@NoviceDad
Can you be transparent here with respect to “all governmental aid and all need-based aid” ? What are you talking about here- Pell Grants, Direct Subsidized loans (not grants ), Direct Unsubsidized loans, Direct Plus loans etc ? These are not related to “true merit scholarships” which do not require any financial documentation. There may be other scholarships (not “true merit scholarships” ) which may require financial documentation.
In NJ, the two state institutions - Rutgers and NJIT do not require any financial documentation for true merit scholarships. DD got several merit scholarships including from both Rutgers and NJIT without submitting any FAFSA. The requirements may differ at other state institutions in other states.
CSS is usually for private institutions like Princeton in NJ.
@rk1235rk
Applying for a bsmd admission and financing it are two separate things. You will not find any bsmd program mandating a FAFSA. If you plan to pay in cash for the bsmd program, do not worry about FAFSA and/or CSS ( @NoviceDad pointed this out ).
FAFSA and/or CSS may be needed if you can not pay in cash and you will need financial aid from the institution as a combination of some grants ( which you do not need to pay back to the institution) and a large amount of loans ( which you will need to payback with interest in future).
@NoviceDad
If one plans to pay for bsmd or UG in cash, one does not need any FAFSA and/or CSS. Please let me know of an example where FAFSA is required by the educational institution as a requirement for an admission application to the program. Have not seen any such requirements in writing for an admission application.
@grtd2010
My question was rhetorical - is filling up FAFSA a “go-no go” decision to apply to a college?
My view is NO.
Should you invest time in filling up FAFSA?
Depends on your income level and your assessment based on cost calculators of the specific colleges and the likelihood of getting NEED-based aid.
FAFSA starts Oct 1 and if you intend to fill it do it as early as you can as some States run out of funds.
Oct 1 is two months out.
While most states will accept till June of next year, many states have deadlines in Feb, March and May. Most colleges have their own deadlines.
@ttb1263 - Just like NJIT/NJMS, Stony brook is also a public university for both UG and med school and also provides generous scholarship to students they admit to their BAMD program. Last cycle, a few students got Provost (Full OOS tution) & NMF scholarship including my S.
@mom2boys1999 -
Do you or anyone can reflect on any negative impact to student’s admissibility to colleges including BSMDs if a student files FAFSA and CSS even if they don’t qualify? (Their family EFC is high enough so they don’t actually qualify for need based scholarship)
No negative impact I believe. The schools/programs will just ignore the filings. Also most students even with high enough family income will qualify for some amount of subsidized loans with no interest till they graduate. So better make use of it, even though it may not significant. Unlike FAFSA, filing css profile is not free, costs something like 25 dollars per school.
GPA: 4.0 UW, I don’t know what it is W, maybe around a 4.7
Class Rank: 1 of 271
ACT: 26 currently (retaking it in July and September) (This is the only concerning part of my application; I retook this weekend, felt pretty great)
Honors Geometry
Honors Algebra II
AP BIO: dual credit
AP Chem
AP Euro
AP Stats
Calculus
Anatomy and Physiology II
PLTW Biomedical Courses
ECs:
Varsity track since 9th grade
Spanish club officer
HOSA competing member
NHS
Leadership Club
100 hrs of shadowing at the hospital
Work at my parent’s private clinic
Volunteering at a retirement home
Medical summer programs at Yale
Earned an undergrad credit at Johns Hopkins Medical School Intensive camp
I strongly want to know what my chances are and be included throughout this thread during the 2020-21 admissions cycle
Can my partaking in PLTW Biomedical Science curriculum in high school count towards medical activities as I am always performing lab experiments/doing research? It has built-in shadowing hours as well with my local hospital. We get to leave 2x a week and use our entire school day at the hospital?
Yes, Everyone qualifies for $5600 of Direct Subsidized loan in the freshman year and a little more in the subsequent years. To get this, one needs to file a FAFSA. It is a few drops in the bucket when HPME bsmd will cost $500k or more.
@Vicky2019
It may even have a positive impact since one has shown the ability to be a full-pay applicant with a documented evidence ( assuming a high EFC case ).
Yes, I was able to take it. I took an intensive prep course with Huntington’s one-on-one option. Hopefully, I was able to raise it.
@NoviceDad Do you think my partaking in PLTW Biomedical Science curriculum in high school count towards medical activities as I am always performing lab experiments/doing research? It has built-in shadowing hours as well with my local hospital. We get to leave 2x a week and use our entire school day at the hospital?
I would say yes and no. Depends on how many students from your school apply to the same program(s). So if an admission official is looking at the profiles of x number of students from the same high school and they all have the same or similar sets of extra curriculars, you won’t really stand out from ECs perspective. But if you are one of the only handful applying there or not many from the school participating in such activities, then yes it can benefit.
Not sure how this particular program works since it seems to be in state oriented, but in general it is rare for most of these programs to invite more than 4 or so to the interviews from a given high school and extend offers to more than a couple.
I do not know exactly about your specific curriculum but there are healthcare magnet high schools and research plus shadowing undertaken as part of those programs do count towards medical/ healthcare activities.
So, I would say, you can highlight those activities that you do as part of the curriculum.
Remember it is not just the hours you invest but what you gain from those activities that matters the most.
SAT Subject Test: My D signed up for Chem Subject test on Aug 29. We just received an email that they cancelled her registration and the reason they provided is “Your test center has either made the decision not to offer the August 29. 2020 or has reduced its available capacity”
She has completed Math and Bio subject tests and now I am wondering if she needs to take Chem like we planned before or not.
