@Audreyma also if the issue is the perception of Alabama, he should note which school amongst those his friends are going to have the most National Merit Scholars.
Hint - it’s not theirs !! But it would be his at Bama.
For finalists they give 5 years tuition, 4 years housing and a stipend.
So your son got big money but not this big.
Bottom line - they pay really really smart kids and people often follow the money.
So forget US News rank or anything else.
Yea, it’s an easier admit than other schools and that’s part why your son got in.
But there’s no shortage of really really really smart people (who are chasing a great deal in many cases). So there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a popular choice for kids East, Central and West in the US - far more geographically diverse than many large flagships.
But here’s the thing - social and Greek won’t necessarily work with wanting to be a doctor - no matter where he goes.
He needs to be 100% focused to even have a chance of becoming a doctor.
And he needs to do it for love, not money. That’s any career.
The bottom line is that it is going to be impossible to get the cost down to $30,000……at the schools he (and his peers) find acceptable. That kind of merit is extremely competitive (if available at all).
He will figure this out and will choose among the affordable options. None of these schools will prevent him from going to medical school. That’s on him.
So I feel like @tsbna44 and I, and several other Bama parents, are hopelessly boosterish and our objectivity is no doubt suspect - but Bama really does check all your boxes.
Here’s the Honors College main page. You’ll notice that there are several smaller cohorts within the overall Honors College, including Randall Research Scholars and the McCullough Institute for Pre-Med Scholars, both of which seem to be right up your son’s alley. https://honors.ua.edu/
(Note: you have to apply and be accepted to these cohorts; it’s not automatic once you’re in Honors)
Very unlikely he’ll get Pitt under $30COA for OOS. Max merit at Pitt (aside from highly competitive scholarships for a handful of superstars) has been $20k or less, more often $10-15k for OOS, and that still makes OOS costs well above $30k.
Take a look at the University of Kentucky (Lexington) They have a bunch of scholarships for OOS students that he may qualify for. I did not look at the application deadlines.
My daughter decided to not to go to Bama. But when she visited she was very impressed with what a beautiful campus it is.
As a dad, I loved it. Great merit money, the great campus, big football stadium right on campus, the school spirit, all the programs and advantages of a public university, and warm weather to boot.
My son loved the beautiful campus and that he got his own dorm room with shared bath with one kid.
Dad loved the merit.
Dad was like the student - he got into higher ranked and I thought it was settling.
My son told me all that was nonsense, that the world doesn’t go like that. That just college applicants and their helicopter parents do.
Turns out my son is right - at least in his case. And he’s got a job working with those kids.
In OPs case, they want to be a dr…at least now.
That’s gonna be challenging - anywhere.
Ps there’s a hospital adjacent to campus. No clue if they shadow there but the MCCullough prigram seems like a great opportunity for a pre med if they can get in.
Op- your son isn’t top notch academically. It is what it is.
But he’ll do his best at a place he’ll love.
Reputation doesn’t = love.
He needs to visit many of size and environment. One will click once he visits. Just make sure to only visit schools that will assuredly get to your #.
I see where you are coming from and I am not disagreeing with you, but UW GPA only shares part of the story. This particular student could be taking regular classes at non-competitive school or most rigorous classes (including AP science classes) at an ultra competitive school. While those two students could have the same UW GPA, they could be very different students in terms of their academic ability. This particular student did fairly well on standardized testing which is another factor suggesting that the student may be strong.
Again, I am not disagreeing with you, I am just pointing out that UW GPA alone does not tell the whole story.
Your son is picking difficult major and busy social scene can potentially be distracting him from his academic goal. In addition, smaller schools provide more support vs large schools with hundreds of kids in a classroom creating sink/swim environment. Of course, the student must be happy to perform well academically. I just wanted to point out that there are many factors to consider…
I went to UGA- loved it! Graduated from Medical College of Georgia, because it was the only school in GA with an occupational therapy program at the time… but loved UGA!
My son can be an excellent student, and can work extremely hard when motivated. He can also be prone to jumping from one “passion” to another. I don’t know if he will have the long-term commitment to become a doctor, although he is very strong in science. One of my reasons for preferring a large school for him is that he will have many options when/if he changes majors!
One thing you can do now is to look through less obvious majors at each prospective large university. Does the university have a college of agriculture for instance?
Applying to a major that most HS students don’t bother looking into has 2 benefits : less competition+demonstrates you really looked into offerings at the University.
Thank you so much for all of your responses! You have given very helpful information and excellent advice. I really appreciate you sharing your time and your knowledge. I am hoping my son will eventually appreciate Alabama for the fantastic opportunity it is, but I have also encouraged him to apply to several other schools that have been recommended on this thread. Fingers crossed!
