$10,000 won’t even get you a year at my local community college. Living at home and commuting, their cost is $10,662. It doesn’t cover one semester of the local state university either. Living at home and commuting, their cost is $22,154.
@gloriaVaughn But this student lives in AL. This student can attend college on that budget…
Basically, it sounds like the parents know the student qualifies for full-tuition scholarships and are not willing to spend more than low-end room/board. I suspect the parents are probably Auburn grads based on the comments about going there all the time for football games. The parents know that it was good enough for them to pursue what they wanted in careers and know it is for their child as well.
And clearly, the parents are at least financially successful if their income is over $500,000 annually.
First of all, thank you for your answers.
And I’m glad to hear that you’re only a junior.
I think you need to understand that the only options for you to go OOS would be to go to less competitive schools that would give you a near free ride for your stats. You need to focus on what’s possible.
Unless you can change your parents’ minds, your going to have to go where your stats will give you huge merit and their $10k per year will pay the rest.
Ok, so you’ll be premed. Why business? Is there any other major you’d consider? What are your best and favorite subjects?
I know that a premed can be any major, I just think it would be hard to fit all the premed prereqs with a business major.
Are you serious about going to med school? I’m guessing that at least one of your parents is a doctor, is that correct?
Are your parents going to pay for med school? Or will you be on your own?
My own son went to Univ of Alabama and he’s now a physician, so I’m very familiar with how the premed to med school process works…as well as being premed in the state of Alabama.
I think a student like you could be a very successful premed in this state.
When you say that you didn’t fit in at high school, are you saying that you don’t like the “rah rah” aspect of high school and certain colleges? If so, you would avoid a lot of that at UAB.
With a 1400 psat, do you know what your Selection Index is? Perhaps you’ll qualify for NMSF/NMF
Do you realize how good this med school is?
Someone who graduated from there did become CEO of a well known high market capitalization company.
Actually a number of the schools you’re considering are $60k-70k+ per year, not $50k.
There just isn’t. And you really need about $250k for all four years.
Think about it. You’re critical of Auburn because you think it’s not selective enough.
How selective do you think any “affordable colleges around NYC or Boston” would be if such a unicorn existed???
@Yankeesfan4 Can we switch parents? My parents make too much for aid but they want send me to a prestigious school in the northeast for pre-med while I really want to go to Alabama and save money for undergrad but they won’t let me go as of now because they think it is “a garbage school” which I strongly disagree with. Alabama public schools are fine, you will have the resources you need to be successful. BC may sound more glamorous, but Auburn and BC both have the classes, the labs, and programs which you need. The only case where the school is actually inadequate is for example at college X where they have 200 students and no science program or labs.
@ps1kd have your parents visited Bama?
BTW…your parents are encouraging an unwise decision if they truly want you to be a successful premed. Much of the premed to med school process is counter-intuitive. Some think going to a “top school” is some sort of edge. It’s not. The problem is that your premed classmates will all be top students like you are…and yet over half will get weeded out.
@ps1kd I hope you can share some stories with your parents to help them understand that you are correct and they are wrong. @mom2collegekids is correct and knows it personally bc her ds is a Bama grad and now a dr. My ds graduated from Bama in May and one of his close friends who graduated with him is now atttending the Harvard-MIT MD-PhD program. https://www.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd/index.html
Yes, I know that young lady. She’s a MS1 at Harvard Med this year.
And he’s doing his residency at Harvard.
So, the point is that even if you were to go to not-top-schools like Auburn, Alabama, or UAB, you will not be shut out of the elite medical world.
AND…graduates from ALL medical schools are still DOCTORS. They don’t need to graduate from elite colleges or medical schools.
Samford
Exactly!
I was just trying to explain to the OP that attending Auburn ( a school that he thinks is “not very selective” ), will not mean that his later choices will be limited. Schools like Auburn do a fine job teaching the premed prereqs as well as other courses.
There are many people who wrongly think that you have to go to a “top school” in order to get into med school. Ive even had people ask me questions like, “has anybody from UAlabama ever gone to med school?”
The same with med schools. I’ve had many people tell me that in order to get into a top residency, the student needs to go to an Ivy or similar school. Not true at all.
This student will not be “held back” simply because he stayed in state for undergrad. If he wants to go OOS, he can apply to OOS med schools when the time comes and he won’t be limited by what his parents will pay.
Case in point about ‘upward’ mobility from undergrad to medical career: my brother went to a religious-based ‘nobody’s heard of it’ undergrad (seriously, you’ve never heard of it), graduated 4.0 and killed the MCATs. Went to a public flagship medical school in the intermountain West where he graduated top (or maybe 2nd or 3rd, can’t remember) of his med school class and matched as a resident at Univ. of Michigan which was one of the top places in the country for his specialty. Went on to be Chief Resident there and then got a coveted Fellowship afterwards. Was heavily recruited after med school for amazing jobs and has been very successful doctor for 25 years.
Samford is a great school, but definitely not in the $10,000 range.