Which colleges to consider for a child considering medicine

Applying to College
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Can you just ask your daughter her grades, or if she knows her GPA (your daughter will know what that means). Has she taken the SAT or ACT…and if so, what was her score.

How did she do on the PSAT?

You need to figure out how much your family can afford to pay for college annually for your daughter…and without financially harming the rest of the family.

IF (and I mean IF) she eventually gets accepted to medical school…it will be funded likely with loans, loans and more loans, and could cost $100,000 a year by the time she gets there. So…it’s important NOT to take out loans for undergrad school.

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Thank You

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43

Also…I would absolutely put medical school OUT of the undergrad equation. You daughter needs a college that is affordable, and that she likes and would be happy to attend. Happy kids get better grades, and that’s going to be important for any grad or professional school applications in the future…which BTW is 6 years almost away.

In addition to GPA and test scores, what is your daughter looking for in a college? Large/small, religious/secular, urban/suburban/rural, public/private . Where in this vast country would she like to be? Will she consider schools in the south where merit aid is typically better than in the northeast?

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she would love go far away from parents :), so south is an option even as a dad I wanted her to be in tristate area

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This was a top med school—and different rough cutoffs existed for different tier schools or major/program.

And why the harder school might be better is because what if the student changed their mind ? Half of premeds do . Better to be in a top school for many other careers, IMO, if affordable.

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As a physician I’d agree on focusing your search on the college that is the best fit for your child’s academic and extracurricular passions and learning styles. Medical training is challenging enough and if you can help her find 4 years of love of learning plus some fun in her youth her life and professional career will be all the richer. That said, many schools can likely fulfill the academic piece. Time invested to find the best fit at the lowest cost possible is imperative, given the current staggering cost of medical school. You are wise to strategize early and prepare. Good luck!

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47

I believe more than half of those who go to college with a premed intention never complete that.

@WayOutWestMom

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48

Only 16.5% of students who intended to major in pre-med graduate college with the required coursework for medical schools.

Out of 55,188 medical school applicants in the 2022-2023 application cycle, only 22,712 (42%) were accepted into at least one medical school.

Only 1/3 of matriculating medical students entered medical school directly from college.

Medical education is a long journey and the destination isn’t assured. It’s better to have a gameplan if that’s the goal.

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49

Lots of kids from NJ go to my daughter’s school, Virginia Tech. It’s on an Amtrak route so somewhat easy to travel to and from NJ.

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This family needs a BUDGET for college. Until they have that, making recommendations are a shot in the dark. The parent thinks their student will get a scholarship…but doesn’t know the kid’s grades? I’m not sure I understand that.

So…budget, grades, test scores. Until that info is available, the answers we are giving are…guessing.

Well…except that the kid can fulfill premed course requirements just about anywhere.

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51

Is a 5 hour car ride both ways more difficult than a 2 hour flight both ways?

S20 is at GT and it’s about a 90 minute flight to our city. Several flights daily and fairly cheap. Much easier than a 12 hour ride.

52

Completely second THIS. My daughter went into college as a pre-med, even was an athletic trainer assistant in high school. Went to SUNY Binghamton. Took the entire pre med curriculum. Had extensive research experience (the FRI program there is phenomenal). Maintained a terrific GPA (graduated magna cum laude with a double major). And then decided NOT to apply to med school after doing a bunch of doctor shadowing (!).

Now she is a research tech at Cornell Medical School–which is what she truly loves (we always knew she was a lab rat :slight_smile: But this just goes to say that kids’ majors, plans, and wants can change a whole bunch from high school to college graduation.

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53

Same here. My daughter shadowed her pediatrician and did not like it at all. She loved shadowing a pediatric orthopedist but came to the conclusion that she didn’t want to be in school for so many years. Eventually they figure it out!

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54

These anecdotes partially explain the high drop out rate.

But I would like to dissent a little. Assuming you really want to become a physician and especially if you want to go straight to medical school after college, you really should have a plan beforehand.

Pre-med science requirements include: 2 semesters of biology, 2 semesters of general chemistry, 2 semesters of organic chemistry, 2 semesters of physics, and 1 semester of biochemistry.

Medical school applications are due June BEFORE senior year of college. Interviews occur during the fall-winter of senior year.
As a result, you need to take your MCATs during the spring of your junior year, which means the fall/winter of junior year is when you will be studying for it.
If you haven’t completed the pre-med science pre-requisites by then, how can you effectively study for the MCATs?

Finally, you need to complete your community service, clinical hours, and research hours before you submit your application. In my era, those requirements were minimal; but they aren’t anymore.

That’s a lot to accomplish during the first 3 years of college, which is why the preponderance of medical students these days take 1-2 gap years after college.

BTW, post-graduate training (residency) is usually 3-5 years. Some surgical residencies have 1-2 years of additional research making it as long as 7 years. Fellowships are 1-2 years.

If you haven’t started the process during your freshman year of college, it basically guarantees that you will have to take a gap year after you graduate. That’s OK if time isn’t a factor for you.
But if you add up the total amount of time elapsed after high school to when you can finally start practicing independently; the sum will range from 11 -17 years, not including any gap years. That’s a long time!

Forgot to add, cheaper is always better. Remember, doctors’ salaries are based on what specialty they chose and are not affected by what medical school or college they attended.

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Most important task for the parent is to determine the budget, check financial aid (e.g. net price calculators at various colleges), and communicate that to the student before the college application list is made.

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56

Sharing a link to this recent post by aunt_bea. Her daughter could have gone to a nice variety of “dream-rank” programs (including her own in-state publics) for pre-med but chose University of Buffalo because of the great opportunities there (and a cherry-on-top full ride). She changed majors, BUT this post is great example of parlaying high stats into a full ride at a great university and having no regrets about that choice.

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57

My daughter was premed biology all through college. She did not drop her premed/med school intention until after she graduated, shadowed some more, interviewed physicians and students, worked etc.

But yes, I agree this is a reason for discontinuing premed.

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58

Yes, this is our eldest. We saved a boatload of money on her, only to be spent on the next one:
Our middle child did attend med school. It was tough and very expensive. Although she stayed instate for her education, which was affordable for us, med school was a whopper of expenses since she happened to choose UCSF, an excellent facility and experience, but with rents at $5k per month (her share of rent only was $2.5K) in the most expensive city in California, at that time.
Most of her peers were on loans, loans and more loans.

We probably paid about $350K for her medical school program. Fortunately we had 529’s, and she had savings from summer jobs, as well as small loans. Plus she had a license for “pharmacy tech” (while in undergrad at her volunteer clinical job) and worked as often as she could.
So if your family plans to do the med school route, be prepared for lots of fees and expenses.

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59

The cart might be getting ahead of the horse. Has she any experience working or volunteering in a medical setting?

Exposure to medical care is an unwritten requirement to get into med school so she’ll need do it eventually. Doing some volunteer work now (junior year in HS) is a good way to find out if it’s really the career for her before she starts on a path that takes eleven or more years of school & training to become a doctor.

Also she should understand doctors are far from the only ones in the health field helping people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as she can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Careers that don’t take more than a decade of training and a large amount of debt.

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60

Yet the vast majority are able to pay those off within 15 yrs of graduation. I do not think parents need to worry as much as they do on CC about med loans. DH and I and most of our colleagues took out loans for all of it—didnt have parent support after undergrad. It worked out fine, even the recent grads are handing it fine! Medicine pays very well, unless you decide you want to live in a super high cost of living area: but even my friends in Boston paid off all loans. Yes it is more expensive now, but Dr starting salaries have doubled since I graduated, and partner salaries(3-5yrs in) have always been 1.5x -3x higher. Starting salaries in the lowest paid primary care in the mid atlantic east coast area is 150k and most make over 200k once they have been in practice 5 yrs. My subspecialty friends were up in the 200s twenty yrs ago but the current primary care pay is plenty to pay off loans. One also can also work in more rural areas in primary care for 250k starting. Recruiters email all the time with offers all over the country.