Absolutely! Please emphasize your native language skills. When you work now in a hospital there are people from every culture and language. You need to use it!
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Yes. There will be a question about language(s) spoken at home and whether you can also read/write it. It’s important to indicate you’re bilingual and whether you were enrolled in ESL at first.
I would recommend you go NOW to the commonapp website and create an account just to see what it’s like. You can do it with your phone. Use your special "college email address"touve been using to "show interest"ie., join colleges’ mailing list.
Btw you asked about grading scale -your GC can provide an equivalent or you can give the scale to your GC or provide it if it’s not known.
For instance, in the UK, 7-9= A (meaning local, regional, national distinction) 6=A-/B+, 5=B, 4=C. So, on tour country’s scale, 4-5-6 could be As with various levels of distinction, 3 B, 2 C, 1 D, 0 F. Just specify.
If your parents are reluctant to let you see the NPC, you can simply give them a list of colleges from this thread (tOSU, Miami Ohio, UCincinnati, Ohio University, Case Western, Kenyon, Wooster, St Olaf, Kalamazoo, Agnes Scott, uAlabama, UArizona…)
Then they type rhe name of the college + net price calculator and do it on their own for each college.
They need to enter “instate” for Ohio publics or out of state/non resident anywhere else and “live on campus” if asked, your stats (weighted or unweighted GPA as of now, SAT score) Then they enter their data and write down the NET COST for each university. Each calculates differently so the numbers will all be different!
Then they give you the paper with the net cost next to each university and that starts the discussion.
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Tell them to meet ASAP with a financial adviser from your local credit union and move most of these savings to a retirement account and whatever else may be advised. They may want to read Consumer Digest first about retirement accounts etc…
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All US medical schools (plus AMCAS, ACOMAS and TMDSAS ) will accept Canadian university transcripts without any issues.
US and Canadian colleges are accredited by the same accreditating agencies.
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Depending on their circumstances…isn’t here a limit on how much can be put in these accounts annually. @BelknapPoint
Yes and no. If you start something in high school (volunteering or something) and continue that during college…your total number of years and commitment will be noted.
But mostly, it’s what you do in college that will matter to medical schools in terms of admission.
And remember too…there are non-traditional medical school applicants who didn’t do anything medically related during undergrad…but decided later to pursue a career as a doctor. They did their shadowing, volunteer work, patient facing experience, and for some, even the required courses for medical school admissions AFTER they graduated from undergrad school.
I should’ve clarified. They do not have a savings account. They just save money in their normal checking account.
Your parents are, of course, free to keep their money anywhere they choose. But they might want to talk to someone about where that money could better serve them. Their financial institution should have a financial advisor person who can help.
I do know that they have over 800k in savings in my opinion, this is a lot of money to have in a regular checking account. But that’s my opinion, and as I said, this is your parent decision.
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Yeah, I think I’ll need to talk to them about that too
That $800,000 in regular checking will add about $45,000 to your expected family contribution for college…and that doesn’t include any amount from their current income.
It seems that this will make getting heed based aid pretty hard.
So…merit aid is your friend and lots of good suggestions have been given.
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Ermmm, I don’t know anything about banks and stuff like that, so this may be a dumb question, but would it help if they transferred some of that money to a retirement/savings account (if they can even do that)?
I think how your parents manage their money is something they need to decide and shouldn’t be guided by strangers on the internet. They should reach out to their financial institution for guidance.
In the meantime, they have given you a budget of $20,000 a year…and you have gotten some good suggestions for undergrad here.
Put medical school on the back burner for now. Your goal right now is to find an affordable undergrad school that you like, attend, do very well…and go from there.
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Your parents may also want to talk to the bankers about how that money is in deposit accounts. If all $800k is in one checking account, it may not be fully covered by FDIC insurance. It’s easy to get full coverage by having multiple account owners (each person gets $250k in coverage) or by having multiple deposit accounts (savings Person 1, savings person 2, checking person 1, checking person 2, joint savings, joint checking…) up to $1.25M per person per institution.
I hope they have that much money, but they should protect anything they have.
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I just asked them and it didn’t go so well. They basically said that they won’t run the NPC, because no matter what it shows, they’re not gonna pay more than 20k. They said that I’m an ungrateful bit ch and should be grateful that they’re giving me those 20k. Which I am grateful for. I said that they could do it to just see how much it costs, but they once again yelled at me and refused. Then they started talking about how they’re not gonna fill out some form online about their finances and that it will result in someone stealing their information/money (?).
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They are giving you $20,000 a year…so go with that. Family finances are a very personal thing.
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Ok. So your budget is clear and tight. I’m sure schools could work but you need to get past your brand image thing.
But this takes any school like a private off the table
And publics but Bama. You could look at UAB, UAH, Troy, Ms State and more. Murray Statw. Missouri. They have auto merit but not sure intl will get the same. FSU could get mod 20s - domestic.
If a flagship like U of SD or SD State gets you at budget, there’s nothing wrong with them. I work with people that went to Weber State, W Georgia, Auburn Montgomery, Clayton State - and lots of top 50 and major flagships.
We are all in the same career paths. In 30 years of working, I’ve never seen a boss say - hire them, their school is better.
I promise you that you’re chasing a false narrative.
You can still apply to schools with the full rides - 99.9% unlikely but you never know.
I know. I got past that. So far colleges on my list are Alabama and some public schools in OH. Anything else I should add? Should I also apply to private schools?
The NPCs wouldn’t ask for names (some do, to send you information, but you can just call yourself Emma or Ethan or whatever).
The questions are like
What’s your income
Do you own a home, how much is it worth and how much in equity
How much in savings, investment, retirement accounts
BUT if they won’t fill the NPCs you just have to assume you’re on your own for now wrt to filling them out. Just deal with it yourself for now and get a clearer picture of what OH publics could cost.
2 choices: fill out each NPC the best you can with what you know, to see whether you may be eligible for merit aid and if the university might be affordable, or just skip that step and look up “cost of attendance” (should be tuition+fees+room+board) and “merit scholarships”. Deduct the top award from the cost. If the result isn’t 20-25k, then you cross that college out.
Youngstown State and Cleveland Stare both have solid scholarships in case push comes to shove - not ideal but would be affordable. You can also look at the merit scholarships at Kent state or Bowling Green State.
Plus, based on what you said, commuting to UCINCINNATI sounds like a possibility.
So 2 from the above+UC (Honors) should be financial safeties.
Private universities : Case Western Reserve, Wooster, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, Denison, Muhlenberg, perhaps Agnes Scott in Atlanta and Capital in Columbus. Not sure you’d get to price point, especially at Kenyon, but try each NPC.
If they don’t ask for stats they’re not going to provide you with a merit estimate.
Your best bets remain ALL Ohio publics (and their Honors colleges and special programs) plus a few universities like UA and uAZ/ASU.
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W&L Johnson awards international. Not sure about others like SMU presidential. You’ll have to research to see which intl can get.
@DramaMama2021 listed a bunch of full rides above. Research to see if possible. And I gave you some other publics above.
Also search for U Tulsa on the cc. Fine school. Not saying you would get taken care of financially but you can talk directly to the President.
He appears very responsive. Maybe he would have ideas or help. It’s worth a shot. Approach him professionally and sell your accomplishments, not just need.
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Get your parents to attend all the college sessions at your high school in the fall. The counselors should be able to explain the financial aid situation, although being internationals may be beyond their expertise.
See if your parents would be willing to go to a college tour in your area this summer. Again, someone else may be able to explain the process better (or at least your parents will listen to someone else). It also helps them feel part of the process and see how excited you are getting for college. Really any college will work, and most people suggest trying a few of different sizes, public and private, some do religious (others never!).
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