Hi! I’m a current junior trying to decide on what colleges to apply to next year. I want to study premed. While on a college tour, I fell in love with Duke but my parents told me that they are not willing to pay that much for me (at the same time, they are in an income bracket which disqualifies me from financial aid). So, I need places that would give me merit aid (or places that are affordable- my parents said they would pay $30,000 or so a year, I could take out loans for the rest if the school is worth it).
STATS:
GPA: 3.86UW/4.62W
SAT: 790CR, 800M, 750W
Extracurriculars: Choir, Sunday School, Model UN (officer), Forensics, Academic Decathlon (most distinguished member on team), 5 academic honor societies.
I signed up to volunteer with my towns rescue squad over the summer and intend to also take classes at my community college.
I forgot to add these things- my school doesn’t do rankings, but does deciles. I am in the first decile (top 10%). I also freelance math tutoring as an extracurricular, mostly to middle school girls. When I was in middle school, I struggled with math a lot because of a lack of support for girls, and am trying to help them out
Try the supermatch function to the left (under find a college). If you are looking for merit aid, you should look towards schools where your academic stats place you in the top 75% or so.
It’s a matter of minutes until someone mentions an Alabama (the main campus, plus Birmingham and Huntsville) and Ole Miss so I’ll do it now. I think UA Huntsville would cover tuition plus housing leaving more option$ open for medical school later on.
I think Niagara U and Hanover College would be worth a search. I think they are likely to have enough scholarship money to bring the cost down to what you’ve mentioned.
You can only borrow $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph year, and $7,500 jr & sr years. Your parents have to do any additional borrowing, and it is not advisable. So assuming you work in the summers and part time during the school year, you can probably add $10K to the number your parents have given.
Pre-med isn’t really a major. You can major in anything and be pre-med as long as you take the required pre-med classes. Key for admission to med school are good grades, a good MCAT score, and some kind of experience (volunteer or work) in a medical setting. And low debt is a good idea, as med school is really expensive.
With your stats, you can probably bring the cost of Lawrence University in Wisconsin into your range (you will get good merit there, my kid with similar stats did). University of MN cost is starting to rise for OOS students, but it may be in range as well. If you can get Mount Holyoke’s biggest scholarship (~25K), it would be in range, too.
I’m from New Jersey! I know pre-med is not a major, but I really would be fine with studying most health related topics. Right now, I’m looking into biology, biomedical engineering, and public health.
My biggest concern is that going to a lower-level school in order to save money would prevent me from going to an elite (or generally great) medical school. I read somewhere that 90% of ivy league medical acceptances come from ivy league undergrads. I don’t assume I’ll get in, but the diminished chances really made me nervous.
You could try suitable schools from this list: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.” You could generally get wherever you would like to go from most of them.
You know what they call a doctor from any accredited medical school in the US? Doctor. Going to an Ivy for med school certainly isn’t required for success as a physician.
With your stats, can’t you apply to combined BS/MD programs ?Don’t remember which college(s) have this - but it does exist. It’s super competitive, but I think you have the stats to go for it. ANY med school acceptance is hard to get. There are many on this board more knowledgeable about med school acceptances and can chime in to a greater detail about that.
Have you looked into TCNJ? Rutgers honors? Don’t like New Jersey? - then Temple honors? U Del Honors? UMD honors? There are also many private colleges that would give you merit, like Dickinson, U of Rochester. None of these colleges are “lower level” .
You guys are totally right. I know that the college won’t matter once my career starts, but I guess I’m caught up on prestige. I go to a very competitive (and well off) public high school and see my friends getting into amazing schools. It bothers me a little bit that even with better grades and scores, I cannot afford to go to the same schools as some of them.
As for the BS/MD programs, I thought I wouldn’t get into most of the ones I liked so I didn’t focus on it. My dad had me check out some (like VCU, where I visited) but I didn’t like the school enough to commit for so long. While at a tour at Drexel, an admissions officer told me that having a seat guaranteed for you at a medical school negates the possibility of others letting you in.
Put those prestige thoughts away. Some of those students will get into “amazing” schools, and not attend because of cost. Some will leave after a year or two. Some will graduate near the bottom of their class. Some will do fine, but end up in no better a situation for grad or med school that someone who spent a lot less on their education. Plus, a year after you go to college, it really doesn’t matter any more. Keep your attention on your own situation, and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing.
Take a good look at Pitt. Your stats put you in good standing to get really good merit aid and they are superb for pre-med. They ended up being my son’s second choice. He’s at U Rochester (already mentioned), but TBH, URoc is not likely to give you enough in merit aid to be within your budget unless your EFC is also less than 30K. Run their NPC to see what the cost would be. (Do the same with Duke.)
I tried out the NPCs. It estimated no aid for me in those schools. I tried a variety of random schools, just to see if any would give me aid, but got nothing. My parents have a fairly high income and are expected by these estimates to pay significantly more than (usually double) what they will.
No, I don’t expect to get any merit aid at Duke or any similar colleges. While on a college tour this past week, I talked to admissions officers at UVa, UNC, etc. - even there, I probably won’t.
Miami of Ohio, one of the original “public Ivies,” is also an excellent university for undergraduate education; and your statistics likely would earn you some merit aid: http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/index.html
