<p>I've done a lot of research on full need schools and really love Grinnell, Vassar and Macalester. My moms income is 20K and want to know if I'm being reasonable by applying to one of these schools early decision. With my stats Vassar is definitely a reach but when I ran the price calculator it said my net price would be 3000 a year which is amazing. Plus I'm male which helps a bit. Grinnell was 7000 and Macalester was 9000. Basically my question is if I was lucky enough to get into a school like that is that a manageable amount of debt I'll be collecting? I have a low GPA unweighted at 3.3 so I might have no chance but I have 10 AP classes and family difficulties that made a really bad semester and is some explanation for my grades. Still not an excuse. Anyway I do have a decent SAT with a 1450 cr and m (2110 including writing). Would I be better looking for major scholorships at state schools? I love the idea of a liberal arts education but I also want to go to med school. Sorry it this is unorganized but basically I want to know it it's a good idea to apply to one of these full need liberal arts schools ED? I'm in the process of applying to Grinnell but haven't done it yet. I plan on working to reduce my loan as much as possible by the way. I just want opinion on my best choices and if I'm looking at things right. Thanks a lot if anyone can help.</p>
<p>If you are premed , in UG, you want to take as little debt as possible. FA in med school is non-existent if you got in you will take a lot of debt to complete your education.
Those Lacs you choose are fine as reaches. You need a lot of matches and safeties. Which state are you from? And what are your ec’s? Your Gpa is kind of low, are there any chances to improve?</p>
<p>^ I agree with art lovers plus in keeping your UG debt to a minimum if you are considering med school, but disagree with the statement that there is no FA in med school…that is not true. Although it is not as common as it is in UG, there is need based aid at some med schools as well as merit scholarships as well.</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross very good LAC with fantastic pre-med program. HC also meets 100% demonstrated financial aid. Holy Cross has tremendous med school alumni network.</p>
<p>I’m from Texas. I have 20 schools on my common app I’m applying to in total if the first few don’t work but I also plan on applying to UT Dallas, UT San Antonio, and the three Texas liberal arts schools. Also Alabama Birmingham. Dallas I could likely get good scholarships but not sure. I’m basically applying to liberal arts schools across the country that claim to meet full need but have a 30 or above acceptance rate. I never even considered unweighted GPA until this year because my school only mentions our weighted scale and I have a 4.2 on that. I hope my unweighted can be a 3.5 by the end. I’m taking all AP classes this year and Physics C is kicking my butt but other than that I’m doing well. I was at a 3.6 before last semester and I try to explain my family problems in my common app. Grinnell has around a 50 percent early decision acceptance rate but I’m not sure if I have a shot. Macalester is even better for ED 1 and I’ve heard kids with my stats get in but I’m not sure if it’s affordable. </p>
<p>Oh and my EC’s aren’t much. I am an officer for best buddies and work with the life skills class every day during seventh. That’s something I really enjoy. I’m also a member of HOSA and my county’s health corps. I played sports earlier in high school. I’ve fostered dogs with my family throughout high school. </p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion par72! I have been going back and forth on Holy Cross actually. It seems like a beautiful campus and great academics so I probably will. Did you go there? I know it’s Jesuit and pretty open but I’m still unsure about going to a predominately Catholic school. I have Catholic roots but I’m just not sure.</p>
<p>It’s an interesting strategy and seems to have some safeties built into it. I can almost see it working, your finding an LAC that meets 100% need. A lot could turn on the quality of the essays and good letters of rec. The safeties have to be absolutely affordable, OP, and you have to want to go there. </p>
<p>I second Mount Holyoke, and add College of the Holy Cross, Occidental, Carroll University in WI, Bucknell, Franklin & Marshall, Pitzer, Oberlin, Thomas Aquinas in CA, Trinity in CT, and University of Richmond. </p>
<p>btw, I’m quite surprised that with an income of 20K your EFC is anywhere near 9000. I’d check your npc calculations.</p>
<p>Haha my chances at Mount Holyoke are slim seeing that I’m a guy. Wouldn’t mind an all girls school though. Thanks for the suggestions though! Trinity, occidental, Oberlin and Richmond were already on my list. Holy Cross and Bucknell I’ve been debating. The other thing I’m looking at is which are need blind because most are need aware but I’m still applying if the early decisions don’t pan out. Oh and my EFC is zero. I was giving the total amount left after grant so most of that would go into loans or other self help. Or that’s how the calculator breaks it down. Okay so say I got into Macalester ED and my situation was I’d have to cover 9000 in loans and work study and other sources. Is that reasonable? </p>
<p>3.3 HS GPA and 1450 SAT CR+M will get you a full ride at Louisiana Tech or Louisiana - Monroe:
<a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/</a>
<a href=“http://admissions.latech.edu/tuition_fees/pdfs/freshman_scholarships.pdf”>http://admissions.latech.edu/tuition_fees/pdfs/freshman_scholarships.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.ulm.edu/scholarships/freshmen.html”>http://www.ulm.edu/scholarships/freshmen.html</a></p>
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<p>Perhaps that is net price, including student contribution (federal direct loans and work earnings)?</p>
<p>As far as what is reasonable, you can borrow up to $5,500 in federal direct loans the first year. Reasonable expectations of work earnings for a college student go up to about $5,000 per year. Obviously, if you do both, you get a stretch budget of $10,500 per year, but the lower the net price the better (e.g. if your net price is under $5,000, you can get away with either the federal direct loan or the work earnings).</p>
<p>$5500 in loans per year might not seem like much to a family with 120K in income, but it’s a ton of money for someone with 20K. Your margin of error is much more slim. If you don’t graduate and earn a good income, 27K of debt makes borrowing for a car, even finding an apartment, more difficult. Hey, stuff happens and the best laid plans often don’t work out. You might change your career plans to something less remunerative than medicine, for instance. Lots of students do drop out of pre-med. What do the npcs show about the texas schools? </p>
<p>Did you go to Louisiana Tech? That is a great deal! I’m just not sure what their biology program is like I’ll look into it</p>
<p>The NPC for in state schools aren’t any better. For example UT Austin gives me 15000 even with pell grants. Austin college has auto scholarships but I’m not sure if I can stack those with need grants. It would cover 23,000 a year guaranteed though. Thanks for the feedback everyone!</p>
<p>Oh and UT Dallas isn’t any better than Austin but there are major scholarships. They aren’t guaranteed but I’m within test score range.</p>
<p>In general, it doesn’t matter where you go for biology since the courses will have a lot in common from one school to the next. Med schools won’t care where you went undergrad, for the most part. They want to see GPA, MCAT, interviews, letters of rec, and research experience. Go where you can avoid debt and focus on your studies. There’s little advantage for med school admission to be gained by going to Grinnell over Louisiana Tech.</p>
<p>Yeah I get that. Free college would be great. I’m not sure how I’d fit in at Louisiana Tech but I’ll definitely consider it.</p>
<p>No, didn’t go to LT or ULM, but figured that you would be interested in schools that will be low cost for you.</p>
<p>Pre-med does not require any specific major. However, pre-med course work in chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, physics, math, and English is typically required (however, medical school requirements do vary, so check their requirements when planning course work). About half of those who apply and matriculate to medical school are biology majors, but that means that the other half major in something else.</p>
<p>College GPA and MCAT scores are highly important for medical school admission, but there are also other factors like pre-med extracurriculars, recommendations, research experience, and interviews. Stats on applicants and matriculants can be found at <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/</a> .</p>
<p>Medical schools are expensive, but Texas public medical schools (and private Baylor) are relatively low cost for Texas residents. See <a href=“https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/”>https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/</a> for tuition and fees (not including living expenses). You may note that Texas residency for medical schools is determined as described at <a href=“https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/residency.html”>https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/residency.html</a> .</p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful info! I know that major doesn’t matter but at this point Biology would probably be my first choice. I’m doing well in AP Bio this year and have always liked it. I might either hold off on ED entirely or switch to Vassar again. I feel my chances there are slim but if all I am required to pay there is 3000 a year I think I could definitely work that off and be debt free. Everything else I’ll apply regular decision and if I don’t get any affordable packages I’ll go with a school like Louisiana Tech. </p>
<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent whose finances would change your Net Price Calculator results?</p>