Sorry for clarification, I meant I think my parents could pay around that. And I think maybe full tuition/merit isn’t realistic so I guess maybe a partial merit if possible?
You can take the required courses for a medical school applicant at just about every four year college in this country, arts conservatories excluded.
Money sounds like a huge issue…so do keep in mind that medical school will likely cost you in excess of $100,000 a year, should you get accepted. There is precious little financial aid for medical school beyond loans, loans and more loans…and the bank of mom and dad.
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I think since I’m more interested in biological/medical research than primary care, I want to get a PhD. Is that more affordable than medical school?
We’ve thrown a lot of questions at you. 
Don’t let it worry you as you will definitely have options. We can help with just a bit more information.
While it isn’t the “fun part”, you do need to have the financial conversation with your parents sooner than later.
With PhD in mind, look at Kalamazoo and Wooster. There are many other options…
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@Mwfan1921 might be able to elaborate better…but depending on the field, many PhD programs are funded. But they are not a slam dunk for admission.
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Your parents may not “intend to pay for your undergrad” but that does not mean that they will have that choice.
If you are looking to be funded by a school, they are going to need your parents’ finances. If a school believes that Mom and Dad have enough money socked away in accounts, they will make you pay.
You don’t get to decide how much you will pay. The schools will tell you what they think you can afford.
As for medical schools, most of my daughter’s classmates at UCSF were on loans, loans and more loans or, the “Bank of Mom and Dad”.
As an instate student, my daughter’s fees were $62K per year for four years, not including living expenses. UCSF is funded by the State’s taxpayers (California) and will not fund non-resident students.
As an Illinois resident, your parents did not pay California taxes, so you get charged full fees. “Family living in California” doesn’t mean you get to count yourself as a resident. It’s where your parents reside and the California taxes that they’ve paid, that are the record.
Scholarships are basically nonexistent because every one of those students would qualify for scholarships. It’s a publicly funded school funded by taxes. There’s no “pot of money” available for scholarships. Either you or your parents pay via loans or savings. That’s IF you even get in. It’s competitive and expensive.
Yeah I’m only aware of my parents’ income and not all the other finance information so I can’t really run the NPCs yet but sometime near fall, I can definitely run them with my parents.
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alright thank you for the information!
yes I understand that having family in California doesn’t mean I’m considered a
resident. I only mentioned that because I struggle with a lot of mental health stuff so it might be better to be near family when I’m in college.
and personally, i believe that while i probably won’t be admitted into T20s, i’d still be able to get into a number of decent schools and receive aid but i don’t know.
Hopefully need will get you where you want to be. If not, and just to calibrate expectations–merit scholarships are increasingly rare the bigger you need them to be.
Many are just a modest discount designed to help a college compete with other similar colleges, like a private with competitor privates, or an OOS program with competitor OOS programs.
Bigger and more rare, some are more or less designed to allow the relevant privates to compete with some OOS programs, and OOS programs to compete with some in-state programs.
Past that point, things are really getting rare. Some are more or less full tuition, leaving other costs of attendance–and those alone can be a lot. Then actual full rides that also cover other costs of attendance are extremely rare.
OK, so the bottom line is it may not be possible to do much better than in-state tuition, either directly or through some sort of merit program that basically gets to that level.
That said, some colleges that might reportedly do better than that include Hendrix (which has a very good reputation for stuff that is pre-med) and Meredith (which to be honest I don’t know much about other than hearing about merit aid possibilities, but I do know it is a women’s college in NC and on the National Liberal Arts Colleges list).
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You may want to clarify with your parents how much they actually will pay ($0, $20k, or something else), so that you can make your application list appropriately. Also, ask them to use the college net price calculators, since they presumably know their finances.
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Actually…the school will calculate that the school doesn’t need to support you, but your parents are able to. The school won’t make your parents pay, but if they don’t, you won’t be able to attend.
There are TONS of decent schools outside of the top 20.
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Okay thanks everyone for the help! I’ll ask my parents about finances and all that soon. As for right now, I think I’ll just enjoy my holiday break and then when school comes back, I will work on my academics and extracurriculars. But you all have a good one and hope you’ve had a good holiday!
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Your family can run the NPC now, they don’t need to wait until the fall. That way it should give your family an excellent idea as to whether you would qualify for any need-based financial aid. @MWfan suggested Northwestern, or you may want to run Princeton’s, which has a reputation as being one of the most generous colleges. If you don’t qualify for need at Princeton, it’s highly unlikely you’ll qualify for need-based aid anywhere (outside of, potentially, state-based programs).
I’ll be back with some suggestions of schools that you may want to consider. For now I am going to assume that you prefer costs of about $20k (what your family may be willing to pay), or $25-28k with loans and some work.
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Tuition or tuition room & board at $25k?
Some offer full rides - W&L, W&M, SMU, Miami, Troy, some HBCUs and more but getting them may be harder than getting into Harvard. And they are often a lot of work. My kid got into W&L - but no money so you can hope but then that’s a disappointment.
So step one is determine need - do you have ?
I put the Northwestern’s net price calculator below. Have your folks fill it out.
Why ? NU and Penn have no need aid.
Most your schools you have near zero chance at $25k. UMN will be $40k if you get the best scholarship.
You have all high reaches. Not a single school on your list will come in close to price.
Even if you have need, only UNC and UVA promise to meet. Again do their NPCs. Out of state schools want your tuition, not necessarily your presence.
There are exceptions - schools that will buy you in. You know where half of Illinois goes - sort of kidding - Alabama. You could be $20k all in after auto merit. UAH, Ms State and more. FSU If you get the OOS tuition waiver. C Michigan charges no OOS tuition whereas U Mich is $80k.
Honestly for a psych degree - big state school = big state school. Bama = IU = UT = Pitt. Think it’s too ‘low’ - they have as many NMFs as anyone. Not trying to sell you the school - but trying to point you to an assured school you can afford. It also has the McCullough Medical Scholars. FSU has a health careers LLC. Others may have too. You need to research.
The only ones I see are possible NU, USC, UPenn, Emory and NYU and with a 3.7 and even a 34, all are unlikely admission wise. And they’re only possible if you have need. Otherwise they’re not because you can’t pay.
You need to re start building your list - budget has to drive it. Here are some links. But your list likely has zero schools should apply to - unless I missed SIU or UIC, etc. potentially not even UIUC. Sorry.
To answer your question on where mattering - you’ll get dufferent answers. But I am a patient at a top hospital - and I look at the bios of theur residents - Kentucky, Kansas, Kansas State, N Illinois, UTk, Memphis and more. Yes Bandy, Princeton and Duke but most are generic schools - even a few small I hadn’t heard of. But you’ll need to do great academically and in the MCATs and the other things med schools require.
Most importantly is to get your pre reqs and most every school offer them. And budget is of equal importance. But going to SIU doesn’t mean you can’t go to med school. Will U Chicago send more or a higher %. Yep - they’ll have more interested up front abd they have more strong students to begin with. But that doesn’t mean a student’s odds are better.
The net price calculators are currently set for students starting college in fall 2025. That’s not you! And yes, sometimes financial aid awarding policies DO change.
So…yes, run the NPCs soon to get a rough estimate of your net costs, but then do them again in late august of your senior year when they are reset for students who are high school seniors that year.
And remember…financial aid is decided based on prior prior year tax year. So if you are starting college in 2026, the 2024 tax year numbers will be used.
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my GPA doesn’t exactly reflect my full academic potential so I guess it’s time to regret not having more motivation to do school 
Before I thought I could get in somewhere with need-based financial aid and maybe some merit too but this whole thing seems to be really confusing. I was considering attending a CC but I don’t think I want to go that path. The goal was just go to college, graduate, get a financially secure job, and be successful so similar to most people I assume. My parents right now want me to focus on classes and testing so in the spring, I’ll bring up running NPCs.
That’s great. There are schools at $20k. Even with merit. Or ElW Carolina full pay. You’ll have a home at a good four year - I listed a few above but there’s more. If you have need that can open up even more.
It’s great you are asking - now you see you have a list that needs to be redone and that’s a very positive thing so you don’t waste time. Many affordable schools are subs for schools on your list - solid large flagships.
After they run the NPC, let us know so we can measure need. Then we’ll give you more that are more in line with more realistic schools - Rochester, Lehigh, Lafayette, etc. each is different.
You don’t need to go to a cc unless you choose to.
Don’t get down. You are learning and able to adapt b4 you get too far down a visit or application path.
Good luck.
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Ngl I just like the school so I’m just going to apply for fun. Also I saw that Northwestern meets 100% of need-based aid or something like that. I know Northwestern’s a pretty big reach.
See my first message a few ago. I linked the NPC at NU for your parents. Click on it and fill it out.
Good luck.
Oh wow, it used to be in MSEP but I just looked it up and they are indeed inactive now. My info was out of date!