Match rising Senior Biochem major chasing merit [MO resident, 3.97 GPA, 32 ACT, <$15k, pre-med]

So - you do qualify for aid.

The first thing is - all schools have parties - short of a BYU type and you can get to know professors at any school - whether Mizzou, WUSTL, or anything in between - but that’s on the student.

So your biggest challenge is budget - but it does sound like you do qualify for need even though you say you don’t. But note only two public schools (UNC and UVA) guarantee to meet need.

So that limits you to publics like Truman State, which would be low 20s…or a school like UAH (Alabama Huntsville) which would be under $20K. I’m sure there are more.

So private schools - you can run an estimator for a Bradley or you can look at the NPCs for privates like you have.

But given your budget, you’ll need to find low cost schools - but don’t forget, for med school, it’s your gpa and mcat - so the name matters less.

If she’s not interested in Mizzou, why apply?

I would not say Hendrix is a reach - and Hendrix and Ogelthorpe in Atlanta might match Mizzou tuition - but that will still put you over budget…so in that sense it’s a reach. Wooster and St. Olaf won’t be reaches either.

I would run NPC for all the privates - you might find there’s no need to apply.

BU, Grinnell, and WUSTL are reaches. For Syracuse, you’ll have express a lot of interest. Also, SU and BU are not within your geographic area. You might look at Rhodes as an alternative - but unless you have need, it’s going to be tough.

You might also look at full rides - yes, they’re Hail Mary’s but the Presidential at SMU and the Johnson at W&L. Yes, they’re out of desired market - but that’s the tradeoff.

I would worry less about pre-med - and focus on getting good grades wherever you go… Pre-med is advising - and if you need to bypass that for financials - what can you do?

Best of luck.

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