2025 Pre Med or General College Advice ( 3.6 GPA, 1510 SAT) [<$50k preferred]

Honestly, applications to BS/MD programs will be a waste of time and money, for her. She is very unlikely to get into any of these.

If she is absolutely certain she wants med school, then consider the long term goal here, which is compiling a 4.0 GPA and the needed ECs for med school, while preserving funds for med school. Her best bet is to go to a large university where she would have many majors available, in case she decides to change majors. She would be better off majoring in something she absolutely loves, in which she can do very, very well. From what you describe, she might want to do a double major in Comp Sci plus psych or sociology. Every school offers the premed pre-reqs, so this really isn’t a consideration. If she does a double major of Comp Sci with something more “humane”, she’ll have an automatic exit ramp for a career in CS if she decides against med school.

Take a look at the net price calculators for some of the private schools you’re considering. If you feel you can afford 50K/yr, the schools are likely to think you can afford the full cost of attendance. If you have business or real estate assets (other than equity in your primary residence), colleges are likely to expect you to pay full fare. OTOH, if you have only employment income, and no significant assets other than your primary home, you might get some fin aid from private colleges.

Your best bet is probably going to be your in-state flagship U. She should plan for a tutor right from the start for general chem, which she should take first semester. No matter how good she is at bio, there are two years of chem in the pre-reqs, and orgo is really very tough. So if she cannot hack gen chem, even with a tutor and a relatively light load first semester, then she might want to consider a different direction.

Your being an adjunct prof will have no bearing on the process.

Keep in mind that students who go to their local 4 yr public college (and get A’s there, because the level of competition is lower than that at the flagship and at highly selective private colleges) do get into med school. Yes, a med school is likely to take a 3.8 from Yale over a 3.8 from a local state college, with the same MCAT and similar ECs, but your daughter will probably find it much easier to achieve that 3.8, or even a 4.0, at your local state college. And the MCAT score is as much a reflection of the prep that the student is willing to put in, as it is of the level of instruction at the college they chose. Also, a high SAT score predicts the potential to get a high MCAT score (with prep, of course). So she really might wind up more likely to stay on the premed track and actually get into med school if she goes to your local state college, (not even the flagship), than if she were to go to a highly selective college.

So I suggest that you and she have a very serious, very frank discussion about how badly she wants med school (and from what you describe, it sounds as if she would make a GREAT doctor, because she is bright and competent, but most importantly, very caring and wants to help people), and take it from there. She should try to arrange to do as much shadowing of docs as possible now and over the summer, in the office and in the hospital, so that she can get a better idea of whether this is really what she wants to do. If she still wants it, then honestly, you and she would be better off getting out of the competition to get into the most highly selective college she can get into, and seriously consider her in-state flagship and your local state college.

2 Likes