If I were you in your financial situation, I’d go to a community college for two years, make straight A’s and then transfer to my state flagship, or to a directional. Apply to the schools as early as possible. Apply for financial aid EARLY. Jan. 1, no later. We did this and my son was awarded very generous aid packages at the state directional schools and his GPA as a high school senior is worse than yours. There are a lot of grants out there beyond the Pell for those first in line to receive them and a couple bad years of high school does not ruin your life. It sounds like you are in a good frame of mind to recover and get the necessary grades for med school from here on out. You can do it! No one knows anyone’s high school grades after you start college. It’s a clean slate. Good luck.
@redpoodles They actually are making it so starting next year u can fill out your fasfa and apply for aid starting Oct 1. So I could apply even earlier. But I am sadly not looking to do a CC route.
@mom2collegekids I just ranked them as the gpa average w/ the sat average. Not to mention I am black so there are tons of scholarships that gets added on to the other enormous about of scholarships there are out there.
@mom2collegekids I also don’t see how USF is not a safety school their out of state tuition is only 17k? That is extremely low. And I have a chance that since my test scores are so high and my GPA is improving that they could reward me 100% need even tho they only do that like 30% of the time.
Have you checked out all the colleges in your area that work well with CC? Sounds like you are going to have to go through school with as low a cost as possible. If you can live at home, work some, and tackle the courses with a high GPA with your college classes - your standardized test scores say you have the acumen but you will have to work hard, both in and out of the classroom. Do you have any family that are near a college that you can save with room/board? You may have to think out of the box a bit.
Know students who have tried a number of paths, including going into the military - for pay and benefits, maturing so that they can go to school when they are truly ready.
Sounds like you have turned the corner on the HS grades, so if you were my S/D, I would have them explore low cost college options - and keeping costs down with room/board options.
^@hwalker17 You may have no choice but to heed redpoodles advice. Have you run the net price calculators at every college you are considering as others have suggested? What are the results? I suspect the results will churn out a cost that is too expensive for your financial situation. Thus, you will need to seriously consider redpoodles advice.
“Hiram with its medical humanities program and partnership with Neomed . . .” (#19)
Though the list I’ve posted (#4 on this thread) is frequently criticized, it appears to recognize colleges with programs such as the above, and may have an under-appreciated value for this reason.
OP since you mention you are black, you may get very good merit at a historical black college. You need to look at the debt, where you will achieve, etc. It still may be too expensive for your financial situation.
I know a student that owed debt at the state flagship, so couldn’t take additional classes, and couldn’t take classes at the schools near his parents’ home because until he got his debt cleared, could not get the transcript for courses taken. Dad had cancer w/o insurance, so parents can’t help him. After working a min wage job for a while, and realizing he couldn’t get back to flagship because he didn’t save enough to pay off what he owed and paying for school and his expenses, he tested extremely well with military enlisted, and because he had some college, went in with a little rank already. So he made a plan, after plan A didn’t work.
You are smart enough to see the more info you explore with lots of options - you can narrow down your choices spring of your senior year. However, if you don’t seek info and apply to various options, you won’t have those options available to select from. The financial situation won’t go away. You may have more options, but if you don’t explore…
Wherever you do apply, please do also apply to a cc and also a directional in case your dream schools do not work out and/or you don’t get any scholarships. These applications may be free. I feel like you need a reality check because UNC-CH should not be on your list at all. Remember, where you start is not going to be where you end up, and you will likely have to start a step ahead of where you are now. Here is a list of colleges you might get into but you have to run the net price calculators to see if $$ will be possible: http://blog.prepscholar.com/the-best-colleges-with-low-gpa-requirements
Those would be students from Florida, not OOS applicants. You’d need a 3.9 GPA to compete, too… (you can look for the Florida University System matrix for all admissions stats).
Since your EFC is zero and you can only count on federal loans and Pell, either you choose a university where total costs are about 15-18K (as long as you start working now, work full time this summer, and save all your earnings, ie/; 5.5K loan, 5.5K Pell, then 4-7K in savings/work earnings ), or universities that offer financial aid to OOS applicants, such as the ones listed in #4 and #19.
Check out Nova Southeastern - it’s in Ft Lauderdale, FL. A couple years back when we were looking at colleges for my youngest this is one we looked at and I recall both being impressed and that they offer some pretty good merit aid packages for lower stats - mainly since they are looking to attract better students.
Since you want to go out of state, need money, and are interested in med school - it all seems like a worthy combination. I’m not sure if they’re big enough for you and all of their classes are small. Most consider that last bit a plus.
@redpoodles I refuse to go to a CC. If my sister can go to Yale, and Columbia medical school with only 15k in debt then I can get through college too without attending a CC. I get your whole point of where you start is not where you’ll end up but I will not apply to a CC and cannot. Also I don’t believe that just because my GPA is low that means I can’t carry it with my SAT/ACT score. A student with a 2200+ Sat score has no place at a CC. Granted the CC next to me is a great CC on the scale of CC’s, it’s just not an option I’m going to be looking to go to.
@redpoodles I also cannot do the CC route because if I want to have any chance of getting into med school I need the right courses and such that a CC might have but the professors will be no where near as good. Nor would a CC be able to give me access to things such as shadowing Dr.'s and such. Also the average GPA of the CC near me, Sinclair, is 2.6 for incoming freshman with a 21 ACT.
@SOSConcern I have checked that out and the only program is like a wright state to Sinclair program. Which is you live on wright state for 4 years but your first 2 years you go to Sinclair and the last 2 at wright state. But both schools are sub par of what I’m looking for. A lot of you guys are telling me to try the CC route but the problem with that is the profession I want to do, medical field. I would be such at a disadvantage just by going the CC route for that classroom wise, experience wise, and MCAT wise. I looked at the CC near me and they don’t even offer the advanced physics classes that I’m looking to take my freshman year.
@redpoodles I also understand that my sister was able to do that because highly selective schools have such high endowments they often give all their students 100% need financial aide. I also think you’re making my situation a lot worse than what it actually is.
OP I do know med students that have gone this route. If a program isn’t affordable then you have to choose a route for you to get to your goals.
MCAT is doing well with the test based on preparation, knowledge base, and test taking skills. @mom2collegekids and others that have students in med school can perhaps spell things out for you based on their knowledge and successful experience on the subject. What factors are considered from med school application, to interview, etc.
You can recover from your HS GPA, but your thinking is limited to a formula that you think exists.
I had a HS classmate that went to a remote four year college and had a professor identify that he should go into med school, which he then did.
@Hwalker17 I am curious what your sister’s stats were. I’m guessing she didn’t have a 2.8. I just want to correct you that you CAN go to medical school from community college. While I say this, I do also think community college would be very easy for you, so I’d hope for a more challenging school for you, but given that you have no money, it might be a smart choice to apply anyway as a backup. My own cousin, who is a doctor, first joined the air force out of high school and did two tours in Afghanistan. Then he went to community college for two years. Then he transferred to his state flagship. Then he went to medical school. Now he is a doctor. Colleges do not hand you shadow opportunities–those you need to set up for yourself and you can start doing that now, even as a high school kid. You could possibly also find a lab opportunity right now if you were assertive enough or connected enough. Finally, almost all schools put more weight on GPA than on test scores. It’s good you have an upward trend but I wish it had kicked in one year earlier. Good luck to you. Keep in mind we are all advising you based on your particular combination of GPA, test score, and available $$. You are missing two of those elements for a top school/inexpensive experience such as your sister’s. There are a lot of other colleges you could go to, the question is how will it get paid for. Post back when you’re in and let us know what happens.
I am posting as a parent of one who attends a top school for almost no money (she had a 4.2 and 32ACT) and one who is going to graduate with about a 2.8 GPA, decent SAT’s like yours and is going to a directional state university because that is where his GPA could get the most aid. As I said, good luck.
Your sister could go to Yale without massive debt because Yale offers good need-based financial aid (as do most elite schools). Yes, if you got into Yale then you would likely graduate with little to no debt as well. But if you can’t attend one of the most elite schools that offers good need-based aid and you don’t qualify for merit aid at less selective schools then it’s not reasonable to have the same expectations as your sister. Don’t be so quick to knock CC, it’s not just for kids who do poorly in high school.
@redpoodles Everyone on here assumes that I’m trying to get into an expensive top notch ivy school when I’m not. A 2.8 is combined from my freshman and sophomore year not including my junior year which is a current 4.0. My sister yes did very well in high school and such and that was she was able to get into an ivy. I’m looking for an AVERAGE COLLEGE THAT HAS GOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASPIRING MEDICAL STUDENTS. That’s all I wanted to get answered on this thread not whether or not I could pay for it and what not. I thought I had a simple question that people may just give me a list of schools to look at but that is clearly not the case.