Music majors are actually one of the most successful demographics in med school admissions. There’s nothing wrong with majoring in music and also taking the required premed classes (which may amount to a bio minor at many schools).
If you’re interested in the Claremont Consortium (and if you’re female, which your username suggests you probably are), I’d suggest applying to Scripps as well as to CMC. You haven’t mentioned whether you’re willing to consider women’s colleges, but Scripps can be very best-of-both-worlds, since the cross-registration and shared EC’s throughout the consortium make it a mixed-gender experience, apart from the housing, with an overall student population the size of a mid-sized university. I’m not sure what the maximum merit scholarship is at CMC, but Scripps gives up to half-tuition. Premed advising is strong; they also offer a post-bacc program.
Other women’s colleges that are in consortia and offer merit aid include Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Agnes Scott. The Claremonts are the most fully-integrated consortium, though.
Richmond gives some good performing arts scholarships for students who are willing to at least minor in their arts discipline. Rochester is also great for musicians and gives merit. Case Western is another mid-sized U that’s great for both premed and music (joint program with Cleveland Institute of Music) and gives merit. Demonstrated interest is very important here.
If you like UVA and UNC, have you considered UGA? UGA Honors gives some big merit scholarships, and Honors students get terrific support, networking, and supplemental programming.
USC (California) gives half-tuition merit for NMF, with the possibility of full-tuition. And it’s a very good place for musicians to combine fields of study via minors, double-majors, etc.
You should have lots of good options, and you’re doing well to think through your priorities and price point early so that you go in with the best possible list.
Thanks! I had considered Scripps, but my parents do not like the idea of me going to an all-women college for their own reasons that I’m not going to get into, but they might be okay with it since it is in the consortium with men though. Getting them to let me go to California would be hard enough though lol. I did not know their premed advising was so good. That’s cool. I had looked into Case western, but I heard it is very “all work no play.” Maybe not though. I don’t plan to party a bunch or anything like that, but I also don’t want to be somewhere that’s all school all the time. I had thought about USC. I like the mountains a lot, which is why most (not all though) of the things I’m looking at are in the Appalachian area, but other than that I like USC as an option. UGA is just still in the deep south which I was trying to get out of, at least to the mid-Atlantic area. But it’s just undergraduate, so I won’t necessarily stay there for life. I will look into it!
Any state flagship is fine, I’d say. The highest ranked ones don’t offer much (or any) out of state financial aid, so the UCs aren’t a great bet, and Michigan is similar I think.
Forgot to mentioned combined degree programs: you get into med school right out of high school. Can “save” money in a few ways: a couple of them used to be shorter (6 or 7 years instead of 8 total), so if that is still the case it’s a money saver, and the guaranteed med admission also helps you plan your financial future without the uncertainty of not knowing whether you’ll get into med school. Take a look at the handful of undergrads feeding into Albany Medical College, also University of Kentucky and Saint Louis University (unless my information is out of date), and a few in New Jersey I think. There is a whole thread on college confidential for these. The “grand prize” in this category might be Brown, since it’s Ivy plus med school, and as financial aid goes it is generous (not Harvard generous but better than some others).
I know a couple of kids similar to OP who went to Nova Southeastern for their combined BS-DO / BS-MD programs. They are both happy there. I don’t know much about the school myself - would that be a good option for OP?
Sure, might be, but I’m afraid I haven’t actually heard of it so can’t comment. I will say that an American MD degree is an American MD degree, and while there may be differences coming out of certain med schools in terms of residency placements (especially for competitive fields like dermatology), it’s a nice high standard and any place offering one is worth considering.
I am way less qualified to talk about the DO route, but it seems equivalent in many specialties (can get into many of the same residencies as MDs) though there may still be some level of snobbery/discrimination/condescension from MDs depending on where you are. I know next to nothing about that path.
I am not sure it is wise to choose a college based on a future career in medicine. I would hope you would think about cost,academics, location, size and “vibe” and apply to schools you can afford that will give you the best 4 year experience.
Yes avoid debt. Are you sure you can’t get any financial aid? Some schools give aid to families making $150k or even more.
Think about submitting a music supplement with recording/video, music resume, and music letters of recommendation if accepted by the schools.
You can major in anything for med school (there are post-bacc programs too, for prerequisites though they cost). Music majors do indeed do well with admissions.
Have you considered Tulane? Sounds like “litle Ivies” (you can google this) or Colleges that Change Lives (website) are good resources for you.
What are the out of state costs for the state schools you mentioned?
Add Pittsburgh to your schools to consider. It’s very good for pre-med, rolling admissions so you’d have an admittance safety, and they give out merit for which your stats would be competitive. It’s worth a look at least.
Do you know what your parent’s EFC is? I’m wondering if you ought to consider trying some good meets needs schools, like some Ivies, that use their own calculator and give more aid.
Otherwise, I think you’re spot on looking for merit at good schools while having an affordable safety.
Don’t worry about whether you should go to a lesser ranked school to help your chances to get into med school. Your scores/GPA are good enough to be competitive at any school as long as you put the effort in. You’re in the Top 25% pretty much anywhere, and there’s not much difference between a 35/36 ACT. It’s students who tend to be in the lower 75% of the incoming class that can struggle at first due to less of a foundation.
Go to the school you like the most that’s affordable. Any college can get you into med school. Have an enjoyable, affordable journey.
I am thinking about all of those things. regardless of whether or not I go into medicine, I’m fairly certain I want to study biology in college, so I’m looking for a good biology program either way. Tulane, from what I’ve heard, has a really big party culture. Like way more than a normal college. That isn’t really what I’m going for. But, they give really good aid to in-state students, so I’ll probably consider it anyway. I know a girl whose parents make less than mine and got no federal aid. And I have divorced and remarried parents. From what I can tell, many colleges add together both my parents’ and stepparents’ salaries into one big salary, which is not at all the reality. I do plan to submit a music supplement! I’m not sure what you mean by the last question. I would probably start with full price for the out-of-state schools, and then maybe get merit scholarships. University of Arkansas gives Louisiana students with my gpa a 90% of the out of state tuition difference scholarship, so it ends up being basically the same as staying in state.
I haven’t thought of Pittsburg, thanks!
I’m not sure what an EFC is. A bunch of financial info that you can skip over if you want because it’s fairly detailed–My mom is a part-time private school teacher, and my dad is a lawyer. My parents are divorced and remarried, which messes up aid at a lot of private schools that give “good” aid. Many of their websites say they take the expected contribution of one household (parent+stepparent) plus the expected contribution of the other household, which is 1. not the reality of how this is going to work for my family and 2. going to add up to all of the tuition. If I’m misunderstanding this, please let me know. My stepdad is the one who makes the money at my mom’s house, but my mom doesn’t think he should have to contribute to my and my sisters’ college funds since he isn’t our dad. I understand that and I don’t hold that against them or anything, but that does mess up aid since he works a lot and is successful. My stepmom is a stay at home mother. I do have a bunch of siblings (2 sisters, 2 stepsiblings, and 1 half-brother). Will that help?
I believe (and just looked it up) that only your custodial parent and spouse need to be on the FAFSA. Others can confirm this. You need to have more definite info on finances before thinking about which schools, I think!
However, many of the good financial aid colleges require additional forms (e.g. CSS Profile), including those detailing the finances of the non-custodial parent (e.g. CSS Noncustodial Profile).
See the following (although the definition of custodial parent is changing to the parent providing the most financial support, instead of the one the student lives with the most):
Expected Family Contribution — this is important at colleges offering need-based aid as their estimate of what your family reasonably can afford to pay toward college costs. With respect to your prospects for financial aid, this site may be worth trying:
I think you’re right to be targeting merit aid. Since you’re from LA some northern private schools might be more inclined to give you merit aid due to wanting geographical diversity. Most like to boast having someone from as many states as they can. I wouldn’t dismiss Case Western. Who told you it’s “all work and no play?” I haven’t heard that before. As noted before U Rochester is good with research and music, so also worth a shot financially.
Whatever you do, don’t fall in love with “a” school. Find some you’re pretty sure you would like, apply, see where acceptances and finances come in, sift them out into affordable, then fall in love.
I’m pretty sure that is the case for FASFA, but I’m not as sure about individual colleges’ financial aid. You could be right though. I will look into it again!
Ok, thanks! I had just read some student reviews about Case Western, but those also do probably skew negative since angry people will typically go write negative reviews more often than content people will write positive ones.
Do you know how much your budget is for college? That is going to be step one, so talk to your parents.
Which parent do you live with? Which parent provides the most financial support?
You can estimate your fafsa EFC here. Fafsa rules are going to change next year, so run this with the financial info of the parent who provides the most financial support (which may or may not be your custodial parent) and their spouse. Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator – BigFuture | College Board
Next, run the net price calculators at some of the meet full need schools on your list, this will help us know more about how colleges will see your financial situation. These are the types of schools that generally will want financial info from all four parents. Here are washu’s and Williams’, both of which require financial information from bio parents plus spouses:
For any college you are interested in, see if you can find the contact e-mail of someone in a club you think you’d like or perhaps you can find a student doing pre-med. E-mail them and ask questions about the culture of the school. One can usually find contacts somewhere. Send more than one email (to different people) and see if you hear back similar things.
If you were able to visit you’d be able to talk with students, but since visiting is tough, this could help narrow things down a little for you if you’re in doubt about current culture at a school.
Don’t write (or expect) a novel, but ask a couple of quick questions about college life and see what you get back.