<p>I’m a 2nd year medical student at a school that offers a significant amount of need-based scholarships to its students. For my previous years, I have had 50-65% of my cost of attendance covered by these need-based scholarships. Previously we had to reapply each year, but for my 3rd year we were informed that we had the choice to reapply or accept our previous year’s package. The decision is binding, and if we reapply we cannot choose between the previous years and the new package.</p>
<p>I’m trying to decide if I should risk it and reapply, because I am skeptical that my school is doing this in order to get out of paying for the yearly tuition inflation we see. This would lower their costs, but also keep the appeal of the FA awards for first year students they are trying to attract. Does anyone have any insight or advice for this situation? Thanks.</p>
<p>Specifics to my situation:
-Family household income (which is used by my school): approximately 55K
-Personal Checking/Savings: 15K (note that each year I use this savings to pay for rent/food, so it goes down substantially from year to year)
-Need-based scholarships previously received:
1st year - approximately 31K
2nd year - approximately 38K</p>
<p>Oh please send me the name of this school via PM. Most medical schools offer very little aid. Without knowing the total cost of attending, and whether you can afford to continue if they reduce your aid…I would say… Stick with what they are giving you.</p>
<p>Wow, this strikes me as absurd–the students are being asked to make a critical decision without any facts to base it on. They don’t know what their own financial situation might be in the future, nor do they know the school’s ability/plans for granting aid in the future. When did medical school become Let’s Make A Deal?</p>
<p>And most medical school students are paying full freight. I think saving $38,000 a year sounds like a great deal…but it all depends on the financial situation for the OP.</p>
<p>Will costs for MS3 be higher than for MS2? </p>
<p>Fees for USMLE Step 2 CK and CS will add about $1700 to your costs during MS3. There may be additional travel and lodging costs costs associated with the Step 2 CS exam since it’s only offered in 5 cities.</p>
<p>This is the first year they have started doing this, so I don’t have any upper class men to ask. The impression I get is that I will have this choice each year as to whether to simply accept the previous years package or reapply.</p>
<p>That is a good point about additional costs. However, I think people generally take Step 2 (both parts) in 4th year. I need to find out if ther estimated COA is different for each year. They only post COA for first year on their website. Their formulas probably take COA into account when awarding aid.</p>
<p>Also I understand I’m lucky that my school offers need-based aid at all, but I still would like to maximize my scholarships if possible.</p>
<p>RE: Step 2. It depends on the school and sometimes the specialty you want to pursue. </p>
<p>D1’s med school requires…er, strongly recommends… student schedule their Step 2 exams at the end of MS3 before they start their external clerkships rotations. </p>
<p>And EM residency directors really want to see your Step 2 CS scores when you apply.</p>
<p>Believe me, if you can afford how much you’re paying right now, don’t take the risk.</p>
<p>Weigh your possible gains and losses.</p>
<p>Stick with same plan
-You don’t change anything and you know exactly how much more money you need to graduate with
-Only possible repercussion is that you missed out on some extra cash</p>
<p>Change Plan
-Hypothetically you could gain some more money
-Your consequence is that you could lose a lot of money and not be able to attend med-school</p>
<p>I checked, and it seems as if the tuition is the same for all 4 years. Also I should note that no matter what happens student loans are available to me for the full cost of attendance. However, I think it’s unlikely they would give me $0, but more likely that my worse case scenario would be losing several thousand dollars compared to last years package.</p>
<p>I have a scheduled meeting with an administrator in the financial aid office to ask some questions. Does anyone have any ideas about how to approach this meeting or what questions to ask? Thanks.</p>