<p>Congratulations! Great news to start off the New Year with.</p>
<p>Congratulations all around! With that said, pleeeeease don’t leave us. DS is on his path that hopefully leads to med school as well. He has barely gotten started (just finished semester #1) and we are going to need all of the hints and sound advice you can provide. Besides, we will need updates on the medical school journey 
Happy New Year and RTR!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, the road to med school is a long process. Even with careful planning, it’s still easy to make a misstep or two (or three!). </p>
<p>At this point, the best advice is PROTECT your GPA! That can mean not taking extra classes that might interest you, but might hurt your GPA. Protect your BCMP GPA too (bio, chem, math, physics). </p>
<p>med schools don’t give you bonus points for taking extra classes if your GPA was hurt. </p>
<p>Also, it helps to tutor other students in bio and chem as time goes on to keep that info fresh in your head.</p>
<p>So far, so good. 4.08 GPA after the first semester and has received an HHMI internship this summer on campus doing research with a professor in an area DS is interested in. Hopefully he can keep up the good work. He is one determined individual (which helps). We’ll just take it one semester at a time…</p>
<p>congratulations! Well done.</p>
<p>Congrats! Happy New Year indeed!</p>
<p>ROLL TIDE!!!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! I hope he receives more acceptances but it is nice to have the one! Your knowledge on this forum is invaluable! I know you post on several forums, so I hope that means you will keep up with this forum! I know you must so proud of your son!</p>
<p>What are the options for financing a med school education these days? I recall 30 years ago the cost scared the heck out of me. I can only imagine what it costs now.</p>
<p>Wow, I must have missed this thread when it first posted. Congrats to your son and your family mom2collegekids, you are an inspiration to us all. I agree, please don’t leave us on CC!!!</p>
<p>i think the options are that you either pay for it or borrow the money. if you can get in, the cost/debt is one of the most daunting parts, seems to me.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Yes, the costs are high. COAs at privates can be $70k-80k per year. COAs at instate publics are about $40k-50k per year. OOS publics can cost as much as privates. </p>
<p>People either pay outright, borrow, or sometimes get small scholarships. SLU gives small scholarships to most of their students (not a lot…about $5k-10k per year). </p>
<p>And, some have the military pay. If you go that route, the military pays for all costs, gives you a signing bonus (about $20k), and gives you a monthly stipend ($2k) for room, board, etc. </p>
<p>that said, a friend of mine’s very desirable low-income male URM got amazing offers from a couple of top private SOMs. So, there are some deep-pocket top SOMs that will give some need-based aid to low-income students.</p>
<p>Yes, we’re still hoping for at least 1-2 more acceptances. :)</p>
<p>I knew someone that had the military pay. I think it worked out okay for him.</p>
<p>Are you including living expenses in the COA?</p>
<p>Yes, I am including living expenses in COA. The ranges I posted are estimates. I think UNC is lower for instate, and there may be a small number with COAs a bit higher than 80k. </p>
<p>I know that UAB’s COA is rather reasonable for instate, but it is highish for OOS…higher than some privates. </p>
<p>UAB Medical School 2012-2013 Instate COA
Year Tuition/Fees Bks/Supp Liv Exp Cost
1st $26,618 $2,300 $16,659 $45,577
2nd $26,155 $1,175 $18,234 $45,564
3rd $26,064 $2,200 $21,462 $49,726
4th $26,014 $1,175 $18,604 $45,793</p>
<p>But for OOS, the tuition is $59k, so COA is about $70k (for this current year)</p>
<p>So there are probably doctors starting their careers with $250K or more in debt. That’s quite a hole to dig out from. In light of the commitment it takes, the risk associated with taking on a lot of debt, and the uncertainty with our medical/tax system, I admire people who go into this profession.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>Just now saw this. Congratulations! How exciting!</p>
<p>Heartfelt Congratulations! You have inspired and guided not only your children but so many on this board.</p>
<p>I wrote the upthread post about OOS cost too early in the morning…guess I couldn’t add…lol</p>
<p>OOS COA is $80k per year, not $70k like I mistakenly wrote upthread :eek:</p>
<p>UAB Medical School 2012-2013 Instate COA
Year Tuition/Fees Bks/Supp Liv Exp Cost
1st $26,618 $2,300 $16,659 $45,577
2nd $26,155 $1,175 $18,234 $45,564
3rd $26,064 $2,200 $21,462 $49,726
4th $26,014 $1,175 $18,604 $45,793</p>
<p>But for OOS, the tuition is $59k, so COA is about $80k (for this current year)
*</p>
<p>Son was just accepted into University of South Alabama School of Medicine!</p>
<p>Yay…now he has a choice!</p>
<p>Excellent!</p>