Probably could have saved yourself the application fee, that’s all. HRSMom has some advice to consider above about taking a gap year.
Agree with Parentof2014grad. If you want to consider med school you will need strong GMAT scores and a strong GPA. As good as Barrett is, maybe not being in honors will help you in several ways.
Picking a school you can get admitted to is only one piece of a much larger picture. Finances are a much larger piece. If your parents can’t afford $30k/year, ASU isn’t affordable. But have them run the Net Price Calculator and ask if they can afford it based on the results.
Are there any colleges within commuting distance of your home?
Can you take a gap year to work and concentrate on trying to raise your ACT score?
I know that @jym626 meant to write MCAT.
You score very low on standardized testing, so I am very doubtful that you’d be able to score well enough on the MCAT to get into any med school. However, let’s set that aside right now and assume that you somehow will score high enough to get accepted.
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Yes, I am pre-med. Oh, what a dream that would be that pre med shouldn't have to borrow for their undergraduate!! But unfortunately, that's pretty hard for a lot of people. Med school will add a lot to it though, that's for sure!
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I don’t think you understand. Most people do NOT borrow a lot for undergrad AND borrow a lot for med school. They’d have too much debt. It would be one thing if you were going to graduate from undergrad with a TOTAL of $25k of debt, but it appears that you might end up with $80k or more of undergrad debt. That is insanely too much.
What was your FAFSA EFC?
@OP bodangles is correct. Many highly competitive universities Stanford and Barrett(the No 1 honors program in the country) want and attract applicants who are valedictorians and salutatorians.
I haven’t even been started college yet. To say that I might not score well to get into Med School is a little high and mighty of you. I had no help or support when I paid for and took my SAT/ACT tests. So regardless of score, I am proud I still took the tests and I’m working on studying as much as I can now to learn about the MCAT tests. I
And sadly, a lot of people do borrow a lot of money for their undergraduate degree. Maybe in your experience you didn’t have to or your kids didn’t, but it does happen. I agree with the med school part though, as it is a huge investment.
Let me sign in to read my EFC. I will let you know 
OP, @mom2collegekids is one of the most knowledgeable, generous posters on this site. I guarantee you that she was not trying to be hurtful, just realistic.
I will try to phrase the following as kindly as possible: Barrett accepted you with standardized test scores that are a full 10 points below their average, which means that they must have seen other strong aspects in your application. However, it is extremely unlikely that the same type of consideration will occur when it comes to med school admissions, meaning that a poor MCAT score can not be compensated for with decent grades, activities, etc.
@imwiththeband That’s true, but I know being salutorian isnt the only reason why i got into Barrett.
@LuckyCharms913 Yes. That’s why I’m learning all about the test now. You can never be too prepared.
Indeed, you ought to have class rank, class rigor relative to your school, and excellent impact through EC’s, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten into Barrett.
However ACT 19 is very low for a top student. Either your school is very low-performing, or you should ask your counselor to be tested for various Learning Disabilities (when there’s such a discrepancy between academic achievement and test score, it can mean a disability, so get screened for that. If you do have an LD, it means you’ll get extended time for tests and have a right to accomodations in college.)
NO matter what, for med school, you’ll have to become the boss of the MCAT and your current score on the much easier, much less competitive ACT, makes people worry you’ll bump into the same obstacle and will be among the 50% students who don’t get into any med school and have to scramble to find another path.
Fortunately there are good paths with nursing and PA being two with good income and job prospects.
You said you feel proud you took the test, implying it wasn’t obvious you would, so it’s good you did, but accross the country, there are many students who take the ACT three times because they’re unhappy with their 27. Understand that for med school you’ll be in competition with them… and a low MCAT score (where “low” means 32… not 19) simply means the admissions committee doesn’t look further.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Many students go to college thinking they’ll be premed, because they don’t know that many subjects and that many professions. When you’re in college, you’ll discover lots of classes, subjects, and activities that may lead you in all kinds of professional directions. That’s what college is for.
The issue at hand is that ASU Barrett may not be affordable. (And I agree with you, if you attend ASU, take Barrett.)
What’s your EFC?
Can your parents pay your EFC?
Have your parents said they can afford 30K/year for Barrett?
If not, how much have they said they could pay?
You can still quickly send an application to a few test-optional colleges that still accept applications and may be thrilled to have a salutatorian from Arizona. Do you want names? Answer quickly since most deadlines are March 1st. Fortunately we’re a bisextile year and you get an extra day!
So just to summarize:
- You like Barrett. You got into Barrett. You think Barrett will be great for you.
- Barrett is unaffordable to you without merit aid. You will not get merit aid. You want to go to medical school and take out hundreds of thousands of $$ in loans.
The posters here are not criticizing you for the #1. They are pointing out that everything in #2 makes Barrett a terrible option for you. There is some great advice in this thread from posters who know much more than either one of us - I suggest you read back through it with an open mind this time.
@sensation723 Maybe this has changed, but I read that the average composite for Georgia State University was 22. So I’m only a few points behind. And actually, Stanford reached out to me. I was accepted to the top honors college, Barrett, at Arizona State, in the nation with low scores. I didn’t undermine you or your daughter, so who are you to ask “Who the hell told you to consider applying for Stanford?”
@whitespace I don’t want to take out loans. Hence why I’m applying for scholarships. But since nothing is working out, loans may be all have.
@MYOS1634 No, not a learning disability. And my school is not low ranking by any means. In fact, my school was the first high school to be accepted into the ASHOKA Network, and schools have to be cream of the crop to even be considered (Though I think many schools deserve the honor). I’m just not a strong test Taker. I am not to sure about the EFC, as I need to sign in to my fafsa
You have several other options.
You can take a gap year and work.
You can go to CC and transfer.
You can find more affordable colleges.
It’s okay. I am committed. I paid my enrollment fee. I worked incredibly hard to get into college. I will probably do a ROTC to cover my education. Thanks. @whitespace
Well, I guess the final decision is up to you.
Make sure you consider all the implications and expectations that come with ROTC or any other scholarship/loan program you accept.
Some thoughts/advice from a fellow student (who scored somewhat below what people expected of me) –
First, no one here is questioning that you’re a driven student, and some driven students go to Stanford. The reason some people are remarking on that is just because less than 1% of admitted students (0.92%) last year were admitted with ACT composites in the range that includes yours.
If you feel that the money you spent applying was worth peace of mind that you took your shot, then I think it was worth it
There are two realities you need to confront:
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As a student shooting for med school – or, worst case scenario, some other form of continued education after undergrad if you’re looking to pursue some role in medicine – you absolutely cannot afford debt. Period. You DON’T have the privilege of taking on undergrad debt. Barrett is unaffordable for you, and you need to choose another option unless you want to be paying back loans for the rest of your life (you don’t). Getting accepted, though an achievement, is a very small piece of the reality puzzle.
-
As other posters have pointed out, if you want to pursue med school, you NEED to make sure that you drastically improve your test taking skills. This is not a personal attack! I had to raise my SAT score substantially to be competitive for top schools – and I did. By studying my butt off for two summers in a row, and throughout the year. You’re going to need to do that for the MCAT. Because, honestly, there is no substantial “holistic admissions” model for med school (nor most competitive grad programs that are honest about it): either you have the GRE (in your case, MCAT) scores, GPA, letters of rec, research experience, etc, or you don’t.
On a related note, please do get screened for a disability. Again, not a personal attack. There’s a stigma around learning disabilities and mental disorders that really should not exist. So, get tested, and see what accommodations you may be able to get in college and on future standardized tests. I’ve seen many friends’ scores/grades shoot up to a point where they finally reflect their true academic ability because they were allowed the accommodations that they needed to succeed.
Please tell me that
A) You know how competitive a ROTC scholarship is; and
B) You are familiar with and are prepared to fulfill the active duty military service requirement that accepting a ROTC scholarship entails.
Edited to add: Plus, it’s awful late in the game to be applying for a ROTC scholarship for the coming school year. Maybe too late.
“It’s okay. I am committed. I paid my enrollment fee.”
Please wait for other decisions to come in before making a true mental decision. Lose your enrollment deposit if you have to.
You’re being very stubborn about a choice that ruins many students’ lives (massive undergrad debt --> massive undergrad debt compounded by massive grad debt).
EDIT: I just also want to point out how terribly hard doing both ROTC and a pre-med track will be. My school has one of the largest ROTC programs in the nation, and to be competitive for the scholarship you must do engineering – the tiny fraction of students that are awarded a scholarship tend to lose it because of the overwhelming time commitment that doing ROTC + a hard degree program involves. And that’s in engineering, where you have the luxury of still giving great employment/good grad school prospects if you have a < 3.5 GPA. You DON’T have that luxury as a pre-med student.
ROTC + pre-med + a sufficiently high GPA as a pre-med to get into med school = a whole world of pain.
And that’s assuming you’re one of the tiny fraction of students chosen to get the scholarship in the first place. Who typically have very high test scores and high school qualifications + college stats + high levels of physical fitness and abilities. It’s very rare to have that complete package, and even rarer to survive balancing it all.