We’re in CA, and the med schools here cost big bucks, and that’s in addition to having too few spots for lots of qualified pre-med kids. If we were to look at doing undergrad in a different state with the idea of making future med school attendance easier and cheaper, what are the best states to consider?
From my own research, Texas seems to be the clear winner, with some great NMF scholarships plus an ample supply of inexpensive med schools. Where else besides Texas? We have family in Michigan. How’s MI for med school?
Hubs and I both have very portable jobs, so as much as we like CA, moving for the sake of in-state tuition somewhere else isn’t out of the question.
Disclaimer: hypothetical, long range planning. Lots could change between here and there, but I’m still curious.
Texas med schools are hard to get into from OOS, so not sure if there is a “tie” to those. But, it sounds like you want to move to establish residency? If so, that could be a game-changer, but you’d need to do that soon.
What grade is your oldest child?
When my son was in the med school app process, he didn’t apply to any TX SOMs. Without residency (or MD/PhD), it’s hard to get in. Even Baylor SOM gives a priority to Tx residents because Texas pays them for that.
I agree that Calif has too few seats, but the instate rate to the CA public SOMs isn’t high…why do you think that?
that said, i don’t blame you for considering other states.
Re: in-state SOM in CA - The UC med schools are all $30k plus per year (tuition only), plus they tend to be located in high cost of living areas. Texas med schools are in the mid to high teens for tuition, with vastly lower COL. From where I sit, assuming one is in-state and gets in, CA costs twice as much as Texas.
If we move - and that’s a big if - it looks like we could do it during the first or second year of UG and S would be reclassified as in-state before he graduates, which would mean in-state rates in the new state when he applies for med school, right? Am I missing something?
Sample COL difference: Our rent in CA is more than $20k/year, and we pay vastly undermarket rent because we’ve been here for 10 years with no increase. A 1600sf home where I grew up in MI would have a mortgage payment of around $500/month, a roughly $15k annual savings on rent alone.
Norman, OK (OU) also has very affordable housing (by CA standards), as do Tuscaloosa and some of the more far-flung areas of Texas. Moving might make financial sense even if we only stay for 4-6 years to help the kid get through school.
If S goes to Rice, for example (private, so reclassification wouldn’t be an issue), and we move to TX part way through, he’d have been a TX resident - and us, too - for 2-3 years before med school. Same thing if he goes to Michigan State (can’t afford UofM if we’re OOS) and we move back to MI.
I’m aware it’s not guaranteed, but I’m still interested in any states that might have a better UG to med school pipeline than CA.
I may be biased here, but I’m not sure I would pay OOS tuition for MSU. I do know that whatever you are classified as your freshman year is the classification you will be for your entire undergrad at Michigan.
There are always the NY schools that have great pre-med to med pipelines (I love that word).
We wouldn’t be paying OOS for MSU. If S ends up at MSU, it will be on an NMF full ride*. Also, you might be surprised at MSU’s rankings of late. Yes, Michigan is world class, but MSU isn’t all that far behind. (I say this as a former Michigander with grads from U of M, MSU, Central Mich and Northern Mich in the family.)
*short of us moving before he graduates, that’s the only scenario where MSU makes sense
UMich’s med school tuition (instate) is the same as UC med schools (instate).
While Texas has low instate rates, that is more the exception than the rule.
Instate SOM rates are rising quickly. The “real” tuition per med student is over $100k per year. Paying $30k per year is a relative bargain.
I have been tracking our instate SOM rates for the past 7-10 years. They have risen at an amazing rate. Our son’s tuition is about $26k per year, but I remember when the SOM was only charging about $12k per year
are you planning on paying for your child’s med school costs?
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We wouldn’t be paying OOS for MSU. If S ends up at MSU, it will be on an NMF full ride*
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I don’t think MSU gives full rides to NMFs. Where are you seeing that?
MSU National Merit Scholarship
Awarded to National Merit Finalists who name MSU as their first-choice institution; $750 to $2,000 annually, depending on financial need; those receiving $2,000 nonrenewable awards are guaranteed supplemental awards from $250 to $1,500 annually, renewable for eight semesters**.
Merit Recognition Scholarship
Awarded to a limited number of non-Michigan residents who are National Merit Finalists and name MSU as their first-choice institution; includes $4,000 annually plus room and board in an MSU residence hall (double occupancy in an MSU residence hall and silver meal plan; students with sophomore academic standing or higher, who have lived for a minimum of one year in an MSU residence hall, are eligible to live in an on-campus apartment and receive the residence hall double occupancy award plus the silver meal plan, based on space and class standing; off-campus housing is not included in this award), renewable for eight semesters**.
Are you thinking that your son would become a NMF in Calif, and then go to MSU? or something else?
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S is 15 and in 10th grade, btw.
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Of course, it’s unknown if your son will be a NMF, right?
Re: Are we paying his med school costs - If he’s dead set on med school, he needs to make NMF and take a full ride somewhere. That means his 529 can keep growing while he’s in UG. Especially if we move, we can help, but we can’t pay the whole thing.
His best chance for a full ride here in CA is either getting into Stanford (our income means an admit is a full ride) or taking Blue & Gold at the local UC and living at home. Those options get him through his undergrad with no debt and almost nothing out of pocket for us.
But if we do that, we’re stuck in-state for med school because OOS SOMs are largely unaffordable. So taking the long view, I wondered if one of those NMF full rides might also lead to a better sitch for med school down the road.
In other words, given our overall scenario - a high stats kid from a low-middle income family (EFC: $5k) - how can we best position him for med school if that’s what he wants?
There’s no (or precious little) FA for med school aside from loans, right? S is URM. Does that matter for med school?
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and we move to TX part way through, he’d have been a TX resident - and us, too - for 2-3 years before med school.
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You’d have to time that right and check TX residency rules.
Apps to med school get submitted during the summer between junior and senior year of college. So, if there is a one year residency req’t at the time the TMDSAS is submitted, you’d need to time the move accordingly.
MSU stacks two different scholarships to make a full ride for NMFs. There’s a member here who’s doing it. I’ll see if I can find the thread. ETA: Here it is:
Re: NMF for S - Yes, it’s unknown at this point. The rest of his standardized testing suggests that 99th percentile wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation. No guarantees, of course. If he wants med school, he’ll need to bust some hiney prepping for his PSAT.
We’ve actually considered moving over the summer between 10th and 11th grade. In addition to the financial aspect, both TX and MI have lower NMSF cutoffs. S is doing very well at his HS, though, including GPA, leadership roles in his ECs, established volunteer ops, etc. Moving him would mess all of that up.
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There’s no (or precious little) FA for med school aside from loans, right?
there is no/little/some aid for med school other than loans…depends. There have been some large merit offers for very high MCAT scores to poach some students away from schools like Harvard Med. I’ve seen some MCAT 40’s (old MCAT) get free tuition (not free ride) offers…but MCAT 40s are rare.
Merit for med school is different. Some time around April of the app cycle, Med schools are told which of their accepted applicants have received merit awards from other med schools. This gives them a choice to offer merit as well. My son was offered merit at his med schools, but they weren’t large awards…just a nice discount. One med school offered, and then when the others found out, the other merit offers came…as an attempt to protect yield.
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S is URM. Does that matter for med school?
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Not for publics…they aren’t allowed to consider race for admission.
Privates will consider for admission.
What URM is your son?
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Hubs and I both have very portable jobs
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When I first read that, I took that to mean that you work from home, but now I’m thinking that I might be wrong. What do you mean by that?
Re: how far out - S is in 10th grade. He has Medical Bio and Honors Chem next semester (block schedule), and he’s applying to UCSB’s Research Mentorship Program this summer and hoping to land the stem cell option (CIRM).
Academically, he hasn’t missed a single point in two of his classes so far this year, and he’s above 99% in the other two. When he took Psych 101 as a HS freshman at the local CC, he was the top student out of 250.
He’s been interested in pre-med for a good 6 months, and so far I’ve been holding it as a temporary interest. Even in college, some students change majors every time the wind blows (and that’s a good thing. Yay, exploration!). That said, he’s been sticking pretty tight to pre-med, and if he’s still saying pre-med after bio, chem and the summer research, well, he’s serious. And then we’ll have to get serious, too.
At the moment, it’s more that I need to see what the paths look like because that’s how I think. I need to know what the options are in a very wide sense so that I know if something has the potential to close some of them off (such as grades at the CC while in HS being part of his med school transcript - surprise!).
I’m planning this far out because med school costs so much. If he’s really going to med school, we need to start planning and saving now, otherwise it won’t be possible. Better to plan now and have him change his mind than not plan and med school is a no-can-do.
keep in mind that schools like Rice and Stanford are CSS Profile schools. If you have deductions as a free-lancer then CSS schools will add some back in as income.
Yes, Michigan is world class, but MSU isn’t all that far behind. (I say this as a former Michigander with grads from U of M, MSU, Central Mich and Northern Mich in the family.)