My D25 is international student, and a US citizen. She aspiring to be a doctor in US.
She scored 1510(226) in 2023 PSAT exam and 1550 in her December 2023 SAT exam. She is meritorious student. She has been always ranked first in her class.
As USA college can be very expense for us. Can you suggest good college which offers full ride for OOS? Where she can pursue her medical dream.
Thanks
If she is going to be a national merit finalist, look at University of Tulsa, University of Alabama
Fact is, she can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about any 4 year college in this country.
How much can you afford to spend annually?
US citizens would not be international students at US universities.
Do you mean that the student is a US citizen living outside of the US, and presumably has no state residency for state universities in the US?
In the US, undergraduate students do not pursue medicine, but could do pre-med along with their usual majors. Pre-med means taking courses expected by medical schools and doing pre-med extracurriculars to prepare to apply to medical school. Fewer than 40% of those who apply to MD-granting US medical schools are admitted to any, so all pre-meds need to have less elite plans as backups (choice of undergraduate major can matter for many such plans).
At the University of Oklahoma, NMF students will get a tuition waiver: National Merit Finalist Scholarship.
Apply for the Johnson Scholarship at Washington and Lee University.
What year in high school is your daughter?
I would look at the full rides for NMF at U Alabama and U Tulsa. In particular, check out the McCullough honors program for premeds at U Alabama.
OP- even with a full ride for undergrad, your student needs to look at the cost of medical school, living expenses while a student, etc.
And for your family- the cost of travel back and forth, health insurance, etc.
Are there options in your current location that would be cheaper and would work?
@blossom if this student wants to practice medicine in the U.S. and is a U.S. citizen, it would be a much better idea to attend undergrad school in the U.S.
@WayOutWestMom can explain.
This is my understanding:
The majority of U.S. medical schools will not accept an undergraduate degree from another country as equivalent to a U.S. degree because the curriculums are different. Usually, they want to see that you can perform within the U.S. system
Yes but…
Even with a free ride for undergrad (plus travel expenses, health insurance, etc. paid for by the family) they will still face med school costs…
They need an 8 year plan, not a four year plan. Plus the expenses associated with a med school application!
Yes…but with zero undergrad debt, they (like many other medical school students) can take grad plus loans up to the cost of attendance.
Yes…that will be a lot of loan debt, but without undergrad debt, that could be doable.
I would strongly suggest that you take the whole “become a doctor” thing out of your daughter’s college search. As I said earlier, your daughter can take the required courses for medical medical school applicants just about anywhere.
Most students who enter college with a pre-med intention never apply to medical school.
Less than 40% of medical school applicants get even one acceptance.
How much knowledge does your daughter have about U.S. practice of medicine which is very different than where you currently reside, most likely. If your daughter hasn’t had the opportunity to talk to U.S. physicians, or see what they actually do, she might not even have sufficient information about becoming a doctor here. In my opinion, she needs to discuss the practice of medicine and what it takes to get there…with more than one practicing physician in the U.S.
Thank you all for the insight.
Based on the above discussion here is list which offers the scholarship.
Answers to above asked questions are
Thanks
Please see my questions above. How does she know that she wants to be a doctor in the U.S?
Also, while I wouldn’t suggest big loans for undergrad, if you can afford $7000 and she gets the $5500 Direct Loan, that is almost enough to cover room and board at some colleges. If she is Pell grant eligible, that could be up to an additional $7000 or so.
This would open up the door to colleges with full tuition merit scholarships.
Just to make sure she knows all this:
She will need to take these classes at a US college over 4 years (and get an A or, at worst, a B): 2 semesters each of General chemistry, General biology, English/Composition/Communication/Writing, Organic chemistry, Algebra-based Physics + 1 semester each of Psychology, Sociology, a US diversity focused course, Biochemistry, neuroscience/cognitive science, calculus, statistics or biostatistics; having a good knowledge of a language other than English spoken in the US is a plus. All this in addition to a “traditional” major (ie., Spanish, Philosophy, Applied Math, Neuroscience, Biochemistry… but not Recreation&Tourism or Nursing or Allied Health).
In addition, she’ll need to volunteer (shelter, clinic, nursing home…), and depending on her interests work on research and/or work as an EMT.
The best college is one where she’s in the top 25% or top 10% if large college (bc premed is hyper competitive), but not top 1% (so she has peers and has resources in case premed doesn’t work out.)
As others have noted, your daughter can major in anything and still apply to medical school as long as she has taken all the required courses. As you have a very modest budget, you should look at the schools which offer generous aid to NMF (someone listed those above). You might also consider having her apply to a couple of reach schools that offer extremely generous need-based financial aid (i.e. Harvard) - IF you will qualify for need-based aid (if not, don’t bother). Run the NPC’s at a few of these schools to see if the cost is in line with your budget.
Just be aware…this family resides abroad. Presumably they have foreign income. Are the parents U.S. citizens also? If so, do they file taxes in the U.S.?
I’m not sure the NPCs will be accurate with foreign earned income.
That’s a fair point.
I would add Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to the list. Both have National Merit packages that should cover tuition, room, and board, and I believe both offer these awards to out-of-state applicants (but check the websites to confirm).
Thank you all. I believe I have enough information to do my research.