As Junior year is coming to an end, college has been a prevalent topic on my mind. Applying for college can and of course WILL BE a very stressful experience. For those of you who have already gone through experience of applying and getting accepted, your responses would be appreciated.
I have visited a decent amount of schools, and have gotten my top 10 schools in mind. The problem is, which one should I choose if I get accepted. I have a mixture of both private and state schools, safety and reach schools, as well as a variety of different other components. Coming from a middle-class working family, tuition and things of that nature will be a slight issue. Although this may be true for many families, my parents said that if I truly fell in love with a school, they would let me go, no matter the cost.
Since my mother was the only one in my family to go to college, talking to others about applying and what not can be extremely difficult. I would love to do post-graduate work. Specifically, medical school. I’m not new to the game, and I am well aware of that fact that medical school is pricey, and not only does it take a lot of time, but it takes a lot of money as well. I’m conflicted though as to whether or not going to a state school for undergraduate work will prepare me just as well as a private school would for medical school.
My state schools range from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Indiana University, University of Iowa, to more private schools such as Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Northwestern University. I would like to do well in these schools, and learn valuable information. I know GPA and your MCAT score are very important when applying to medical schools, but I also don’t want to be swimming in debt when going to medical school either. Would going to a state school hurt my chances at getting into a good medical school? Will a state school prepare me enough and teach me what I need to know so that I feel ready going on to the next stage in my schooling? Or are private schools worth their money when it comes to helping students achieve their fullest potential for medical school?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!
Due to the expense of medical school, a good (public or private) undergraduate school with low cost so that you can avoid debt and save money for medical school would be preferred.
Talk to your parents now about what they will contribute, and to get the financial parameters to put into each school’s net price calculator. If they are able and willing to pay the full price ($260,000 or so) without debt for an expensive undergraduate school, ask if would they contribute that to your medical school if you chose a full ride undergraduate school (or the remainder of that if you chose a lower cost undergraduate school).
@ucbalumnus would you say going to a good public undergraduate school would still prepare me for medical school? Or would it be better to have the private school “name” and education?
Public versus private is not a useful way to categorize school suitability here. What matters would be how well the specific schools (whether public or private) fit your academic and other preferences, including cost constraints.
There are publics with names too. Publics are great schools and can provide an equally solid education. It is an extra bonus if you’re in-state. Don’t just go off prestige and say privates have the reputation and the big name. Going to a state school will not hurt you when it comes to med school chances – it is better to go to an affordable state school because you will (mostly) have more money to put towards med school.
UIUC is great and is well-regarded especially on these forums. IU is very good too. Sure, Northwestern, Vandy, and WUSTL have that name but 99% of the time, it won’t be affordable for you and your family (cost is very important even if Mom and Dad say it doesn’t matter). You don’t want to drown in debt because you want to be able to have a future with med school and eventually getting a house and raising a family.
Public vs private is one heck of a debate and you usually will get different answers. The best way to approach suitability is treating every school as an individual, analyzing their specific pros and cons.
When you say your parent will “make it happen”, that sounds a bit vague. I say this as someone who just wrapped up the college search process with my 2015 daughter. When you assembled your list, did you and your parents do the Net Price Calculator for each school? It’s not exact, but it’s ballpark enough to give an idea. Your parents need to tell you flat-out, how much they can contribute each year. An actual number. It is much, much better to have this conversation now than to wait until you’re accepted at a school you find out you cannot afford to attend.
My best advice would be to go as debt-free as possible in undergrad and save your debt ceiling for graduate and beyond.
@HeliMom74 and @TheDidactic, I value both of your responses, and I appreciate you both leaving one. My parents did not set an exact “cap” on how much they’d be willing to contribute, but I know it won’t be a lot. My parents made it crystal clear that if I choose a private school such as Vanderbilt over a state school, I would be taking out loans (which we want to avoid). I’m almost positive I will be going to a state school to save money for medical school, but I just need some reassurance with that decision.
Now, undergrad students can only take out $5,500 in loans their freshman year. It goes up $1,000 for the next three years (so 6,500, 7,500 and so on…) So say Vandy says you have to “take out” loans of 40K and plus, that means Mom and Dad have to take out PLUS loans.
I actually did NOT know that. Again, thank you for that useful tidbit of information. I have a feeling I will be going state, and maybe save the “name brand” schools possibly for my post-grad work. Who knows. I am an Illinois resident, so I would be getting in-state tuition for UIUC. The only thing to do is to apply and see. I don’t know if UIUC gives out good scholarships and what not, but that’d be great as well.
UIUC is a very respectable state university, but it does not have a very good reputation for financial aid and scholarships. Check its net price calculator.
That’s a smart decision @moongirl2. Glad I could be of help! Once you get around to prowling around these boards a bit, you’ll learn a lot more about the process in general. Everyone around here has very good advice to offer. Saving the name brand schools for possible grad work is a smart choice because firstly, it doesn’t really matter where you go undergrad; secondly, people will only notice the school of your terminal degree (aka med school, law school, pharmacy school) and thirdly, grad school costs coin and if you spend all your money on UG, you won’t have enough money to go to a good grad school. Grad school won’t be scholarships. It’ll be all loans which thankfully, you’d be more able to tackle!
I think you should consider still more options, @moongirl2, especially if your transcript reflects the hard work you have done in high school. There’s no immediate reason to believe, just because you will be premed, that you can’t also pursue a great college experience (and that can be at UIUC, of course). If you give some thought as to whether you want larger vs. smaller, more urban versus more rural, or nearer versus farther, the public versus private decision may diminish in importance.
Regarding private colleges in particular, there are many that would make it affordable for you to attend, either by meeting your family’s full demonstrated need or by offering you a merit scholarship. The size of any required loans is an important consideration, of course, but my opinion is that you should follow this through until you have that figure in front of you.
@merc81 I have definitely thought about what I would like in a school. I do want medium to large schools, as I do not like smaller schools at all. The smallest I could go would be Vanderbilt University, which has around 12,000 students. Rural or Urban does not really matter to me. I would just like a school that has things for the students to do besides study. Most of the colleges I have visited either have their main city located just 5 minutes (walking distance) from campus, or a great college town (ex. UIUC). It is just hard to choose as to what would be better as both public and private have their pro’s and con’s. Thank you for your input though!
Then more specifically to your point, I have known people to be happy at both public and private schools, and who have also reached their goals from either. Your actual education will depend a lot on course selection, whether you seek out a good academic advisor, and your own efforts, of course.
From what you have posted, I can think of no reason why UIUC or some of the other publics would not be excellent fits for you. The applications to the privates still make a lot of sense, though, in that they can become attractive options if they prove to be reasonably affordable for you.
No. And by the way, just about all accredited med schools in the USA are “good”.
Yes, if you choose appropriate courses and put in the necessary effort.
Maybe.
You seem to be assuming that a private college will be more expensive than your in-state public options.
It may or may not be, depending on the college and on your family’s financial circumstances.
Selective private schools such as Vanderbilt, WashU and Northwestern offer need-based aid to families making up to about $150K, or more (depending on factors such the number of children in your family).
OP, what is YOUR home state? People have been generally speaking about state schools on this thread but noone has pointed out that state schools are MUCH more expensive to out of state students. For instance Indiana U is $47K/year to an OOS student. Run the Net Price Calculator on EACH school’s web site to see what possible financial and merit aid you may qualify for.
The OP is from the Land of Lincoln.
A state school may not always be less expensive than a private school. In my own case, attending a top private school is much, much cheaper than attending my local state flagship.
What do you mean by middle class? People have quite differing views on what income level this actually means.
For those making under $65,000 a year, Harvard, Yale, MIT ($75,000 a year for this one), and Stanford will cover all costs including room, board, and tuition.
For those making under $60,000 a year, Brown, Duke, Columbia, and Cornell will cover all costs as well.
If you make under $125,000 a year, Stanford will cover the full cost of tuition as will Princeton if you make under $120,000 and Dartmouth if you make under $100,000.
I wouldn’t necessarily rule out privates because of cost.
Now, if the above cases don’t apply to you, I’d recommend looking at the University of Alabama which gives automatic full tuition scholarships once you reach a certain ACT score (I think 31 or 32?). I’ve had a few friends go there with plans for medical school who didn’t qualify for aid at other universities. UMiami is also good for merit scholarships but they tend to issue around half tuition scholarships unless you apply early decision.
@Homeless2Princeton I am not entirely sure what my parents make combined, but they have just told me that we wouldn’t necessarily qualify for much financial need. Although that being said, I do have another sibling that needs to go through college. I do have an ACT score in the low 30’s, but I do not think that would make me a good candidate for any academic scholarships at private schools since I’d be competing with people who are just as good, if not better than I am.