Looking for suggestions for strong pre-med schools that are known for generous merit aid. We are in MD so UMD is on the list although my daughter prefers to go out of state. Stats are ACT 33 (with a 36 on the reading section - might take it again) and uw GPA of 4.0. She will finish with 10 AP classes and 4 classes taken at CC during the summer. Top 20 class rank. Graduating HS in three years. Works 20 hours/week during the school year at a nursing home and will also have a senior year STEM internship. Strong clubs and varsity tennis. We won’t qualify for financial aid so looking for challenging undergrad with high med school acceptances where they also give merit aid. Case Western Reserve and Tulane are on the list. Where else? Don’t want to fly her across the country so preference for East coast or at least no farther than 1-2 hour flight. Thanks for your help!
Those interested in Case Western and pre-med from my school also consider Pittsburgh and the University of Rochester. I honestly don’t know if any of those will provide enough merit aid for you though. They would likely offer some. Temple might also provide a bit, but not everyone likes where it’s located, so be sure to drive by first.
Other schools kids have liked include Wake Forest, U Miami (not in northeast, but liked) and smaller schools like Juniata, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, and Washington & Jefferson. I don’t know that smaller schools are in your target, but wanted to mention them anyway.
It’s morning and I’m typing off the top of my head, so undoubtedly forgetting some. Merit aid - depending upon how much you are looking for - can be tougher to come across. U Alabama, U Kentucky and similar can provide more if you aren’t finding affordable in the northeast. (For some kids, those schools are their first choice and they do well in them, so I’m not dissing those schools.)
If she is looking at southern schools like Tulane, I would suggest she look at University of Alabama which has guaranteed merit aid based on stats.
You can apply to medical school from ANY college. Your daughter is a high school student. I would strongly suggest you find an affordable college that has a variety of majors because many who think they want to be pre-med change their minds.
It’s hard to give you decent suggestions without knowing your budget.
- What can you reasonably pay without taking out loans?
Also University of Richmond, Miami University in Oxford OH, Temple.
We are also from MD and my daughter applied this year to colleges as Biology major for pre-med track. Due to the pandemic, we have decided to apply only to schools that closer to home, so even Florida schools are not in our list. Our final list consists of mostly state schools (affordable with scholarships), a few private schools and high reach (to gauge her potential but most likely not attending). So far, she got accepted to Stony Brook, Temple, Pitt, Fordham, Ursinus, UofSC and UMD. She withdrew from CWRU after got deferred from EA. Except for UMD and UofSC, which we are still waiting for the merit’s decisions and Fordham which is still expensive with scholarship, daughter got some merit to bring cost down to in-state or a few thousand dollars more to attend.
If your daughter is NMSF, she can apply to schools that offer full tuition to full ride but they may not be closer to home. I know Fordham offers full tuition to strong NMSF candidates. Alabama and several FLA schools ( Benacquisto) offer full ride to NMF. In addition, some schools (Arizona & Alabama) also give good amount of scholarship automatically based on GPA. You can check out the list of schools my daughter applied as reference since she may received Full tuition scholarship from Temple, Stamp/McNair from UofSC, Chancellors from Pitt, or higher chances of Banneker/Key from UMD since they give out around 250 full-ride.
We started the process over a year ago and have learned a great deal about schools, cost, and “fit”. At this point, UMD would meet most of our pre-reqs unless other schools have some amazing offers like BS/MD acceptance from Pitt or Stony Brook.
Good luck !!!
How many more years of HS does she have? One more after this year? If she is graduating HS in 3 years in 2022 , she only has one year of HS grades now, right?
You may need to expand your search location to chase big merit. The midwest, south, and southwest typically offers more options than the NE and mid Atlantic.
With that in mind, take a look at St. Olaf in MN.
Another to consider closer to home, Elon.
Yes that’s right, she is graduating in 2022. Because she has accelerated her classes via dual enrollment, she is considered a junior now, even though she only entered HS in the 2019-2020 school year. Mid-year GPA is still a 4.0 uw (and something crazy like 5.4 weighted, but I recognize that those weights are very school specific).
Didn’t think about Elon! Thanks for that tip - adding to our exploratory list now.
Thanks for your reply - very helpful from a fellow MD parent! I am a huge fan of UMD as an option, and we are going to do a campus visit (self tour) this spring. She performed in a music concert in Philly a year ago and did not like the city, so unfortunately Temple is off the list. Will look at Fordham, Pitt, and Stony Brook! I didn’t realize that Stony Brook had the BS/MD program. We also want to find a school that has opportunities for internships in the heathcare field nearby, which is a big draw for CWRU (Cleveland Clinic).
How old will she be when she enrolls? I’m asking because many healthcare “internships” would require her to be 18 or older. In addition, if she is planning to apply to medical school, she will need shadowing and volunteering experiences. She may need to do these during the summers.
If she anticipates applying to medical school right out of undergrad, she will also need dedicated time to study for the MCAT.
@WayOutWestMom what am I missing?
And my opinion, I don’t think her younger age should she apply to medical school right out of undergrad will be an advantage.
Budget is dependent on what her dad (xh) will kick in, but it definitely won’t add up to $70-75K. I’m thinking we could make an all-in price of $50-55K work. You are correct that a lot of kids do change their minds in college, so that’s always a possibility. She could certainly apply to med school from any college, but certain schools have a much higher medical school acceptance rate based on the support and counseling they provide to undergraduates who are aiming for pre-med. She has shadowed an OB at a nearby hospital, and was selected for a 3-month observorship with docs from three different specialties which unfortunately got postponed because of COVID. She wants to get as much exposure to the job as possible so she can make an informed decision.
Both U Rochester and Pitt have hospitals essentially on campus with plenty of opportunities for undergrads if they seek them out (though I’m not sure what Covid has changed opportunity-wise). It’s why many who consider Case Western also consider those two.
That’s great to know! Thank you!
She will be 17-1/2 at the start of her freshman year, which doesn’t feel like a Doogie Houser situation. Great point about needing dedicated time to study for the MCAT. The only reason she rushed through HS is because she could, and she was frankly bored and was anxious to move on to something more challenging (which is why she started doing the dual enrollment courses). We know people who have taking a year after college to work in research and study for the MCAT, which is something I think she would entertain.
Look at the University of South Florida, 17000 OOS tuition, Top 50 in Med School in Research
Just remember…that “higher acceptance rate to medical school” number can be deceiving. At some schools, the only ones who get committee letters and are included in the count are students who the college decides will get these. There are plenty of excellent colleges with very huge weeding out of potential med school applicants earlier in the process.
I think you are smart to be looking at schools where there are many options of majors. Every premed should have a plan B because only 40% of med school applicants actually get accepted to medical school.
If you really can pay $50,000 a year, definitely look at the SUNY schools. Their OOS cost is very close to your price point.
The other thing to consider is perhaps saving some of that undergrad money so that IF she gets accepted to medical school, you can help out there. Medical school is usually funded by the bank of mom and dad, or loans, loans and more.
I would get a lot more sleep at night if she were to swerve out of a less education-intensive career goal! I want to plan for the possibility of med school as the biggest possible lift from an education/cost standpoint, and if she decides to do something else, it will very likely require less money/planning/resources. I 100% agree that saving undergrad money is the goal, which is why I hope she falls in love when we visit UMD!!
We will add it to the list!
Have you considered Loyola Chicago? I do not know their med acceptance rate but I think their premed is seething they are known for and focus on— and their merit is good. If nothing else it could be a good safety in case some of the others fall through. I think they have rolling admissions-- apply early for merit though.