You need to be in the top 25% of your organic chemistry class.
There are doctors, residents, and current medical school students who were not in the top 25% of their OChem class.
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OP, you might find this thread, Looking for advice in Merit aid for a top 1% student interesting. I learned so much from it, even if my boxes aren’t exactly the same. It is long, but worth following their journey from the top IMO.
I particularly like posts #1468 and #1527 (I could be off by 1). On the first he lists Top 10 misconceptions he had before the process and the second is a very detailed, broken down, comparison list of the financial awards they received from each of the 20+ schools where his daughter was accepted.
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Just noting that if your sister is old enough to be the parent of a high schooler (or similar), getting into med school now is considerably tougher according to the Dean of a Med School who is of similar age.
But it’s just a note, because I firmly believe a student should be in the Top 25% stats wise (grades and SAT/ACT) if they want their best odds. If that’s a Top 50 National school, then that’s fine. If it’s a Top 50 regional school, then that works too.
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We have watched that, I agree it’s good and a must watch for a kid that wants to go that route.
Thank you, I’m headed there to read it!
What struck me about Kevin’s post is what he said in May, 2020. He indicated that if you are looking for merit, you can’t discount schools based on weather, distance, size, urban, rural, etc. You have to be open to every type of school.
This is why I keep asking if there is any flexibility with the “must haves.”
Do any schools on the current list have guaranteed merit?
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There’s an answer to that question here →
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OP…may I ask why rural?
One of my kids attended school in a very rural area, and I didn’t feel like it was safe at all. It was very, very quiet and remote once you left the campus. To me, this felt unsafe. You indicated that your D doesn’t like cities, but what about suburbs?
It was also mentioned that your D wants to be able to go places, so the safety of the surrounding area is important. Will she have a car? If she doesn’t have a car and attends school in a rural area, wouldn’t most activities be on campus?
As I mentioned, one of my kids attended school in a rural area. She needed a car during her junior year to volunteer and do an internship in a city that was 45 min away.
My other kid was in a large suburb. She walked to the hospital and took the bus to all of her off campus volunteering. While many had a car, it was not necessary at all. With lots of people around, I felt it was very safe. FYI shadowing etc can be done during breaks as well.
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Just be super aware that money isn’t everything if one has other options. Many times it’s better to pay “some” or “some more” for School A than School B.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen kids, including top students, get seriously depressed when going to a school that is a bad fit for them. It’s not just money. I’ve seen it happen for sports too. Bad fits can include a different, seriously dominant vibe of student at the school (Greek, partier, wealthy, urban, etc) or seriously too low of an academic atmosphere. Depression ranges from “College sucks” to in a ward on a suicide watch.
Some students can be happy wherever they go. Some students literally have no choice. It’s go to School A or don’t go. The rest have options.
We could have sent my high stat lad to a school for free and he’d likely have done ok, but he was totally capable of more and absolutely loves academics. Since we could afford to spend some, he had choices. Absolutely no regrets on our part. The journey to get to med school would have been totally different if he’d gone to his known “free” options. I know because I’ve seen kids go that route.
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I agree with you. I had the same experience with one of my kids who could have gone to Pitt (I love Pitt) for $12,000 a year (OOS). She turned it down due to fit (I wish I could go lol).
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D20 had a very attractive offer from “School A” before her “ED school” accepted her. School A would have cost ~ $10k/yr less than her ED school. School A was fine and D20 would have been fine going there.
And yet, the fit was just so much better at her ED school that we told her it was worth the extra money (as ED school was still under budget). We haven’t regretted the choice to pay more than ‘necessary’ for her college.
I think as long as a school still fits the budget, taking fit into account is very important.
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Are any of these criteria able to be dropped?
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3 and 5 are being reevaluated now.
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D isn’t a fan of big cities (we have been to many) she really enjoys a small city or more rural feel. Suburban would be just fine, especially if she liked the school.
She has a car but we will eval if she brings it with her, depending on the circumstances and where she ends up.
I did go over one of my messages from someone that toured Kenyon, apparent it’s VERY rural. She said that may be a little much for her as she would like to have things to do…movies, hikes, runs, etc. All of these helpful responses have made her realize we have to add suburban setting to her list.
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While Kenyon indeed is rural, the area is nice for hiking and biking (check out the Kokosing River Gap). Mt Vernon, with movie theaters and restaurants, is just a 10-15 min drive away; there are also shuttles to and from campus). Columbus is an hour away. Still, I realize it may be too isolated/rural for many. But there are quite a few kids there from NYC, Chicago, and other large cities who enjoy the tight-knit community, excellent academics and a bucolic campus. I have a very happy sophomore there (with some pre-med friends), feel free to pm me if you have questions.
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I completely agree with adding suburban settings. And opening distance.
I will say…there are also some suburban schools where getting to off campus things to do isn’t easy without a car.
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Is your budget $50,000 a year? That opens up a lot of fabulous public schools, and possibly some private schools if she applies wisely.
Schools like Colgate do not offer merit and will cost about $80,000 a year (check the NPC), while some other privates have competitive merit.
Your daughter is a very accomplished student who plays 3 sports (congrats!). Keep in mind that there are many, many accomplished students out there who will be applying to similar schools for merit. I would do my research and apply wisely, if you need to keep the cost down.
When we went through this process (about 7 years ago) my daughter met a student who had his pilots license and spent his time cooking food and delivering it it agencies throughout the country. She also met several students who were published in science journals. It’s an eye opening experience.
Adding a few east coast schools: Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence University, Union College.
St. Lawrence is very rural, has a cute little town, and offers merit (travel back and forth will be a lengthy process)
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I think of the choices you’ve been give # 3 and 5 have already been dropped 
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Yes, thats our budget.
Although she absolutely loves Carleton, we have told her there may be similar options that don’t cost 80k a year. Since we don’t expect to get need based aid, so we are planning for worst case scenario.
We have added a lot of schools to her list that we learned about from suggestions here on this forum. Schools that have what she wants, but offer some merit aid.
You’re so right about the competition out there. People tell me how accomplished my D is, and tell me surely she’ll get some huge scholarship somewhere between merit and sports. However, I’ve learned there’s so many amazing kids out there. Pick a high academic school and you’re surrounded by them in the applicant pool. Can’t even count on merit aid at these schools as the competition is fierce.
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