Is William and Mary worth the out of state tuition for pre-Med?

Hello, I visited William and mary a while ago and liked it so much I really want to go there! Yes I know how hard it is to get accepted, especially out of state. Also, I am only a junior but am just curious what people have to say. If accepted, do you think the out of state tuition is worth it? I am in Pennsylvania and there are great schools here, but if I decide I don’t want to go to Med school, William and mary is definitely one of the best schools I’m looking at that I could POTENTIALLY be accepted to. I would need to take out about 100,000+ dollars in loans but I liked it so much and would like to help my parents out. Also, if anyone can say any bad things about W&m that may make it easier to not want to go there, that would be great. And yes I know how hard it is to get in, thanks!

I’m the parent of 2 alums who went to W&M OOS. We paid the full OOS tuition and would do so again without hesitation. But my advice to you is - **don’t take out 100K in loans at any undergraduate institution, whether or not med school is on the horizon. And especially don’t do it if medical school is a possibility. Don’t, don’t, don’t. **

W&M is a wonderful school where the faculty, student body, and quality of education are excellent. It’s worth the OOS cost if you have it, not if you have to borrow it. You’re a high school junior right now and may not be aware of what a huge amount of debt means to a young person just out of college. Medical school, if you get in, is funded through loans - six figures of loans. MDs don’t have the same economic prospects today that they did a few decades ago. This decision has little to do with any “bad things” people might say here about W&M. It’s an economic question, plain and simple.

W&M’s med school acceptance rate is excellent for recommended students, as it is at most selective schools.

Just to extend @frazzled1’s comments - you’ll probably hear stories, (mostly apocryphal), about MD’s being able to pay back their loans with the truckloads of money they make after graduating. And even when true, things have changed in recent years.

For example, for most, in PA, medical school will probably cost, very roughly, about $60-75k per year - $50-55k for tuition and fees, then books, living expenses, etc (some states offer low in-state rates that drag any published averages down) - five years from now, it will almost certainly be higher.

Students are graduating from med schools with close to $200K in debt - the “average” is $166k, but be careful of “averages” - many of DD’s classmates were from wealthy families whose families covered most or all of the cost of attendance, and many URM’s got very signficant aid - but for those in the middle, that “average” might well be higher.

Add to that, three years ago, the federal subsidy for graduate loans ended - prior to that, you could get a Stafford loan of up to, iirc, $20,500, which didn’t accrue interest while you were in school. Now, your entire loan amount accrues interest while in-school. If you were wondering, they ended this subsidy to help fund Pell grants.

Residents make roughly $48-50k their first year, and 6 months after graduating, you have to start paying on those loans (up to 10% of your income.)

That’s all pretty bad - and would be a nightmare if you had undergraduate loans, too.

If you must finance your medical education, again, to repeat what @frazzled1 said, do not take loans for undergrad.

No way. Best bet is to find a small private school for pre-med. They will be much more generous with financial aid, the class sizes will be smaller, and there will be close faculty/student interaction which is very important for recommendations.

I’m not sure of your location, but some good suggestions would be McDaniel in MD, Roanoke College in VA. There are many others.

@DJCordeiro hah yeah I know that was like all I was thinking about when taking the tour

William & Mary is one of the “Top Choices” in an online list, “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges With Great Pre-med Programs.” If you can’t make the excellent CWM work out for you financially, maybe one of the other 22 schools on the list would prove to be more affordable.

@frazzled1 what were some things you or your kids did not like about w&m