My son has decided in the last few weeks that he wants to be pre-med. Here are his top 5 college choices and costs. We do not qualify for financial aid.
Vanderbilt Cost $64,000 Scholarships $9000 net $55K per year or $220K total
Emory Cost $61,000 Scholarships 0 net $61K per year or $244K total
UNC Cost $50,000 OOS Aid 0 net $50K per year or $200K total
Alabama NMF scholarship which is almost free ride. We would have to pay housing for three years but do get a $3500
stipend per year. Estimated total cost < $10,000.
Kentucky NMF scholarship = full ride
From a financial perspective, the 2 lower ranked schools are a slam dunk due to their generous scholarship offers. My thinking is that the undergraduate school matters little for med school admissions, that it primarily hinges on GPA and MCAT score and that we should save our money for med school where he is unlikely to get any merit aid.
Anyone want to offer opinions? Can you get into the top Southern medical schools like Vanderbilt, Emory, UNC, Tulane, etc. if you do undergrad at Alabama or Kentucky?
$200,000 to $244,000 would be a substantial amount of debt reduced by the time he graduates from medical school. Having that much less debt could give him more options (e.g. being free to pursue a lower paying medical specialty, and not be tempted to any ethical compromises to bring in extra business). See the following:
GPA and MCAT score tend to be biggest factors in medical school admission, though other factors like pre-med extracurriculars, interview, etc. are also important.
However, he also needs to consider that most pre-meds do not get into any medical school, so he needs to be sure that the school he attends will be one that he will like attending and graduating from in the non-medical school scenario.
BTWâŠsince WHEN has Tulane SOM been considered to be a âtop southern med schoolâ ???
Donât get me wrong, but all US MD schools are excellent, but since Tulane SOM isnât even ranked at all, how the heck is it a âtop southern med schoolâ??? And why didnât you mention UAB SOM if med school rankings are important to you?
Your thinking is correct as long as you are confident that he wonât change his mind and/or he does not feel like he will get a fulfilling experience at a less-prestigious state school in which case Vandy and Emory are worth more of a consideration. A lot of âpre-medsâ change their mind through the course of undergrad, because of difficulty or otherwise, so you might want to consider that (probably less than half who enter as âpre-medâ actually end up going to medical school). As far as undergrad importance for medical schools, the school wonât compensate for a bad gpa/MCAT but a 3.7 from the elite private will be looked at more favorably than a 3.7 from a âlesserâ school. If he is 100% on medicine though, it does make sense to go with the cheaper options.
Have you seen the medical centers at Alabama or Kentucky?? They are both first rate! Full scholarship students get excellent research opportunities at those schools too. Kentucky has put a tremendous amount of money into its medical programs over the last several years.
As far as possibly switching out of pre-med, I think this still argues for the less expensive schools to start out. If you have been admitted to Vandy, Emory, or UNC, you can probably transfer there later if you want. Your gen-ed credits will transfer and you have saved a ton of money in getting them.
If he just decided in the last two weeks that he wanted to be pre-med, he probably changed his mind from something else, and thereâs a decent chance heâll change it to something else as well. So I wouldnât make any decisions based solely or even primarily on the desire to go to medical school.
That said, minimizing undergraduate debt is just a good idea in general. Even if he doesnât go to med school, itâs always better to start out with no debt rather than a lot. The calculus might change a bit if you are easily able to pay the entire cost of attendance, or if he would only have to borrow the federal limits and you are totally comfortable with the amount that you would have to pay/borrow for him to attend one of those other choices. There are definite advantages to attending a school like Emory or VanderbiltâŠbut not enough to place your family on unsure financial footing, IMO.
And yes, of course, he can go to medical school from Alabama or Kentucky - even a top medical school, although attending a top medical school is not necessary.
Transferring to top schools is much harder than getting in as a freshman. I think one should make a decision to attend a four-year college with the intention that one will graduate from that four-year college; transferring would be the cherry on top.
@mom2collegekids I havenât looked at medical school rankings in many years. It is a little premature to start researching them. I assumed Tulane would be good based on their UG ranking but apparently that is incorrect. I said Southern medical schools since we are from TN and my son applied almost exclusively to southern colleges and I would think he would like to stay in the south for medical school as well.
I started this thread to see if anyone would argue that I should pay for one of the more prestigious colleges. So far, I have gotten no strong arguments for it.
@juillet Attending a top medical school may be important in certain circumstances such as trying to get a residency in a desirable field like orthopedics or dermatology or if you want to pursue academics/research.
All US MD schools are âgoodââŠtheyâre all very goodâŠtheyâre all excellent. We donât have any âso soâ MD schools in this country. An acceptance to any of them is an accomplishment, and no one is âtoo goodâ to attend any of our MD med schools.
That said, there are two ranking lists for med schoolsâŠresearch list and primary care list.
When it comes to med schools, looking at undergrad ranking often isnât telling. For instance, Dartmouth SOM and UAB SOM are tied in Research Ranking. And, UAB is ranked higher than WashU, UChicago, Stanford, and whole bunch of other big names for Primary Care ranking list.
I think it is Vanderbilt (loved my time there!) or Kentucky, depending on how much you want to save the money. The full ride to Kentucky is a pretty sweet deal. Would do that over Bama. Would not go UNC or Emory under any circumstances. Vandy is better.
Attending a top medical school may be important in certain circumstances such as trying to get a residency in a desirable field like orthopedics or dermatology or if you want to pursue academics/research.
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I agree that attending at top med school is important if the goal is academic medicine. However, if youâre in the top quartile (or however your med school divides), and you have top scores, you can be competitive for any competitive specialty.
Pretty much agree with all the postersâ comments.
Perhaps repeat campus visit to determine if KY or UA would be the better fit, however I am biased towards UA because I know the school and the honors programs.
I know for a fact that more reputable schools have âaddersâ to their GPA and less reputable school get pinged for their grade inflation, etc. What Iâm saying is with the less reputable school he might need a 3.8+ whereas with the more reputable school he might get the same outcome with a 3.5+.
So long as he nails the MCAT and approaches a 4.0 heâll do fine with any. Just a little less room for error with the less reputable schools.
You donât âknow for a factâ. There are some law schools that reportedly did this or may still do this, but med schools do not.
AMCAS converts everyoneâs GPAs using their calculation.
Med schools do use filters to allow those with âlesser statsâ who are from Under Represented in Medicine groups to get through the first down-selection (typically no human eyes), but then their apps are reviewed to see if worthy of an interview and possibly later acceptance.
And, itâs not accurate to think that with a âmore reputable schoolâ a student will have the same outcome with a 3.5+ as a student with a 3.8+ from a lesser school (assuming similar/same MCAT). Absolutely not.
Weâve already seen a number of bad outcomes (no acceptances) of applicants with 3.5 GPAs from TIPPY TOP schools with med-school worthy MCAT scores. We can show example after example of the 3.8 student from âjust a good school,â with multiple MD acceptances, while the 3.5 student from a top university getting none. My own son went to a mid-tier flagship, had a high GPA and a med school worthy MCAT score and he was accepted to half of the med schools he applied to.
Youâre just stating common misaprehension about the med school app process.
Some of the med school app process is counter-intuitive.
@leftygolf, at all the schools listed your S will have to go through the same courses- and they will be large (yes even at Emory or Vandy), and there will be a lot of students who drop out. As others have pointed out, an interest that is only a few weeks old may not last past Organic Chemistry- or it may veer off into another related field. UK and UA donât handhold the same way, but strong students stand out, and there is a lot of support available. I know quite a few UK undergrads and a few grad students, and they have really made the most of the resources there. Plus TN regularly beats UK at football and itâs the other way around at basketball so there can be a truce in the house
If a professional grad school- medicine or law for example, or a Masters degree is in the offing, and you can apply the money that you would have spent on college to that, that is quite a gift.
