Is there such thing in today’s medical education? All I have heard are loans, loans and more loans.
Yes, but they’re not common. Merit is used to entice certain highly desirable acceptees to enroll there instead of elsewhere, particularly students who have multiple acceptances to other more prestigious schools. (I will note cynically that many merit awards are only tendered once schools get the list of students holding multiple acceptances.)
Kat’s son got a HUGE merit award from his current med school. (For which he turned down multiple acceptances at Ivy med schools.)
Occasionally small merit awards will be given to upperclassmen in med school as recognition/reward for their performance.
D1 and Kristin both got small merit awards as second years.
Some schools offers offer small scholarships for 3rd & 4th year students that are earmarked for students going to in certain specialties (primary care), or who plan to practice in certain locations (rural, inner city underserved), or who meet certain other characteristics that are specified by the donor.
But for mostly, as you said–it’s loans, loans and more loans.
Here is a full ride scholarship with stipend that only certain students may apply.
Qualifications:
- Must be a resident of Dutchess County, NY at the time of application.
- Must also be accepted as MD candidate by NYU medical school.
It is provided by an endowment from a Dutchess County wealthy Doctor. My cousin won that scholarship 30 years ago and she got her MD education free for all 4 years. She turned down all the other Highly ranked schools to attend NYU.
Anyone knows about others?
I don’t know of any “outside” awards. My son was offered merit from all of this accepted med schools. in his case, I think it worked like this. … one school offered, then the others found out, and then they offered as well. Med schools (I think) have to reveal acceptances and awards at some point…I think around April.
There are a bunch of those super specialized ones actually. I remember seeing emails from my med school about all sorts of things. Some of them were comically specific coughTurkishAmericanDoctorsAssociationofMidwestcough. Because I love you guys, did a quick run through of my school email for “scholarship” and found the following
Our FinAid office also recommended looking on the following sites: http://www.fastweb.com, http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/scholarship-search-results.aspx#/search/212121111011111000110000ZZZZZZZZ001, and http://schoolsoup.com/scholarship-directory/
Physicians of Tomorrow Award Eligibility
The Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarships reward current third-year medical students who are approaching their final year of medical school. In 2015, students can be nominated under the following categories:
- AMA Foundation Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship (general category)
- AMA Alliance Grassroots Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship Must have an interest in and commitment to women's and/or children's health issues.
- Dr. Lin and Minta Hill Alexander Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship Must currently attend medical school in the state of Oklahoma
- AMA Foundation Chicago-area Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship Must currently attend one of the six Chicago-area medical schools: Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Rush Medical College, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, or University of Illinois College of Medicine
- Medical Society of the State of New York/Dr. Duane and Joyce Cady Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship Must currently attend a medical school in the state of New York, be actively involved in organized medicine, and have expressed plans to practice in the state of New York
- Ohio Physicians of Tomorrow Must currently attend medical school in the state of Ohio and be actively involved in, or willing to become involved in, organized medicine
Each $10,000 scholarship is based on different eligibility requirements. In addition, each medical school is allowed a limited amount of nominations depending on the category. Please read the 2015 Physicians of Tomorrow information sheetPDF FIle for more details.
http://www.nmfonline.org/programs/general-scholarships-awards
ABOUT THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
Anarcha, Betsy and Lucy Memorial Scholarship Award
Established by NMF Alumna Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH, FACOG, the Anarcha, Betsy and Lucy Memorial Scholarship is given in honor of three slaves who, as subjects of experimentation that helped shape advances in current clinical and surgical knowledge, are recognized today as the Mothers of Gynecology.
This scholarship will be given annually to an African-American woman who is a known descendant of American slaves. She must be enrolled in an accredited US medical school program. Finalists will be interviewed by Dr. Thornton.
Gerber Scholarship in Pediatrics Program
The Gerber scholarship in Pediatrics supports two outstanding medical students with an interest in pediatrics and an emphasis on nutrition.
Hugh J. Andersen Memorial Scholarship Program
The Hugh J. Andersen Memorial Scholarship was established in 1982 in honor of the longtime NMF contributor in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The scholarship is awarded annually to two 2nd or 3rd year underrepresented minority students enrolled in Minnesota medical schools in recognition of leadership and community service.
Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Scholarship
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Scholarship is awarded to four 2nd and 3rd year underrepresented minority students with financial need as recognition of their academic achievement and potential.
Manhattan Central Medical Society Scholarship
Established by the Manhattan Central Medical Society, this award is given to an African-American medical student enrolled in the greater New York area.
Mary Ball Carrera Scholarship
Established by NMF Board member Neal Ball to honor the memory of his sister Mary Ball Carrera, this need-based merit scholarship is presented to an outstanding Native American woman enrolled in an accredited US medical school. This award recognizes outstanding academic achievement, leadership and community service.
Wayne Anthony Butts Scholarship
The Wayne Anthony Butts Scholarship was established in 2013 by distinguished NMF Alumnus Dr. Gary C. Butts to honor his late brother. This award is presented during the New York Champions of Health Awards to a 1st or 2nd year underrepresented minority medical student studying in the New York metropolitan area in recognition of outstanding academic achievement, leadership, community service, and interest in urban health.
http://www.ncseaa.edu/pdf/BGMSL_Contact_Information.pdf
This one if for NC residents only. Son was awarded this, but chose the one from his school instead which required no terms to pay back in either service or cash.
Hope this helps.
Kat
"Is there such thing in today’s medical education? All I have heard are loans, loans and more loans. ’
-About 25% (or so I heard) graduate from med. School without debt. I do not know how all f them accomplish that. However, in case of my D., who belongs to this group, she has chosen very wisely to attend tuition free UG (Merit award), while she could have attended a very expensive Elite college. In appreciation for her wise decision and because we could, we (her parents), have paid her Med. School tuition and living expenses while at Med. School. She is debt free at graduation in May.
She got a very small Merit award ($3k / year) at one of our in-state public Med. Schools. Adcom of her Med. School actually apologized for NOT offerring any Merit award to her because of the competitivness of incoming first years. Well, after we had the booklet that contained the profile on her class, we understood perfectly. Her class had PhD from Harvard, several lawyers, several MS from the top Grad. schools in the country. I believe that the available Merit money were spent to attract these outstanding applicants. Nothing for a simpleton undergradute like my D.
Frankly, we would dismiss any $3k - $15k type of schoalrships, unless they are part of cumulative amount, like D’s Merit award for her UG, that was cumulative of about 10 different (mostly private) scholarships. We actually told her to ignore a price ticket an choose the school that she loved the most. She still had hard time deciding, but ended up attending her “dream” school way back from HS years, which she did not even realize at first. It happened the most expensive of her choices of 4 Med. Schools.
Every US medical school probably has some Merit scholarships but most students end up using loans to fund
their degree. The MSTP program for those interested in research fully funds a fair number of students for an MD/PHD
at many of the top research Medical schools. The Cleveland Clinic funds 32 medical students tuition free for a five year MD/MS program for those interested in research. UCLA offers up to 33 David Geffen scholarships/year that cover tuition and living costs. The UCLA leaders program funds another 16 students with a full tuition scholarship. I think these are the largest “merit” type of scholarship programs for medical school in the US.
There are about 150-200 1st year MSTPs in the entire country. I’d hardly call that a fair number of students.
Also toss in the fact that it’s 4 extra years of school at <$30k/year stipend (so <$120k) in contrast to the average physician salary of even the lowest paid specialties being above $150k/year (so you’re giving up at least $600k - and did I mention MSTPs generally make less because research pays less than clinical?) and its really misleading to present the MSTP funding as merit aid. It’s “make this career option even remotely viable to students who aren’t wealthy” aid.