- Mar 6, 2018
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
Email, and a more detailed breakdown was immediately available on the portal
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New SDN Article! The Cost of Applying to Medical School
Eh, Imo it could be more generous. It still blows my mind that with such a huge endowment, Harvard still gives such large loans with people with low SES. Then again, med school has skewed my perception of what is “good debt” where 70-100k is “good.”
- Mar 6, 2018
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
I would send financial aid an email to clarify, but my assumption is that they already accounted for the change since they ask for years 1-4.
With a closer look at the HMS financial aid changes, debt only lowered on average by 15-20k...which is basically nothing. Therefore, those with high financial aid and no reach scholarship, before it was 140k with the unit loan and now it's 122k. (Although I assume even with reach, this only lowered by 15-20k) Yay, harvard. You just helped me pay for another month of rent. Really wish these schools moved on to a debt-free model or provided more opportunities for merit scholarships.
Just want to chime in and say that, with Harvard’s new finaid program, it is actually cheaper for me to attend HMS than a tuition-free school from which I was offered an acceptance. I come from a low SES background and can honestly say the aid package is pretty generous.
Hurray for no more unit loan!
Hurray for no more unit loan!
To each it's own. I do not think 120k is very generous, especially for the type of school we are talking about who has a ridiculous amount of money. For your case, you are comparing two schools that are tuition-free, so it ends up being about which school has a lower COL, assuming no reach scholarship. Also, be aware that COL will only get higher as the years progress. 1st year is the cheapest of the 4. Therefore, your debt will go up in loans ~6k after the first year.Just want to chime in and say that, with Harvard’s new finaid program, it is actually cheaper for me to attend HMS than a tuition-free school from which I was offered an acceptance. I come from a low SES background and can honestly say the aid package is pretty generous.
Hurray for no more unit loan!
Edit: I also want to add that I think it is good that the unit loan is gone and that Harvard is progressing in the right direction. However, I do think they could be doing much much better. 16k-20k decrease in debt is peanuts in the big scheme of things. I honestly would prefer a unit loan like Hopkins (17k) or Yale (15k) which end up being much much more generous.
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- Mar 6, 2018
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
- Jul 28, 2018
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
@randomname123 - did you complete the sibling verification enrollment form before getting your package? got all my docs in on time and that part only showed up like a week ago on the portal and it says its not due till October so didn't think it was factored in to any award offers right away. but seeing everyone's getting their awards already maybe that needed to be in too?
- Mar 6, 2018
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I also have a sibling in college. You don’t have to complete it to receive your financial aid package. In fact, you have to wait until your sibling in enrolled for 2019-2020, so it likely can’t be done now.
Does the status of the Sibling Enrollment Form say waived for anyone? Also did anyone notice that under the terms and conditions when you go to accept the awards it says "financial aid awards are determined on an annual basis and are based upon the most recent financial information." I thought the financial aid amount was guaranteed for 4 years???
Yes it accounts for that . Even if they are not in school now but will be. They should have already taken this into account. Feel free to confirm with them tho!
- Mar 6, 2018
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
Just a note for future applicants: I've finally gotten financial aid packages back from the 4 schools I accepted a seat at. I didn't get any merit-based aid anywhere, just need-based. I'm coming from a solidly middle-class/lower middle-class family and Harvard's new scholarship system seems to be set up well for students in my position (compared to these other schools). The need-based scholarship I've received from Harvard is literally 12 times bigger than that of the next most generous school. The loan debt I'll have to take on to go to HMS isn't insignificant by any stretch, but it is FAR more manageable than these other packages
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Anyone on the waitlist get Financial Aid materials? Not a package, but like an email with all the links to complete financial aid information so an offer could be made quickly? I thought one was supposed to be coming, but I haven't received anything
Thanks, but in the Waitlist FAQ there was a statement that "If a financial aid decision will be a key factor in deciding whether or not to accept an HMS offer of admissions, you are urged to file HMS financial aid application materials even before waitlist decisions are made, so that a financial aid award can be prepared for your promptly should you be admitted."
And the initial waitlist offer email even said "You will soon receive a letter confirming your wait list status, a response form and financial aid information for wait listed candidates." I received the first two (letter confirming wait list status, and response form), but not financial aid information, unless this was something in the letter I missed?
I guess I could reach out to admissions, or just wait it out. However, I would not like to have to make a quick decision without that information available.
Edit: I was expecting an email with links and documents like I've received from other schools.
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What they are saying is you can fill out the FAFSA and CSS ahead of time. However, you can't get access to the school specific portal until you are accepted. So do everything on the below page under Option I except for the HMS specific portal, which you will get access to if admitted. They got me my decision in about 2-3 days last year.
Apply
The Financial Aid Application Process for MD Students Financial aid is awarded on an annual basis. Each year, students are required to complete the financial aid application process anew. Application materials are provided electronically to admitted students and to all waitlisted admissions...
meded.hms.harvard.edu
Okay thank you for this. I was generally aware of their requirements and have nearly everything else completed already. I wasn't sure if their school-specific financial aid portal was available to those on the waitlist. I appreciate your help!What they are saying is you can fill out the FAFSA and CSS ahead of time. However, you can't get access to the school specific portal until you are accepted. So do everything on the below page under Option I except for the HMS specific portal, which you will get access to if admitted. They got me my decision in about 2-3 days last year.
Apply
The Financial Aid Application Process for MD Students Financial aid is awarded on an annual basis. Each year, students are required to complete the financial aid application process anew. Application materials are provided electronically to admitted students and to all waitlisted admissions...
- Mar 6, 2018
- 452
- 852
- 41
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- Medical Student (Accepted)
From my understanding, yes. If you plan to hold waitlists and/or continue interviewing, select plan to enroll. However, you are still supposed to only hold 1 acceptance. “Commit to enroll” is for when you decide on one school and withdraw from all other schools, including waitlists and interviews.
Does anyone know if there has been any movement in the waitlist so far?
Apologies in advance for alarming y'all by updating this thread lol.
One of the adcoms on the general waitlist support thread (gyngyn) is basically confirming that many schools are standing down with WL offers for now b/c of how little they know due to being blinded by new traffic rules. Does anyone know if this is also the case at HMS? Not sure if lack of posters here is due to absence of offers or the absence of WL acceptees who post on SDN haha
One of the adcoms on the general waitlist support thread (gyngyn) is basically confirming that many schools are standing down with WL offers for now b/c of how little they know due to being blinded by new traffic rules. Does anyone know if this is also the case at HMS? Not sure if lack of posters here is due to absence of offers or the absence of WL acceptees who post on SDN haha
I am very fortunate to have just been accepted to HMS off the waitlist by email.
I wish all those still waiting the best of luck
I wish all those still waiting the best of luck
Congrats! Are you pathways or HST?I am very fortunate to have just been accepted to HMS off the waitlist by email.
I wish all those still waiting the best of luck
Did anyone interview/receive an acceptance who didn't submit an LOR from every research mentor they had? On their website, HMS says that applicants should send a letter from every PI that we've worked with but I was planning on omitting a letter from my first PI as it will probably be lukewarm at best. Is this a good idea or should I definitely get both letters?
I didn’t send a letter from my PI and I still got an interview. Not sure if this helps ya, but it doesn’t seem to be a requirement for receiving an interview! Good luck
This was a question I also had. I ended up not getting a letter from a PI I worked with early on as an undergrad because I knew it wouldn’t be the best or reflect of who I was. I did get two letters from PIs I worked more intensively with subsequently. And I just got accepted! So while I would generally recommend people honor the request for a LOR from every PI, in some cases it’s a judgement call for the applicant. Good luck!
I didn’t send a letter from my PI and I still got an interview. Not sure if this helps ya, but it doesn’t seem to be a requirement for receiving an interview! Good luck
Do you guys think it makes any difference that I published a paper (4th author) from this PI's lab?
Maybe. But I did report one school poster presentation that came out of my work in that PI’s lab from whom I didn’t get a LOR. I’m not claiming to be an authority on this, but I think it’s okay to omit a LOR from a PI in some cases. I at least knew I had an answer for why I didn’t ask that PI for a letter, but it didn’t ever come up
Has anyone heard of any WL movement since last week? In particular, HST movement?
Also, anyone (current students) happen to know if HMS is at all delayed in their WL movement b/c of new traffic rules?
Also, anyone (current students) happen to know if HMS is at all delayed in their WL movement b/c of new traffic rules?
They are not delayed. WL movement is happening as normal.