junior trying to decide on some schools

[strange jewel]

Location: NYS Resident(not city); schools can be anywhere in the country
Major: Bio/biochem on premed
GPA/Test Scores: 4.0(15 APs by the end of senior year, 10 currently) and 1570 SAT
Classes & Clubs: dont rlly know enough to make a descision.
Size: doesn't really matter tbh. As long as its easy to make connections with professors
Costs: Not really a factor
Current schools: Only my local SUNY school as of rn

[ancient cargo]

Hm. I’m glad you’ll be open to anywhere! That’s going to be good when decisions roll around. however it’s a little tough for us to make recommendations

do you want reaches, safeties, targets

do you want a liberal arts school (undergrad only, smaller, more personal, strong alumni network) or a research institution (more diverse, bigger, maybe more opportunities)

also any location specifications could be nice… do you like upstate NY? or what about cities

those are the three big questions i think you could consider at first

To give some context, one of my best friends is committed to Hamilton College, a liberal arts college near Ithaca. He also wants to do bio. It’s really rural and it’s smaller than our high school. He likes the nature and the personal connection… I could NEVER go there because personally I really need a big school with lots of things to do in a city

[rigid vapor]

sbu if you dont already have that

big class size might make it harder to make connection with professors but if you get into their honor programs you'll have an easier time doing that

they'll also take a lot of your credits which makes it easier

[deft storm]

Why are costs not a factor?

[ancient cargo]

could be a 529 plan

[deft storm]

Would be better spent on med school

[ancient cargo]

ah

either way i think they’re saying that’s a bridge they’ll cross later

[deft storm]

It’s my duty to make sure they understand that med school 95% of the time will be full price

$400k

So if their parents are paying for college and would be willing to instead pay for med school…

It makes sense to target merit scholarships for undergrad

[sinful veldt]

So your parents are 100% fine with spending $800k for four years of udnergrad+ four years of med school?

[sinful veldt]

Roll tide!

[ancient cargo]

ah i was not aware of that

til

[sinful veldt]

It's also less stressful to get a very high GPA and easier to get opportunities at a school where you're far enough above the average for your academics to earn you a significant merit scholarship

@strange jewel are you a NMSF?

[strange jewel]

we'll see tbh, 220 Index in NYS on a harder testing year. 50/50

[strange jewel]

I'm not really sure. But we'll def take out loan

*s

[deft storm]

$800,000 at 8% interest is $64,000 a year of interest alone

It is really really really hard to pay back that much money

Please, I beg you, try to go to a school that gives you strong merit aid

Don’t be like those doctors who are never able to pay back their student debt

[umbral pagoda]

Cornell

Instate discount

If you apply CALS or HumEc

[scenic oriole]

yeah I hate to be that person but macrophage is right. there's no top undergrad that would be financially worth paying full price if your goal is to go to medical school at the end of the day

I would still weigh cost as a factor by being intentional about applying to schools that are reputable and have really good financial aid or scholarships so it can be fully worth it for you. Especially because you're very competitive for those opportunities

[scenic oriole]

CWRU and University of Rochester are both super strong premed target schools that meet 100% of your demonstrated need

University of Alabama is nice because you'd automatically qualify for instate tuition there and if you got NMSF it's a guaranteed full ride

In terms of other big name programs with great prehealth opportunities and scholarships I would say Vanderbilt, Washington University in St. Louis, Duke/UNC Robertson programs, Ohio State Morrill Scholarship, any of the schools that participate in the STAMPS scholarships including but not limited to UMich

Tulane, UGA Foundation Fellowship through their Honors College

Definitely apply to Stony Brook and University at Buffalo they're probably safeties for you assuming your extracurriculars are as good as your gpa/test scores. And then your local SUNY sounds perfect as a safety as well. You don't need more than those 3

[strange jewel]

is cornell a good idea? UB is the SUNY school I was thinking of first

[ancient cargo]

yes

cornell would be a good idea

they have good aid and your stats are competitive

[strange jewel]

Alr so I'd ED there. Are there any other schools OOS that are worth considering based off cost?

[brazen sparrow]

Ohio State is pretty nice for pre - med

Gotta throw in UMass Amherst since I go here (mwahaha) but it honestly does have ALOT of pre-med support in the college of natural sciences

[ancient cargo]

UMASS MENTIONED also we tuition match to SUNY I believe

well i know SUNY tuition matches to us

[brazen sparrow]

Do we?? I had no idea

[ancient cargo]

so i assume it works the other way

[ancient cargo]

i learned about suny tution match through an ad on the blue line some random day a few months ago 😭

they dont talk about it

[brazen sparrow]

lol i'm assumin your a mass student in boston?

[ancient cargo]

indeed

[brazen sparrow]

there are hella kids like you here lol I love UMass I feel like its so underatted I always gotta throw it in every chance I get

[ancient cargo]

probably like more than 25% of my HS class will end up at umass amherst haha

its a great school

[brazen sparrow]

I love whenever I meet new people and they just automatically know half the school lol

[ancient cargo]

yeah thats why going to a state flagship is peak

u get the small + large college experience in one

[strange jewel]

Reaches:
Cornell(ED)
Vandy
WashU
Duke/UNC Roberston
UChicago STAMPS
UMich STAMPS

Targets:
CWRU
URoch
UMass

Safeties:
UB
Stony Brook

does this^ look solid?

[ancient cargo]

Have you thought about applying to more reaches?

ivy league schools all give great aid (except perhaps upenn but the aid is still solid)

there's also Stanford

and MIT etc

CWRU is also not particularly known for having good financial aid

[scenic oriole]

they meet 100% demonstrated need? they are known for having pretty good aid but of most US schools even if it's not ivy level

[ancient cargo]

oh really

never mind

I thought I had heard somewhere that they didn't

maybe that's for ED

[scenic oriole]

i think it's because people compare their aid to like instate costs and sometimes it's not as cheap like gtech if you're instate but yeah idk

[deft storm]

Does OP even qualify for need based aid? That’s an important thing we need to know

Otherwise all the ivies are DOA

[scenic oriole]

tbf they mentioned taking out loans earlier but yeah we don't know how much

I was going to say @strange jewel could you do the net price calculator for like Yale or Brown to see how much either of those schools would offer you?

[deft storm]

their parents could make $400k and just not want to contribute to college

[scenic oriole]

also true

[strange jewel]

$0 🙁

[scenic oriole]

ohhh so like it says you need to pay full price?

[strange jewel]

yupp

[strange jewel]

they are carrying my ass

[scenic oriole]

ok i'd only do schools with big scholarships like the ones on this list then: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11f7yJayaZJr8nU99qHHYX1eq3OSPJvG6CvmndnnXWbM/edit?gid=0#gid=0

[strange jewel]

so cornell in the bin?

[scenic oriole]

oh!!! sorry no I think if you do the method that Jae recommended where you can get the in-state tuition benefits, then you should do that as well!

[scenic oriole]

all of these are good

[strange jewel]

k thanks

[scenic oriole]

yep np

[strange jewel]

in your opinion, should I not apply to any HYPSM because I won't get aid?

[scenic oriole]

yes. I mean you can apply and then make the tough choice to see if you want to go, that's an option too I suppose.

[sinful veldt]

UGA has merit scholarshis

[sinful veldt]

CWRU gives merit aid too

[scenic oriole]

yeah that's true cwru usually does give some p big nice merit

[deft storm]

That, and undergrad prestige doesn’t have a big role in med admissions

CWRU is right next to Cleveland Clinic. Great med school

[scenic oriole]

and yet i didn't even apply

because i'm stupid

[umbral pagoda]

i got waitlisted

[scenic oriole]

wait for undergrad or md?

[umbral pagoda]

undergrad

i didnt interview but they did give me aid despite me not qualifying

[scenic oriole]

ohh gotchu

i didn't know cwru's context for neural engineering or medicine (like top notch in both). i just thought about how close to home it was so I didn't apply 😭

[strange jewel]

alr. So whats the advantage to going anywhere besides the schools 20 min from my house?

[deft storm]

better clinical opportunities, better research, more EC options

[strange jewel]

if the school in question is UB, does that change anything?

[deft storm]

What’s the full name

[strange jewel]

University of Buffalo

[deft storm]

They have a solid med school too

Nice

yeah they’re a good program. If you’re sure you want premed I see no reason to not pick them unless you get a similar $$ offer at a school you like more

[rigid vapor]

they have a good honors program

most people i know got pride of ny scholy which was like 6k/yr

[sinful veldt]

https://www.buffalo.edu/admissions/parents-counselors/advcc-program.html

@strange jewel do this

[strange jewel]

I've heard of it, but I'm not sure what classes to take