High school Junior from NYC aiming for Princeton [3.8 GPA, 1500 SAT]

If you told me that money was no object, that your family could afford 400K for private college plus 500K for med school, then fine. But you’ve said that your parents cannot cover the full cost of private college, and that you’re on your own for med school. Uh-oh. Big problem.

You are a perfectly lovely applicant for any school, and like 95% of the perfectly lovely applicants, you will probably be rejected by the highly selective schools, including ALL of the Ivies. They’re looking for kids who bring high academic achievement plus something - racial balance (although we’ll see how much this has translated into the essays, rather than the checked box), recruited athletes, extraordinary achievement in some area that the college wants, or big, big donations, like a building. So definitely apply to all the reaches you would like, but plan on making both academic and financial safeties.

Alternatively, you could apply to schools which would give you so much merit money that it would be cheaper to go there than to a SUNY. This would be 3rd tier LACs, where you will not meet your intellectual peers. Or possibly certain public colleges seeking high stats applicants, like Alabama. If you were national merit, you could get a full ride at one of these schools, and put your entire college fund toward med school.

You must apply to SUNYs, and probably choose to go there. Do well there, and you’ll get into med school. And you’ll have 250K more left to put towards med school. You cannot pay for med school with a part time student job, not even with a full time job. You can take out loans for med school, which will totally RUIN you financially, for many years to come. If you don’t make it through, and someday earn money, you will be in debt for the rest of your life.

Of the schools you listed, you will probably get into Wake Forest. It is not worth it to pay 250K more for it than for a SUNY, and hence put yourself in the position to have to borrow 250K more for med school. Honestly, there is no school for a premed worth an extra 250K over the very fine SUNYs. Come out of Stony Brook with high grades and the other things you need to do for med school apps, and you will be competitive with anyone, including Ivy grads. Decide to do something else? You’ll have lots of choices, and you won’t be in debt.

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