Match my brother to schools with strong bio/pre-med programs! (MA, full pay, 1510, 3.50 UW)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic (MA)
  • Competitive public school
  • Mixed white/Asian
  • Diagnosed with ADHD in high school; grades have improved since freshman year after starting medication and consistently show an upward trend (he has almost all A-s and As first quarter)
  • Current junior

Intended Major(s)
Interested in pre-med/medical research. Considering biochemistry, maybe neuroscience or molecular biology?

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.50 as of sophomore year
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.02 (4.66 scale; honors and AP get +.66)
  • Class Rank: n/a
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1510 (740R 770M); may take ACT instead

Coursework

  • All honors classes when available
  • AP Calculus BC as a sophomore (5 and 5 AB subscore)
  • Currently taking AP Statistics, self-studying AP English Language
  • Currently taking Latin 4H and Spanish 4H

Awards

  • Anticipated National Merit Commended
  • Award for character on JV soccer team

Extracurriculars

  • JV soccer team (junior year)
  • Ski racing team (9th grade - present)
  • Geography club (no current official title but one of founding members)
  • Ranked top 200 in GeoGuessr (will likely write an essay about it)
  • Will be doing scientific research with Harvard professor
  • Volunteered at local hospital (60 hours)
  • Volunteered abroad in Spain on a farm

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Full pay (529 account from parents)

Schools Likes:

  • “Interesting place” (e.g. California, NYC)
  • Opportunity to do research as an undergraduate
  • Prefers urban
  • BS/MD?

Schools Dislikes:

  • Small school (<3,000 students)
  • Heavily religious
  • Hard to switch majors
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What does full pay mean? Can the family pay $350,000 for a private school?

Besides the instate schools, I would take a look at Pitt.

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We are hoping to have $300,000 saved for him by the time he graduates, but also hopefully he can pay back any loans fairly quickly after medical school.

Pitt is on our list to consider! Thank you so much :smile:

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He is likely going to have a lot in loans after medical school, and residents do not make much. I would not count on paying loans back quickly.

I would consider remaining instate and saving the money for medical school.

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Is there enough money for undergraduate + medical school even at the most expensive schools?

If not, then consider whether choosing a lower cost undergraduate could allow for less debt after medical school, if you get in.

Obviously, medical school itself is a reach for all frosh pre-meds, so you need to consider what your other options are in the likely event that you do not get into any medical school.

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Sounds as if he is very bright, but academic performance was affected by ADHD. Can you apply for extended time on standardized tests for him? That might allow him to get a very high score, not that 1510 is bad.

BS/MD is out of the question. His record is just not good enough. I wouldn’t waste any time or effort on this.

UMass Amherst is his academic and financial safety. If he wants med school, it would cost another possibly 400K, so although you have a very nice 529 account built up, he still really needs to consider cost, since he needs to save some (even all) of that for med school.

He’s not going to get merit money at top ranked schools, because most of them don’t award merit, and if they do, it’s only to the very top applicants. He could get merit money at a third tier liberal arts college, the kind of place that accepts over 75% of applicants, but he’d be better off at UMass Amherst. BTW, they’ve got a streamlined scientific research program that if he expressed interest, I bet he’d get into.

If we’re talking NYC, he could MAYBE get into NYU. It’s a long shot, and it will cost over 375K before you’re done - and then he’ll have to take massive loans for med school. California? He could definitely get into a public California U, but would be full pay. There are a lot of them. He might get into USC, same issue as NYU.

If he is pretty sure he wants medicine, really, his best bet by far is UMass Amherst.

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Your brother needs to ask his own questions from his own account. Closing.

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