Are there any public schools that give generous aid to out of state students and have strong pre-med programs? As of right now I’m mainly looking at private schools such as Rice, USC, and Vanderbilt but I’d like to have some public schools on my list outside of my home state of Texas.
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ll, strong medical school placement.
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Colleges do NOT “place” students into med school. NOT AT ALL.
Since you’re instate for Texas and low income, either apply to full need schools (mostly private) and Texas publics. UT-Dallas is good for premeds.
Rutgers
temple u
Folks, this student is low income, so nearly all OOS publics won’t work. Only UVA and UNC promise to meet need, and UMich is try to meet need for OOS.
Unless the OOS public gives a massive merit scholarship covering nearly all costs, none would be affordable to a low-income premed.
Texas gives need-based aid to their residents. A school like UT-Dallas could be very affordable with a combo of merit and need-based aid…and is great for premeds.
What’s your budget?
If your parents can’t afford 12-15K, you need a full ride, and these are few and far between, often relying on very high test scores.
What are your test results? Curriculum rigor?
Your three current choices are reaches for everyone. Where else will you apply?
Since you’re in Texas, include Trinity, Austin College, St Edward’s, Baylor (unless you’re areligious or LGBTQ).
If you have strong stats, add Denison, St Olaf, Muhlenberg, Grinnell.
Texas resident, wants to be a doctor? I suggest you stay in Texas. There are many great options there for both undergrad and medical education.
If you stay in Texas for undergraduate, you will find it much easier to get to interviews at Texas medical schools when you apply to them. As a Texas resident, you will find Texas medical schools to be bargain priced relative to other medical schools, so that you will eventually start practicing medicine with much less student loan debt than most new physicians will have, which will reduce the pressure to chase the money at every decision.
I got a 34 on the ACT this June and my GPA is a 3.9. I’m making sure to apply to schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need(top privates). mom2collegekids mentioned that UMich is trying to meet full need. Is it worth it applying there?
It’s definitely worth applying to the University of Michigan
I completely agree that a low-income Texas premed needs to STAY IN TEXAS. Most of the med school interviews will likely be from Texas schools. Traveling for interviews is EXPENSIVE and there is NO FUNDING for that. What good would it do for a low income Texas premed to be attending school faraway, and then have NO MONEY to get back to Texas for 4-7+ interviews at various times?
I’m currently going thru this with my son who is now applying for residencies across the US. We already spent over $2k in apps, now paying for flights & hotels all over the country.
The med school/residency process is VERY expensive. Keep your costs down.
There was a low-income mom here on CC whose DD applied to med schools a few years ago. The DD was attending an OOS full-need school in the NE. When it came time to apply to med schools, they were at a loss as to how to pay for the process…which can easily cost $8k or more. Yes, they got breaks on the app fees, BUT there were no breaks for travel, hotel, meals costs! Thankfully, a set of grandparents were able to come thru with some money to help pay for travel costs, but in the end, she really had to restrict her interviews to a rather limited distance since the grandparents didn’t have an infinite amount of funds to help.
Often, an interview invite comes with short-notice. Another mom asked me if it was “worth it” to spend over $700 on a flight for a last-minute interview invite…after spending lots of money for other interviews. Her child had no other acceptances at that point, so really, no choice but to spend more money and hope that this one would be a winner.
These are things that many pre-health majors don’t think about when choosing an undergrad.
For the record though UTexas Austin is a great school so you could surely get into med school from there
Re: #10, #11
Given all of the expensive hurdles (as well as undergraduate and medical school costs), how many people from poor families actually make it to and through medical school and residency to become practicing physicians?
There are states that have med schools in state that make it statistically better chances for a student to study there and then be able to go on to medical school in-state. Like Texas.Even if the med school is private (like Baylor). So someone financially strapped should go through UG with cost/effective kept in mind.
Once one has been accepted to medical school, can take out needed student loans. But it is getting there. If no money is left for the med school application process, as post #11 spells out.
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Given all of the expensive hurdles (as well as undergraduate and medical school costs), how many people from poor families actually make it to and through medical school and residency to become practicing physicians?
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I don’t know…but this would be my guess…
Most successful low income premeds probably attended an undergrad that is drivable (or has public transportation) to nearby med schools that requested interviews. I have no idea how - say - a low income Calif premed who gets II’s from the MidWest or East would pay for those travel costs. Maybe if the applicant was highly desirable, like a male URM, a school *might" offer some travel reimbursement costs. But the student I mentioned above WAS a very low income female URM student with high stats, and she was not offered travel reimbursement (family income below $20k).
While app fees can be waived for low income applicants, the bigger hurdle is getting to interviews - which are ALL DAY affairs…(the full day is a mix of mandatory interviews, luncheon, med school tour, etc) so often an overnight stay is mandatory. So, if you’re lucky to be attending a school that has med schools within - say 3-5 hour drives - AND those med schools invite you for interviews…then you can reduce those travel costs.
For this Texas student, looking at a Texas map…Going to school at TAMU would probably be the most centric location in regards to where the majority of Tx med schools are located. Altho going to UT-Dallas, Rice, or UTAustin would not be bad, either (location-wise).
The furthest interview that my son attended was 8 hours away. He left after school, drove 8 hours, checked into a hotel, attended the interview the next day, then around 5pm, left and drove 8 hours back to campus so that he’d only miss one school day.
Often, you have very little choice for your interview day. Many SOMs only interview on - say - Tuesdays only…or …Thursdays only.
I forgot to add…I do know some students (low and moderate income students) who have taken the max student loans during their junior and senior years, worked summers, and set aside as much as they could to fund the following:
App fees
Travel fees
Moving to med school costs
Getting set up in med school apt
Many students do not have parents who’ll fund these things.
Med school is terribly expensive…even the housing is often more expensive since year-round housing is needed and med students generally do not “dorm” nor do they normally “share” a room.
Also…the exams once you’re in med school are expensive. I forget what I paid for each of son’s Step exams, but the costs ranged from something like $900-1600 each. And, each time the student reschedules (which often needs to happen due to research demands, etc), there’s another cost.
That nasty $1600 exam? Ugh, son had to reschedule that one…AND…it’s only offered in a handful of cities in the country so he has to travel for THAT!
Check this out - http://www.mssu.edu/yours-to-lose.php
Texas residents get in state tuition. You should qualify for at least one academic scholarship and if you get full fafsa, you could probably graduate with little to no debt.
A fafsa grant. Its awarded based on financial need. About 6k a year