Hi All, Lots of good guidance on this forum. Thank you to all those who are sharing information.
We need guidance on which college will have better probability for prepping my daughter medical career. I understand its a long winding road and costly.
Here are her acceptances details:
Pitt - major: neuroscience - No scholarship
Umass-Amherst- major : biochem/molecular bio - 10k scholarship
Colorado Boulder - major: Neuroscience - no scholarship
We are from west coast.
Also, does NIH/CDC funding impacts any of these college wrt to research opportunities? Is it significant to be taken into consideration for choosing pre-med track?
Thank you for reading.
Are all 3 affordable? Did she also apply to in-state schools? All 3 schools are perfectly fine for premed.
NIH funding can impact research, but the details will vary by school/program. There are also research positions off campus that students can apply to that are not NIH funded.
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The medical school for CU is in Aurora at the Anschutz campus, so most NIH funding will be at that location and not in the labs or for projects in Boulder. If a student wants to do research or follow at a hospital, there are 2 in Boulder and more in the suburbs, all much closer than CU Med, which is probably about 40 miles.
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Your daughter can take the required courses for medical school applicants at any of these colleges.
I would suggest putting medical school out of the equation for now. I would consider the following:
- Your daughter needs to choose an undergraduate college where she will be happy to be for four years of undergrad school.
- She can look at the premed advising at these colleges to see what is what. But premed advising does vary.
- Some students want the opportunities to shadow and volunteer while in college. She can do both at any of these options. She can also volunteer and shadow during school vacations and summers.
- Regarding preparing her to apply for medical school…really, that will be on her. She will need the best grades she can get. She will need to prep for the MCAT on her own…colleges don’t usually do this.
- You might want to consider the costs. Medical schools will likely be $100,000 a year by the time your student applies. If you can conserve money from undergrad, this might help her with medical school…should she be accepted.
- And lastly, she needs at least a Plan B and likely a Plan C. Most entering premeds don’t actually end up applying to medical school at all. Of those who do apply about 40% get accepted, and most get only one acceptance.
She might want to look at this site for additional health care related options:
@WayOutWestMom what did I leave out?
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Rather than scholarship amount, what’s the net cost* of each?
Did she get into the Honors college or any special program at one of these?
Since all premeds need a plan B, what’s hers?
*= (Tuition, fees, room, board)-(scholarships, state or federal grants)
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All are fine. Choose the one you prefer and that you can afford.
If getting there matters, Pitt, then CU, then UMASS.
UMASS has the top food in the country. My kids both got low blood sugar so that could matter.
Pitt is urban.
UMASS you can maybe take a class at Amherst.
Which is better ? Wherever you can afford and the student would be most comfortable.
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Likely yes. Cuts to NIH, NSF and other federal grant programs will impact the availability of research on academic campuses. Grad students are going unfunded and some research labs are being shuttered.
Loss of funding is affecting more than just biomedical sciences and more than just med schools.
Many REUs (Research Exeperiences for Undergraduates) that are sponsored by the NSF have been cancelled this summer due to funding cuts. All NIH summer internship programs have been eliminated for 2025.
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OOS: Pitt and UMass Amherst : ~ 57K
CU Boulder- ~ 65K
No honors.
In-state we have UCSC, UCR, UCM but in comparion to above batch ,overall competitiveness, college experience, education environment and setting for success in medical field we have narrowed to above 3.
Yes, finance is stretch as anything around 45K for tuition , fees and boarding could have been ideal. Hence, got focused on scholarships. Awaiting on grants. Banking on work-study option. No loans for pre-med.
My biggest concern is funding cuts. If she has to scamble for research or summer internships when available resources are already so stretched thin and competition is brutal.
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Avg 60K. Not a firm plan B yet so defined to call out.
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I agree with @thumper1 's advice.
As an addendum to #3, I would add that the more than 75% of premeds take 1-5 gap years between undergrad and starting med school. Pre-meds use this time to improve their CV for med school by taking clinical exposure jobs and beefing up their community service credentials.
While some shadowing during college is useful to confirm one’s interest in medicine, having a hospital adjacent to the campus is not necessary since the bulk of their clinical experiences will typically happen after graduation.
Addendum to #6 A recent wide multi-site study that included over 150 colleges and universities found that only 17-18% of freshmen premeds actually completed all the required pre-reqs for med school. Of those that persisted and finished the re-reqs, the median GPA was around 3.0 which is too low to be a viable med school candidate. (So half of those graduating have a GPA too low for med school.) Of those that do ultimately apply to medical school, only 40% get any acceptances.
Your daughter should choose a undergrad where she feels comfortable, that your family can comfortably afford, and that presents her with multiple other options should she ultimately decide NOT to pursue medicine as a career.
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Yes , they are stretch but can afford for good quality.
UCR and UCM have directed pathways for pre-med students who live in certain regions.
UCR SOM primarily accepts students from the Inland Empire and has the Thomas Haider Program which grants early admission to UCR’s med school for students attending UCR’s undergrad.
UCM offers the PRIME+ program that grants early admission to UCSF SOM’s Fresno campus to students from San Joachim Valley.
Would your daughter qualify for either of those programs?
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Research is the least important component of a med school application.
See p. 15 of https://www.aamc.org/media/18901/download
Patient-facing experience is much more highly valued than research for med school admissions. (So is leadership, community service w/ disadvantaged groups, and social justice advocacy.)
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What made you think these three are better than the UCs?
I’ll bite. One thing about CA…IIRC most medical school aspirants actually apply and attend OOS. There simply are not enough medical school spots for all the CA applicants.
So…some students actually choose to go OOS, and then stay and work after undergrad to establish residency in a new state.
Do I have this correct @WayOutWestMom
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All 3 are excellent academically but …
UCSC suffers from MAJOR housing issues.
Also, guessing UCM/UCR may not be well-located for OP so that moving OOs may seem preferable or its premed programs may be geared toward regions that the OP isn’t from.
Since most CA premeds who make it through have to apply OOs for med school anyway, it makes sense for them to attend OOS (at least more so than in other states)
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Sure but we don’t know what OP thinks. They have budget strain. All three, at least two of the UCs, will be less, offer all necessary classes and other support and heck are in the same ranking area (or above) although I don’t love ranks - but others do.
Just curious why OP thinks they’re better.
And of course OOS schools have transport costs. There the Greek or traveling on spring break, weekends out costs), etc.
These are discretionary costs, and can be contained. The Thumper parents didn’t pay for any of these. Our kids funded these. We paid the other costs of attending college.
The finances of these colleges are a family decision. Some people are very willing to stretch their budgets, and I don’t judge that as being wrong.
Different strokes for different folks.
This student has three excellent options noted on this thread. If the family feels they can support this, that’s all that matters.
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Its theory of relativity . D wants to explore the oos option for undergrad but want to return to UC for MD/phD.
But i told her to consider the UCR Haider program though its limiting her options which she does not like. she does not like UCM location ( i dont mind)
She want options to choose and i am fine with it as long as its realistic and she is willing to work hard and smart.
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