<p>@aunt bea : I’m not an athlete. I just do archery in a community club. Do you think I won’t have a chance of getting in because of it?</p>
<p>OP: I’m speaking of California schools; they want students who have “varied” resumes. This is completely based on my experiences with my three children. The competition is tough in California for California students. We were told, at a Stanford alumni meeting, that the big corporations came to the universities saying they didn’t want students who were “bookish” and couldn’t perform in a team environment. </p>
<p>The universities in California know that being part of an athletic team requires a very delicate balance: such that, students who can perform the rigors of academics, volunteer work, performing arts, and a team sport have strengths in time management. UCLA is a school that, based on our own experience, accepts the “well-rounded” student. Our school has had many students accepted there, but every one of those students was, not only exceptional in their academics and EC’s, but also was an exceptional athlete. </p>
<p>I’ve been involved in my children’s sports, at this high school for 10 years. We have an annual school sports awards banquet. This year we have a top student, who happens to play football and run track; he was accepted at Harvard, Stanford, and his UC’s. He’s going to Harvard with another female student who is a ranked swimmer, (who wants to eventually do med school). </p>
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<p>Grades in college courses taken while in high school do count toward your GPA for medical school application purposes. A is really the only acceptable grade for a pre-med; B is bad, C is catastrophic, D is disastrous, and F means forget it.</p>
<p>You have not mentioned budget limits. Be aware that medical school is expensive (see <a href=“https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/”>https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/</a> for tuition and fees, not including room and board), so saving money and avoiding debt as an undergraduate can help keep total debt down at medical school graduation. While pay levels for physicians (see <a href=“Latest Medical News, Clinical Trials, Guidelines - Today on Medscape”>Latest Medical News, Clinical Trials, Guidelines - Today on Medscape; ) seem high, remember that income and payroll taxes and malpractice insurance will take some of it, leaving less to pay off debt, and you won’t see those pay rates until several years after medical school graduation, due to lower paid residency requirements). If you graduate with $200,000 to $300,000 of medical school debt, plus undergraduate debt, it may be quite difficult to pay off in less than a decade, especially if you choose a lower paid specialty like the primary care ones.</p>
<p>Baylor is religious. There is mandatory chapel, so if you aren’t Protestant you may well feel uncomfortable. </p>
<p>SMU isn’t religious, however, nor is Rice or UT. You would likely get merit aid from SMU. Rice and UT would be more match-like, but you might catch the attention of a UT adcom and find yourself not only admitted but in honors. </p>
<p>I have spoken with my parents, and they are willing to contribute $20,000 per year.</p>
<p>If that matches your EFC, that means that you need to target the 60 colleges that provide 100% need and merit + colleges with automatic/competitive merit.
That rules out all out of state public universities that don’t offer full-tuition scholarships -UCs are out, for instance.</p>
<p>Count on $10K minimun for dorms & books which will leave you 10K towards tuition. </p>
<p>You need to run some estimators and get an idea of what you EFC is … you may be shocked, I know I was. If you parents are able to contribute 20K/year you will probably have a high EFC (amount expected for you to cover, normally way above what is reasonable) Also, for how many years will they be able to contribute that amount?</p>
<p>Look at the fin aid area, specifically the Nat Merit where there is a list of schools that offer full/near full tuition for NMF. There are some great schools on the list, let them pay for undergrad and save your parents money for the years of schools ahead. </p>
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<p>Do not rely on “meet 100% of need” promises, since each college can define “need” differently. Use net price calculators instead.</p>
<p>Not all out of state public universities will be too expensive. Some, like Truman State and University of Minnesota - Morris, start at low price (even for out-of-state students) and can get cheaper with merit scholarships (even if they are not full tuition).</p>