<p>that’s true m2ck… that 28 may be a problem for vandy…33 act got a waitlisted for my S2 2 years ago. merit at uab would leave op with about 10k per year out of pocket (15 k m merit against 20-25K total cost… have to factor in any additional credits needed but ap credit might help that)</p>
<p>And check the Common Data Set for each school you consider so you can see for yourself how someone with your profile fared in the admissions process (Section C). If your test scores, GPA or class rank put you in the lowest quartile, your chances of admission are slim. If you need significant scholarships or merit aid, you need to be in a given school’s top quartile academically.</p>
<p>University of Chicago isn’t one of my options, the University of Illinois at Chicago is. Also after this I have decided not to apply to USC</p>
<p>Oh and also, my conselor was telling me Marquette might be a good option because they would potentially offer me a minority scholarship.</p>
<p>You need a big comprehensive guide to colleges- Fiske or Princeton review. At the very least, that will put in front of you a large list of colleges, typical stats, usually something about finaid. They also make comparable references; ie, kids who applied to A also looked at B.</p>
<p>At a score of 28, even if you got admitted to a better name oos college, you face being weeded out of pre-med, so the school is left with only a small pool of super qualified kids. This is not about your confidence or how well you did in math-sci in hs. As you narrow your list, you can learn more about this, but for now, you don’t even have an afffordable list. See how it goes in circles?</p>
<p>Illinois is one of the states that requires the non-custodial parent to contribute to college costs. That’s good news. The bad is that I don’t believe it states what Dad has to pay. He may not be expected to pay for an expensive out of state school. He may not even be expected to do more than split costs with Mom. Or it could be split, up to the max charged by an in-state. You can certainly talk about this with him, but if this is only being worked out in court now, it is extremely late in the game. </p>
<p>When a GC suggests a school, your job is to go look up that school and read as much as you can about its programs and finaid. Figure out if your stats make Marquette a reasonable shot and what finaid you would qualify for. Some GCs will tell you abut a particular scholarship- then it turns out to be only a few thousand or offered in partciular majors, whatever. You can’t go on “advice lite.”</p>
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<p>Then it’s time to change your definition of what a “great school” is!</p>
<p>If you’re serious about attending med school, a “great school” for you would be one that fits the following two criteria:</p>
<p><a href=“1”>b</a>** You would graduate with ZERO debt.</p>
<p><a href=“2”>b</a>** You would graduate at the top of your class with a great GPA.</p>
<p>Forget about the school that’s highly ranked. Forget about the school that’s killer hard to get into. Forget the school that all your friends have heard of that will only cost you a small (borrowed) fortune to attend. Focus on: zero debt and a stellar undergraduate GPA.</p>
<p>jhl… there are about 3000-4000 colleges/universities…anything in the top 200 is going to be top 5% nothing wrong with that. it doesnt have to be top 50</p>