I have always had the mentality that if a university has a great med school, going there for undergrad helps with getting accepted to their med program. My dream is to go to Upenn, and I have the attributes to get accepted but after realizing my effective cost is 40k a year, it doesn’t seem feasible. My question is, which top tier colleges offer the best pre-med programs, but are also affordable in a sense that I can minimize loans through more FA or merit scholarships?
Did you use the NPC for Penn to come up with that number? What can your family afford to pay? What is your gpa, your test scores, etc?
You don’t have to go to a “top tier” university to get into medical school. Is your state school affordable?
We need more information from you in order to help.
Without good data, it’s hard to say if that is really true. All else being equal, some med schools might prefer to diversify the class by accepting a student from a different undergraduate program. At any rate, your undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores appear to be the most important admission factors, by far. As @twogirls stated, you don’t have to go to a “top tier” university to get into med school, nor do you have to go to a “top tier” med school to become a successful doctor.
As for FA, do run the online NPCs. Penn and the other Ivies (or peer private schools) tend to offer relatively generous need-based aid, but not merit awards. For the latter, you’d usually need to look at much less selective schools. Keep in mind that merit usually does not “stack” atop need-based (but instead offsets the determined “need”).
Medical school can be very expensive and many doctors carry tremendous loan loads. It’s wise to keep costs down for undergrad.
Unless your goal is research and you are highly qualified in terms of taking top level courses, it’s wiser to choose a school where you are supported in your premed courses rather than undergoing a culling process. The term “cut throat” for premeds comes from the atmosphere that occurs at schools that gatekeep rather nurture their premed students.
There are quite a few experts on CC regarding FA, but you’ll need to supply a lot more information for them to be able to give solid advice.
Regarding medical school-it’s insanely expensive. Try to limit undergrad debt as much as possible. And all “top tier” colleges offer solid pre-med programs; students from all get accepted to medical school every year. But there is no objective review of colleges to determine which are best or worst regarding medical school acceptances. You’ll get a lot of anecdotes, but that’s about it.
But that’s for the future; it’s best for you to focus on undergrad acceptances and expense for right now.
I looked into med school options for one of my kids and here are somethings to consider:
I don’t think most med schools give a preference to students who went to undergrad there. Some mention automatic interviews for under grads.
The cost can vary a lot. There were top 25% med schools that were as low as $125k for instate to private schools that were $400k. You can spend your under grad years looking into different options, but it’s probably a good idea to understand the instate options and if you can become a resident of the state where you go to under grad.
You want an under grad school that is respected, but it doesn’t need to be elite. Top 100 US news ranking is fine, and outside of that is often fine.
You want a school that will support your med school application process with advising, volunteer opportunities, high gpa, and a faculty recommendation.
Some medical schools may appear to have a larger presence of their own undergraduates, but:
- Public medical schools often have a strong preference for in-state students. If the public medical school is at the state flagship university with a large presence of strong in-state students, it may get lots of those students not because of a specific preference for that undergraduate, but because both favor strong in-state students (which would not help you if you are an out-of-state student).
- The most selective private colleges have lots of strong students, so their students may appear to be well represented in their own medical schools for that reason.
Hi everyone thanks for the advice. For those who said they needed a bit more info about me, I took the myintuition calculators for most of the Ivey Leagues and schools like Duke and they all gave me a middle range of being responsible to pay for 40k annually. And although they are not as comprehensive as the college board npc, I assume it is not too far off. As for grades, scores, etc. As of now I have an unweighted gpa of 4.0 and a weighted 5.3. I haven’t taken the SAT but based on my psat scores and practice tests, I am expecting a 1500. I am from Florida, and the top university, UF is free for me due to Florida Prepaid and potential Bright Futures. My families assets are not liquidable in any way, essentially living paycheck to paycheck because expenses for house and cars are high, but family cannot sell house or cars to pay for my college, especially since my siblings will be entering college 3 years after I apply. I am positive that I will not be able to pay any tuition out of pocket, and am banking on getting enough in financial aid/ merit scholarships to decrease the amount I need to put on loans to 20k max yearly.
Here’s my advice. First, doctor is a popular dream for smart kids coming out of high school. But the reality is that almost none of them actually go to medical school. As students mature, they discover unrealized passions in other areas. NEVER choose a college for “premed prestige” or rankings. That’s the fastest way to find yourself in 4 years of misery. Chances are, you’re going to change your major at least twice before deciding what you want to study, and you don’t want to be stuck at a school you hate or can’t afford.
Second, if you do decide medical school, it’s very expensive. It’s in your best interest to keep the undergraduate costs down. Take the best scholarship you can get. It’s going to be a very long time before you actually make a real physician salary, and if you’re up to your eyeballs in debt, you’re financial options are going to be very limited.
Third, medical schools get applications from all over the country. The one thing they all have in common is top grades and MCAT scores. You have the best shot at medical school applying from in-state. In fact, taking an honors scholarship at a state university to keep costs down can be a big advantage. It means you have a level of pragmatic maturity.
You need to start working on your gator chomp. 
UF is an excellent choice for pre med plus it has a lot of other options if you change your mind.
If I understand your situation correctly, this may be your best option.
$20K/year in loans is not affordable especially if you are serious about med school.
Federal student loans max out at much lower amounts.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized