<p>Miami is right. CC isnt the cheapest option. full scholarship to a decent school is the best route to save money.</p>
<p>People question the schools because they are so different except for their ivy status. I wasnt blown away with dartmouth when i interviewed there. even questioned myself on why i applied to this school. location isnt great unless you like the rural setting and trees. beautiful place though</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP I wish i could have received scholarships, but unfortunately alot of things started happening in my life and i started falling behind in school and ended up leaving and graduating from an online high school. I actually gradauted before my class even though i wish i could have stayed in school. It would have been much easier to get into colleges then. I only plan on going to a CC for one year and then transfering. For your D to get full tuition merit awards she must have done really great in school? I plan to maintain a high GPA while in college and also do alot of EC activities. So hopefully with hard work i can get into a decent school. thanks for the extra info. Also, did you D get those awards by applying to FAFSA or another way?</p>
<p>@trapezius i absolutely LOVE the rural setting and trees. Especially all the trees.</p>
<p>^At D’s UG it was recommended to apply to FASFA to get full range of Merit awards, so we did it religiously for 4 years. We did not qualify for need based, not even close. She was not the only one on the full tuition and there were people on full ride (which is more, since living expenses and books are all covered). She did well in HS and so are many others. As I said, most pre-meds are top caliber, mostly valedictorians, and even some of them did not survive of the pre-med track. I still believe that great reserach woudl result in at least partial Merit award for most pre-meds. </p>
<p>SomeTexasGirl…</p>
<p>You will be a transfer student so you won’t be eligible for most large merit awards. The ones that Miami’s D and my son got were based on their SAT/ACT & high school GPAs and the fact that they were incoming frosh. Those large awards are only for incoming frosh.</p>
<p>Transfer students have far fewer merit opportunities especially if you need a lot of merit.</p>
<p>What school can you commute to from home since your family can’t help you much. How much can your family pay each year? </p>
<p>Some Texas Girl, I don’t want to be so presumptive as to try to talk you out of your dream. However, you do know that there are tons of highly qualified out-of-state undergrads who would do pretty much anything to get into med school in Texas, right? Baylor and UT SW are top 25 and cost a fraction of most other med schools. Three years’ tuition at UTSW is less than a single year at Harvard. As a Texan, you have a significant advantage over residents of the other 49 states! Good luck to you wherever you end up! </p>
<p><a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings</a></p>
<p>@MiamiDAP i filled my FAFSA already and will be hearing back from the school soon about how much i received. I definitely qualify for need based. I am confident in myself that i could succeed in the pre-med track. With hard work and dedication i believe anyone can. I will do some research on merit awards and see what i can find.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids yea i figured since i was a transfer i wouldnt be getting near as many options for awards as others. But hopefully i can find something.
I am going to Blinn College this year, its in Brenham,TX
Its not near my family but i think i will be ok. I couldn’t live with my parents and go to the nearest school because my Father lives in a small 3 bedroom with my younger brother and sister and my Mother is between houses, staying with a boyfriend for some time and then staying at a friends.
unfortunately my family contribution is zero… My parents are divorced. My Father is disabled due to a 18 wheeler roll ever. My Mother on the other hand just doesn’t work. </p>
<p>Are you at Blinn College now? or are you a high school senior? If you’re a high school senior, how are you going to fund your first year of college…including room and board? </p>
<p>If you’re currently in college, how are you funding all your costs?</p>
<p>@masslou yes i realize that, i have my eyes on Baylor medical as well. Harvard and Dartmouth are not the only schools i would like to get into. This question was just for those two schools. I just wanted to know about the ivys. Obliviously if i only had my eyes set on these two schools i would be setting myself up to fail. I would much rather go to Dartmouth over Harvard. There is also a few schools here in Texas that i like. Thank you very much for that link, i saw that Baylor was #18 and UTSW was #22. Those are 2 of the schools i really liked as well</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
No mam, i start at Blinn this fall. I qualifed for FAFSA and it estimated a little over 5000$ per semester. However, im still waiting on the update from the school which will be here around March 17. They could raise or lower that estimate. If i got that amount per semester then i would have enough for tuition, room and board, books and supplies. Also, i have been working and have some money saved</p>
<p>Blinn College</p>
<p>Total Cost $15708
Tuition & Fees $3872
Room & Board $5484 (this is strangely low…will you be living in a dorm? Does this school include a meal plan?)
Books $1348
Other $5004 (personal expenses, cell phone, travel, clothing, etc)</p>
<p>If you have an EFC of 0, then you’ll get about:</p>
<p>$5800 Grant (mix of Pell grant and something else (maybe Texas grant?)
up to $5500 in student loans (maybe less since this is a CC)</p>
<p>Do you have a job lined up to cover the uncovered costs?</p>
<p>The prestige associated with the ivy league is really not applicable to the medical schools. Dartmouth and Brown are ranked in the 30s out of 140. Doesn’t exactly carry the same wow factor as being in the top 15 out of thousands.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
I will be living in a dorm. The room and board actually comes out to $4300 a year. $1300 per semester with a required meal plan that cost $850. Brings the total to $2150 per semester. </p>
<p>That looks about right with the grants and student loans. I don’t have the paper on me that i printed out with the exact estimates.</p>
<p>And as of now i am working on lining up a job in Brenham.</p>
<p>@i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown</p>
<p>When i was thinking of the ivy leagues i didn’t realize that. It wasn’t until afterwards when i looked into the ranking and didnt see Dartmouth until the second page when i was expecting it to be on the first. Your right it doesn’t have the same wow factor</p>
<p>College kids’ jobs just provide some pocket money and are more for experience than financial support. There is NO way under the sky you should expect to cover some college expenses out of your own pocket. My D. has worked for 3 years while in UG and so are most (all?) of her pre-med friends. Keep in mind that your time will be very limited. You will need Med. Research lab internship (the paid ones are almost impossible to get into, so most likely this will be un-paid, but you will have to take any opportunity that you will have), you will have to shadow MDs, volunteer and you should allow yourself some time to have normal social life, otherwise, you simply will not sustain all requirements and will not grow as a normal (non-extra-intensely stressed out) young person. Your academic level/requirements will grow from year to year. The junior year will also have additional very time consuming activity - preparation for the MCAT. In senior year, if everything goes as planned, you will be going to Med. School interviews (be prepared for lots of expense, unless you do what my D. did, she applied only in driving distance, she did not apply to schools beyond 5.5 hours of driving from home, but she could afford to be choosy and she did not care to apply to Harvard and such and also we told her NOT to worry about cost. With all limitaions, she manged to get into top 20s)
Good luck wih all finances now. I really wish that you have researched much more before hand and figure out the cheapest option for yourself. I hope that others who are still in HS andplaning to be an MD, are reading here. Choose your UG careful, please. More so if finances are limited. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about “wow factor” for med school. Your residency will actually be more significant.
That said, all MD schools are worthy of a wow factor. They’re all hard to get into. </p>
<p>“with a required meal plan that cost $850” per semester.</p>
<p>that will not likely cover 7 days worth of food, so be sure to calculate how much more you’ll need for weekends, etc. That is a declining balance plan (and the minimum req’d, there is a higher one) which very likely calculates out to be about 10 meals a week (twice a day for Mon thru Fri).</p>
<p>the avg meal plan deduction will be about $7 per meal (maybe little less for breakfast, little more for dinner). So that’s about 120 meals per semester. 120 meals divided by 2 meals a day is 60 days…or about ONE MEAL per day for a semester. </p>
<p>So, as you can see, you’re going to need other money for other meals.</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP
I plan to work at least a part time job. That way ill have enough time for studying and everything else that you mentioned. Ive done my research on places i would be able to volunteer at in the area where i will be attending my first year. There is also a good chance i will be able to shadow one of the MD’s at the local hospital. I definatley have changed my view on which medical schools i plan to attend.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
i cant wait until residency.
and yea i was looking at the prices of meals at the college and i didnt think i would be able to get 7 meals a week out of it either. Ill have to use some of the money i have saved for my extra meals.</p>
<p><<<<
i cant wait until residency</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>What does that mean???</p>
<p>“i didnt think i would be able to get 7 meals a week out of it either. Ill have to use some of the money i have saved for my extra meals.”</p>
<p>Will your dorm have a mini fridge and microwave? If so, you can save a lot that way. Many kids just eat cereal or yogurt in their dorms for breakfast rather than spending $6 in a dining hall. Also, having some microwaveable soups and other items can be cheap lunches or late night snacks. </p>
<p>if you get a job at some kind of restaurant, that can also be a cheaper source of food if they give employees big discounts on meals prior to or at end of shifts.</p>
<p>I have heard a a lot about residency and i hear its very exciting and a very rewarding feeling.</p>
<p>You have to buy your own mini fridge for your room and i have one already.
You cant have a microwave in your room, but there is one downstairs for people to use.</p>
<p>I plan to get a job at a restaurant and most usually have employeee discounts so that will be good along with saving money by eating cerial in the morning instead of a $6.50 breakfast. I just checked the prices.
Breakfast 6.50
Lunch 7.50
Dinner 7.25</p>
<p>Pretty sure every one of my 4th year friends would trade places with you to be staring down the beginning of college vs the beginning of residency.</p>
<p>Like the billy Madison scene “don’t you ever say that. Stay here as long as you can”</p>