<p>Hi there, I'm currently a junior in HS and I'm interested in going to medical school but of course I have to go through pre-med stuff and do well on the MCAT, as I have learned.</p>
<p>I really love chemistry and biochemistry and I think that all that stuff is so cool and interesting. I want to find a good school for something chemistry or maybe even biology related and then get into medical school.</p>
<p>My grades are pretty good I guess. I usually get A's in my honors classes and a couple of AP's and then 80's in the rest of the AP's. I've taken AP Chemistry already and I'm now taking AP Physics. I've taken other AP's but I think that those are the only ones that matter. </p>
<p>I haven't taken the SAT yet so I don't really have a good idea of what colleges I could even go to..</p>
<p>I am really unsure about college still and would love some help :) </p>
<p>one of the best school for pre med is hendrix collge. it is a LAC and if you do not have a closed mind because it is located in arkansas you could an amazing all around 4 years a true hidden gem.
a little closer to new york you have susquehanna university and muhlenberg college</p>
<p>I live in NY and I took the PSAT but I don’t know my scores yet so I’m still in the dark about all of that. My parents are unsure of how much they’ll pay because I don’t know much about the whole process of looking for colleges and such. I’m a noob I know :p</p>
<p>I’m planning on taking the SAT in January</p>
<p>I really want to go somewhere in the West, preferably in California but it’s not a deal-breaker</p>
<p>Once you have your estimate, sit down with your parents to talk about whether they can and will cover the EFC. From there, you can begin to set a budget and develop a strategy to address any gaps (through need-based aid, merit aid, or lower sticker prices).</p>
<p>Parents who are unsure of what they are able and willing to contribute can lead to a big letdown in April of your senior year, when you get some desirable acceptances, but cannot afford to attend any of them.</p>
<p>For pre-med, you want to consider the following:</p>
<p>a. Low cost with no or low debt. Medical school is expensive, so saving money and avoiding/minimizing debt can help reduce the final debt load when you finish medical school (high debt can restrict your options as a physician – if you have high debt, you may be “forced” to choose the highest paying specialty instead of a lower paying specialty that you really want to do).</p>
<p>b. Pre-med courses that will prepare you well for the MCAT. If you major in something other than biology, also consider how easily you can fit the pre-med courses around whatever major you choose.</p>
<p>c. High grade inflation relative to student competitiveness. [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5DNational”>http://www.gradeinflation.com) may be worth looking at, although grade inflation can vary between departments at any given school.</p>
<p>d. Convenience of typical pre-med extracurriculars (shadowing and volunteering in medical contexts).</p>
<p>The best need-based financial aid is likely found at your in-state public schools (SUNY/CUNY) and well-endowed private schools (most of which have very competitive admissions). Out-of-state public schools typically come up short (Virginia and North Carolina are reputed to be exceptions), as do less well-endowed private schools. But less competitive public and private schools may offer large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>To get estimates of financial aid and net cost at each school, go to the school’s web site and search for the net price calculator.</p>
<p>If I were an OOS student with med school aspirations, Berkeley would be one of the last places I would select. There are waaaaayyyyy tooooo many premeds there (all gunning for the limited number of A’s awarded), advising isn’t great, I don’t believe they do Committee Letters, and the OOS cost is too much.</p>
<p>I think their admit rate to med schools is around 55%…so not high.</p>
<p>And do a search here on CC for ‘pre-med’ ‘doctor’ and ‘medical school’ - you’ll find dozens of threads with lots of good advice for premeds. There’s also an entire forum here devoted to questions related to med school applications.</p>
<p>UCs will be short by about $22,000 per year on need-based financial aid for out-of-state students. Their financial aid estimators appear to give out-of-state students aid as if they were in-state, but out-of-state costs $22,000 per year more.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, what about their chemistry programs? I’m also interested in that and maybe doing biochemistry. I really would like to go to school in California but the OOS cost is usually the biggest issue. </p>
<p>Of course, it doesn’t mean I’m totally turned off from schools by me. I would just prefer the West coast.</p>
<p>*UCs will be short by about $22,000 per year on need-based financial aid for out-of-state students. Their financial aid estimators appear to give out-of-state students aid as if they were in-state, but out-of-state costs $22,000 per year more.
*</p>
<p>I think this is true for Cal and UCLA. I don’t think this is true for all the other UCs. I just tried UCR’s NPC and the most grants it would give was about $16k for a 0 EFC. That left $34k for the family to pay (which was more than the $25k income that I used in the NPC…lol)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the above estimate would have included at least 5500 in fed grant money.</p>
<p>When putting in an income of $65k (beyond Pell), the amount of grant was about $10k…leaving about $41k for the family to pay. </p>
<p>I think the difference may be how big of an endowment the UC has.</p>
<p>And, if the family has a 100k income, then the family is expected to pay the full COA of over $51k.</p>