So sorry for the length
I know probably a lot of people will throw some shade at certain Universities but if possible, please be objective. I’m a senior and I’ve already started my college apps… in fact, I’m just waiting to click submit. I’ve already talked to professionals, teachers, counselors, my parents, etc… I just felt it might be interesting to see what possible grads might think. I want to major in Psych, but my goal is medical school. I just want to do what I’m genuinely interested in while complying with reqs. for med school. I’m applying to schools like UWash (Seattle), U North Carolina (Chapel Hill), and UMich. They’re all great schools but I’m also applying to the more selective ones like Vandy, WashU, JHU, BU, and Dartmouth. Ok that’s like my whole list. I’m an IB student with lots of AP, Dual Enrollment, some research, solid 3.87 GPA and OKish SAT/ACT (past scores were 1900 and 30, respectively). Now I know for some schools listed above they are very reach, but hey if I get waivers then I really don’t lose anything. I’m not looking to get accepted at a particular school (although any above would be great and ALL of the above would be surreal), I just want my education to be as debt-free as possible since med school is SO expensive. My dream is to study abroad (I’m trilingual) and do missionary work.
So the million dollar questions (although nobody here really knows the answer to the first) are:
Which do you think I could possibly get into (I know this isn’t holistic but whatever)?
Which of these is best for financial aid (pretend I’m out of state for all of these)?
Finally, which is best for study abroad for premed research and covers the most financially?
So what is your home state? What can your family afford? As far as which would be most affordable for you, run the Net Price Calculator on each school’s web site. It’s there to make an informed decision.
OK, I’ll bite, but first: when you say ‘pretend I’m out of state for all of these’ it makes me think that you are playing let’s pretend with this whole post (the last few days there have been a bumper crop of people playing spoof). For a start, by definition you have to be out of state for at least one of the three, b/c even with divorced parents you can’t have 3 primary residences. Second, you are an IB student with a GPA and APs, but no IB grades- what’s that about? Also, you don’t say if your GPA is weighted or not (my guess is weighted, which would correlate with your standardized testing, but hey- they don’t always correlate). Third, Chapel Hill, since we are pretending you are OOS, is as selective for you as BU or Vandy: they have a state-mandated cap of 18% OOS students- including recruited athletes. Also, financial aid as an OOS (unless you win one of the big, named, scholarships, which seems unlikely based on what you’ve said here) the finaid is not going to be as good as the ‘meets need’ of the privates. Finally, I’m not sure what ‘premed research’ means, but if you mean doing some kind of science research that will help you get into med school, the options for that are astronomically higher in the US than abroad.
Anyway, to get back to your main question: how to do study abroad and be pre-med, and the answer is a combination of planning and picking a college/university where study abroad is the norm- Dickinson comes to mind, but there are plenty of others. Most colleges with a strong study abroad program cover costs to whatever your regular finaid package is.
Lol collegemom… I said “pretend” because I just didn’t want to put what state I’m from since the point of this website is to remain anonymous (somewhat out of security). And overall thanks for the honest response. To answer your concern about IB grades, so far I have a 7 and the rest I’ll be testing out of this year. My weighted is 3.85 and unweighted is 5.24. The question about study abroad sprung from my strong desire to travel and take advantage of the opportunity that I could study AND travel. I know that there’s a million times more research opportunities here, but I’m kind of set on the studying abroad. Now that you’ve mentioned how extremely difficult it is to get most or everything covered financially, which of the colleges I’m applying to do you think would offer me the best package based on everything mentioned above and the fact that I’m out of state?
Well let’s just say that I’m on the low income group (below $25k). I don’t really trust net price calculators, since most are not very honest when producing your “estimated” total cost. But thanks for the help!
Only state universities have ‘instate’ and ‘out of state’ fee differences- and you only have 3 of them on your list. The rest are privates, most of whom (possibly all- I didn’t look them up, but you can) promise to meet ‘full demonstrated need’. The NPCs are pretty accurate unless your parent(s) have property / are self-employed etc- it’s worth running them to get an idea. The other source of aid is ‘merit’ aid, which is typically offered to students who are in the top 25% of admitted students stats.
I didn’t mean to say not to do study abroad- just don’t expect to get research experience while doing it. It is not completely impossible that you could get summer research experience through a professor at a study abroad program, but either way you can get (paid) research experience in the US during the summer with REUs.
Focus on good undergrads that really emphasize study abroad and meet full need. Some that come to mind are Dickinson, Carleton, Bates, Colby, AU, Dartmouth, University of Richmond, Middlebury, Macalaster, Wake Forest, Hamilton. They are all strong academic colleges at which more than half the students study abroad. That’s important, b/c it means that the school and it’s systems are all set up to make it easy to meet your graduation requirements and still study abroad. Cross check them against your metrics: do you like them, how is their finaid (meets full need? need blind? EFC? [yes, check it!]).
Unless you have some kind of hook, your SAT scores are pretty low for Vanderbilt, Wash U, Johns Hopkins, and Dartmouth (as in below the 25th percentile of admitted applicants for these schools). Boston University is a more realistic reach for you - you are at least in the middle 50% range of accepted applicants.
UNC and Michigan are both pretty competitive for nonresident applicants, UNC especially so. I’m not sure how competitive UW is for nonresidents, but it’s less selective than Michigan and UNC. You’re likely to be admitted but unlikely to be offered any financial aid there.
So your list doesn’t have any potentially affordable matches or safeties - and really, the only match school you have is, maybe, UW. You need to add some match and safety schools. Some of the schools @collegemom3717 suggested - Dickinson, Bates, American, Wake Forest, University of Richmond - are more realistic reaches or matches for you. It’s good to look for a place where most students study abroad, but you can also simply look for places that have a variety of study abroad options, some of which allow you to fulfill pre-med requirements abroad or schools that have flexible course schedules that will allow you to schedule your pre-med requirements such ghat you can take a semester “off” without messing up your coursework.
If you’re looking for scholarship money, you should definitely look at some colleges (usually private) at which you are in the top 15-25% or so of their applicants. Those tend to offer the bigger merit scholarships. Lucky for you your SAT/ACT scores are actually quite good, so you will be in that for the majority of colleges in the country!
As stated above, your test scores aren’t up to snuff for most of the colleges in your list. Another vote for Dickinson here. But they do consider interest, so sign up right away for emails & mailings at their admissions website, and really review their website carefully so you can articulate why it is a fit for you.
You definitely need some safeties, most of your list is almost out of reach. Also, how do you have a 5.24 unweighted? Did you mean 3.87 UW and 5.24 W or did you mistype and mean 3.24 UW?
Is it really THAT unlikely for me to receive financial aid from places like UW, BU, or UNC? I mean I know we’re all being realistic here, but is there a possible chance for me? Like I said, I’m all for talking straight but I’d just want for you to take into mind that I’m a petrified little kid in a teenager’s body. This is all new to me but still… is there a chance, no matter how slim?
UNC guarantees to meet full need, so if you got in you would get aid. But: they are need-aware for admissions, and imo*, when they look at your GPA and test scores and do the math on what they would have to subsidize for you to enroll they will say no thank you.
*obviously I am not on the adcomms, so it is just an opinion.
UW is proud of being an ‘affordable’ public university, so they have a few scholarships, but (again, imo) your stats don’t make you a runner for them.
BU does not guarantee to meet need. It has some merit scholarships and grants, but your GPA and test scores are both in the lower half of admitted students- which means you have a shot at admissions but they have no reason to try and bribe you to choose them over some other college (which is essentially what merit aid is about).
[url=<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need%5DHere%5B/url”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need]Here[/url] is a list of all the colleges that guarantee to meet full financial need. Take a look at those.
The other thing you need to think about is whether schools that meet full need will work. Are you from a low income family? Then great. Are you instead from a “middle class” family with bills to pay? Not so good. Merit options would be the preferred avenue there.
I agree with the others that your SAT scores for most of your list are low as they are very selective
It would be helpful if you did mention where you live to give better advice on the more affordable opportunities
Most of the selective schools do not accept duel enrollment credits
You should revisit looking at your state schools especially those that are not your flagship as they are more likely to show love with academic monies.
Admission to Med school is going to be based on your GPA, MCATs and your over all resume as far as research etc
Do not worry as much about the prestige of the undergrad program but look at the schools percentage of Med school acceptances.
For example, in the Philadelphia area Temple U places many students into the Med,Dent,Pharm schools every year
In New Jersey the same can be said for The College of New Jersey
Each state will have schools just like those
Good luck
Thank you to everyone who helped out with their comments. I have been accepted into Cornell University. I am so incredibly thankful and for those of you that are in the same position that I was, dare to dream big.
