<p>Often the above schools are noted on these boards as being very good for pre-med in that they have excellent pre-med advising while not being cut-throat competitive and allowing a student with merit aid to conserve some funds to pay for med school. This type of school - not uber selective, but good at preparing a student for the rigors of med school application AND offering merit aid - are there schools like this on the west coast or in the western half of the US ?</p>
<p>So no one knows of any?</p>
<p>Would Seattle Pacific University qualify? Is it similar in academic rigor? SPU says they have a very good placement rate in med school…</p>
<p>Anyone have ideas?</p>
<p>While I’m not familiar with particular pre-med programs, more, but not most, selective schools on the West Coast that offer significant merit aid I can think of:</p>
<p>University of the Pacific
Loyola Marymount University
University of San Diego
Seattle University
University of Portland</p>
<p>As it happens, all but the last one is a Catholic school, so please take that into consideration.</p>
<p>University of Portland is Catholic- it is Portland State that is the public school
<a href=“http://www.up.edu/[/url]”>http://www.up.edu/</a></p>
<p>seniorslacker - are you a student at Whitman?</p>
<p>Is that a school that would fit the description? Or is it tougher than the others mentioned?</p>
<p>I’m much more familiar with the East Coast, Midwest, and South than the West Coast, but here are some ideas in-line with Muhlenberg and F&M:</p>
<p>-Lewis and Clark ([Pre-Med/Health</a> Care - Pre-Professional Programs - Academics - College of Arts and Sciences - Lewis & Clark](<a href=“http://www.lclark.edu/college/academics/pre_professional/medical_and_health_care/]Pre-Med/Health”>Health Professions • Academic Programs • Lewis & Clark))</p>
<p>-Claremont McKenna (more selective and perhaps more competitive than your examples, but worth a suggestion - found an article from 2 years ago saying that 100% of CMC students got into Med School)</p>
<p>-Whitman</p>
<p>Will also mention Reed - although it definitely has it’s own culture and may not be what your child is looking for - from another thread on CC:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@emeraldkity4: Oops, all but the first one (University of the Pacific), I meant. University of Portland is definitely Catholic. Thank you for setting the record straight.</p>
<p>@puma12: Yes, I am a student at Whitman. In terms of similarity to the other schools you’ve mentioned, I would say that Whitman’s pre-med program is is rigorous, and also has good placement for med school. I wasn’t sure about selectivity, and so I looked up some numbers about Muhlenberg’s and Whitman’s most recent incoming classes for comparison:</p>
<p>Muhlenberg
SAT Combined 1120-1320
SAT I Math 560-660
SAT I Verbal 560-660
% with GPA 3.75 of higher: 18.4%</p>
<p>Whitman
SAT Combined 1230-1410
SAT I Math 610-690
SAT I Verbal 620-720
% with GPA 3.75 of higher: 66%</p>
<p>My interpretation is that a student at the top of Muhlenberg’s applicant pool might find herself more towards the middle of Whitman’s, though that is not to say that chances are poor. Additionally, Whitman takes a holistic approach to admissions, so that essays and extracurriculars play more of a role relative to grades and test scores. </p>
<p>Whitman’s merit scholarships range from $8,000-$12,000–not inconsiderable but also not the most. If you have any kind of need, it’s a different ballgame, however, as Whitman’s set of bigger scholarships all include a need component. </p>
<p>So, I would say that if you’re looking for a solid pre-med education, Whitman is definitely a school to consider. But it is also tougher admissions-wise and perhaps not the most generous in terms of merit scholarships compared to the other schools you’re looking at.</p>
<p>oh I was wondering seniorslacker, I am only vaguely familiar with University of Pacific and I didn’t * think * it was Catholic- but even a university out side of Portland where D is applying to grad is Catholic- so more schools than I thought.</p>
<p>Yes I would look at Lewis and CLark, but not sure how much if any merit aid they have anymore- Reed doesn’t have merit aid though.</p>
<p>BUt Seattle Pacific is a good school & lots of research opportunities in Seattle.</p>
<p>Have you taken TU in SA off the radar?</p>
<p>I second Lewis and Clark. Also Willamette and University of Redlands.</p>
<p>You mention money is an issue.</p>
<p>How much can your parents spend on your undergrad each year? </p>
<p>If you’ll need to borrow for med school, you should NOT borrow much for undergrad - otherwise you’ll run out of borrowing power for med school. (you’ll max out too soon). For undergrad and med school, Stafford loans are limited to a total of $224k. Med school alone will be about $220k.</p>
<p>What are your stats? Perhaps you could get some merit aid.</p>
<p>The list in #3 are all Catholic EXCEPT for UOP.</p>
<p>OP my DD is at UOP. PM me if you have any questions. Also there is another poster with a D at Santa Clara U. You might want to take a look at it. Whitman is definitely on the religious side, as are some of the others listed above. UOP as mentioned does not have a religious affiliation. I missed that part: are you particularly looking for a religious school?</p>
<p>University of Puget Sound in Tacoma is supposed to have a good pre-med record. Whitman has an excellent reputation in the NW. Also possibly consider Seattle University and Gonzaga University.</p>
<p>ebeeeee - Whitman is not religious. You might be thinking of Whitworth?</p>
<p>OP here to say thanks and answer some questions.
First, I am a parent and my S is a junior beginning to make a list of places to visit. He really likes SPU because even though they are not uber-selective, they have good merit aid possibilities for him and they boast about a good record of med school acceptance.
We are trying to find other schools where we can get the cost to the family down to 20k/year total (everything) or below. 20k would be a stretch. He won’t qualify for federal need-based aid, but will qualify for institutional need-based aid at privates as our EFC is about 17K.
Stats: 3.8 or 3.9 unweighted GPA in all IB classes - IB diploma. His school does not weight grades for rank which is a huge issue as only about 30/450 kids do IB and they are ranked below the non-honors kids with higher GPA. Regular EC’s - nothing earth shattering, but fine and well-rounded: 4 year varsity athlete, newspaper editor, national qualifier in DECA (business competition), plus other normal stuff.
Of the schools mentioned, it seems like Whitman and Gonzaga would be a little tough for him to get significant merit aid - does anyone have experience with those schools?
Any of the schools mentioned would be of interest if significant aid were possible to bring the price in line. At TU in San Antonio, for example, it looks like their highest merit aid is about 15K - not enough for us unless there were also some need-based institutional grant.
Thanks for all your replies so far!</p>
<p>Sorry yes, Withworth not Whitman.</p>
<p>Trinity now offers some full tuition scholarships, but you would have to search for info on that, as they were not available when D applied. They also redo all applicant GPAs to unweighted, so that would help in the pool comparison. There are also some others, but I’m not sure if they allow stacking or not. Good Luck. I’m glad I do not have to go through the process again.</p>
<p>My Berkeley DD had been admitted to UWSOM, of the 20 kids who have joined the FB group for UWSOM, 2 are from Whitworth. Yes, Whitworth is basically religious, but I am impressed with the percentage of early admits to UW, it speaks well for the school and their advising. I also have a DD at Whitworth and she loves it.</p>
<p>Chapman University in SoCal? U of San Diego? U of San Francisco?</p>
<p>Really dumb question here: I live in the land of “Muhlenberg, Ursinus, and Franklin & Marshall”, among not a few others. I have been reading this thread hoping that someone would identify similar quality, achievable, small colleges in the left half of the country. I haven’t seen anything yet, other than a few that, it appears, are significantly more selective than those (Whitman certainly, not sure about Lewis & Clark), and then much larger places like the Catholic universities. Someone mentioned Redlands, too – I would love to know more about it other than the bare fact that it exists. </p>
<p>What ARE the quality, third-tier LACs in the West? Do they have such things there?</p>