@Roentgen, Thank You for your reply.
@1Tcollegemom - UAB medical school has always been well regarded as a research university and I remember it used to be under 30 at one time. If you are a resident of Alabama, it would be one of the best financial choices. The research ranking is mostly based on the money being received to conduct research and about 5 years ago the methodology was changed to make it per researcher or something like that which changed the rankings.
If you are a non-resident you need to ensure that you are aware of the financial choices you are making. I have been told in the past threads that EMSAP matriculants did receive some scholarships also at the medical school level. I agree with @roentgen that receiving at least instate tuition would be very ideal. If not, saving up for next 4 years what you would have paid for undergrad (I am assuming it is almost free at EMSAP) would probably alleviate the cost of attending medical school.
@texaspg He is a national merit finalist so that has been a great help in covering undergrad. We are out of state so the medical school is expensive, but with what he is saving with undergrad, itās still a possibility. Hopefully, he will also receive some scholarships at the medical school level so he can stay with Alabama; however, he also has the option of applying out :)!
@1Tcollegemom So you donāt currently have anything stating that he may receive instate tuition?
What is home state for your son? Some states have instate tuitions of 45k and so it may not make much difference.
No, he has no waiver for out of state :(! We live in Mississippi. @texaspg
Yeah, @texaspg, even with it being a solid strong public middle tier, Iām still a little wary with the 66 K price tag annually for med school: https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/index.cfm. Just as a comparison, that is more expensive than even the most expensive private med school.
@1Tcollegemom, it varies a lot by state what are the exact requirements it takes to be classified as an in-state resident. It isnāt so much a āwaiverā but more qualifying for in-state status after meeting certain requirements. Some states are very strict, some are quite lax. Youāll have to see what those requirements are exactly and if previous UAB students have been successful at getting in-state tuition. His home stateās med school is unranked so that would actually be a HUGE step down in terms of medical school caliber, so thatās kind of out. If he does well he could really get into another great school in which he is offered better financial aid as it looks like those who applied out did according to that FAQ page, as well as of course getting more scholarship aid for med school at UAB. There are quite a few med schools that offer half-tuition off or full-tuition paid scholarships if he does really well in undergrad/MCAT, as a way to entice stellar applicants to their school.
@roentgen - it costs people about 20-30k per year of undergrad at a minimum but UAB offers tuition and almost full room and board for national merit which means it is probably a savings of 1.5 to 2 years of tuition. He is allowed to opt out for a better opportunity which means it gives him an incentive to work hard at school and on MCAT.
I do agree that residency requirements are seriously evaluated. If one were admitted to Texas schools, they can buy a condo and become a resident within an year at the graduate school level even without an income. I donāt know the rules in Alabama.
@1Tcollegemom - I am sure if you ask and push the school, they will tell give you the following statistics in order to plan the future.
- How many OOS students continue onto medical school
- How many have received a scholarship at the time of entry to medical school
@texaspg, oh, ok, I didnāt know if he had gotten aid (if any) in terms of scholarships and grants at the undergraduate level which donāt have to be paid back (vs. loans which are dime a dozen). Someone had told me New Jersey is also quite lax, in which you can qualify for in-state tuition after living in NJ for 3 years even as a student - so would help for the NJIT/NJMS program. I donāt know if Alabama is similar to that. This is a good start to look at, @1Tcollegemom: https://www.uab.edu/students/paying-for-uab/item/644-in-state-residency.
Hey all, I just got off the waitlist for REMS!! I am currently between rochester and Penn State/Jeff med programs, can anyone give me some pointers as to which to choose? Thank you!!
@1Tcollegemom Donāt want to add more confusion or want to say anything contradicting with what our resident gurus have posted so far. But here is my 2 cents.
- There are only few days left to make the decision. If Medicine is your son's calling at this point, just sign for UAB. As they have already stated, it is a good school, and some programs like Neuro* are higher ranked than the overall ranking and he is not going go wrong if medicine is his calling after 4 years also. Added to that since he is NMF he gets 100% tuition for 4 years and 1st year full R&B. So pretty much around ball park $40-50k (3 years R&B + travel to home) for the entire UG. That is a good deal.
- Only few BS/MD programs, give the option to apply outside with out losing the seat at that school, like UAB and OU and few more. So if you feel the high MD fees are going to be hard, think about applying to some other MD schools or find a way to become AL resident. It differs so much between each state. I looked briefly at Ohio and Oklahoma (for my D before) and today at Alabama. Ohio is much easier but Oklahoma is very very hard . You need to see the options in AL but in general it is an uphill battle (who will want to loose the OOS fees!) But at this point, you do NOT have to nail down MD fees issue at this juncture and add more stress to you or to your son when 2 days are left.
The only think if at all you can discuss at this point, if he is certain at this point to continue the medicine path because if he plans to change to some other profession, he could have taken up some other higher ranked UG school. But no one has the crystal ball so we need to go with his conviction and even if his plans change, he need to find a way to alter his path to a successful career down the road by doing masters at a college relevant to that field of his choice. or do some thing. Though better schools can facilitate in the right direction, finally the professional success does not solely depends on the UG school of choice alone. GL
@BiochemStudent First Congratulations. One comment in general (not for you alone for any one posting). It will help for others if you provide some context on what you are seeking. Lot of us ignore the finance aspect, though it may be very significant for some and it is irrelevant for some So at least put the clarity, either you are seeking decision purely from non-finance aspects. Or looking in put for certain specific professional aspects (like some specialty). Also it helps to know your status OOS or IS for both schools and how relevant your desire to live close to your home (or prefer to be far away from home!) and climate (since US is so big and so far apart that is a real question - because some kids have not seen what is snow or cold and some do not know how hot it will be when you move from Buffalo to Phoenix (likely no BS/MD).
The only input I have which you know already is, REMS is higher ranked than PSU from USNWR perspective.
@BiochemStudent, what is the price differential between REMS vs. Penn State/Jefferson? Are you in-state for PA?
@GoldenRock Financially, both are comparable. As far as specialty goes, I am still uncertain but am looking at Cardiology or Neurology. Would you say the school ranking is a big factor in the residency process?
@Roentgen The price difference is about 60-80k depending on the scholarship for the whole 7 or 8 year ride
I agree with you @goldenrock, I feel like if @1Tcollegemomās son ends up changing his mind completely in terms of entering medical school (i.e. concern about way too long of a training path before finally getting to practice independently), having an undergraduate degree from UAB is fine for his purposes, esp. if he plans on doing, for example, an MBA somewhere else. Not having any college debt is a very nice position to be in, and the fact that letās say he switched from a combined medical program to an MBA in healthcare management or an MHA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Health_Administration), can be taken as a positive (i.e. wow, this kid is so smart, dedicated, and hard working enough to get into an assured medical school program, heās definitely smart enough for our x program). In fact we had a student who entered my program who left and did just that: http://info.umkc.edu/news/our-students-our-story-umkcgoingplaces-7/. UAB also has a School of Dentistry and a School of Optometry, so if he still decides to do another health professional career, thatās also just as available without having to backtrack. Just of one of the benefits of getting the four full years of undergrad with no intermixing between the undergrad and med school.
@BiochemStudent, do you already have that scholarship(s) now for both programs or is it something you apply for later? Iām assuming the 60-80k is the total difference with I guess REMS being the more expensive one? Any particular specialties in mind or preference of wanting to go back to do residency in a specific area?
@Roentgen I already have the scholarships but REMS may or may not give a little more. Iām thinking about cardiology or neurology but Iām not sure yet.
Jefferson is here: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/thomas-jefferson-university-kimmel-04099, #56
Rochester is here: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/university-of-rochester-04078, #29
Rochester is 5 hours away from NYC in upstate NY, so you wonāt have the advantage of other resources outside of your school readily available, the way you would in Philadelphia (just like Boston).
I believe Rochester is Pass/Fail in the first 2 years, but apparently tracks grades for the purposes of AOA: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/medialibraries/urmcmedia/education/md/documents/student-handbook.pdf (Page 41)
Jefferson seems to be Honors/Pass/Fail in the first 2 years.
On one of the SDN threads, it said that Jefferson tends to teach more to the boards w/multiple choice tests (also mainly lecture based) while Rochester tend to pride themselves on not āteaching to the boardsā and use essay and some multiple choice (tends to be more Problem Based Learning w/Lecture), although that post was from 2006, so things have likely changed. Have you verified any of this to see if this, in fact, still is the case?
Which one did you more feel comfortable at in terms of the medical school?
Cardiology is a fellowship you go for after an Internal Medicine residency (Rochester is about 7 ranks higher than Jefferson in IM Doximity rankings by reputation, so relatively negligible in terms of a difference), Rochester is about 30 ranks higher than Jefferson in Neurology Doximity rankings by reputation). Both fields (IM and Neurology) are relatively non-competitive specialties.
Ok, I officially committed to Brown PLME today! The dream is real!
Also exited that as a finalist and will be attending the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), Phoenix, AZ; May 8-13, 2016. Perhaps I will meet some of you guys there.
Congrats on both accomplishments. @IfnousWHO