Personally, I would still keep all options open till you know the real numbers. They evidently want you. You might have to ask for more money till you find out. They are NOT going to want to lose you either… Keep us updated. Very exciting times.
Hopefully you will get enough to live on campus but commuting is at least an option for you. Know many that do it daily from 1-2 hours away. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…
As far as medical school that might be scholarships etc to help. You will have time to investigate it.
As an aside, my 90 year old neighbor is in the hospital and we are more or less his family. So I talked with medical students and residents from about 8 different medical schools today. This was at Illinois Masonic Hospital. So again the medical students were from very large to very small universities… All learning together… UIC will give you excellent training. You are very lucky but you worked hard for that luck. Our saying is… “you make your own luck” ?.
You have great options and there are many pros and just a few cons to each.
One additional thing to bear in mind that won’t be in the literature, rankings, etc. that can end up being the most valuable asset for some graduates:
Do not underestimate the W&L cohort and alumni network. W&L undergrad is known to be like Dartmouth’s MBA network. Neither will wow in sheer numbers, but they more than make up for it by excelling at looking after their brethren throughout their entire career. It could come in handy 20 years down the road. Perhaps, known more for their honor code, W&L is a great network school.
Hmmm. I received my cost of attendance and financial aid award and it seems like I need more money.
The cost of attendance was:
Cost of Attendance
Costs Charged by the University Amount
Tuition - In-State $10,776.00
Tuition Differential $1,782.00
Mandatory Fees $4,911.00
Total Tuition and Fees $17,469.00
Estimated Variable Expenses* Amount
Books and Supplies $1,400.00
Housing and Food Expenses $12,000.00
Transportation $1,200.00
Stafford Loan Fees $70.00
Personal Expenses $2,200.00
Total Estimated Variable Expenses $16,870.00
Total Estimated Cost of Attendance $34,339.00
[QUOTE=""]
My award letter:
Total
$20,385.00 (This is INCLUDING the Presidential $5000 Award but EXCLUDING loans)
[/QUOTE]
How would I go about closing this gap? Given UIC is a public state school, will they be flexible about this? I’m mostly looking at the Housing and Food Expenses ($12,000) - I swear I don’t eat that much.
I think if I commute, it will cut down costs, but I was really hoping to live on campus to focus on my studies, and, most importantly, research and perhaps work.
This is what I was worried about! UIC does not meet full need, nor are they terribly generous with aid.
A few things:
-Check to see if there are less expensive dorm rooms/eating plans for freshman.
-Talk to the head of the GPPA program and remind them that you do have a full ride to UIUC, and with an EFC of zero, it is not possible for you to pay $20K per year, no matter how much you would like to attend the GPPA program. Ask what, if any, options there are…that do not include loans.
-You will probably not incur expenses as high as some of the budgeted items, e.g., books, personal expenses, and transportation costs. But that still leaves an unaffordable bottom line number.
Bottom line is that UIUC and W&L will be full rides (assuming W&L offer of admission and meeting full need based on EFC 0, which they should do), and are better schools than UIC.
Of course they don’t offer the direct MD admission route like UIC…but remember you would still be able to apply to UIC’s med school coming out of any other school…and you have to take the MCAT no matter what too, as that is required in UIC GPPA’s program.
The good thing is you don’t have to decide now, and can wait to see how the rest of your decisions go. Meanwhile, speak with UIC GPPA dept head, and fin aid office if they direct you there.
@Mwfan1921 I guess if absolutely nothing works out I guess I COULD commute but if that’s the case…you are right - I might as well take the full ride elsewhere (WLU).
I agree. Commuting is too hard and your other options as of right now are better, certainly financially speaking. AND there could still be even better options to come!
@HKimPOSSIBLE. Do as @Mwfan1921 says
Its great advise. The worst UIC can say is no more funds for you
. But give it a shot. Nothing in life is guaranteed but your evidently a hard working intelligent young man. You have 2 full rides that will give you the option of applying to medical school at 2 great universities. If you want medical school bad enough I think it’s yours for the taking. Sure it’s nice to have the UIC program in your back pocket, but you got to be able to afford it also. At least u your in a good place and having options is always a good thing.
It looks like there is a housing/meal plan for right around $10K. You can save on books by finding them via sources other than the university book store (Chegg or Amazon). Since you live very close to school, you likely don’t need the $1,200 budget for transportation if you are careful about trips home and sticking to public transportation. Personal expenses is another one where you can likely shave off a lot of those expenses. Aldi groceries are all over the place in Chicago, so you can buy things cheaply close to campus. My son is a freshman, and he’s not spent nearly what the initial budget called for. They give you the worst case scenario - which is good - fewer surprises. You may or may not be able to shave off enough to make it affordable, especially when you have a few full ride options in the mix.
If it ends up being UIC and more grants don’t pan out, @HKimPOSSIBLE might still have a shot at closing the gap and remaining on campus that first year or two:
Subsidized Stafford loans (assuming he qualifies which I’m betting he does). They cap them every year but you can borrow even less than the cap. Gov’t pays your interest throughout undergrad and I believe grad school (you’ll need to check on that). Subsidized loans are no longer offered to grad students so now would be the time to take advantage of them if you foresee that you’ll need to borrow at all at some point. Even $5K/year ($20k total for UG) helps.
Work study; 5-10 hours per week at Chicago minimum wage = $3k per year and the cap increases a bit each year.
Working over the summer should pull in near $5k minimum and if you can put it all toward your schooling so much the better.
The remaining gap will be met with cost savings (lower transportation costs, perhaps a more economical dorm/meal plan).
Congrats on the official admission.
But yikes on that financial aid package. I agree you need to contact the head of GPPA and see what can be done. Commuting and taking on debt hen you have two full rides and potentially other possibilities (who knows how they’ll pan out) wouldn’t make sense.
This is not such an easy call, imo. Looking only at direct costs, living on campus, the gap is around $9,000/yr. If you can secure enough scholarship money to bring the gap down to the federal loan amount (call the program and see if there are any departmental scholarships you can get or additional grant money), the guarantee to Illinois med school, with in state tuition will work out more advantageous than a full-ride undergrad without a med school guarantee. The risks, costs involved in getting a med school acceptance (you may need loans just to apply), and a strong possibility of ending up at an out of state med school at twice the cost of Illinois med and possibly one that is not as strong as Illinois may make UIC GPPA a better long-term plan with just a little more scholarship money. The indirect costs can be managed with work study, frugality, and paid summer research.
I haven’t thoroughly read this whole thread; but have been watching for a year. I wish you had some more grants at UIC. Some of my questions would be: are you sure about Med School? Do you end up with a BS degree in this program at UIC? What is the med school acceptance rate from the other schools you are looking at? Are you working and saving money now? I think @itsgettingreal21 makes some really good points. Although these are tough choices, I’m glad you are in this position this year. You do have lots of good options.
Hmmm so I was looking for how I would close this gap and my brother (who is also going to finish his last year at UIC now!) said there were some more scholarships that I would presumably get later in April (estimate) from Honor’s College?
Ideally, but most unlikely would be the Kerr Scholarship (if it’s some kind of merit aid), but if I could get the Honors College Academic Excellence Award, that would be 8K and make UIC GPPA very affordable still.
There isn’t much information regarding them (Merit vs Need), but it seems like all incoming freshmen are already “entered”.
My counselor also suggested I contact the GPPA committee as well.
@Knowsstuff Well before he went to the army he attended UIC for 2 years. It was around 10K - this was over 6 years ago when my father had a job and my other aunt was able to help us out too - he was commuting (so no dorm costs).
He is going to finish his last year with scholarships, pell grant, and map grant, and I’m sure he has some benefits from the military though I do know he will use his GI for medical school if need be.
Thx
You probably already told us at some point. I do know doctors that did work on like Indian reservations to pay off their schooling or some part of it. They all seemed to enjoy their experiences. Probably part of the programs suggested up thread. So there are some options to help pay for medical school.
I do agree that the cost estimates in the FinAid letter are skewed on the high side.
With some frugal budgeting, you can likely bring those costs down by at least $5-7k without much effort.
As someone mentioned above, if you add in work study, working during the summer months, Stafford loans and any Honors money, you could be in OK shape for the BS/MD.
Two more things to think about:
If you do the combined degree, you won’t have to give up $3-5k potential summer income each year for research/volunteering/shadowing hours to buttress up your future med school applications.
If you do the combined degree, you’ll be saving in the neighborhood of $3500.00 or more for just the application and secondary fees. Then, when you get invited for interviews, an indeterminate amount for last minute travel costs.
Be sure that you’re looking at the big picture here as you make your final determinations. The combined degrees could be worth the extra amount that you’d be required to pay as an undergrad.
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If you haven’t been scouring their boards already, go to the Student Doctor Network and look at the angst-ridden pathways that even the most successful applicants travel.
Bottom line is that you currently have some awesome options and seem likely to be in line for some additional options. You can’t really go too wrong…
If I can echo @bloomfield88 and jump in here, a W&L degree will serve you quite well throughout your career. I see on this thread and others that you are a Johnson Scholar finalist. Congratulations! This is a fabulous opportunity.
If I’m not mistaken, all Johnson candidates arrive this Sunday around midday. The competition is highly scheduled, but you’ll have time when you arrive to acclimate yourself to the campus and the community. After you meet your hosts, tour the campus informally. Visit the labs and talk to students. Ask frank questions about their experience at school. Discuss topics like the collaborative nature of the students (yes, even in pre-med), the mutual respect enjoyed by the students and the professors and the honor code. Those moments will give you more “real” information than the anonymous posters (not unlike me) who offer unsubstantiated opinions about the school in this thread .
The academics are rigorous and the school, if you decide to attend, will challenge you far beyond your expectations. You’ll have an opportunity to sit-in a couple of classes. Recognize the engagement you see in the classroom and compare that to the other schools under consideration. Upon graduation, you’ll find a W&L degree will boost admissions opportunities to med school. To use an analogy, Harvard Law and Yale Law have W&L students in their current first-year classes.
You’ll find at the Johnson competition many students with superior academic credentials, much like your own. The weekend is about establishing yourself as an engaging, collaborative prospective student with a genuine interest in the school and the community. Have fund. Enjoy your peers. And show the committee why you deserve to be a Johnson scholar.
Each year typically 200 students are invited to attend the competition. Awards are made to 10% of the incoming class, which amounts to a little over 40 winners. Good luck!
I appreciate everyone’s insight and incredibly helpful information.
Something I didn’t realize last year or understand, but the choices between even just two or three, weighing their pros and cons is extremely difficult haha. (For example, I never understood those “College A or College B” threads).
W&L is extremely enticing with its Pre-Med/Pre-Health program and advising, and if awarded the Johnson scholarship, an incredible financial package.
I’m pretty excited for this event, though I am a pretty shy-to-new-people kind of person, especially as I get overwhelmed trying not to offend or cross any boundaries/done something that isn’t the norm/etiquette somewhere - just haven’t attended many, if at all, of these kinds of receptions.
As for the GPPA program, it is pretty surreal still and I’m currently working with the GPPA program and the UIC financial aid office regarding how I’d go about affording UIC.
Like those above that mentioned the fees, my brother also tells me that the food, transportation, and book costs are overestimated for sure and could easily cut anywhere from $2500 to $4000 from that portion; housing is what’s left.
@HKimPOSSIBLE. I will tell you what I told my kids when they left for college. You don’t have to be the same person you where in high school. You can be anything you want to be. So if shy, you don’t need to be. Take a chance on yourself. Say hi and introduce yourself. Handshake and look into their eyes and smile. You got this far just being you. I also tell my kids and they have listened that sometimes you just have to “bet” on yourself and do somethings outside your comfort zone.
People love talking about themselves… So ask questions… “where did you go to school” “where do you live” “what are you planning on studying” and so forth. You are going to be amazing. Can’t wait to hear your update after this event… You will update us right? ?.