Lol! You are ABSOLUTELY right (read CARIBBEAN, hahaha), but I’m assuming you all got my drift anyway…save money when you can and look into getting into the best/most prestigious med school possible. Yes, that does matter.
Not all medical schools are insanely expensive. There are state (public) med school that are very reasonably price–especially if you’re instate for them. My younger daughter’s med school cost 1/3th the price of her undergrad school’s sticker price. (Which, btw, she didn’t pay full COA for. She had an almost full tuition scholarship for undergrad.)
Also the cost or prestige of a medical school is not s defining characteristic for matching into residency. If you look at the results of the residency Program Director’Survey published every 3 years by the NRMP, as well as academic research on the topic screening factors they consider are STEP/COMLEX scores, program fit, MSPE, class rank, publications/research (some specialties), preceptor recommendations, number of experiences in the specialty field…these all come ahead of the perceived prestige of a the medical school.
While prestige does have a role in resident selection, it’s not a major one.
At our mid-to-low ranked (and very inexpensive) state med school, every year students match into places like Yale, Harvard, JHU, UTSW, UCLA, UCSF, Columbia, Mayo…
The price (or the rank) of med school doesn’t guarantee the quality of the educational experience. Nor does the price guarantee a better outcome for the student.
In the US, medical education is “flat”–that is the curriculum is standardized nationally. Students all must take and pass the same standardized testing in order to graduate and move on to the next phase of their medical training.
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And this goes for DO schools as well as MD schools.
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Per the MSQ, only about 40% of med students received more than 1 admission offer.
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Expensive is subjective. I’m from Europe so yes US med schools (and education in general) is insanely expensive from my point of view. As I mentioned in my original post: in-state or elite stats-based examples: JH or NYU are a way to get the sticker price lower. I get all that. And you are right that prestige does not matter for certain residencies that are not as competitive, but it truly does for competitive specialties! It matters enormously…sure there are exceptions but prestige (and demonstrated academics in that institution) gets your foot in the door which is EVERYTHING when you are in such an elite pool of future doctors. Competitive specialties: Derm, plastics, ortho, neurosurgery even PM&R…and the list goes on. If it is a less competitive specialty it isn’t as crucial: Family Medicine, Internal or ER… it won’t matter as much.
As per Forum Rules, a reminder not to enage in debate. Make your point and move the conversation forward. Feel free to pm someone if you want to discuss soemthing beyond the scope of the thread.
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Again, like Mizzou, it’s not in a big city, but University of Vermont will throw $25K per year at you for good stats. Check out the Presidential Scholarship for out-of-state students.
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Thank you!
Thanks so much!
Thank you for the suggestion!
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Thank you, yes…given it’s local. But also in High Reach category and don’t believe there is a chance for any merit scholarship there. Would that be accurate?
Thanks so much for your kind words, insights and encouragement. I will explore the other schools you noted as well. My parents want me to consider places where we have family or friends in driving distance,so trying to balance that also.
Thanks again!
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Any thoughts on University of Iowa merit scholarship opportunity? From the acceptance rate, it would be a safety?
Would DePaul BSMD program be reach or high reach? Also, it looks like admission into the program is after Freshman year. Would greatly appreciate any stats on successful matriculation. Thanks so much!
ALL BS/MD programs should be viewed as very high reaches. They are more competitive for admissions than top 10 colleges.
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Are you sure about medical school…given your interest in BS/MD? Earlier it was mentioned that there are other paths you may be interested in as well…….
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Iowa would be a safety for you. According to SchooLinks data for Chicago (I understand you’re in the suburbs, but this gives you a ballpark range), it has an average GPA of 3.49 uw/4.35 w, acceptance rate of 52%. Weirdly, the national acceptance rate is 86% but 3.82 GPA uw. From the bar graphs, looks like 3.75 GPA is the sweet spot. It also has the National Scholars Award for out-of-state students ($10K to $14K annually). You can go on their net price calculator (was just using this yesterday) and type in your GPA and SAT score for an estimate.
Someone mentioned George Washington (GW). They do have merit aid (up to $25K or so per year), and they also have the seven-year dual BA/MD.
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Might be worth a try anyway. You’ll never know.
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I agree with other comments that all BSMD programs should be considered a high reach. I also would expect that admissions would be at least partly based on their being very convinced that you want to go through with medical school. The discussion earlier in this thread suggests that you are also considering other options – which is a very sensible thing to do. At the beginning of the thread I thought that I saw that you had 60 hours of volunteering time in a medical environment. While this is really good for a high school student, I would be a bit surprised if it is enough to convince admissions that you are set on being an MD.
However, at least to me it seems like the more traditional path of first getting a bachelor’s degree, and then applying to MD programs (or some other graduate program) probably makes more sense anyway. Again you can complete the premed requirements almost anywhere, and saving $$$ while doing so is a good plan.
I saw a discussion above about UVM. For us at least the NPC for UVM did predict merit based aid, and turned out to be exactly correct. UVM is in a relatively small but attractive city, and has a hospital either on campus or very near campus which facilitates getting medical experience. I have no idea whether there are nonstop flights from IL to Burlington Vermont, or if you would need to change planes somewhere to get there. Of course in the winter you are likely to run into snow at both ends of the trip (and in the middle if changing flights). I still think that you can get an equally good education for less $$ at an in-state university.
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You’re correct. I am 85% sure about medicine and am looking to apply to BSMD programs as well, to keep my options open. Thank you!