I am from Missouri, and for years my parents have told me about how affordable it would be to stay in state, which I completely understand. They are trying to pressure me into attending Mizzou or MSU, but I really don’t want to go to either in all honesty. The two colleges I really have in mind is University of Alabama and Northwestern University. The courses I am taking throughout my high school career is made up of pretty much honors, AP, and IB. Personally, I know that with hard work, I can get really good scholarships. My parents really don’t have enough money to really contribute anything towards college unfortunately, but I’ve accepted that, especially me wanting to be pre-med and a first generation college attendant. I just feel like maybe I am setting too high of goals for myself.
Alabama has great scholarships if your stats are high enough. https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/
Northwestern does not give out merit scholarships other than a very small NMF ($2500) . The COA at Northwestern is $79K/year so unless your family is very low income, I would strike them from your list. You can run the Net Price Calculator with your parents help.
If you have med school on the radar, go where your undergraduate costs will be lowest!
Apply to your in-state schools, Alabama, and Northwestern. Then see where you get in and how much aid you will receive.
“Personally, I know that with hard work, I can get really good scholarships.”
Lots of students “know” that. Many of them still don’t find enough money to study where they want to. Sit down with your parents and run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of the universities that they like and the universities that you like. Talk about the results of the NPCs, and about where the money can come from to pay for your education.
If your stats are good enough, Alabama does have nice automatic merit scholarships. There also are a number of threads about automatic merit scholarships in the Financial Aid Forum that are worth looking at. But please don’t be surprised if your home-state publics end up being the only options that your family can afford after all expenses are included.
Do your homework, and find schools with great aid.
Then cast a wide net, both in and out of state.
See where you end up when the financial info comes out after you’re accepted.
Your parents finances will have a big impact on where you are able to go to college. You can do your part by getting good grades and test scores, but many merit scholarships are very competitive. Minimizing costs and debt in undergrad is critical if one intends on going to grad/med school.
In addition to the schools mentioned so far, make sure you consider Truman State and Missouri S and T----perhaps you would like those better than Mizzou and MSU, their prices will be relatively low and with good grades/test scores you can get merit scholarships. Good luck.
@kbennett20: Your high school GPA & standardized test scores (ACT or SAT) will determine whether or not you will qualify for a merit scholarship at the University of Alabama.
Northwestern University has high admissions standards, but, if admitted, you should receive financial aid grants which will enable you to attend NU.
Apply to your in state public schools as advised above.
@Publisher that may or not be true. There are lots of families that cannot afford the net price as determined by the college. Just because the OP says that they have enough money doesn’t imply a zero EFC.
Unfortunately, you don’t really know that. “Working hard” does not often result in getting good scholarships.
Are you saying that your parents can’t pay anything? If not, what can they pay each year? If they can’t pay anything, then it’s silly for them to be saying that you need to go instate because they’re not paying for that either. You need to go where the money is.
What are your stats?
@Eeyore123 : NU meets 100% of demonstrated need with grants. Also, never wrote that OP had a zero EFC.
Not really sure as to your point as OP will face the same issue at any college or university. Best for OP to apply to a school such as Northwestern which meets 100% of demonstrated need with grants.
I have not taken ACT yet but I’m a straight A student and my GPA is 4.2 but I’m taking more challenging courses.
Given your financial constraints, you need at least one financial safety where you can be sure of both admission and affordability. That is most likely to be an in-state school, unless you get such high standardized test scores that you qualify for automatic full ride scholarships at OOS flagships.
Truman State could be a great option for premed - it offers many of the positive attributes of a high-quality mid-sized private LAC, for a stunningly affordable price. If you don’t like your larger state schools, definitely give Truman State a chance to win you over.
Certainly you’re a strong student and could get into many schools, both private and public. I would urge you to build your list from safeties up, though - try to at least “fall in like” with one of your in-state options, to the point where you could see yourself going there, being happy, and putting yourself in a solid academic and financial position to apply to med/grad schools.
Once you’ve identified at least one financial safety you could be happy with, then get down to the nitty-gritty in terms of your financial aid eligibility. There’s a world of difference between a student with a $0 EFC who can spend $5K/year, and a student with a $25K EFC who can spend the same $5K/year. Choose some schools that you know are generous with financial aid (such as Northwestern) and have your parents help you to run the Net Price Calculators with accurate financial info. Do you qualify for enough need-based aid to attend such schools? The answer to that question will be critical to determining your application strategy.
Not sure if you’re referring to med school or college out of state with “too high of goals”. If med school then the answer is no, but with a big caveat.
You need to ask yourself why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless you’ve carefully considered the alternatives and have spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school and is actually required for some other medical fields) its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
So I’d say the most important thing to do now (if you haven’t been doing this already) is to get a job or volunteer position this summer and next school year in a medical setting (volunteer in a hospital, etc). This will give you a better sense if medicine is right for you, if being a doctor is the right choice in medicine. An additional benefit of doing this is it will give the motivation to persevere thru the hard work it takes as a pre-med should it turn out to be right for you. A lot of kids that throw in the towel (maybe 4 out of 5 entering as pre-med) because they were never that committed in the first place.
@Publisher once again we don’t know enough about the OPs financial situation. It could be that the OP has a high EFC but they cannot pay it. If that is true, schools like NU maybe the worst type of schools to look at.
For example, assume the families EFC is 80k (full pay), but the parents can afford $15k/year. In that case Mizzou could be affordable but NU isn’t. The cost of Mizzou would be 28k(COA) -10k Mizzou Scholars Award - 15 parents contribution = 3k student contribution. NU would require the family to take out $60k in loans per year.
Op, what’s your EFC?
There will help since some universities will be cheaper than instate if your EFC is below 10k but if your EFC is 30k and your parents can’t contribute anything then you need merit aid.
Run the NPC on Northwestern, Amherst, Grinnell, UMichigan, Mizzou, and Truman state. What results do you get?