Hi all, I’m a white lower-middle class female junior at a large high school in South Carolina. I am pretty nervous about the college application process and I’m hoping to find some clarification or advice about the feasibility of my interests.
Since I’m planning to go to medical school after completing undergrad (neuroscience major) and my family can’t afford to spend a lot on college, I would like to save as much money as possible by staying in-state. However, there are a couple of out-of-state schools I’ve been really interested in for the past couple of years.
State schools I’m interested in: Clemson, University of South Carolina (both safeties, but I’m more interested in their honors programs) Note: I am a legacy for Clemson (not sure if that really matters when applying though) and I’d really love to go there, right now their honors college is my top choice for in state.
Out of state schools i’m interested in: Emory, UNC Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, and Duke (all reaches). I’d be very happy to get into any of these schools
My current stats:
GPA - 3.9 weighted, 5.0 SC weighted (Not sure how this type of weighted GPA compares to those in other states)
SAT - 1420 so far (only taken it once, aiming for higher)
Subject tests - US History (800), planning on taking English and both Biology tests
Class rank - Top 5%
AP Exams - AP Gov (5), AP Lang (5), APUSH (5)
Courseload - AP AB Calc, AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Seminar
Extracurriculars - NHS, community service/volunteering club, marching band (will be all 4 yrs next fall), children’s ministry teacher/volunteer at church, private tutor
Essays/TR - These should be fine. I’ve always been a strong essay writer and I have strong relationships with several of my teachers.
Again, any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated I think being able to get a better grasp on realistic goals would help reduce some of my worries for next year.
@morgan02 Congratulations on your success so far! Have you run the NPCs for all of the schools? Remember, even “meets need” schools can include loans on top of your family’s EFC to meet that need, depending on your family’s income. The purpose of your undergrad is to prepare you for your MCATs/med school; try to get out with a great GPA, great ECs and with as little debt as possible because med school is expensive. High MCAT scores and GPA will carry a lot weight. Your scores obviously qualify you for palmetto scholars, and with your scores you could probably stack on other in-state, school sponsored scholarships at the SC schools. I’m not saying don’t investigate the other OOS schools, but research the cost of attendance (run the NPCs) and discuss the costs with your parents now, before you get attached to a school won’t be able to attend. Good luck in your journey!
@morgan02 you’re welcome; in the meantime prep and practice for the spring sat and act; that extra 100-150 points can earn you extra $. Not that I’d try to influence you, but go ? jk, I promise your parents will love you even if you’re a ?
I agree! Most pre-med kids I know ended up choosing schools they could graduate with the least amount of debt, get good grades, and of course a good education. As the previous poster said, med school is expensive so don’t overspend on undergrad.
First off, the average college student changes their major 3 times. There’s a very high probability you’ll change your mind as you continue to mature in college. Your best bet is to go somewhere flexible and affordable. If you decide against medical school, you can change your major to something employable without having to transfer out because of cutthroat competition. If you decide medical school is for you, an affordable school would do you well because medical school is expensive.
Depending on your family’s financial situation, the full-need-met private universities you’re looking at could be less expensive than your in-state publics, or a little more expensive, or a lot more expensive. Your “lower middle class” description suggests that you’re probably in that “donut hole” category where it will be hard to get enough need-based aid to reach a realistic out-of-pocket for your family.
You can save pain and stress by applying a financial filter up-front. With med school aspirations, the last thing you want is undergrad debt. Run the NPC’s for Duke, Emory, and Vanderbilt - that will give you a “best case scenario” bar for need-based aid. Figure out what your out-of-pocket costs would be for Clemson Honors and/or USCar . Chapel Hill does meet need for OOS admits, but it’s highly competitive for those spots - run their NPC too and see how the cost compares to in-state.
If you tell us roughly what your cost of attendance would be for Clemson, that will make it easier to suggest schools where merit aid might possibly get you into the same cost range.
In the meantime, one school that has some nice merit scholarships, that you might take a closer look at, is Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. It’s a well-regarded women’s LAC that can be a great place for premed. Agnes Scott has cross-registration with Emory (and Georgia Tech and a whole list of other area colleges) and also a public health major that was developed in collaboration with Emory and allows you to take classes from their Rollins School of Public Health as an undergrad. The proximity to the CDC makes Rollins a particularly great place to study public health (although Emory itself does not have an undergrad public health major). Agnes Scott has a Neuroscience major as well, and both of these programs are popular with premed students.
As awkward as it might seem, you are going to need a sit down with your parents to clarify a couple of things. MOST important- how much they can actually pay per year. Not “we’ll see if we can swing it” or “we’re prepared to help you out”. But an actual dollar amount.
Without knowing what they can afford, you are going to spin your wheels researching a lot of schools where even with generous need based or merit aid, your family just won’t be able to afford your portion of the costs.
