@goldenrock - I was just curious if OU charges anything since I was under the impression it is a full ride including room and board for national merit. If they are collecting 1450 unfront, do they allocate that to something you would need to pay for?
Btw, I keep hearing that any money a school gives for room and board as a scholarship needs to be included in parental income and paid taxes at parental rate.
@texaspg, this might explain it further: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch01.html. There might be some loophole though if youâre specfically staying at a college designated place, like a dorm.
@texaspg & @Roentgen Thanks for the alert and info. Eye opener and will enjoy(!!) reading more IRS pages when I file my tax return next year. All 28 years I do tax return on my own and looking forward to it!!!
Technically OU National Merit Package is not full ride. But close to it, Full tuition + $35k; It works like this.
@goldenrock - the last item seems to be something one can spend only if they do it? So essentially close to 8.5k per year.
@texaspg Yes. But it appears majority of students do study abroad since OU has its own campus centers in Italy, Brazil. Or students do some research as part of this BA/MD program. Have few info questions.
I thought in general language usage point when it is referred âRoom and Boardâ, the board refers to âMealsâ, right?
But when I looked at few college web sites including OU it appears to be different. For example, OU Residence hall web page says,
Double: $5,140/semester; $10,280/year -
Rates listed above are for the 2016-2017 academic year and include both room and board.
Where as dinning options web pages says - $2310 meal plan per semester.
Q1: Does it mean for staying and eating will cost, $10280 or $10280+ 2 * 2310 = $14700. I think it is $14700.
Q2: When it says âRates listed above are for the 2016-2017 academic year and include both room and boardâ, here the academic year refers only Fall and Spring semester, or does it include Summer semester, by definition? I think it is only Fall and Spring.
Just curious and wanted to confirm to understand the college terminology and usage of words.
http://www.ou.edu/housingandfood/residence_halls/rates.html
@goldenrock - the rates seem to cover room and board based on this.
I think you can rent somewhere but have a meal plan which seems to be 2310. So essentially the difference is the room cost.
@goldenrock, is it where you get a bill and then the scholarship is disbursed or you donât get a bill at all?
@Roentgen I have not fully understood yet. But so far what I understand is, there is a separate âNational Scholarsâ office and they will notify the âBursarâ office which students are part of their program office and what merit awards are given some time in Aug or so and then bursar office will give a bill which will reflect what student need to pay and it should be minimal since tuition is fully waived. Only few items which are mentioned as cash is given as check to student and student need to submit those checks to bursar office to offset any fees. Even the $1000 they asked us to pay now, they told, it will be adjusted towards some other fee if a student is national scholar in Sep final bill. Fees like car parking fees or printer/copier fees etc., If no fee, the they will return a check for what ever amount left from the $1000 paid up front.
@GoldenRock, ok so then it seems like as long as it is all taken care of in-house, in terms of the university, you shouldnât have to pay income tax on it. Like you said, any checks that are directly given to the student can be handed back to the university to pay for whatever. But it looks like any tuition and fees bill that you get, will already be âadjustedâ taking into account any scholarship subsidy. So money never changes hands to you, if that makes sense. You just get an altered bill.
Just word to the wise, as a parent, keep track of ALL financial paperwork, bills, credits, etc. you get from the university. Just keep it on file. Keep hardcopies, PDFs, etc. as universities donât always keep those on file for long periods of time, when there is a discrepancy later.
ADMISSIONS HEROâS TOP 25 COMBINED BS/MD PROGRAMS
"Our Ranking Methodology:
Our rankings, which include the top 25 B.A. or B.S./M.D. programs, were created based on the following five factors: the prestige and rank of the undergraduate school, the prestige and rank of the medical school, program selectivity, the caliber of accepted students, and the length of the program. With many of these programs, youâll be spending six, seven, or eight years at a single institution, which is why we consider the quality of both the undergraduate and medical school to be incredibly important. In addition, since one of the main benefits of a dual degree program is saved time, we considered six year programs to be better than seven year programs and seven year programs to be better than eight year programs (all other factors held equal) in the making of these rankings."
https://blog.admissionshero.com/admissions-heros-top-25-combined-bsmd-programs/
@IfnousWHO Thanks for sharing the info with link. Interesting and useful to know some perspective.
Future parents / students: Use any rankings or reports for guidelines and tailor to your needs and personal situations.
For example, in the above report it is not clear how many schools/programs they considered and ranked only the top 25 OR all that they know is only these 25 programs and ranked the programs they are aware. Obvious missing programs are George Washington, U of Alabama, TCNJ/NJMS, OU, Houston etc. Also included St.Louis, which for technicality should not be considered BA/MD program. Also interesting, they ranked Baylor/Baylor 23rd, where as Rice/Baylor 3rd, to the two extreme. Though Baylor has religious affiliations (disclaimer: just stating fact and not making any comment/statement), provides solid full ride for UG is a student has excellent test scores.
Just saw the ranking of medical programs and find it necessary to comment. Please take these with a HUGE grain of salt as everyone has very different measures of what makes a solid med program (i.e. length, location, cost, med school prestige, matriculation requirements).
For example (this is just my opinion), i find it hard to rank Penn state in the top 10 among programs such as baylor, rems, pitt, bu, and ppsp. Also, the USPM at WashU has VERY stringent requirements (3.8 GPA and 36 old MCAT) which seem to defeat the very purpose of a combined medical program by placing undue focus in the wrong areas. Also, i would not rank PLME 2nd on the list mainly due to the caliber of its med school. Some lower ranked schools such as Case, REMS, Baylor, Pitt, and BU have better medical schools than Brown altho PLME is undeniably a top tier program.
Anyways, that is my two cents. In short, for any student looking at schools, make ur own judgments based on your feelings on a number of variables instead of any ranking/rating
@SmartAlec
Donât get too bent out of shape about their ranking. Methodology provided. Simply view it as a list of very popular BSMD programs in which core info provided along with links to access more indepth data. Itâs a good starting point for future BSMD prospects.
@SmartAlec
Also keep in mind itâs not just about medical school ranking (it s a combined BSMD program after all) but also undergraduate and as well as other factors. Bottom line letâs not be so ranking obsessed or sensitive.
Each one of us have different requirements, long goals and needs. Use all available data as applicable (or not) to your specific case and be satisfied about your selection independent of the selection of others. ***Do whatâs right for YOU!
@SmartAlec, you might have meant this but I wasnât sure, but there is no actual ârankingâ of BS/MD programs. Residencies donât really care if you did a combined program after high school or not. Itâs not a âpositiveâ in your favor, vs. say a combined MD/PhD program might be. For all intents and purposes, everyone is referring to the rank of the endpoint educational institution - the medical school. So for the Penn State program, in terms of rankings, people are referring to the ranking of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, not the undergrad or Penn Stateâs med school in Hershey, PA.
All this being said, itâs not the actual numerical ranking that is relevant (not much of a huge difference between a #8 and #11), but the tier. That being said, the difference between Pittâs med school ranking (#16 - a Top 20) and Alpertâs ranking (#35 - a Top 40) is appreciable - a difference of 20. It doesnât mean Brown doesnât match well â it obviously does, as itâs a well known Ivy combined program in the NE for decades, in which most do match into the Northeast. As you mentioned though, in terms of evaluating a med school, ranking is not at all the only criteria, but itâs one of many factors that contribute to matriculation decisions, if youâre lucky enough to have several combined options to choose from.
@IfnousWHO @Roentgen it seems like weâre all on the same page. just wanted to caution ppl to not put too much weight on the link previously posted but rather make their own evaluations of each program based on personal preferences.
@SmartAlec, absolutely, I think we do. I just didnât want other people, outside the conversation, reading to mistakenly think that somehow that any advice I was giving was all encapsulated in a med school rank calculated by USWNR. There are so many other factors â i.e. total cost and debt youâre undertaking, grading system in the first 2 years of med school (i.e. âtrueâ Pass/Fail grading, which Brown recently changed to), amount of elective time given, research infrastructure to help your CV, etc. in terms of the med school, that are as important. Iâll leave the undergraduate institution stuff to be looked at by students themselves, since students tend to know what they want in that area (usually).
Edit: Oops, I didnât see that link above from a website which you were referring to: https://blog.admissionshero.com/admissions-heros-top-25-combined-bsmd-programs/, that Iâve never even heard of. I noticed they said, âIn addition, since one of the main benefits of a dual degree program is saved time, we considered six year programs to be better than seven year programs and seven year programs to be better than eight year programs (all other factors held equal) in the making of these rankings.â â first of all, in general, all the other factors are never equal in this decision-making process, and second, the part that I bolded, is absolutely ridiculous. Time, in terms of 6 vs. 7 vs. 8, in terms of choosing one program over another, should not enter into your calculation.
@Roentgen agreed, the length difference of 1-2 years should not really matter to make such a significant life decision
Very true that length shouldnât be a major factor. The rankings seem odd for example how is RPI/AMC better than BU? Also if anyone wants to use these companies they should use one that is at least run by someone who is/was a BS/MD student.
I am considering using one of the companies to assist S with application process. If any of you have any experience/recommendations, please share (either in the thread or PM).