It is highly likely you will be NMSF then, and the vast majority of those with NMSF go on to become NMF.
Are you interested in the schools that may provide substantial money for those with NMSF/NMF? These are schools like U Alabama, U Tulsa, U Oklahoma, U So Cal, UT Dallas, etc.
See this thread: Big merit NMF/NMSF schools and their specialties
Any school is fine for pre-med. I was trying to find out if there was a non-negotiable reason you werenât considering Tech. Affordability seems to be important for you and your family and in-state options may be most affordable. I also would recommend JMU for the same reasons.
Sounds like you just hadnât thought of it really. From cursory investigation, it seems like Tech might have a decent pre-health advising team.
Yes, this is actually really helpful! Thank you!
Great, I applaud your willingness to keep an open mind. That thread will give you some schools to research, then you can come back here and ask more questionsâŠmany posters here have kids who attended those schools.
I agree with the previous posts about your potential for need-based aid.
And based on the additional information youâve shared, I believe it is extremely important that you re-evaluate and add merit schools to your list since thereâs the potential for full or near full pay at many of the schools on your current list.
Are you willing to put in the extra work for named merit scholarships? If so, look into Duke/UNC Robertson, UNC Morehead-Cain, W&M 1693 & other Scholars, UVA Jefferson, James B Duke at Davidson & Furman, Banneker Key at UMD, Johnson at W&L, Belk at Davidson, WashU Danforth / Signature Scholars, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Mosaic at Vandy, etc. Iâm sure others will mention more. Note that some require a nomination from your high school and they almost all require an earlier application due date.
Others offering great merit that many full-pay premeds wanting to save $ on undergrad consider⊠SMU, Rhodes, Case Western, Furman, Miami Ohio, Alabama, Arizona, etc.
If you get NMSF, look at Tulsa, Maine, Alabama and others offering NM scholarships as well.
IMO, based on the recent financial information youâve shared, these schools should be the focus of your research in addition to your in state options that will meet budget.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is a relatively comprehensive university with the usual broad selection of majors, rather than a specialized engineering school. It should be suitable in terms of course offerings for pre-med students like any non-specialty college or university.
Only you can decide whatâs a good fit.
But for pre med it will be fine - and they even have shadowing on campus.
@thumper1 always advises students that you can do pre med at any school, arts conservatories excluded. So iâll just repeat her guidance which is ingrained on my brain now.
If you have a budget, you have a budget. You can try to âappealâ based on a loss in income but thatâs a big if - and then what happens if he gets a job - are you willing to pay that same school upwards of $90K?
Iâd find a school thatâs affordable in all situations.
Doctors come from all levels of schools - and residents at prestigious schools - come from all levels of school.
As for is Va Tech right for you, only you can decide. It, UVA or W&M wonât make budget unless thereâs merit aid - but theyâd be a lot less than others on your list and at Va Tech you do have shadowing possibilities.
I included McCullough Medical at Bama up top - if you got NMF there, youâre entire education, including room and board - would be covered in one yearâs budget. Thatâs why they enroll so many NMFs.
Think of all the stress that takes off your family. At Tulsa, itâs just a full ride - fine school - and at last report they were 25%+ of all students were NMF - the highest concentration in the country. Others mentioned other schools above too that are also very generous to national merit scholars - but youâd have to leave the comfort of near home.
But so much of your list has little to no shot of getting $30K. Even if you donât get Natl Merit, you can still easily get to $30K - but have to expand your geographic reach a bit.
Bama program for NMFs
You are a premed who will be national merit. Take a free ride.
Unless your family is comfortable covering $800k++ of education expenses, I must agree.
Note this is a sample of one family: Our full pay family had to completely reevaluate our Dâs application list once vet/med school became a very real consideration. We were clueless about so much and CC was an invaluable resource. In our case, we could cover full pay undergrad anywhere but not much would be left for grad/med. We listened to feedback, adjusted, she received a full-ride competitive merit scholarship and now has the option to complete med school with no debt. Additionally she was able to study abroad three times in undergrad because of this financial flexibility.
This may or may not be helpful to you as every situation is family specific. So take that share for what it is and set aside if your family says it isnât relevant to your situation.
Iâve taken the feedback I received into consideration to make a new college list. I would love to here from people if they think this is an improvement and what schools I should consider adding/removing to better match my preferences.
Note: I didnât add Virginia Tech because it seems to be out of budget ($37K), and I couldnât find substantial merit scholarships.
Itâs a good list. But keep in mind that the merit scholarships that youâre depending on for affordability at some of these schools (Duke, Vanderbilt, UNC, UMD, etc) are very long shots, while at other schools (like Alabama) they are guaranteed based on your stats.
Glad to see you added UT Dallas!
University of Texas Dallas
And University of New Mexico @wayoutwestmom can provide the details or a link for this one
Are you not interested in University of Tulsa?
VA Tech has its own medical school. Carillion SOM and thereâs another med school with a campus in Blacksburg â Virginia College of Medicine.
Note: I didnât add [Virginia Tech because it seems to be out of budget ($37K), and I couldnât find substantial merit scholarships.
VATech scholarships here: Scholarships and Awards | College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | Virginia Tech
Presidential Scholarship Initiative (PSI) is a competitive scholarship program designed to offset the costs of college for in-state Virginia high school students with significant financial need. This scholarship ensures that full tuition, fees, and room and board are covered.
University of New Mexico not longer offers a full ride National Merit scholarship to OOS students.
UNM does offer any OOS student who qualifies as National African American, National Hispanic Scholar or National indigenous Scholar a m automatic full tuition scholarship.
However, UNM offers tow other scholarship that might get you into your price range.
The Amigo and Lobo Undergraduate Exchange Plus (LUE) both give instate tuition rates. The Amigo also give students an annual stipend to help fray expenses.
UNMâs Regents Scholarship is a true full rideâtuition, fees, housing and meals.
The Regents is a competitive scholarship that requires a separate application, but the LUE+ and Amigo are more or less automatic when OOS student applies and meets the ACT/SAT and GPA criteria.
Iâm glad to see you are including competitive merit scholarships in your list. (Donât forget the Davidson Belk in addition to James B Duke.) You are a competitive candidate for all. 
However, itâs important to remember these are all extreme reaches due to affordability, admittance or both.
What are your safeties for both admittance and affordability (and that youâd be happy to attend)?
Itâs a good list if you are ok with Bama, UTD, or JMU.
Of course, we donât know about your NMF 100% yet but Bama will work regardless - but if youâre not NMF, would be more like $20k-ish a year.
U of SC could be $30K but may not be - so you might want to add a coupe more for sure $30K schools - W Carolina, Ms State. Miami of Ohio or some SUNYs as an outside possiblity. And likely Florida State would give you a waiver of OOS fees which would put in budget. They have a Health Professions Living Learning Community.
But if your ok, for example, going to Bama, even if not McCullough Medical as thereâs no assurance - then yeah, your list is fine.
Most of what you have on there is highly highly unlikely (the full rides) so just know that.
But youâre only going to one - no matter how many you get into!!!
Good luck.
You are impressive so please donât take this the wrong way.
Just to give you a reality check my kid was a Duke admissions dept nominated Robertson semi finalist, who advanced to the Robertson in person finals but ultimately didnât get it.
He was however accepted to 3 Ivies, Duke, Gtown and ND.
Message being Duke Robertson is a harder admit than Harvard and numerous other single digit admit schools. Consequently, I wouldnât even consider it as part of a âplanâ. Worth taking a shot but it is beyond a long shot for any and all candidates.
How about plan B. You can shoot for full ride, but I would focus on significant merit but not full ride.
If you move from top 50 to 50 to 100 schools (including LASc) you may end under 30k.
So itâs not a prestigious undergrad school
Like some of the ones on your list but there are schools like Seton Hall that offer a BS/MD. This might be a true safety for you, or others like it.
SHU is partnered with Hackensack Meridian SOM and Hackensack is one of the best hospitals in the New York area. The benefit of their program is that the BS students get a guaranteed interview with the school of medicine which is competitive and hard to get if youâre not part of this program and just applying randomly. Additionally, Seton Hall gives a lot of Merit aid so you might be able to get the cost down to a very reasonable number. We got it down to the cost of in-state Rutgers which is roughly your number and my S24 didnât quite have your grades and stats
Iâm unabashedly biased toward Pitt so Iâm glad to see you still have that down. My S18 had an apartment mate who was one of the chancellor scholars and they turned down Cornell to go free-ride to Pitt
Seton Hallâs BSMD program has a single digit acceptance rate, so a reach for all. Many BSMD programs donât give much merit aid, if any.
I do agree Seton Hall could be a good choice as a significant proportion of SHâs SOM seats are reserved for Seton Hall undergrads (not including the BSMD students.)