…
There is nothing wrong with getting gen ed classes out of the way as long as you’re getting top grades.
However, graduating early as a premed is generally NOT a good idea. It is best to go the full four years.
Believe me, many successful premeds come in with 30-50+ college credits, but they will still go the full four years.
You would have a hard time completing all the premed prereqs BEFORE you take the MCAT (if you decide to go that route). When were you planning on taking the MCAT?
The fourth year is typically light because it’s the year that you’d be interviewing.
@mom2collegekids If I were keeping my options open, I would take my MCAT the summer before my “senior” year, whenever that would be considered if I go the full four yeas. If I take the PA route, I’d probably just be taking the GRE, I feel like doing both would be overload, and if I decided to go to Med-School after PA then that would be the time for it. I have a 3.9 college transcript right now, my lowest grade being Medical terminology (hated that class).
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@mom2collegekids They’d accept everything except for my A&P 1&2 Courses and Physics. The credits they’re accepting are:
Human Geography,
World History,
English 1301&2,
British Literature,
Intro to Health Careers (as an elective),
Medical Terminology (as an elective),
Government,
Economics,
General Psychology,
Nutrition,
Phlebotomy (I’ll be certified next year), EKG (I’ll also be certified next year). My mom actually has the sheet where she did the math with the Admissions officer and he said it amounted to 39 credit hours.
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Having 39 credits transferred in does not necessarily mean that you can subtract 39 credits from the total that you would need to graduate with a psych premed track/degree.
The Frosh Comp credits cover that universal req’t.
British lit covers the Lit req’t.
World History covers 3 credits of the History req’t. Does your school require 6? does it require a sequence?
Psych sounds like it covers the 3 credit of behavior science. And may cover the premed psych prereq.
Human Geo…what GE does that cover?
I’m not sure that several of those classes will matter at all…sounds like they’ll just sit on your transcript as extra unneeded classes. “electives” aren’t usually needed for premed/prePA students since they typically already have extra classes from their prereqs.
When you consider 6 semesters of a 3 year undergrad…where would you include the following BEFORE taking the MCAT and/or before applying to med/PA schools? What would you take the first year? the second year?
Principals of Bio I and II
Gen Chem I and II
Orgo I and II
Physics I and II
Biochem
math
stats recommended
sociology
@mom2collegekids Human Geo covers History. I’m not exactly sure when I’d be taking those courses since I’m not enrolled in any colleges yet, I’m just a Junior right now. I’m guessing they’d be spread across my 3 year plan just like any other student that’s Pre-Med but majoring in something else.
@mom2collegekids Also forgot to mention Texas History 1&2
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, I would take my MCAT the summer before my “senior” year, whenever that would be considered if I go the full four yeas.
If I take the PA route, I’d probably just be taking the GRE, I feel like doing both would be overload, and if I decided to go to Med-School after PA then that would be the time for it. I have a 3.9 college transcript right now, my lowest grade being Medical terminology (hated that class).
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don’t go to med school AFTER PA school. You would have so much debt from PA school that you would NOT want to add med school debt on top.
You really need to figure out which way you’re going to go at some point as an undergrad.
If you want to keep your options open, then do the premed track, and then if you decide against med school or if you struggle with the MCAT, then take the GRE and apply to PA schools. My son’s GF was a strong undergrad student, but really struggled with the MCAT (it’s a very different exam), and her score was just below being med school worthy. So, she took the GRE, did very well, and then applied to PA schools.
I would recommend also taking Philosophy Deductive Logic because the thinking skills it develops will help you in any medical career.
Bachelor’s degrees are generally 8 semesters x 15 credits each or 120 credits. So if the college took 40 of your credits, you need roughly 80 just for a Bachelor’s (possibly more unless everything they took counted for particular requirements instead of free electives). You could finish after 3 full years @ $50k/year (which mom2collegekids doesn’t advise for premed), but even if you reduced your time to 3 years your costs will be ~$150k. How will you pay for that?
Your parents’ financial info. will be used to determine financial aid until you’re 24 or married (and even then, the most you’d qualify for if you’re poor is the ~$5500/year federal student loan you can get now and maybe a ~$5k/year Pell grant). It doesn’t matter who you live with; you have to provide info. about your parents’ finances.
Have you run the Net Price Calculator on each school website to get an estimate of costs? They can give you a ballpark idea (ad long as your parents aren’t divorced or own their own business). Try that and line up a safety (a school that would admit you, that your parents can afford, and that you’d be happy to attend if your favorites don’t work out).
So say no Texas schools work out, CU obviously probably isn’t, could I still attend KU and be financially in good hands? Tuition for KU OOS is 24,000, BUT their excellence scholarship only requires a 3.5 GPA and 28 ACT which is extremely generous at $10,000 a year, cutting tuition almost in half. From what it sounds like, CU would just not be worth it at all pursuing a PA or Med program. Maybe I could move there after everything has settled and I have a career? Until then I’ll have to shut that door.
Also I had a friend that applied to U of Alabama and received a full ride, and he wasn’t exactly a top top student. I think has SAT was around an 1800 and ACT a 28. How conservative is U of Alabama? Would it be any worse than Texas?
First, sit down with BOTH parents and get a more firm idea as to how much they will spend (without loans) each year on your college costs. Have both parents there because your mom maybe overly optimistic since she seems to really want Colorado…lol.
You will want to avoid debt for undergrad because PA or med school will cost A LOT and you’ll be borrowing for that.
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I'm just a Junior right now.
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Are you starting senior year this fall? or junior year?
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I’m guessing they’d be spread across my 3 year plan just like any other student that’s Pre-Med but majoring in something else.
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Well, any other student does not have a 3 year plan.
Look at it this way…A typical FOUR year plan looks something like this…
Frosh year
Bio I and II
Chem I and II
sociology and/or psych
Calculus
other classes for major
start shadowing doctors/PAs.
start medically related ECs
Soph
Ochem I and II
Physics I and II
Stats
other classes for major
continue medically related ECs
research
studying for MCAT and/or GRE
Junior year
Bio Chem
other classes for major
research
identify and ask profs for LORs
take MCAT at some point during this school year…get score about a month later.
or…take GRE and get score immediately.
summer between junior and senior year…apply to med school or PA school.
Senior year
Finish remaining req’t for major
travel for interviews
The above is why a 3 year undergrad is not recommended.
@mom2collegekids Lol I understand, my mom can get like that when she really likes something. I’m going into my senior year this year, and wow yeah from what you laid out it seems as though 4 years would probably be the smartest route.
@mom2collegekids Also, could I get your perspective on above posts about KU and U of Alabama?
My son got his undergrad degree from UAlabama. He’s now a 3rd year med student.
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Also I had a friend that applied to U of Alabama and received a full ride, and he wasn't exactly a top top student. I think has SAT was around an 1800 and ACT a 28. How conservative is U of Alabama?
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That is not possible.
First of all, there are no “free rides” at Alabama. There are NMF awards which are almost free rides, but that would require that the student be a national merit finalist. Your friend was not a NMF.
There are some Free Tuition awards for OOS students. An ACT 32 or a M+CR SAT of 1400 is needed (so usually a 2100+ is needed).
Either your friend is fooling you or he got his “free ride” because his parent gave him military benefits, which aren’t tied to scores.
UAlabama is very middle of the road politically. It was Obama Country during the last two elections. The congressperson is a Democrat. The students are a wide spectrum.
With an ACT 29, you’d get a half tuition award. If you got an ACT 30, you’d get a 2/3 tuition award. If you got a 32, then free tuition. You should also retake the SAT…the needed scores would be…1300 M+CR, 1330 M+CR, 1400 M+CR.
Study and take BOTH tests.
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I still attend KU and be financially in good hands? Tuition for KU OOS is 24,000, BUT their excellence scholarship only requires a 3.5 GPA and 28 ACT which is extremely generous at $10,000 a year, cutting tuition almost in half.
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Sure, KU is fine for a pre-health student.
You really need to try to increase scores for best merit opps.
The Academic Elite Scholarship at Bama is a full ride, but highly competitive and certainly not awarded to someone with a 28 ACT.
@bobwallace That scholarship is generous, but it’s not a free ride.
Academic Elite at Bama is Full Tuition + $8500/year. If that doesn’t completely cover R&B to make a full ride, then adding an engineering/CS scholarship of $2,500/year on top of it certainly would.
This parent reported getting a full ride at Bama:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18490893/#Comment_18490893
^^^
that student has a unique situation…he’s a double major engineering and physics. He got the Presidential, plus engineering, plus he’s some kind of physics whiz and he took some exam where the resulting award combined with the rest was a “free ride.” He may have also been given a small CBH award, and maybe an outside award.I know that the mom sent me a PM detailing, but that was a long time ago. The mom’s post is about stacking awards, which could include outside awards resulting in a free ride.
When I said that there are no “free ride” awards at Bama, what I meant is that there isn’t a “one scholarship” where the award is a free ride like some schools have.
As for @evanizer 's friend…the friend is either mistaken, the award from another school, the money source is from elsewhere, or something. An ACT 28 would get very little from Bama.
Maybe the student is National Achievement? Is the student black? I don’t know what the confirming score is for NA. Even so, that award isn’t a free ride either. However, if he was a Nat’l Achievement Finalist, he was engineering, and maybe qualified for Pell, then the combo would be like a free ride. But, the Pell Grant is only given to low income…not the OP.
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Academic Elite at Bama is Full Tuition + $8500/year. If that doesn’t completely cover R&B to make a full ride, then adding an engineering/CS scholarship of $2,500/year on top of it certainly would.
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Stacking AE plus eng’g award would be close to a free ride. Room, board, dining dollars, books, and fees are more than $10k.
…Fall…spring
College/Course Fees2 400.00 400.00
Dining Dollars Account3 325.00 325.00
Meal Plan4 1,633.00 1,633.00
Residential Hall Room5 4,400.00 4,400.00
Books and Supplies 600.00 600.00
The above roughly totals: $15,000…if a cheaper dorm is chosen, then the cost would be about $12k.
Travel and personal expenses not included.
Maybe the scholarship was to [url=http://www.alasu.edu/cost-aid/types-of-aid/asu-scholarships/asu-academic-scholarships/index.aspx]ASU[/url]. I think they have a full ride for a 26 ACT.
A Full Ride is normally defined as Tuition/Fees, Room, and Board. It is not expected to cover every single expense and the fanciest dorm possible.
$8500/year + $2500/year = $11,000/year, which is certainly a Full Ride by the normal definition.
Even $8,500/year is essentially a Full Ride if you use a cheap meal plan and a cheap dorm.