<p>First of all, your goal should not necessarily be to get into a top medical school like Harvard or Penn, but just to get INTO medical school. I advise undergrads at an Ivy League school and a lot of these incredibly driven and ambitious students get rejected from medical school. Medical school is incredibly competitive, even your public medical schools. But the thing is, medical schools are “flat” as far as ranking goes. That is to say, even though US News and other outlets will attempt to rank US medical schools, this is kind of pointless as virtually every US medical school is great - they all give good medical educations. On top of that, do you know where your primary care doctor went to med school? Most people don’t. Honestly, it doesn’t matter whether you went to Harvard med or your state’s flagship medical school, you’ll still be licensed to practice medicine afterwards and your salary is unlikely to be very affected by where you went. But public med school students probably come out with far less debt, since public medical schools are usually a lot cheaper than expensive privates. So don’t discount your home state’s medical schools.</p>
<p>Now for your question : There aren’t many, mainly because medical students can expect to make relatively hefty salaries ($150K-$400K+ depending on specialty) and to be able to repay such loans.</p>
<p>One is the Health Professional Scholarship Program, which is run by three branches of the US military (Army, Navy, Air Force). The military pays your medical school fees (tuition and fees) in addition to paying you a monthly stipend (right now it is $2,088 a month; it will probably be more when you graduated). During some school breaks, you attend training for which you are paid active duty pay as a second lieutenant in the Army and Air Force, and an ensign in the Navy. In return, after you graduate you serve for four years as a military physician (less than that if you got fewer years of the scholarship). There are some other pros and cons, as well as differences between how the scholarship functions between the different services, and the scholarship fluctuates in competitiveness depending on the needs of the military in different times.</p>
<p>The National Health Service Corps has a similar scholarship. They’ll cover up to four years of medical school (or dental school, nurse practitioner studies or physician assistant studies) and give you a monthly stipend for those years. In return, you have to practice at a NHSC-approved clinic/hospital/provider for 4 years (one year for every year of the scholarship, minimum two years). All of the approved areas are in high-need urban or suburban areas. These scholarships are extremely competitive.</p>
<p>Both the military and the NHSC do loan repayment programs in exchange for service - you can get either agency to repay your loans after you complete medical school if you weren’t able to obtain a scholarship.</p>
<p>Some medical schools offer a limited number of merit-based scholarships - Vanderbilt, for example, has 8.</p>