Does anyone actually get a full-ride scholarship to med school?

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HMS waives tuition and fees for students with family income of below 100k. All need-based.
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David Geffen (the music/movie mogul) just donated $100 million for student scholarships at UCLA. It's enough money for over 30 students to attend for free (up to cost of attendance). Represents about 20% of the incoming class.

Don't know if it's mentioned, but Mayo has pretty much everyone on partial/full tuition scholarships. Stanford also has a generous TA/RA program.
 
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OhHey said:
HMS waives tuition and fees for students with family income of below 100k. All need-based.
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:thumbup: yeah they do! being born poor is finally paying off!

Nevada (UNSOM) is offering full tuition plus stipends this year
 
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Are full scholarships for just a year and then given on year-to-year basis, are for the total 4 years?
 
chronicidal said:
Have to call you out on this. They waive the parental contribution. You still have/get to take $28k/yr in loans. HMS is not that rich.
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that 28k is approximately equal to (COA - tuition) so it is essentially free tuition. it works out to a little over 50k/year and tuition is 52k
 
notbobtrustme said:
Harvard's endowment is $32 billion/year. They could waive tuition if they wanted to. I don't know the real reason they don't waive it entirely.
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1) Most schools have enough money to move around to waive tuition if they really REALLY wanted to. Tuition revenue is a tiny portion of total operating revenue. (In 1997-1998, 21 of the 124 US medical schools that charge tuition derived 10% or more of their general operating revenue from tuition. For public schools, the percentage of medical school revenue that is derived from tuition and fees is about 3% on average; for private medical schools, the percentage is about 5-8%. However, there is a wide range in the percentage of total revenue that comes from student payments, anywhere from 1% to 44%.)
2) Don't let Harvard university's endowment or the size of its hospitals fool you; the medical school itself (the part that spends money on undergraduate medical education) is not richer than many other medical schools since HMS has its funds in practice separate from the rest of the university and from the hospitals. This is not the case at many other schools. In fact, HMS relies on endowment (rather than clinical services) so heavily that when the economy takes a downturn, the dean has to cut corners and beg the hospitals to share some money as a stop-gap measure.

Harvard Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $0.66 billion (46% research grants and contracts, 25% endowment, 3% tuition)
WashU School of Medicine FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.6 billion (47% patient services/clinical trials, 29% research grants and contracts, 5% investment, 2% tuition)
UMichigan Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.3 billion (46% patient care, 36% research, 4.8% investment, 2.6% tuition)
 
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anonymitas said:
1) Most schools have enough money to move around to waive tuition if they really REALLY wanted to. Tuition revenue is a tiny portion of total operating revenue. (In 1997-1998, 21 of the 124 US medical schools that charge tuition derived 10% or more of their general operating revenue from tuition. For public schools, the percentage of medical school revenue that is derived from tuition and fees is about 3% on average; for private medical schools, the percentage is about 5-8%. However, there is a wide range in the percentage of total revenue that comes from student payments, anywhere from 1% to 44%.)
2) Don't let Harvard university's endowment or the size of its hospitals fool you; the medical school itself (the part that spends money on undergraduate medical education) is not richer than many other medical schools since HMS has its funds in practice separate from the rest of the university and from the hospitals. This is not the case at many other schools. In fact, HMS relies on endowment (rather than clinical services) so heavily that when the economy takes a downturn, the dean has to cut corners and beg the hospitals to share some money as a stop-gap measure.

Harvard Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $0.66 billion (46% research grants and contracts, 25% endowment, 3% tuition)
WashU School of Medicine FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.6 billion (47% patient services/clinical trials, 29% research grants and contracts, 5% investment, 2% tuition)
UMichigan Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.3 billion (46% patient care, 36% research, 4.8% investment, 2.6% tuition)
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shiiiit, I did not know that. Thanks for clearing that up!
 
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Probably not universally applicable to all states, but in general if your the type of person who can get into a couple top 15-20 schools then you would probably get at least a half scholarship at one of your in state schools.

The scary thing is some people are smart enough to get that offer, but then dumb enough to pay 200k more to go to the higher ranked school. (Now if your good enough to get scholarship from the big name, then more power to you)
 
anonymitas said:
1) Most schools have enough money to move around to waive tuition if they really REALLY wanted to. Tuition revenue is a tiny portion of total operating revenue. (In 1997-1998, 21 of the 124 US medical schools that charge tuition derived 10% or more of their general operating revenue from tuition. For public schools, the percentage of medical school revenue that is derived from tuition and fees is about 3% on average; for private medical schools, the percentage is about 5-8%. However, there is a wide range in the percentage of total revenue that comes from student payments, anywhere from 1% to 44%.)
2) Don't let Harvard university's endowment or the size of its hospitals fool you; the medical school itself (the part that spends money on undergraduate medical education) is not richer than many other medical schools since HMS has its funds in practice separate from the rest of the university and from the hospitals. This is not the case at many other schools. In fact, HMS relies on endowment (rather than clinical services) so heavily that when the economy takes a downturn, the dean has to cut corners and beg the hospitals to share some money as a stop-gap measure.

Harvard Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $0.66 billion (46% research grants and contracts, 25% endowment, 3% tuition)
WashU School of Medicine FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.6 billion (47% patient services/clinical trials, 29% research grants and contracts, 5% investment, 2% tuition)
UMichigan Medical School FY2011 Operating Revenue: $1.3 billion (46% patient care, 36% research, 4.8% investment, 2.6% tuition)
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Btw, you can't do much with this information - 1st off, Harvard is a top school (arguably #1), so it's not really representative of 90%+ of medical schools. Secondly, people always hear, oh - it's only 3% or whatever, it could easily be double or triple that at some schools. People tend to think of their own income, "Hey, if I made 3-10% less, that's not a big deal". But in real economics, 3-5% is a huge deal. 3-5% could be the difference between someone going bankrupt or not. It's not like the school just says, "oh, where did that $300 million go?" If they lost tuition it could force them to fire their entire medical school staff (everyone paid to teach, support curriculum, admin, etc). It's a big deal.

Using Harvard or other top 10 schools is like saying, "Oh - Boxers make a ton of money. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao made $60-$90 million this year. Boxer's are rich."
 
Here's some math to consider.
For tuition to be free a medical school like Harvard would have to have an enormously large endowment.
150 students x 4 years x $50,000 = $30M/ yr
To generate $30M a year, from a sustainable low risk investment endowment would require about $750 million. 4%/yr is a sustainable annual pay out. You'll see this math again when you're planning your retirement.
$750 million is higher than most university endowments. There are top 25 ranked nationally known universities that have endowments around that size. You'd need that for the medical school alone!
Harvard might be the only school in the US that could theoretically do it.
My medical school has a tradition of each class setting up a class fund to try to fund a full scholarship with donations for one student. It won't likely be funded until we start to retire and make some significant donations. We have started a partial scholarship already though. :)
 
I'm sure this is a stupid question, but when and how do you apply for med school scholarships? Is it a good or bad idea to bring up the topic at med school interviews?
 
ShySpliceosome said:
I'm sure this is a stupid question, but when and how do you apply for med school scholarships? Is it a good or bad idea to bring up the topic at med school interviews?
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Don't bring it up, and don't expect to get one. These things are for the cream of the crop, the kind of people that get accepted to multiple top schools. It just so happens that lots of those people like to post on sdn so browsing here you may think these scholarships are far more common than they really are.
 
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If I made it big, I'd make a scholarship for average, caucasian male medical students. Excluded if you're in the top 25% after first semester. Full ride.
 
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Trogghunter said:
If I made it big, I'd make a scholarship for average, caucasian male medical students. Excluded if you're in the top 25% after first semester. Full ride.
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Please explain what u mean
 
I know a lot of MD/PhD programs are federally funded because of the Biomedical research they do. Don't quote me on this, but I think most of the students are almost fully funded.
 
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You don't apply for merit scholarships, they are offered to you after acceptance.

Med schools use them primarily as a tool to recruit exceptional candidates to their school.

Need based scholarships are a different matter...
 
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IlDestriero said:
Here's some math to consider.
For tuition to be free a medical school like Harvard would have to have an enormously large endowment.
150 students x 4 years x $50,000 = $30M/ yr
Click to expand...

This is assuming that it actually takes $50k/year to educate a medical student, which despite what schools claim, is total BS.
 
IlDestriero said:
Here's some math to consider.
For tuition to be free a medical school like Harvard would have to have an enormously large endowment.
150 students x 4 years x $50,000 = $30M/ yr
To generate $30M a year, from a sustainable low risk investment endowment would require about $750 million. 4%/yr is a sustainable annual pay out. You'll see this math again when you're planning your retirement.
$750 million is higher than most university endowments. There are top 25 ranked nationally known universities that have endowments around that size. You'd need that for the medical school alone!
Harvard might be the only school in the US that could theoretically do it.
My medical school has a tradition of each class setting up a class fund to try to fund a full scholarship with donations for one student. It won't likely be funded until we start to retire and make some significant donations. We have started a partial scholarship already though. :)
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nm
 
disorder said:
You better bet your bottom dollar there's a quota. No pun intended.
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Actually schools with similar need-based financial aid policies of waiving tuition/fees for low income students (Harvard, Yale, etc.) are need-blind during the application cycle. They do not take into consideration anyone's ability to pay when selecting the class.
 
IlDestriero said:
It's a recruiting tool. My school had a number of full 4yr scholarships and several partial scholarships. I received a partial scholarship in addition to HPSP.
The goal is to offer scholarships of some amount to everyone. It's much easier to recruit the best and the brightest when you're giving them a 10/10 education AND a discount/$$ for expenses.
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Realize this is a really old post, but if you're still around - I'm also applying HPSP. Does getting a school scholarship reduce your service commitment?
 
TxsMed14 said:
Realize this is a really old post, but if you're still around - I'm also applying HPSP. Does getting a school scholarship reduce your service commitment?
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No, and don't do HPSP for $ do it only out of a desire to be a military doctor (yuck).
 
Textbookversion said:
No, and don't do HPSP for $ do it only out of a desire to be a military doctor (yuck).
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No, you do it because you get badass opps for international residencies and great programs for infectious disease researchers with a history in bioterrorism. HOOAH!

And got to say, if you are a current student, i hope you don't take that attitude with your colleagues. Everyone has their own path and career interests, no one is better than another.
 
TxsMed14 said:
No, you do it because you get badass opps for international residencies and great programs for infectious disease researchers with a history in bioterrorism. HOOAH!

And got to say, if you are a current student, i hope you don't take that attitude with your colleagues. Everyone has their own path and career interests, no one is better than another.
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Military medicine is terrible.* Fact. I feel bad for my friends doing HPSP.

*Not talking about the doc's on the front line, talking about the institution and bureaucracy
 
I'm considering doing Psych as a specialty, and I've heard you can get med school paid for by declaring psych. How does that work? I'm guessing that you're locked into psych from then on.
 
TxsMed14 said:
No, you do it because you get badass opps for international residencies and great programs for infectious disease researchers with a history in bioterrorism. HOOAH!

And got to say, if you are a current student, i hope you don't take that attitude with your colleagues. Everyone has their own path and career interests, no one is better than another.
Click to expand...

I didn't see that from textbook's post. He said not to do HPSP for the money (which is good). Unless you want to be a military doctor (which he doesn't personally agree with). I think dermatology is yuck. Somebody's gotta do it though, but it damn sure won't be me.
 
evilbooyaa said:
I didn't see that from textbook's post. He said not to do HPSP for the money (which is good). Unless you want to be a military doctor (which he doesn't personally agree with). I think dermatology is yuck. Somebody's gotta do it though, but it damn sure won't be me.
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yeah, this. saluting nurses would make my winky sad. power to those that like it. HPSP = great choice if you want to be a military doc, terrible choice for $$ reasons alone.
 
NickRiviera MD said:
:thumbup: yeah they do! being born poor is finally paying off!

Nevada (UNSOM) is offering full tuition plus stipends this year
Click to expand...

Do you know what caused UNSOM to offer full tuition and stipend that year? I was actually born and raised in Reno and come from a poor family so I hope they offer me something similar if accepted there. I actually have an HMS interview coming up on Dec 6th, 2016 so it's great to know tuition pretty much gets waived! However, if it comes down to tuition waived at Harvard or a complete full ride at a school like UNSOM, which would you take? Harvard is Harvard, but graduating with zero debt would be great also.
 
Jonny13 said:
Do you know what caused UNSOM to offer full tuition and stipend that year? I was actually born and raised in Reno and come from a poor family so I hope they offer me something similar if accepted there. I actually have an HMS interview coming up on Dec 6th, 2016 so it's great to know tuition pretty much gets waived! However, if it comes down to tuition waived at Harvard or a complete full ride at a school like UNSOM, which would you take? Harvard is Harvard, but graduating with zero debt would be great also.
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Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
 
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ForHumors said:
I'm considering doing Psych as a specialty, and I've heard you can get med school paid for by declaring psych. How does that work? I'm guessing that you're locked into psych from then on.
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You'd also be locked into working with undeserved after residency. Its for any primary care fields+psych. Its a good deal if you want to do that anyway but its financially not as good as working in private practice after residency and foregoing the scholarship.
 
Thankfully, I was offered a full tuition scholarship for 4 years. No stipend or fees though.
I think one of the members who posted earlier is right: that it's more than just stellar stats, but rather something that maybe makes you stand out (e.g. interesting research, pubs, outside activities). But largely (maybe mostly?), it's about patience and blessing/luck. :)
 
Partial scholarship here. My school gives a couple of these. I'm not aware of any full rides outside of MD/PhD, but some students do have enough outside scholarships to pay for all their tuition.
 
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