Which schools should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

I want to attend a good college. I was thinking of applying to schools like UChicago, Duke, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Boston U, Stanford, NYU, Vanderbilt, Washington University St. Louis, Rice, NYU, Emory, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, and UMiami. My in state is Florida, so I am also applying to University of Florida, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida. I want to do medicine. I don’t know if I should apply to these top schools though because I don’t know if I will get any financial aid or scholarships. However, I would love to go out of state and live in a big city, but it is just so expensive. Also, if I apply to many top schools, that will means a lot of application essays.

Here are some of my credentials:

3.94 unweighted. 2210 SAT 770 Math, 770 Writing, 670 Reading. I know Reading is low. 32 on ACT, will retake. 800 US History subject test. 740 SAT bio. Gonna take SAT Math 2. Last time I checked, I was #9 in my entire county of 13,000. President of History Honor Society. Bhangra dance. Mu Alpha Theta. Tennis team. I haven’t been playing as much tennis lately. Also, Hillsborough County Youth Leadership Council. All 5s on AP exams. Have taken 10 so far so I’ll be a National AP Scholar.

I was thinking about applying as a history major and switching to bio as I have more history credentials and there is usually a College of Arts and Sciences. I heard it’s easier to get in for history majors. I do not want to go jobless in case if I do not receive admission into medical school so I’ll probably major in something related to sciences.

So, which schools should I apply to if I want to go into medicine? It’s been my dream to live in a big city too but I don’t know what to do. College is also about the experience. What are my chances into getting into top schools? Should I apply to less “top” schools and more “good” schools? Give me a list of good schools that I have a chance in getting into and that provide a good amount of scholarships please. I really need to narrow than my list. I don’t want to write so many application essays. If I do not receive enough scholarships, I will most likely go to an in state university. Also, how are those 7 year medical programs?

2

You will get NO financial aid at UCLA or UCB. They are public Us supported by California residents. The best school for premed is one where you can excel and NOT pay a lot of money.

3

As @Erin’s Dad stated, if your goal is Medical school, you want to keep undergrad costs at the minimum, attend a school where you can get a high GPA and access to medically related EC’s. If you are in need of financial aid, many OOS public universities will not give the FA you will need. You have several options in your home state, so take advantage these schools for undergrad and consider going OOS for Medical school.
You do not want attend schools like UCLA/UCB since you will get no FA along with these schools be ultra competitive for Pre-Med.

4

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. I was thinking of applying to schools like UChicago, Duke, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Boston U, Stanford, NYU, Vanderbilt, Washington University St. Louis, Rice, NYU, Emory, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, and UMiami. My in state is Florida, so I am also applying to University of Florida, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida.

I want to do medicine

Provide a good amount of scholarship.
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How serious are you about wanting to go to med school?

How much will your parents pay each year?

What do you need your net costs to be?

Why do premeds have app lists that include a bunch of tippy top schools? Do they not understand the weeding process?

Forget Calif publics…too expensive…to many premeds.

5

i too have no idea why kids think they need to go to an ivy prior to med school. it probably disadvantages you to be honest. Only reasons to go to a HYPS or similar prior to applying to med school are: 1) you aren’t really sure about this whole medicine thing and want to hedge your bets (my daughter is in that boat), 2) ego, 3) you feel that you will somehow learn more there (kind of untrue), 4) you somehow mistakenly believe that going to an ultra-competitive college will help your chances of getting into med school - it doesn’t.

if you are planning to study medicine, do not bother with the ultra-competitive elite colleges. You will only be stressed out trying to get a 4.0 with forced curve grading in some schools (Berkeley!). also, good luck trying to score great recommendations for med school at the elites - it will be harder to stand out vs the pack. And once you graduate from med school, no one will care 2 hoots which college you went to (within reason) for your bachelor’s. All anyone will care about is where you went to med school, where you interned and so on.

To repeat others here - forget the CA publics - they have few scholarships (a few regents) and besides UCLA, which has some financial aid for out of state students, the rest have zero. also, unless you can prove real financial need - none of the top tier schools will give academic scholarships. only the 2nd/3rd tier schools offer academic scholarships to attract better students who happen to be financially well off.

Of the others in your list, NYU is not really known as a good school for premeds. Has some great media etc programs but sciences… not so much - you are in the middle of NYC so access to hospitals etc is great. BU is kind of ok - better academic rep plus well - it is in Boston so access to way too many things of importance to premed students. UCF, though, is not a good school - with your academics don’t bother. FSU is not great either but does have great access to facilities that will make your resume attractive when applying to med school. And… UF has all that plus is a well known med school feeder and you are not going to compromise on education standards there (unlike going to UCF for example). maybe apply to the accelerated UM medicine program. UF/UM should be high in your list. maybe BU as well. the rest are crap shoots

6

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To repeat others here - forget the CA publics - they have few scholarships (a few regents) and besides UCLA, which has some financial aid for out of state students, the rest have zero. also, unless you can prove real financial need - none of the top tier schools will give academic scholarships. only the 2nd/3rd tier schools offer academic scholarships to attract better students who happen to be financially well off.


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Even if UCLA is still giving “some” need based aid, it’s rarely going to be enough because the calculation is “OOS tuition plus EFC”. So if a student has an EFC of $10k per year, then he has to pay $25k (OOS portion) + $10k…$35k per year. How would someone with an EFC of $10k per year pay that? Loans would already be in the FA pkg, so fed student loans couldn’t be used towards that.

The UC’s, as far as OOS students go, are really for the affluent who can pay all costs.

That said, going to a Calif school as an OOS premed is a terrible risk.

7

Med school wants an applicant to have the requisite courses, a very high GPA, and top scores on the MCAT. They also weigh letters of recommendation. What schools can you apply to where you will be able to achieve those goals at the lowest possible cost. There are different type of programs, ex. USF 7 yr honors/BS/MD program. Bright Futures should also decrease the cost of attending in Florida schools. Some private colleges also accept Florida prepaid. Your best bet would be to stay in Florida. There is also a slight preference given in Florida med schools to Florida residents.

8

This may seem like a somewhat strange suggestion, and it is biased because I attend the school, but I think you should look into Georgetown.

It’s not particularly well known for the sciences, but you’ll still be surrounded by a lot of smart people, which it seems like you’re looking for.

The fact that our science programs are less well known works to your advantage in a couple of ways. For one, it’s less competitive simply because there’s literally less competition. The pre-med students seem to form their own sort of “clique,” because they take all of the same classes together, and from what I’ve seen, they seem to be a pretty tight-knit and collaborative bunch. Also, because there are relatively few graduate students in the sciences, most of the undergrads that I know in the sciences have found it pretty easy to get involved in research, or in shadowing/volunteering at Georgetown’s hospital.

Georgetown also has an early assurance program for its medical school.

Fit wise, it’s in DC, and you mentioned that you wanted to be in a big city, so that’s a plus. We do meet 100% of demonstrated need (though, admittedly we are not as generous with aid as some of the other top schools). Also, if you eventually decide against the pre-med thing, we are quite strong in just about every other area.

I think you’d be a strong applicant for the Nursing and Health Studies School (most pre-meds are here in the Human Science major), which is a bit less competitive than the rest of the schools. And again, if you change your mind, it’s not particularly difficult to switch schools within Georgetown (especially to the College, which is our general Arts & Sciences school).

9

Will I be able to attend a good medical program from Georgetown? I have high history credentials so should I apply to Georgetown for history or something else. How’s the merit based scholarships at Georgetown and would I be able to get any?

The main reason I am applying to so many top schools to be honest is because I want to live in a big city. Most major cities are out of Florida. I honestly want to get out of Florida right now since I lived here most of my life. I wouldn’t mind UMiami tho because it has that big city life and small class sizes. College is about the experience too. UF is a great school but it’s only 2 hours from Tampa, and it seems like there is nothing to do in Gainesville. USF might not be a bad option because my dad works at a hospital on campus but I just really want to get out of Tampa so that’s mainly why I do not want to go to USF.

So I should maybe not apply to many Ivies and the UC schools?

10

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Will I be able to attend a good medical program from Georgetown? I have high history credentials so should I apply to Georgetown for history or something else. How’s the merit based scholarships at Georgetown and would I be able to get any?


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G’town doesn’t give merit based scholarships.

You can get into a good medical school from almost ANY college…even many of your FL schools. You could go to FIU and get into a good med school. My son’s orthopedic surgeon went to FIU for undergrad and then went to Duke for med school. Med schools don’t really care about school name.

BTW…ALL US MD med schools are excellent.

11

At many of these schools your intended major is mostly irrelevant for admissions, so fretting over history versus “premed” is unproductive. Your stats are okay but besides the in state schools, your list is reach after reach after reach. If you want to get out of Florida and into a major city, you need to do your research to find better matches. Drexel in Philly for example. Maybe Catholic in DC. If you would consider a nursing program you could try for BC’s extremely small number of full rides.

12

I think I’ve decided to not apply to as many reach schools. So how’s this for a list? UF, USF, UCF, UMiami, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, Boston U, and maybe Duke. How are NYU and USC? They’re private and not too far of a reach. Should I apply?

13

If you’re 100% sure you want to go to medical school then getting a high GPA, MCAT score, and some sort of health care experience should be your top priority. For that, I recommend a private school where the average GPA tends to be higher and one-on-one professor interaction is higher. The cost is literally the very high cost associated with privates.

But do not get me wrong, the state school option is also very doable. You’ll save a lot of money.

I like your list above. Maybe put Brown University back on your list. You’re stats are incredible, and I think you’ll do great wherever you go. Hoping for the best.

14

Rice will be a reach for you due to thin extracurriculars. I’m not seeing anything that relates to your intended career path such as a hundred hours of volunteering at a hospital or winning awards at a major science fair.

For the reasons noted above, a 7 year BS/MD program would be a very difficult acceptance.

I’m not an expert on pre-med, but the guidance I’ve seen on these forums is that you should strive in undergrad for the highest GPA possible at the lowest cost. You’ll need your money for medical school.

15

I have over 200 hours at Moffitt Cancer Center, the 6th best cancer center in the nation, and I’ve gotten 3rd at the district science fair in 9th grade but that’s really it. Also, I’ve decided to add Case Western University, Tufts, and Tulane to my list. How are these schools?

16

Just apply to the Florida state schools, which you are doing, and you can add Alabama (great school and scholarships, killer program) and Arizona State University (Awesome Barrett Honors College, scholarships and opportunities). Get paid for going to undergraduate and be rewarded for working head and earning high quantifiables. From any of them, you can apply and get into the best medical schools in the country.

17

I do not at all want to live in Alabama or Arizona lol, especially Alabama. I do not like the deep South much unless if the school is in a large nice metropolitan area, such as Tulane in New Orleans and Emory in Atlanta.

18

Florida State has some good pre med Instate programs. Have you looked at Temple for guaranteed merit and other urban campuses where you qualify for money at well.