Hi everyone I am a rising junior and want to be pre-med. I am looking to save money for undergrad and go to a school where my yearly total cost of attendance will be no more than 35k. My family will not receive financial aid and I feel my state flagship is a bad fit. I am looking for a school that meets the following requirements:
Offers lots of merit aid which I can realistically get.
Strong pre-med(Good advising, feeder for certain med school, good research opportunities, med school acceptance rate does NOT matter to me, the opportunities do).
Urban/Suburban.
3-15k students.
Stats: ACT 35 or 36 based on PSAT. Sat II: 800 Math 2, 770 Chem, 800 Bio M. APs: 5 on Bio self study. Junior APs: BC Calc, Chem, APUSH. Senior APs: Stats, Macro, Spanish, Physics. Should get mostly 5s with 1-3 4s based on the results of my older friends. GPA: 4.12/4.5. Rank: 5-10/350 at a competitive public where 20 kids go to top 20 universities and top 10 LACs.
ECs: Lifting(My strongest EC, no pun intended. If there was an exercise physiology or sports science Olympiad I feel I would be on the National team but unfortunately it doesn’t exist so it’s very hard to show achievement and I will have to make it come across in essays and interviews. I hope to conduct research in this field next summer). Saxophone(Section leader in school, All-County band, hoping to make All-State this year). Football(Not playing in college, not recruited). Volunteering at a local hospital. Working as a counselor at a stem summer camp this summer.
Note: Based on my PSAT last year I should be a National Merit Semifinalist and because most Semifinalists become Finalists, I should be eligible for those scholarships.
One example that I found fits decently well is SMU’s presidential scholarship although it would be considered a reach and is pretty hard to get. Fordham also offers full tuition for National Merit Semifinalists but I have heard nightmares about being a pre-med there. I was just wondering if anyone had any more suggestions. Thanks!
@ucbalumnus I hate the location. It’s in the middle of nowhere and it’s not great for pre-meds since it doesn’t offer a whole lot of opportunities for research, or hospital volunteering and other stuff like that. A lot of that is mainly due to the poor location. The fact that it is public and so large means good rec letters will be hard to come by and I will have to compete with a lot of other kids for coveted opportunities.
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU, “Crew”)–mid-size national university, gives good merit aid, great for STEM, lots of research, research hospital immediately next to campus, and a med school.
Seconding Case.
Are you a boy or a girl?
If a girl, Agnes Scott would be a great possibility (urban, good merit if you apply EA, exchange with Emory and GTech, access to CDC).
Macalester is urban, has research opportunities, access to hospitals, and merit.
StOlaf is supposed to be better for science than Mac but it’s not urban. Merit scholarship can stack with music scholarships I think but you’d have to be an excellent musician (no need to be a music major but you’d need to participate in an ensemble.) Access to internships at the Mayo Clinic.
Northeastern is worth trying if you are NMSF/NMF, obviously competition for merit will be fierce.
Trinity U in Texas would be more likely for scholarships (the SMU scholarship is indeed very competitive and should be considered a reach). Same thing for Emory Scholars but they like high scores.
Pittsburgh comes to mind. I’ve heard they’ve tightened merit aid in recent years, but you ought to still be a contender. Plentiful hospitals and research options around. Well known for pre-med. Rolling admissions and somewhat rolling for merit aid (TOP awards come later) so it can be a safety. Plenty I know who start off with it as a safety end up having it as their first or second choice in the end.
Case could be a good suggestion (as with University of Rochester as the two are often considered together by those who love the “type”), but I’m not sure either will get you that low cost-wise with no need based aid. Either could as they have larger scholarships, so are worth a look. Pitt seems more likely IME.
@MYOS1634 I am a boy so Agnes Scott is not a possibility. And do you know how hard it is to get merit at Macalester? I have also considered Northeastern since I am local and it is easier to get into Northeastern from my school than nationally and that might mean a higher likelihood of scholarships? The only problem is you can only choose one National Merit Scholarship program to apply for. Trinity definitely looks promising though and I will look into it.
@Creekland thank you for the suggestion of Pitt. I knew it was great for pre med but I did not know that 25% of students receive a merit award and had previously thought that I had no chance at merit aid being OOS but it seems worth a look.
Pitt’s merit OOS is entirely tied to scores. If you have an ACT 35 or, even better, 36, you’ll get a very good award.
You’ll also get a scholarship at Case but not sure how much - just apply and see - but demonstrate interest starting now.
You can choose which NMF school you designate in the Spring.
How about the University of Kentucky. It also has a major medical center tied to it. It also has some competitive scholarships that you would be very competitive for. The University of Cincinnati might also be a consideration. You should be in the upper 10 % for each of these schools which would increase your chances for scholarships.
@Max147 You almost* definitely will get merit aid at both Case and U Rochester with the scores you have and expect to get. The question is whether it will be enough to get your cost down to where you like. You won’t know without trying.
I use almost because I hate to make things "definite" that can vary, but I seriously can't imagine a situation where you wouldn't get offered something. The question in my mind is just "how much."
A school’s financial aid policy can change from year to year. Generally, though, CWRU gives a pretty large amount to merit aid to a pretty high % of incoming students. I don’t believe lots of students get full rides, but I think lots get packages that roughly amount to 1/4 to 1/2 the total cost. I think admission and aid criteria tends to be numbers based, which I think would work to your advantage. I would think it very possible that, if accepted, you’d get merit aid. To $35k? I’m not sure, but chances would be reasonable, unless policies have changed over the last 1-2 years.
One way to research this question. Google a school’s name and “common data set.” This is the official institutional report for a school. They are easy to find for most schools, though they might be a year behind. Go down to Section H, where you can see the stats on financial aid. Check out the % of students who receive merit aid and the average award. Here it is for CWRU. It looks like 40% of freshman got merit aid with an average award of $24k. Double-check me, though, I just looked quickly. Good luck!
There are relatively few state universities that offer significant merit scholarships. There is a composite thread on CC discussing those schools if I recall. Alabama is well known for that and you would qualify for outstanding merit aid there.
For LAC’s you would need to go to a second or third tier (in terms of selectivity) in order to get large merit aid. However, many of them are “in the middle of nowhere” as you say so they may not be an improvement over your state school in that regard.
Does your state school have its own medical school? I ask because that is the most likely medical school you will attend. State medical schools tend to take a lot of students from their own system so they might have more opportunities than you think. Make sure you have vetted that before ruling them out.
@WISdad23 My state has a med school which is top tier. It would probably be my top choice over any Ivy League med school or any other top Med School. I have not completely ruled out my state flagship yet, but it is definitely down the list. And although I will not be a part of the state system, being a resident should still give me some advantage in admissions.
Alabama, like many other colleges, has downgraded scholarships over the years.
Here is the more recent list of automatic-for-stats full tuition or better merit scholarships, but verify on school web sites in case of very recent changes:
Note that there may be other automatic-for-stats scholarships that are less than full tuition (e.g. at Arizona, or at Alabama for lower scores than listed in the link above).
The following National Merit list is very old, and should not be trusted without verification on school web sites. But it may be a starting point to look for National Merit based scholarships.
Similarly, here it another very old list of competitive full tuition or better merit scholarships to start looking through, but should not be trusted without verification on school web sites.
We did the same last summer using the end of junior yr stats for our son. The est. pkg from the NPC vs the actual offer was almost identical - approx 28K/yr. I know kids got even higher merit offers than that but those are not common.
ACT 36, the high GPA, and very significant # of AP classes (with 4 or 5) could push you into the 30-33K category. Just use the NPC and see what happens.
We visited a lot of schools with biomed/biophysics tracks for our son, and CWRU was the final consideration vs JHU.
CWRU premed track is fairly well defined, and the med-school is top tier. They are building a massive health campus combining Cleveland Clinic nearby (15-minute walk) and with its own University Hospital, and all the research faculties (and a relative small class size vs the state flagships like UMich), you have to work really hard to find nothing that can boost your med-school resume. Your music and lifting EC combo is somewhat unique, schools like CWRU like that diversity.
If you do decide on Case, apply EA if you are not sure ED is right for you, apply early nevertheless. There is no additional essay requirement for Case beyond the common app essay. So it is both a plus and minus. A plus in the sense that you can just hit the button and submit the application by Nov 1st (for EA/ED) and know the outcome before X’mas. A minus in the sense that you have to convey your interest to attend and show you are unique w/o the help from an additional essay.
Case does care about “interest level”. It is not uncommon for CW to wait list applicants. In many years, Case was able to pull kids from the WL but not this year. Therefore, if you think the school is right for you and it will likely offer you the financial package you need, then make sure you click and read all those email CW sends you. Visit the campus (if possible), request an alum. interview etc. to show you are interested.
For high academic stats applicants chasing merit aid (on non-need basis) and want to excel in a premed track (with lots of opportunities well within walking distance), Case has to be among the tippy top choices under consideration based on what we saw for our son. JMHO>