pre med high school senior help college list

Hi, i am currently an arising senior and very interested in taking the pre-med route. I need suggestions on good schools, I should look into and perhaps apply. my parents and I goal is to go to the best school as possible for low cost, they don’t want me struggling with debt especially wanting to go to med school. I am a NY resident, please suggest schools or programs (b/md) that offer many pre med opportunities and I have a chance at getting money.

GPA - 4.0 (number 5 in my grade and within the top 3% of my grade)
SAT - 1440 (98th percentile on june 2018 SAT, roughly curved)
AP Classes - ap euro, apush, ap lang, ap lit, ap bio, calc
Sports - 4 years of varsity golf, multiple awards
Member of National Honor Society
All honors classes/honor roll all of high school

Extracurricular Activities

  • Heavily involved in charity events through multiple clubs in school and out of school.
  • Student Council
  • Tutoring
  • Multicultural Club
  • Participant and volunteer in Leukemia Walk for 7 years

Medical experience

  • hospital volunteer
  • worked in a pharmacy
  • scribed for 3 doctors
  • shadowed about 4 doctors (ophthalmologist, anesthesiologist, emergency ped)
  • viewed multiple surgeries the doctors invited me into
  • very experienced in ophthalmology
  • volunteered at two ophthalmology offices since freshman year: did numerous of jobs such as registering surgeries, eye tests, assisting doctors and technicians
  • now working for one of these offices over the summer
  1. What you can you and your parents afford to pay each year? What is your EFC?
  2. Start with your in-state NY options since these will usually be the most affordable.

@Gumbymom

  1. my parents are hoping to keep it around 20,000 a year. My parents earn a very comfortable living and want to help with the payment for med school which is why were looking to keep upgrad at a low cost. I’m not really sure what EFC (expected family cost)
  2. my top choice for sure is Binghamton, I just hope I have the stats to get in their freshman research program. Stony is very much of a commuter school which is the social scene I am not interested in.

Any other recommendations of colleges I have a good shot at getting a scholarship? Also do you think any bs/md programs are in my range?

I am really not familiar with the NY schools or East coast schools per say. I think Binghamton is a good in-state option. Hopefully some other CC posters more familiar withe NY/East coast schools can make some suggestions along with some good merit aid schools that would bring costs down. A school recommended heavily is University of Alabama which offers good merit aid.

From what little I know about BS/MD programs are that they are highly competitive and bringing up your SAT score will help.

Congratulations on your hard work and success!

I like this simple chart for Miami of Ohio merit aid. Note it super-scores for admission AND merit aid. Your numbers make you eligible for aid, does not guarantee a set amount. Note the early admission deadline to be considered for merit aid. This is true at some other schools as well–merit aid deadline is before RD deadline.

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

Good luck!

To me your plans look very sensible. There are a lot of universities with very good premed programs, and keeping the cost down for undergrad makes a lot of sense in order to save money for medical school. You also want to go to a good university where you can maintain a high GPA. As such, the SUNY schools look to me as a very good choice for you since you are in-state.

Be aware that the majority of students who start out on the premed track end up doing something else, so keep your eyes out for other career options down the road.

Unfortunately, like @Gumbymom I too am not familiar with the various SUNY’s.

You might also look at some other state flagships–not the most competitive ones (UVA, Michigan, W&M, etc.) but still excellent research universities. If you did not get into that freshman research program at Binghamton, you might get into an honors program at one of these. I’m thinking of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa Arizona, maybe a couple of others. Lawrence, KS is a great college town. Nebraska is an urban school. It looks like you’d be eligible for in-state tuition at Kansas. Scroll down on this link to see the numbers for OOS students.

https://admissions.ku.edu/tuition-scholarship/freshman

Here’s for Nebraska, which uses ACT numbers, so you’d have to explore that. Would you need an ACT score? I don’t know.

https://admissions.unl.edu/cost/#schol-list

You could also run the NPC for some of these.

If you are looking to keep your cost into the low 20’s per year, your best bet in NY are the SUNY and CUNY schools. There are plenty of others where you should get merit aid, but it will probably bring your cost down only into the mid to low 30’s.

My D has a good friend living in the dorms at Stonybrook and she loves it. There are plenty of students who remain on campus.

@TTG my mom especially woukd highly prefer me staying on the east coast. I appreciate the suggestions, going to still look into them.

@gallentjill any schools come to mind for merit aid that you could suggest?

https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships

I’d expand your SUNY college search to include Buffalo and Geneseo.

Bing, Geneseo, Buffalo.
UMaine.
Temple?
Not sure you can bring private college costs down by that much. East coast is not where good merit is… But you can look at re scholarships at Muhlenberg, Allegheny, Wooster, Hobart WilliamSmith, St Michael’s, St Lawrence?
Retake the SAT, it’s likely to rise due to the June SAT snafu.
Case Western, URochester would be good matches for you but would be unlikely to cost 20k.

@MYOS1634 my tutor mentioned not retaking it because colleges will take into account the curve and my percentage rather than the actual score

^^^Hmmm. At many schools, test scores, along with other pertinent info with be transcribed to a one page document, so AOs won’t even know what date you took the SAT. Generally, I think they are unconcerned with percentiles on tests and can’t/don’t keep the curves of various tests top of mind. Will be interested to hear what others think…

do you think i have a chance of getting into an bs/md programs? binghamton’s freshman research program? scholarship to university of miami or any other school to this caliber?

Dates and percentiles aren’t really factored in. The score is, in its school context (ie.s, low performing v. High performing school). Adcoms don’t have time to think “oh yeah, June 2018…”
There’s no downside: retake.
You have a good shot at Bing’s research program.
BS/MD programs are so selective that 1)the students admitted would most likely have succeeded anyway (and often have all kids if conditions that when you read the fine print, make them not that interesting) and 2) they’re reach for everyone. Should you apply? Of course. (Especially if you can increase that score).

Miami Ohio or Florida?
If Florida, it’s unlikely to be within budget and isn’t the most conducive place for pre-meds due to too much partying opportunities/temptations. The road to med school is narrow.
Read the tumbler by Afrenchie36.

@MYOS1634 i have been out of prep for a while now since i felt that i woukd do very good on the June sat. i don’t know if retaking it would benefit me much. this curve was terrible 2 wrong on the math section got me a 750. i was really hoping to not to have to take it for a third time. thank you so much for all your help

A 1440 is good in many cases.
The issue is that you need merit scholarships, very big scholarships (full tuition or nearly full tuition).
Colleges will expect 1450-1480 for the kind of scholarships you want. If you’ve taken the test only twice then definitely retake. There’s an August SAT date.

You could look into UAlabama Honors or UTDallas AES. Neither is in the Northeast though.

This is a list of BS/MD programs: www.premedhq.com/2011/07/list-of-bamd-programs.html as you look through them, you will note that some require a slightly higher SAT score and also SAT II exams.