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That's not realistic considering the cost of medical school.
She's going to have debt and will be a lot. No matter where she goes.
The easiest road to medical school is through high priced private Ivy league reputation level schools. That's why some doctors have near combined 250K in debt to pay off before they start their residency. But you know what, considering what they make, they'll have it paid off in half a decade.
The road through an average state school is possible but it is difficult. She really has to be on top of her game. Just letting you know.
Actually that is not true at all. The easiest road to medical school is at smaller LAC where you come in at the top 25% of their applicant pool and can be a star on campus. Most of these schools have close to, if not 100% of their applicants accepted into medical schools across the nation. It is very realistic what our DD plans to do as we know many doctors that have done the same, talked with med school admissions rep that say the same, the stats for medical schools show this as well. We've done a lot of research on this, not just assuming like most people do. The two most important things for getting into med school are your GPA and MCAT score, which is why you want to go to a school where you can shine. A "B" student at Harvard will not get a committee letter to apply to medical school. After that they want to see undergrad research, again, more available to students at these smaller liberal arts colleges. Add in the new requirements for the MCAT coming out for the college class of 2015 and it points again to more success for the LAC's. Sure, plenty of kids from the Ivy's get into med schools but more kids from these smaller LAC's are there than Ivy kids (given that there are only how many Ivy schools). Three schools on our DD's list had 100% of their kids accepted first round into medical schools. There isn't a school on her list with an acceptance rate under 95%.
I bring this up because your test scores are very low and your GPA is high. This is usually a sign of a less than challenging high school experience(big fish in a small pond). I don't know your personal situation, but I would strongly caution you about being overconfident in your ability to continue getting A's and B's in college. In my introductory chemistry classes, the overwhelming majority of the students that fail out after the first semester got straight A's in high school. Education may be very different, but if you go to a competitive school you will be forced to work much harder than in high school and to compete against much smarter, more motivated peers.
My thing with the SAT was that I had gone in with minimal studying and I had prom the night before, so goin in I wasn't confident I was falling asleep lol. On my PSAT I did wayyy better on the Math and critical reading sections so I do believe that it can go up. ( although my testing skills really aren't that great sp I'm not expecting anything over a 16)
As far as workload I'm actually involved in one of the harder options at my school. By the time I graduate I wpuld have taken 7 AP classes in 2 years and 3 years worth of honors classes, And I also Am well over my 22 credit graduation requirement. Oh I am also in the top 7% of my graduating class ( class of 848)
I understand the whole debt thing, sp I'm not entirely naive, in fact the only school that poses a concern would be pace; chances are I will not attend sage either. Based on the scholarship forms that LIU admissions gave me (I know it isn't 100%) I have a good chance at getting 20k a year I I maintain a 3 and it drops about 5-7k as my GPA lowers.
I had been looking at cost as a determining factor until my mom said not to (long story idr reasoning but it made sense lol)
Hopefully I'll like queens college when I go & hopefully I'll get accepted there that'll bring cost down A LOT
I am in state for all of the SUNY and CUNY Schools
Actually that is not true at all. The easiest road to medical school is at smaller LAC where you come in at the top 25% of their applicant pool and can be a star on campus. Most of these schools have close to, if not 100% of their applicants accepted into medical schools across the nation. It is very realistic what our DD plans to do as we know many doctors that have done the same, talked with med school admissions rep that say the same, the stats for medical schools show this as well. We've done a lot of research on this, not just assuming like most people do. The two most important things for getting into med school are your GPA and MCAT score, which is why you want to go to a school where you can shine. A "B" student at Harvard will not get a committee letter to apply to medical school. After that they want to see undergrad research, again, more available to students at these smaller liberal arts colleges. Add in the new requirements for the MCAT coming out for the college class of 2015 and it points again to more success for the LAC's. Sure, plenty of kids from the Ivy's get into med schools but more kids from these smaller LAC's are there than Ivy kids (given that there are only how many Ivy schools). Three schools on our DD's list had 100% of their kids accepted first round into medical schools. There isn't a school on her list with an acceptance rate under 95%.
OK. But smaller LAC are just as expensive as Ivy League schools if not more so. I know people who went to MD from Wesleyan, Swarthmore, and Amherst. Yes, that path is good too. But the point was, there's going to be a lot of debt. That was more my point. You said she wanted to try and get through the whole thing with little debt.
Don't believe that no matter where you go, the same GPA and MCAT will get you into medical school. My sister had a 3.3 at Columbia and got into a number of US medical schools. If she had that same GPA at say William Paterson University, the chances of her getting into an MD school would have been much less.
If you go to a school with a really good rep, whether it be Ivy or LAC or UMichigan, etc, you will need a lesser GPA to get into med school. That is all.
You made it sound like she wanted to go to the cheapest school possible, and that's not the best road to Medical School IMO.
BTW, someone with a 3.2 from Harvard can get into Medical school easily.
OK. But smaller LAC are just as expensive as Ivy League schools if not more so. I know people who went to MD from Wesleyan, Swarthmore, and Amherst. Yes, that path is good too. But the point was, there's going to be a lot of debt. That was more my point. You said she wanted to try and get through the whole thing with little debt.
Don't believe that no matter where you go, the same GPA and MCAT will get you into medical school. My sister had a 3.3 at Columbia and got into a number of US medical schools. If she had that same GPA at say William Paterson University, the chances of her getting into an MD school would have been much less.
If you go to a school with a really good rep, whether it be Ivy or LAC or UMichigan, etc, you will need a lesser GPA to get into med school. That is all.
You made it sound like she wanted to go to the cheapest school possible, and that's not the best road to Medical School IMO.
BTW, someone with a 3.2 from Harvard can get into Medical school easily.
The first round of med school admissions is computerized and the school you attend isn't even in that computation. After that they look at your extracurriculars and how your interview goes. We have talked to committee members from medical school review boards and they ALL gave the same advice. Since they are the ones making the decisions, I trust their opinion over your sisters assumptions. If you compute the actual med school placement rate from the Ivy's and similar, it is very, very low since they do not give committee letters to the majority of their students because they need that % rate to be high.
Also, we can do the math and yes, the private schools our kids are considering are expensive but with merit aid, outside scholarships and the athletic aid our DD will receive, the net costs fall within our price range of what we will help them with after their earnings for summer jobs so it is completely possible for them to graduate from these schools with no debt. We will make them take out one student loan simply to help establish a credit rating however. Contrast that to the state schools they are considering which offer little to no merit aid and those schools come in far higher in net costs.
The first round of med school admissions is computerized and the school you attend isn't even in that computation. After that they look at your extracurriculars and how your interview goes. We have talked to committee members from medical school review boards and they ALL gave the same advice. Since they are the ones making the decisions, I trust their opinion over your sisters assumptions. If you compute the actual med school placement rate from the Ivy's and similar, it is very, very low since they do not give committee letters to the majority of their students because they need that % rate to be high.
Also, we can do the math and yes, the private schools our kids are considering are expensive but with merit aid, outside scholarships and the athletic aid our DD will receive, the net costs fall within our price range of what we will help them with after their earnings for summer jobs so it is completely possible for them to graduate from these schools with no debt. We will make them take out one student loan simply to help establish a credit rating however. Contrast that to the state schools they are considering which offer little to no merit aid and those schools come in far higher in net costs.
What do you mean 'my sister's assumptions'. She's a doctor.
The doctors I know went to undergrad at the following places: Amherst, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, NYU, Yale, University of Delaware, UC Berkeley. That's just off the top of my head. Maybe I just know people who went to good schools?
Maybe it is easy to get into medical school from a mediocre reputed college, but I don't know anybody who did it. So, it's just my opinion.
I'm not going to stubbornly argue that's not the case without knowing all the facts.
i'd have to question whether college was really the right choice for you with your scores. sure there are plenty of schools who will gladly take your money but that doesn't mean attending is a good idea. maybe a community college for two years before going to a state school would be the best choice. i know you said you hadn't studied and were out late the night before your SAT, but to me that just shows me that it wasn't a priority. definitely take it again and see how much better you can do with some preparation and practice. your race is severely underrepresented in higher education so i think you could get some decent scholarships with higher scores.
i'd have to question whether college was really the right choice for you with your scores. sure there are plenty of schools who will gladly take your money but that doesn't mean attending is a good idea. maybe a community college for two years before going to a state school would be the best choice. i know you said you hadn't studied and were out late the night before your SAT, but to me that just shows me that it wasn't a priority. definitely take it again and see how much better you can do with some preparation and practice. your race is severely underrepresented in higher education so i think you could get some decent scholarships with higher scores.
Surely you can't be serious?
The kid is carrying an A average and you are trying to convince him not to go to 4 year college because he did poorly (not even sure how bad that score is, since the SATs have changed since I took em) on a standardized test?
Countless people who go on to get college degrees were average, mediocre, or even bad students in high school.
The kid is carrying an A average and you are trying to convince him not to go to 4 year college because he did poorly (not even sure how bad that score is, since the SATs have changed since I took em) on a standardized test?
Countless people who go on to get college degrees were average, mediocre, or even bad students in high school.
they do, that doesn't mean they should.
anyway the op implied that he/she could likely do better, so given that i think they should wait until they get a better score to pick a school.
I'm well over a highly motivated student and I'm aware that I am not the greatest test taker but I don't believe that I couldn't make it to a 4 year university. Besides many very good schools are test optional as well.
I'm well over a highly motivated student and I'm aware that I am not the greatest test taker but I don't believe that I couldn't make it to a 4 year university. Besides many very good schools are test optional as well.
my concern would be the debt. like i said, plenty of places will gladly take your money but that doesn't mean it is a good idea to take out the debt to pay them. if you are indeed motivated and hardworking i think your best option would be to work to get a better score so you could secure more funding. it is worrisome that funds are of little concern to you. i think a few others pointed this out as well. you could potentially be in a very good position with your work ethic and minority status so i think you should use that to your advantage as best you can.
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