D19 would like to study to be either a Vet or Med (doc). Any suggestions about schools that are good? Other than UW GPA 3.96 she has no other scores.
Any private school with good merit aid, or WUE member would work.
Thanks!
It seems like you are on the right track–save money on undergrad. WUE is great if you are in a participating state. Many, many schools will provide a solid background for vet or med school. I suggest just finding undergrad schools that are good fits. Then she can figure out about vet/med school.
Besides the WUE website, I suggest you google “schools that meet full financial need” and “schools that give good merit aid.” Explore these lists for schools that seem desirable. Keep in mind, a school that claims to meet full financial need might also expect a family to pay more than that family deems possible. Also, a school that meets full financial need might be need aware in admissions and give some preference to students who can pay full tuition, or most of it.
College of Holy Cross is one that you might consider. It’s in Worcester–actually about the 3rd largest city in New England–and a commuter train ride to Boston. Academics there are as good as anywhere. It claims to meet full financial need.
Also in Worcester, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Beautiful campus in nice part of the city. Great campus vibe. Very unique hands-on, project-oriented program if that appeals to her. It’s ranked about 60th in USNWR national university rankings, which is much higher than many outside New England might guess.It gives merit aid but probably not enough. That’s the downside there. Just thought I’d throw in an interesting place not well known on the Left Coast.
https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan
What state in the West? If it’s Nevada or another one with a smaller population, there may be some advantage in applying to some eastern/midwestern schools. If CA, not so much.
Good luck!
Thanks. We live in Colorado. CSU is also a vet school, but I’m not sure how good is for pre-med. CU Boulder has both pre-med/pre-vet although not known for those specialties ( I’m not very knowledgeable to be honest)
Note that vet schools place a huge emphasis on experience – successful applicants at CSU have an average of 1000 hours each of vet and animal handling experience. It’s particularly useful to have experience with both large (horses, sheep, pigs, etc.) and small (dogs, cats, etc.) animals. For that reason, attending a college with a vet school and/or strong animal science program is the most common route for vet students. To cite an example, UC Davis is by far the most represented college at its vet school; UCD alums make up more than 25% of all vet admits.
^^^ Helpful. I thought I should add exactly that. Med schools also want students to have a lot of volunteer experience. I do think it an advantage to go undergrad where a student can get experience working with animals. Vet school is even more competitive than med school.
Med schools want a high GPA and high MCAT scores. Vet schools want high GPA and GRE scores but many also require prerequisite courses in animal nutrition and others. They want students who have been exposed to working with direct animal care under the direction of a vet and require a certain number of hours, they want to see leadership and community service. In your search for colleges, it is important to keep those things in mind as well as what percentage of students who apply are admitted to med and vet schools? Are all qualified students allowed to apply, is application through committee? The state in which you have residence is the best place to apply for vet school if your state has one. The state schools will take the largest number of class applicants from instate first, then from any other states that they may have an articulation agreement with and lastly, open the rest of the seats to OOS students. Thus the need for a high college GPA, high GRE and a very strong list of EC’s with strong LOR’s.
Texas A&M has a terrific Vet school. Not sure about merit aid for OOS applicants, however.
You are very smart to look to minimize undergrad expenses if you are looking at hundreds of thousands for Med of Vet graduate degrees.
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We live in Colorado. CSU is also a vet school, but I’m not sure how good is for pre-med. CU Boulder has both pre-med/pre-vet although not known for those specialties ( I’m not very knowledgeable to be honest)
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CSU would be fine for a premed, but as mentioned, it has the vet school so would be better for a prevet student for the vet-related ECs.
CU Boulder would be absolutely fine for a premed.
There’s nothing special about premed prereqs. They’re just regular science classes that other STEM students take.
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Med schools want a high GPA and high MCAT scores. Vet schools want high GPA and GRE scores but many also require prerequisite courses in animal nutrition and others. They want students who have been exposed to working with direct animal care under the direction of a vet
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^^^ this…really, it’s GPA (both cum and BCPM) and MCAT or GRE scores that matter for med or vet schools, along with the medically related or vet related ECs.
How much do you want your net costs to be?
~$35k/yr or less
I think CSU (Colorado State) is a great choice for you. It was one of my son’s top two choices. We were OOS at both and the one he went to just offered a lot better financial aid and acceptance at special programs. CSU has a great vet school, an excellent Biology dept (good major for pre-med) and some top rated facilities. The biggest problem is that your student will have to make some decisions early because it is hard to get the animal/vet or hospital/doctor hours at the same time. My son already had almost 600 vet hours and about 1000 animal hours before starting his pre-vet studies.
Just FYI son is at Kansas State pre-vet and his girlfriend is there pre-med. Both love it there. They do have some great OOS financial merit aid.
Michigan State, U New Mexico and maybe U Findlay.
If Vet is the path, I would go to CSU major in Animal Science, get a job/volunteer in the Animal Science/Vet department, and get real chummy with the professors. Due to the very high preference for in state students in Vet School, her best option will be CSU for vet school. Being a known commodity with good recommendations from people they know can go a long way in admissions. Does she want to be a large or small animal Vet? Females that want to be small animal Vets are a dime a dozen in the applicant pool. Lastly, what is her backup plan? The drop off between HS juniors that say they want to be MDs/Vets and the one that actually complete the process is huge.
No backup plan. Is either premed or prevet with the possibility of making the final decision during sophomore year. If Vet she intends to work with small animals. If a doctor could be pediatrics, cardiology, oncology. She has 100+ hours of hospital volunteering, but veterinary opportunities are not that common for minors.
Yeah, I’d pick a school that has good vet school prerequisites/preparation/opportunities. The vast majority of schools with good pre-vet opportunities will also have good pre-med requirements/support, but the opposite is often not true.
She doesn’t need to have a backup plan yet, particularly if she’s only a HS junior.
I know a student who is now studying Veterinary Medicine at Tufts. She did her pre-Vet training at the University of Findlay in Ohio. It may not be the most glamorous school but it has a good track record of getting students into Vet school.
https://www.findlay.edu/sciences/animal-science/pre-veterinary-medicine-emphasis/
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Females that want to be small animal Vets are a dime a dozen in the applicant pool.
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Very very true
^^I was going to suggest Tufts undergrad. The good news is that they have both a vet and med school and they take many from their own undergrad colleges.