<<<<
My parents will cosign a loan but it is up to me to actually pay it if that makes any sense. I do plan to go to med school and become an Anesthesiologist, so that will hopefully help my debt situation, thanks for the feedback!
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
I have a son in med school, so I’m very familiar with the whole process. Debt should be avoided as an undergrad.
Your parents would be crazy to co-sign large loans as an undergrad in hopes that you eventually (many, many years later), get thru med school as a top graduate and get into the highly competitive specialty of Anesthesiology.
What if you dont end up with med school worthy stats?
75% of freshman premeds NEVER end up applying to med school. Do you know why?
Do you understand that there is HEAVY weeding in the premed prereqs?
If you were to borrow $40k per year for undergrad ($160k debt) and didn’t make it to med school, then WHAT?
If you did make it to med school, do you have any idea of how BIG that debt will grow while in med school AND in residency? That $160k debt will be growing from the moment you borrow…and by the time you’d be out of residency, that debt will be MUCH larger.
THEN…on top of that…you’d have med school debt…about $200-400k of med school debt.
You don’t think starting your specialty (whatever it ends up being) with $500k-600k+of debt is a big deal???
BTW…what will you do if the banks refuse to keep qualifying your parents each year?
@mom2collegekids thank you for pointing out all of these flaws, I may have to reconsider. For me, I feel like debt is inevitable since my parents won’t help but I never considered how much I would actually have in debt. However, I am confident in my capability to succeed and become an Anesthesiologist. I am hoping to apply for and get a lot of scholarships to help lessen the amount of debt. And I know you say to avoid debt as an undergrad, but if I want to get into a good med school (ideally UW) don’t I first have to go to a competitive (usually expensive) school for my undergrad?
@mommdc That is very true, thank you! However I have always dreamed of being an Anesthesiologist and I am willing to do whatever it takes for me to achieve that goal.
@LBad96 Sorry, a great scholarship at UNCW for an OOS student is not likely. According to UNCW’s common data set for 2013-2014, only 10% of incoming freshmen received non-need based scholarships. The average award for a non-athletic scholarship was a little less than $2,100. OOS tuition is 18K
UMASS-Amherst awards merit aid to approximately 14% of incoming freshmen and the average non-athletic scholarship was $5,662. In state tuition is 14K
Don’t forget about UMass-Lowell. Great things have been happening at that campus in recent years. It should be affordable per your parent’s criteria.
Forget about the U of Washington. You’ll be admitted but you won’t get any scholarships/financial aid. They are looking for full-pay out-of-staters. Like M2CK said, you need a new list of schools. Hundreds of colleges have perfectly fine Biology departments. Even the list of very fine biology departments is long. Down the road about 30 miles from the UW is U of Puget Sound (merit aid). Other rigorous colleges that provide merit aid include…
Furman University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Willamette University
St. Olaf College
Firstly, seats in the UW Medical School are severely restricted to Washington State residents and applicants from member states in a western compact (states that do not maintain their own public medical schools; Alaska, Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas, I think).
Secondly, St. Olaf College has produced many alumni who have continued on to medical school. I know a doc who is a St. Olaf alumnus.
Several schools on this list offer merit based scholarships that may be accessible to you: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs” (available online).
@LakeWashington I did previously know that which is why UW was on my list, I plan to continue looking at colleges in that region. As for St.Olaf I have never actually heard of it but I will definitely research it further, thanks!
@mamaedefamilia I have a friend from NY who got a full scholarship to UNCW. So it certainly is possible. And what does it say if OOS tuition at UNCW is barely more than instate tuition at UMass?? Their Honors Colleges are certainly comparable, as are the universities at large. They’re academic equals.
I like UNCW (visited the campus a few years ago) but I do not believe it is as strong overall as U of Massachusetts-Amherst. Nevertheless, one advantage that UNCW has over UMass-Amherst in the sciences is that UNCW is a federal ‘Sea Grant’ school (for the marine sciences offerings and marine research). Incidentally, UMass-Dartmouth is a Sea Grant campus too, but Dartmouth’s severe concrete campus is one of the ugliest places that I have ever seen.
In your other post you said that you prefer to leave Massachusetts for a warmer climate because of asthma. You would be warm most of the year at these merit aid colleges;
U of Tulsa (Oklahoma)
Gonzaga University (Washington)
Rhodes College (Tennessee)
Tulane University (Louisiana)
Eckerd College (Florida)
U of Dallas (Texas)
Randolph College (Virginia)
Wesleyan College (Georgia)
Belmont Abbey College (N. Carolina)
U of South Carolina-Columbia
Respectfully, however, I don’t think that your bias is helping the OP. The OP’s main goal is to find an affordable college or university that offers merit-based scholarships and will provide preparation to pursue an anesthesiology degree. UMASS-Amherst’s pre-med program is very strong and would provide the OP with an excellent foundation to pursue medical school. The honors program is also very highly rated. While UNCW has excellent qualities, many related to its smaller size, it is not a peer institution to UMASS, which is a Research I university. They are not academic equals.
It is possible to get a full scholarship as UMASS as well, if you are an in-state student. Given the data that I cited, the average merit based award would bring UNCW’s tuition down from 18 to 16K. It would bring UMASS’s down from 14 to roughly 8.5K. That is a substantial difference if the student is paying. Sure, one can beat those odds. But the likely outcome is that tuition would be nearly twice as much at UNCW if you work from averages.
" And I know you say to avoid debt as an undergrad, but if I want to get into a good med school (ideally UW) don’t I first have to go to a competitive (usually expensive) school for my undergrad?"
No, OP. Medical school admission, rather unusually among the professions, care very little about the academic prestige or how selective your undergrad school is. They care a great deal about your MCAT and your GPA. If you are committed to a career in medicine, then you need to pick a school where you are confident of being at the top of the class GPA-wise. Most reputable schools, including your state school, will offer the basic pre-med coursework that you need to take with sufficient rigor. You will have to self-study for the MCAT in any case.
There are dozens of threads on CC about being pre-med. Take some time to read them. The advice is always the same: avoid undergraduate debt. There is no advantage to taking on lots of debt to go to a more prestigious school.
And by the way, most state medical schools have very stringent requirements for admitting out of state applicants. Some states’ medical schools will not accept them at all. Check the admission stats for UW.
<<<
debt as an undergrad, but if I want to get into a good med school (ideally UW) don’t I first have to go to a competitive
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
No.
Most med students come from state schools.
ALL US MD schools are excellent.
you won’t get into UW because you’re not instate nor a resident of one of those few states that pay UW to accept their students (those states don’t have med schools.)
Please take the comment above in the proper context. Everyone here is not a an expert at “chancing.” IMHO, Columbia is a high reach and UCLA is a reach.
@mamaedefamilia actually, they are academic equals. If you look at the admitted student averages and graduation rates, they’re almost identical, with the edge given to UNCW. Our Honors program is also very highly rated, as is our pre-med program. Plus, she’d be much better off at UNCW anyways - she does want to depart from Massachusetts, after all.
No way that UMass is better than UNCW in any sense.