<p>Take it from someone “in the trenches” Austin: not only is Miami right, she’s probably understating it if anything. But that doesn’t mean being a premed is a lofty or unattainable goal for you, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should give up before you even begin. I hope you weren’t planning to.</p>
<p>Plus, when everything’s written out like that, it looks like it’s impossible. “How could ANYONE, much less me, have time to do all those things to a high enough degree to get into medical school?” But you find a way, mostly because you’ll find that you actually like most of those things Miami laid out. You have three years and three summers (most people apply after junior year) to do all of it too–which is plenty of time if you’re smart about it and if you’re organized. </p>
<p>And you have to keep in mind that the academic and social environments of college are entirely different from those of high school. Gone are the days of class from 8-3 Monday-Friday. You’ll take classes for a few hours a day at max and then have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Sure you could choose to fill your days with friends, video games, drinking, sleeping, and partying–but if you choose to do those things more often than just on occasion, you’re probably not going to be a successful premed because you just won’t have the time or discipline to get all the other stuff done. </p>
<p>Looks overwhelming, but it’s much more manageable than you probably believe.</p>
<p>And for what it’s worth, my vote is Bama. Saving money on tuition is COMPLETELY worth it, and it’s probably the most responsible thing you can do as an undergrad. Just because your parents might be generous enough to want to spend more than that on your undergrad (by using their PLUS loans) doesn’t mean they have to or they should. And hey, what better way to spend a week or so of winter break (remember, you’ll get about a month off!) than hitting the slopes with your buddies? As a fellow snowboarder (I ride a 146cm men’s K2 Satellite, liked it so much more than the women’s one thanks to all its flex, great for powder), some of my favorite ski trips were with my freshman year friends.</p>
<p>^…an addition to the last Kristin’s paragraph, as a parent, I would like to point out that we appreciated our D’s hard work which has resulted in full tuition Merit scholarships for UG and are willing to help her thru Med. School. Your parents might consider that. Yes, there is no reason to spend lots in UG if Med. School is a goal.</p>
<p>*compared to Alabamas (estimated) $10,000ish tuition? *</p>
<p>Are you by the Alabama border in Florida? Is that how you’d get instate tuition? Could you please clarify how you’d get that tuition rate?</p>
<p>BTW…med schools are not going to be “more impressed” by UColorado over Bama. Not at all. </p>
<p>* MCAT 29 and a 3.6 GPA " - based on on D’s applying this cycle, should not be a goal. *</p>
<p>You must have misunderstood my post. I never suggested that as a goal. LOL </p>
<p>The advisor was just stating that his students who have an MCAT 29+ and a 3.6+ GPA, have an 85% acceptance rate to at least one MD school. However, that doesn’t translate into having a “goal” of that minimum…no way. My son is shooting for a 3.9-4.0 GPA and a MCAT 33+.</p>
<p>Just got to this thread and saw this and it worried me a little. Son could be going to Kentucky, Mississippi, or slight possibility Alabama. We live in Illinois and I can believe anything with Illinois, But would it still be difficult to go to Med School at KY,MS or UAB?
It would seem if that is the case then nobody would go out of state for undergrad.</p>
<p>@1stcolldad: People shouldn’t be going to out-of-state schools for the prospect of getting into that out-of-state school’s medical school. That would be a very, very bad idea. The reason to go out of state needs to be one so compelling that you absolutely cannot go to your state school, because you won’t gain much of anything (except more debt/more of a financial burden). The overwhelming consensus is to stay in-state and save the money for medical school. </p>
<p>However, if you apply to a private school that’s out of your state and get good financial aid, then that’s another story, but from what I see you are just talking about state schools.</p>
<p>EDIT: An example of a compelling reason to leave one’s state for another state school would be a student who leaves Road Island for UT Austin (or Texas A and M) to be a petroleum engineering major. This would make sense to me because UT and TAMU’s petroleum engineering majors are unique and very heavily recruited out of.</p>
<p>So Again What you are saying is if you want to be a doctor go instate or forget it?
I find that very hard to believe. We are going out of state because it is cheaper that our state schools. We live in illinois and not only are they more expensive , they give nothing in merit to instate students. So with those scenarios we either pay up or forget it. I am not trying to create an argument here, I am just trying to understand it.</p>
<p>@1stcolldad, well if it is cheaper then that is in fact a good reason to go out of state. It won’t hurt your child at all when he/she applies to Illinois state schools, but it won’t give him/her an advantage at the out of state school’s medical school. So, if it’s cheaper and the school is one that your son/daughter likes, then by all means go for it!</p>
<p>EDIT: I was under the impression that the in-state school was cheaper (which is the case in most situations). </p>
<p>To clarify, people were making the point that going to an out-of-state school just to get into that medical school would not be smart as you will not gain an advantage (or a very small one, if any) and that staying in state will minimize costs (but not in your situation).</p>
<p>If you can pay instate for alabama that would be an option but don’t plan on going there for med school. In my med school class in Florida, there were three out of state students, rest were from Florida. The other thing to remember is that medical school is frequently more expensive than undergrad and many leave med school $100,000 in debt. Then you get essentially only money to live on during your internship, residency and during my fellowship.
If you are from Florida consider one of the less prestigious undergrads like U So Fla, U Central Fl or FSU, do well and then stay at their med schools.</p>
<p>Well at this point we haven’t even considered med school. We just want him to be comfortable were he is going so he can do his best. But just a thought, let’s say he goes to a school that has a med school on campus, and he does some volunteer work at the med school or has a job there, do you think that him networking there will help his chances? providing he is a capable applicant.</p>
<p>Yes, if it is a private school or your instate school, but not if it is a state school where you are not in state. For instance, I did research at the med school and worked in the ER plus was top 5 of my college graduating class at an out of state-state school and they rejected me. This is not the case if you can get instate status. In North Carolina, you had to be out of college for one year working on your own before you could apply for instate status. I had friends who did this for law school there.</p>
<p>Basically, I don’t think going OOS for undergrad changes very much. You’re still in-state at your original in-state medical schools, and you’re still out-of-state at your original out-of-state medical schools.</p>
<p>The problem would be if you started paying in-state tuition at the new state; then you might wind up in some trouble.</p>
<p>Networking is generally overrated, but I’ve seen it pay off in a few circumstances.</p>
<p>No i wasnt thinking about giving up at all.
What does it take to get a 3.8+ gpa in college?
And thanks kristin5792 for relieving some of the worry about having to preform to those standards. I hope I can manage it Ooo ok thanks! And ya that is something to keep in mind ha. Nice! with the easy click in bindings? </p>
<p>mom2collegekids=Well i got the 10,000 by subtracting the overall cost by the grants and stuff we will get. And ohhh ha ok gotcha. Dam thats pretty high up there. </p>
<p>And to clarify this…the only reason why Iam much preferring going to a out of state to schools such as University of Colorado and University of Alabama isn’t because Iam trying to go to a Colorado or Alabama medical school… Its because the only florida school I could get into was University of North Florida…And let alone academics being about equal for both schools, ive kinda always wanted to go to University of Colorado but I also like how nice the Alabama campus is and like the fact that basically everywhere you go you can find a Alabama fan, and that they have good football in Alabama lol but ya…Does anyone know if UNF is a decent school or anything?</p>
<p>If your son goes to a OOS college, he still won’t be considered a resident of that state (KY, AL, MS) when he goes to apply for medical school. All public medical schools have a ‘penalty’ of varying degrees when considering OOS students for admission. </p>
<p>For example, my state (NM) will ONLY consider OOS applicants who are from the participating WICHE states which do not have med schools (MT, WY), or Native Americans who live on the AZ side of the Navajo reservation. No one else need apply.</p>
<p>Some public med schools are more lenient towards OOS students. UVA, UMich and a number of others. </p>
<p>You’ll need to check MSAR to see how much in-state bias various med schools have.</p>
<p>Will your son be at a disadvantage if he attends an OOS college and then applies to in state med school? That’s difficult to say. </p>
<p>Our state med school has a slight to moderate bias against people who go OOS for undergrad. It’s a question that gets asked over and over during interviews. (One of the admission criteria the adcom uses is the likehood of an applicant staying in-state to practice after graduation.)</p>
<p>And networking–possibly at a private med school–not really at a OOS public.</p>
<p>austin1134, after reading this thread, it seems that is a bad idea. To me it seems rediculous. I think if you qualify for Med School, you qualify and thats it. For anyone to say that they know that a certain school has a bias against oos applicants going back to their state school for med school is a bit arrogant. I would love to see that posted on the University Web Site.</p>
<p>How would that read?
“Oh and by the way if you leave your state and think you can come back here for your Medical Education, Think again, We are very biased against that type of behavior” </p>
<p>I doubt it. Bottom line, do well in school, get good grades, do all that is required, score well on exam and you will go to med school.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids=Well i got the 10,000 by subtracting the overall cost by the grants and stuff we will get.* And ohhh ha ok gotcha. Dam thats pretty high up there**. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>What do you mean? Can you clarify? </p>
<p>Also…What grants and such will/did you get?</p>
<p>*Plus my own state med school was acting like-why didn’t you go here to begin with for undergrad?
*</p>
<p>Futureholds? What instate med school acted like: why didn’t you go here? I know that’s not the case for Alabama’s 2 state med schools. If you’re instate, they don’t care where you went to undergrad. </p>
<p>And, I doubt it’s true for Calif’s med school. Certainly California students go OOS for undergrad and then apply and attend Calif state med schools. </p>
<p>I do agree that going OOS to undergrad is no big help for getting into that OOS med school (such as UNC-CH for undergrad as OOS is no help to get into UNC-CH’s med school.)</p>
<p>Actually our state med school does have a slight to moderate bias against kids who go OOS for undergrad. As I said one criteria considered during the admissions process is the likelihood of remaining instate to practice. There is a suspicion that kids who have left the state once will leave again. Kids who went to college OOS get closely and repeatedly questioned about why they went OOS during interviews. </p>
<p>Students get “tips” during the admission process for graduating from a NM high school, graduating from NM college and having long time (multi-generational) family roots in the state. (This is asked about in detail on the application.)</p>
<p>This bias is likely unique to our state and this particular med school, but it does exist.</p>
*</p>
Ooo ok thanks! And ya that is something to keep in mind ha. Nice! with the easy click in bindings? </p>
but ya…Does anyone know if UNF is a decent school or anything?</p>