Also, remember that the new administration rules are that you can only take out a total of 200k in loans, including UG and Med School. Coming out of ANY UG debt free is crucial, now more than ever. My daughter came out with ~200k in med school loans. If it were today and she had any UG loans, she wouldn’t be a physician. And just an FYI, $100k a year for med school costs are normal now. Your choosing your QB UG should be your LAST priority now. Just get into any one of them.
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That limit only applies to federal loans, not private loans, whether thru a bank/financial institution or a university.
Agree on the rest of your advice about QB!
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Are you suggesting that a low income family finance undergrad with private loans??
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For context….I replied to a post noting a $200K limit for educational loans, specifically calling out ug plus med school.
I posted to correct/clarify that the $200k is the federal loan limit, not the all in educational loan limit (there isn’t one.)
To be clear, I would not recommend undergrad private loans, but for some med school students (and other grad students) supplementing with private loans is going to be the only option. And by some students I mean those who can’t pay full boat, or who attend a tuition free program, or whose institution provides educational loans.
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And there is the problem that many low income students and their parents can’t qualify for the private loans. Thus we are back to med school mostly being for the wealthy.
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Here is my opinion regardless of the strength of your application.
Right now, you should be looking for an undergraduate school where you will be happy, is affordable, and where you can see yourself doing well for four year as an undergrad.
Put medical school on the back burner for now. That is a future decision to be made. Fact is, you will be able to apply to medical school from either of these colleges (as well as thousands of others).
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I have just posted the Chance Me which will provide lots of context on my application.
I am going to start here. Yes, for a premed student Rutgers is excellent. I spent my life working in high tech and have know a few Rutgers graduates. They have all been excellent. Rutgers is a very good university and would be a very good choice.
Medical school is expensive. The long path from getting a bachelor’s degree, and the getting accepted to medical school, and then doing four years of medical school, and then going through a residency, is a very long, very difficult, and potentially expensive path. You need to be driven to do this. You need to budget for a full 8 years of university, where the first four are likely to have more options to save money.
I will admit that I am not familiar with Questbridge. Does this mean that your first four years will be fully funded and free for you? If so, then this is a great start. If not, then affordability for your first four years should be very high on your priority list right now. Also important is to make sure that there are schools on your list where admissions is essentially certain.
And this is key. You should be looking for a school that is a good fit for you, whatever that is.
There are a huge number of universities that are very good for a premed student. If you look at current students in very good MD programs, or very good DO programs, or very good biomedical graduate programs (whether master’s or PhD), or a wide range of other very good graduate programs, you will find that they come from a huge range of undergraduate colleges and universities. Affordability and fit are important. Whether you attend a famous or highly ranked university really is not.
If you live on campus, then it will be almost like being in a completely different world even if you are only a few miles from your parent’s home. Then if something goes wrong, help can be nearby. If you need to save money by living at home for a year or three, this option will be available.
My first reaction is kudos for your school. My second reaction is that this will not hurt your chances at all. University admissions is not about piling up the longest list of APs. I think that students focus too much on taking the most AP classes, where they should be focused on doing whatever is right for them. Schools will not expect you to take classes that your high school does not offer, or that your high school does not let you take until junior or senior year.
In terms of the basic question “NYU versus Swarthmore”, in terms of which is best for a premed student, the answer is either “neither”, or “whichever school is more affordable and is a better fit for you”.
Okay. I will switch to your other thread. Best wishes.