I am looking for good PreMed programs and need some suggestions regarding university options in the midwest. So far, I have interest in Creighton University, Northwestern, UChicago, UofI, and maybe University of Cincinnati. I’m looking for a college with obviously good education, solid teachers and advisers, and an enjoyable campus life with the final goal of heading to medical school. Note, I’m from Illinois
Im a junior in high school and I have a 3.88 gpa on a 4.0 scale. I’m taking nearly the most difficult classes possible; for example, this year I’m in AP Physics, Ap Lang, TrigCalc A, and APUSH.
I messed up on ACT my first time and got a 30 but I will take it again hopefully atleast a 32/33+ and my school also gives a free SAT—I found the PSAT format relatively easier than ACT.
My ECs are average I guess: 2 sport athelete, volunteering at a hospital, and some other stuff but those are the first two that come to mind.
Middle class Korean family
What colleges will I get have a pretty solid shot getting in and will offer a decent amount of scholarship money?
colleges “pay” kids to attend (eg merit scholarships) in order to attract kids that would otherwise prefer to enroll at more prestigious colleges. So scratch just about every one you listed off your list.
If you need a scholarship, nationally known options include:
University of Alabama (> 32 ACT, >3.5 UW GPA)
University of Utah (scholarships almost entirely based on tests)
Arizona State University
UT Dallas
You can also try for merit scholarships at good private universities, and they vary in terms of competitiveness. If you want a full ride, it may be difficult with your stats.
@mikemac wait, I’ve been told by numerous people including college representatives themselves I would be able to get merit scholarships with my somewhat decent academic achievements, what varied is the amount. So why would I have to scratch every college on my list if I wanted any type of scholarships to go to school?
What “varied amounts” of merit scholarships were you told that you’d get from the reps from UIUC, UChi, and Nortwestern.
It would be very unusual for any of the reps from those schools to tell you that you’d get any merit scholarship from them.
You don’t have to scratch off all the options on your list to get a scholarship. U-Chicago and Northwestern give out good need based aid if you qualify. UIUC is not that well known for scholarships. I’m not sure about Creighton or Cincinatti. I think both of them may give you a scholarship.
@ScN2018 - You will need to distinguish between “need based” compared to “merit” scholarships. Most aid is need based, and is based on your family income and net worth. You can run a EFC calculator at each schools website to determine if you qualify. Merit aid will depend on your grades and test scores among other things. Based on the information provided, you will not qualify for merit aid at UChicago, NU or UIUC (you probably won’t get in the first two). You might qualify for merit at Creighton or University of Cincinnati.
If you can bump up your ACT score to a 32 of more, you have a much better chance of getting meaningful merit aid. Other schools to look at in the Midwest are Saint Louis University and Case Western. They have med schools, and will give merit for a 32+ ACT score with your GPA. Ohio State, Kentucky, Miami of Ohio, Michigan State, Iowa and Nebraska are also potential merit aid schools with your stats.
SIU-Carbondale or SIU-Edwardsville should give you significant merit scholarship money for your current stats. The more you improve your ACT score, the more you’ll be eligible for close to full tuition and to be eligible for an additional scholarship competition they have in the winter after you’ve applied and been admitted.
My child applied to SIU-Carbondale last fall with lower GPA than yours, but a 31 ACT, and was offered automatic half off tuition and fees; and offered to compete in the winter scholarship.
So based on that, you should be eligible for more. (We also toured there and it’s a beautiful campus and Carbondale’s supposed to be a fun college town.)
You’d qualify for Honors College too.
Also look into these schools if you’re really interested in significant scholarship money for merit:
Eastern IL
Western IL
Illinois State
Iowa State
Private LACs:
Beloit
Knox
Augustana
IL Wesleyan
You should also check out the Midwest Student Exchange Program list. Those schools give hefty tuition discounts to IL residents and some offer additional scholarship money for good grades…
My daughter is at Ball State in Indiana, that’s on the MSEP list, and they gave her a little more off than the listed discount. And your grades are better than hers were…
Basically, for merit scholarships you want to apply to schools where you’d be in the top quarter or ten percent for grades and test scores.
While you have a good chance of being admitted to the schools you list in your original post, none of those schools are likely to give you merit aid. I know that a 30 is around the median for UIUC. Nothing spectacular for that school.
But a 30 at SIU-Carbondale, for instance, puts you in the top 25%.
Alrights thanks a lot everybody, yeah im looking to improve my ACT or maybe get a better score on the SAT as 30 on the ACT is not anything spectacular and probably below average in prestigious schools and as for schools like UChicago and Northwestern, is going there really worth the money if you can go to another good school that is a good amount cheaper but not as prestigious?
Depends on a lot of factors - the difference in reputation, the difference in cost and how much your parents can afford. If your parents are insanely wealthy and can pay full price without blinking an eye, it might be worth it to pay for Chicago or Northwestern regardless of where else you get in. But most families don’t have that. Northwestern and Chicago both meet full need, so if the choice was something like borrowing $30-40K total for one of those two vs. a full ride at SIUC or NIU, it’s probably worth it to borrow. If it was a full ride at UIUC or Minnesota, that’s a little more grey-area but most students would still think it was worth it to borrow. If we’re talking about your family would have to choose between forking over $150K+ for you to attend Northwestern or Chicago vs. a smaller amount at a great state flagship or another private college, then probably not. (And of course, all of that is personal opinion - other people will have other opinions).
Also, there are a lot of great universities that are selective and give a quality education but are not as hypercompetitive as Northwestern or UChicago. In the Midwest you’ve got nationally reputed options like Case Western, Marquette, Loyola Chicago, St. Louis University, or University of Tulsa. There are also lots of great small liberal arts colleges in the Midwest, like Carleton, Macalester, Colorado College, Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, St. Olaf, Centre, Denison, Depauw, Lawrence, College of Wooster, Earlham, and Kalamazoo. Everything before St. Olaf in that list will be more of a reach but everything after Kenyon would be in the match category, likely.
There are a lot of great public flagships in the Midwest, some of which may offer a scholarship to a student with your stats. Among regional universities, Creighton is great, and there are also places like Drake, Butler, and Valparaiso.
It is my opinion that, considering the looming expense of medical school, taking on 30 to 40k worth of debt at any university, when offered a full ride to another accredited university is just madness.
But I’m also very debt-averse and i realize other people just consider being eyeballs deep in debt a normal part of life.
Also, fwiw, I hear UI-Chicago has a good pre-med program. They might give some merit money for your grades, look on their website.