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<p>ANother problem with this is that going to Rutgers means no dorms which means no life. My parents would not spend money on letting me dorm at Rutgers when i can commute easily, thus saving them money? How do you propose to solve that?</p>
<p>Also, how would going to a BA/MD program save money?
Think about this; If i go to a undergrad for four years, plus 4 years of med school, it would be just as expensive to go to a BA/MD program for 8 or even 7 years!</p>
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Unless you can get a full-ride OOS, you’d have to cover room and board there too. If it comes to that, you can try to work with your parents. Offer to cover half of the cost of room/board yourself by working part-time.</p>
<p>Now is not the time to write off options. Your parents have already done that, but you don’t need to make the same mistakes they are making. Apply to an in-state public, a few direct MD programs, and a few OOS schools with merit aid. In the spring, you can sit down and make a decision with plenty of choices.</p>
<p>It sounds like there a a few issues here:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your parents are having some serious “letting go” issues.</li>
<li>For some reason they don’t trust you.</li>
<li>They are VERY uninformed about the entire college / med school process.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you ONLY apply to combined programs, there is a very good chance you will be accepted nowhere. These are the most competitive programs that exist and it should be noted that 99% of the doctors in the US did NOT attend one of these programs, but went the traditional route: four years of college and then four years of med school. If your parents get their way, I’m afraid to say that your potential future medical education would very much be in jeopardy.</p>
<p>@airfreshener – You make a lot of valid points and I can see why you are frustrated. As I understand it the direct medical programs are the absolutely hardest to get into. Your position that you don’t think you can be accepted to one is a very reasonable position to take and I can see why you are frustrated that your parents can’t hear what you’re saying. I also agree that you should be able to have some fun in college and that doesn’t mean you’ll be partying all the time and fail college.</p>
<p>If the discussion you had with your parents deteriorated into them crying then they might be as frustrated as you are. Maybe they don’t expect you to work all day in college. Maybe they don’t expect that you’ll never have any fun. I’d get pretty frustrated if my daughter told me that is what I wanted for her, because it certainly isn’t.</p>
<p>As other posters have point out right now there is so much emotion on both sides for a productive discussion to happen. Maybe when everyone can talk a little more rationally you can figure out where the middle ground is, some option that everyone can be excited about. If you expect your parents to finance your undergraduate education then they need to be in agreement with you about the choice.</p>
<p>airfreshener: I was a commuter during my college years (my mom was an immigrant and wouldn’t let me apply to any place where I’d live on campus.) I was never home. I had a very active social life. I took 15-18 credits/semester, I worked 30 hrs/week, my major required 100-150 hours/semester of outside collaborative work. Plus I was active in a campus club that required me to be at campus from 4am-2am the next day on event days. I had a great time. While I was really resentful that I didn’t get to do it “my way” I made sure that I still got what I wanted out of my college experience. And I still got to eat well too 
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<p>Are you a senior now? You never posted your stats; if you’re comfortable doing that maybe we can give you some suggestions.</p>
<p>P.S. Have you had the financial discussion with your parents yet? I mean really had it beyond the fight? How much (even in state) do your parents think they can contribute yearly? That’s a really important piece of this.</p>
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<p>It won’t save you any money. It’s purely an admissions thing, you’re accepted to medical school so you won’t have to apply down the road. The advantage to the applicant is that they don’t have to stress about being accepted to medical school. The advantage to the medical school is that they can recruit some of the most promising students to their medical program. Someone should correct me if I am wrong about this.</p>
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<p>That’s not a mature argument. I can understand not wanting to go to the place where everyone else from the school goes, but you have to understand that at a college level, you don’t have to interact with the kids from hs ever again if you don’t want to.</p>
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<p>The undergraduate FA is easier to get and if you were accepted, you could get your MD under the same FA package for 7 years providing you maintain certain cum. gpa throught out. While the regular MD programs normally have little FA to speak of. You could incurr a large loan from attending that. My tenant is an MD works for Keiser, he could not afford to buy a house because he owed $550K in student loan. He is otherwise an A+ tenant and we love to have him around.</p>
<p>Putting aside for a moment the argument with your parents, what are the realities of the situation? What are your stats and what’s your EFC?</p>
<p>My stats are as follows:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9 out of 4.0 UW I have the toughest courseload in my class at the end of junior. The val senior year is taking 7 while i am taking only 3.
Rank: top 1% sal of 354 kids
SAT: N/A
SAT II’s: MATH IIC 800 Chem: will take in december Bio: will take in november
ACT: 32. will take this saturday. Hoping for 35+ If not, then ill retake in october for 35. But i WILL get a 35 because the 32 was with minimal prep.
AP’s: Physics B: 4
Calc AB: 5
Bio: 5
STATS: 5
Psych (self-study): 5
AP scholar w/ distinction</p>
<p>EC’s: did a research proj. at Rutgers and was published on international website. Was a mentor in school for that project for a club for a year. Continued research during school. I have been doing this for all three (and will be four) years.
Recently just got a lab at another university. In january or so, I will start my own research project and hopefully get it published. Right now, I’m working on the projects my professor is doing in enviro. science. At the moment, I am also contacting the neuroscience labs at the university. My prof right now recommended me to these labs. So we’ll see if i get a lab in neuroscience.
I took college courses in personality psych and abnormal psych at a university. Got A’s in both.
Have 200 hours of volunteering from camp counseling, and other volunteering activities related to charity. No hospital volunteering.
Started a debate club and will do competitions this year. Prez of debate. I started doing this last year. IDK if direct med programs take into account context of the high school, but our school has never debate competitions since 1990’s.
Captain of quiz bowl. Won semifinalist at one competition in allentown , PA. Will be doing more competitions. I have been doing this for four years.</p>
<p>Evaluate my app in the context of my high school: its lower than about 62% of all public high schools in NJ.</p>
<p>It sends about 5 people to ivies every 4-5 years.</p>
<p>EFC = Expected Family Contribution
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>EFC= Expected Family Contribution, it is the results from filing an FASFA application, but there are many caculators on web that can prequalify the EFC without actually filling an FASFA application.</p>
<p>I have a friend’s kid who went to Harvard from Berganfield, you can compare your school to Berganfield. There is no reason for you to panic if the hs is not highly ranked, you have a chance.</p>
<p>airfreshener - I told my kids that I would pay the cost of an in-state school. If they went to an out of state or private school, they would have to get scholarships and/or loans to cover the costs. Might that be what your parents are offering? </p>
<p>To be honest, I never understood parents who say they will only pay for certain colleges, especially a specialty college. It certainly seems like pigeon-holing your kids at a young age. Is that what your parent’s want to do? Force you into a certain profession? I’d be angry too. Despite the fact you are 200% sure, many people with such certainty find other passions when they get to school. </p>
<p>But, the posters are correct, your parent’s have the money. I would ask if they would be willing to pay the cost of an in-state school and explore merit options. Don’t discount financial aid at some of the wealthier but selective institutions.</p>
<p>Sorry, double posted.</p>
<p>So how well do you think i fare on a scale of 1-10?</p>
<p>You haven’t mentioned your ultimate option. Find a university you like. You’ll have enough experience to get a full-time lab tech job at the school or its health system. That job will pay you enough to live frugally and will give you free tuition for 1 or 2 courses a term. You’ll get lab experience and work your way through school. Your parents will be irrelevant.</p>
<p>An ACT of 32 will knock you out of contention for pretty much all the BS/MD programs.
Realistically, what’s wrong with four years at Rutgers (saving lots of $$ in the process, which you will need for med school) and then going on to med school?</p>