I used to have 2 safeties. My academic safety was UT, which I got accepted into, but I don’t think my family can afford that. (Cost is 25K, my fam’s fafsa efc is like 17K, and realistically it’s probably lower). My financial safety is UTD, where I will get a full ride plus stipend, but they’re like 30 minutes away from all the good hospitals, and doesn’t seem to be great for pre-med.
I’m fortunate to have good scores/stats, so I was wondering if there’s any financial safety schools that would offer me significant merit aid and has a good (well, great would be better, but…) pre-med environment? I don’t think I could get need-based aid because my family has an income of 100k+. I think our efc is low because I have 2 siblings, and we don’t have a savings account. Also, I am not considering community college. Transfers are an option, but for this thread, I’d like to assume that I will attend that schools all four years.
My stats:
1580 SAT, 35 ACT, 790 Math II, 750+ scores for Bio M and Chem
VP or P in three clubs, founder of one
Member in abouuut 5 honor societies, two non-profits
300+ hours of clinical volunteering, 50-100 hours of other volunteering
Did research past two summers, NMSF
Asian F
Application deadlines are coming up so I’d love any responses! Thank you so much!
I don’t know. Huntsville is an interesting place. They have a large BioTech Research Park. UAH would be the next best after the flagship. With a 4.0, I think you get 100% tuition and room paid for. Probably your best merit option.
You could also try University of Arizona and Arizona State. They’d be more expensive probably. Are you NMF?
@gearmom I see–I’m not a fan of Alabama or Arizona but I can’t afford to be picky for financial safeties. I’m a NMSF, and most likely a NMF, although results come out in Feb
Many schools have pre-med students and no hospitals nearby. Although some students may get jobs at hospitals, most don’t. They might do a summer internship but most of the pre-med classes are in a classroom - chem, bio, math.
Johns Hopkins hospital isn’t near the undergrad campus. In fact it is in a really rough part of town.
The schools likely to offer you a merit scholarship that good, this late in the process, may not be as attractive as UTD (either for pre-med or in other respects). The most important factors for med school admission are your GPA and MCAT scores. The crux of any pre-med “program” is a set of expected courses you can get at most any research university or liberal arts college. If you want hospital/clinic experience, can’t you find someplace close enough to home during the summers?
How far above $100K is it? Have you run the online net price calculators on any schools that interest you?
If your family income is $120K with 2 siblings, then according to my net price estimate (assuming $10K in checking and $60K in home equity), you’d pay ~$22K+ to attend Rice University (after $41K+ in need-based aid). If your FAFSA EFC is $17K, then you should be eligible for substantial n-b aid from many schools.
So at this point, depending on your family’s financial circumstances, you might do better with need-based than merit aid. Here is a list of colleges that at least claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2017-09-21/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need
Most are selective, private colleges; some grant need-based aid to families earning as much as $200K/year or more. Most are more prestigious than UTD or even UT Austin. Whether they’re any better for pre-med is debatable, but some of them may be worth paying a bit more than you would for UTD if you’re not satisfied with that option. Although they aren’t admission/fincancial safeties, you already have UTD to fall back on (so can risk aiming a little higher unless you’re convinced UTD won’t work for you).
UTD is a very good option for a pre-med. You are unlikely to find a better full ride anywhere, and nothing really stands out about your profile for admissions to the top need-based aid schools (which are also not safeties for anyone).
If you could get a few of the honors college scholarships, Michigan State could be affordable, since likely NMF, but you may have missed the deadline. You probably missed most merit deadlines at this point. Search for competitive full ride scholarships with January deadlines. Off the top of my head, Villanova and Ohio State.
You need to put in an application for University of Pittsburgh. It’s late in the game but you just never know. They’ve come out with almost full-tuition awards for 35 ACT. Urban city, major hospitals ON the campus. Fantastic for pre-med.
A few have already mentioned schools providing 100% demonstrated need. Often, that will be less expensive than state universities and merit scholarships (unless you were to get a full ride). You have very good stats and would likely be accepted to several of the schools on the list provided by poster #11. Although it’s not exact, you should expect similar results to the EFC. This would give you lots of options to pursue premed.
I agree that UTD is great for pre-med. There’s a poster here who did pre-med at UTD, @bigreddawgie if I remember correctly. Check out his / her posts.
Since you’re NMSF, check out Texas Tech and University of New Mexico. Both are good for pre-med, both have their own medical schools, and both offer full rides to NMFs.
My S is also NMSF and pre-med. We toured all three schools I’ve mentioned and he chose UNM. Your preferences might be different, but they’re all great choices. UNM’s hospital is adjacent to campus, and is a Level 1 trauma center. Ditto for Lubbock.
Oops - edit window expired. You would be auto-admit at both TT and UNM. UNM’s application is super easy, and TT’s isn’t that much longer, especially if you’ve already done an Apply Texas app.
UNM has a Living Learning community for pre-meds and allied health fields, so you’d be able to live amongst fellow pre-meds if you wanted to, or, since you’d also be auto-admit to the Honors College, there’s an honors wing in one of the dorms.
About UTD–hmm looks like I need to change my opinion on it–it seems better than I thought it’d be.
I was in the process of applying to Pitts, but my counselor told me they don’t give that much aid, and the npc said I’d have to pay like 35k which is a no-no. That’s strange, I’ll check it out. (Then again, my counselor knows like nothing about outside schools…I should’ve double checked)
I’ll check those links out–thanks so much!! My fam’s income is around 110k. Er I’m not too sure what home equity is…is that how much the house costs compared to how much we bought it for? I just looked up the house on zestimate and it’s increased like 70k-80k.
Many of these suggestions seem great, but I’m really sorry, I don’t think I could go to Lubbock or New Mexico…I know this is probably childish but Texas is already very hot and I would really like to be near a busy urban center. Still, I can’t thank everyone here enough for all of the suggestions!
@culaccino --the NPC for Pitt is not accurate and does not correctly assess merit aid. APPLY. NOW. Also don’t listen to your counselor. It’s not guaranteed but you have solid stats and there is a chance.
Yep, basically it is that $70K-$80K profit your parents would make if they sold the house and paid off any loans. The college net price calculators typically require you to plug in dollar amounts for the current value (estimated), the amount owed on a loan(s), the purchase price, and purchase year. Different schools use this information differently (if they request it at all), which is one reason why net prices differ so much even among “full need” schools.
In my opinion … based on this info about your family’s income and assets, your family size, the current date (relative to deadlines), your qualifications, and the fact that you already have a financial safety in the bag … your best cost-management strategy at this point (for new applications) would be to focus on selective “full need” colleges (rather than on merit scholarships or low sticker prices).
Home equity is the difference between the amount your parents owe on the home (loan amount) and the amount the house is worth (i.e house value = 400k, loan = 300k, equity = 100k). Some aid formulas require you to use some equity. Others do not.
Regarding counselors, my son went to a lower income charter school where most kids were looking to stay in state. For many, they would be 1st gen college students (fantastic!). For our purposes, however, the GC / school lacked any experience with students looking outside of typical in state schools.My son basically had to reach them about requirements, deadlines to be considered for merit, follow up,etc. for anything outside the norm. It worked out as he got accepted to most of the schools he wanted and is attending a top choice but he definitely needed to be his own advocate. He didn’t get that at first and just assumed they had sent things or followed up. Caused a lot of stress here.
i say this only to encourage you to do your own research on top of what they tell you as they are likely not familiar with everything specific to your situation.
Your family income is higher than many other applicants and you cannot expect a full ride based on need. If you’re looking for more selective school, you should have a pointed discussion with your parents about their ability to contribute.