How does a student get a full scholarship to medical school?

[Natalia]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NonTradMed]

I think most med schools have full scholarships, but it's very, very hard to get them. One girl I knew who got it had a 36 and 4.0 in BME from a top tier school. So academic scholarships are there but you have to be a top candidate for the school you are applying to.

There's always the military scholarships you can sign up for. In exchange for full ride and stipend, you enter the military upon completion for a set number of years. And some people apply to the numerous small scholarships for med school. Most are small though, hardly enough to cover four years of tuition. Anyway, the average med student graduates with a $100k debt so while scholarship is possible, most do without.

 

[njbmd]

Do most schools give out full scholarships? Do they go to the most competitive applicants? The most needy? Are there outside scholarships that an med student can apply to for full funding to medical school? I would love to go to medical school, but I would also love for it to be paid for.

My full-ride scholarship was based on my incoming GPA and MCAT scores. I had to keep my grades high in order to keep my scholarship money. It was administered by the Financial Aid department at my medical school. My pathology (summer) fellowship was based on my performance in my sophomore Path class, this scholarship was administered by an outside agency. I also received a scholarship that covered my travel and hotel expenses for a couple of my fourth year visiting medical student clerkships. These were administered by the institutions that invited me for the medical student clerkship again, based on my performance during my first three years of medical school.

Start with the Financial Aid office at the medical school that you attend. They are going to be able to tell you if you are competitive for various scholarships and they are going to be able to tell you where to look for outside scholarship money.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

My full-ride scholarship was based on my incoming GPA and MCAT scores. I had to keep my grades high in order to keep my scholarship money.

When you see this sort of thing, it is used as a recruiting tool. njbmd was probably offered admission to many schools, but the offered financial aid package was different in each case. Not to speak for njbmd, but I'm guessing that it influenced her decision to pick her school.

Most of the time, your merit-based scholarship goes away if you don't perform academically by your second year. At my school, it is very rare to keep any scholarship without perfect grades. Since transferring is unheard of, they don't need to keep giving you aid.

Also, note that full ride packages are rare, and a school's ability to offer them is based on the endowment generated by donations when they come straight from the college like that. A rich school can offer bigger and more awards. A small, new, or poor school (i.e. a school with alumni who don't give much) won't offer them much.

In my school (which is relatively poor and unranked), the max award was 10K for one year only.

Now there are other ways to get your school paid for. It says on your profile that you are a Ph.D. student--dump it and go after a mudphud spot someplace. Trade 3-5 extra years of education for getting it all free plus stipend since it looks like you have a research interest.

Similar programs include the military route, and many schools will give these types of awards if you agree to practice primary care in rural areas upon graduation.

 

[EagerToBeMD]

Similar programs include the military route, and many schools will give these types of awards if you agree to practice primary care in rural areas upon graduation.

What really constitutes a rural area? I'm interested in working in New England and many of those towns are really small, but what's the cut-off for a rural area when the largest town in a state only has a population of 50,000?

 

[ahoyfatty]

Does anyone here have the humanism in medicine scholarship at NJMS?

 

[med_heidelberg]

Come to Germany, it's free!

 

[lilnoelle]

What really constitutes a rural area? I'm interested in working in New England and many of those towns are really small, but what's the cut-off for a rural area when the largest town in a state only has a population of 50,000?

The scholarships are often given to individuals commiting to "underserved" counties. Whether it is rural or not doesn't really matter, what matters is the state considered it an underserved area. The state or even the medical school should be able to tell you which counties are considered underserved in your area. The clencher for this is that they want primary care physicians in these underserved areas. Just cuz you want to work in an underserved region doesn't mean you qualify. You need to commit to primary care. Different states define primary care different ways. For instance, some include obstetrics, some include EM.
And (at least in my state) your not recieving a scholarship, your recieving a loan repayment program. You can commit before school starts and it will feel like a scholarship because you never see your debt accruing. You can also commit after residency and they will pay a certain amount of your loans for you. But if you commit and back out, you will owe back any money that they gave you, usually at an exorbitant interest rate (18% in Kansas).

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

My school gives out 4 full-ride scholarships/class (of about 100) to the most academically qualified entrants. There are several other lesser endowment scholarships available for people with lesser but still high credentials, from a certain area, who demonstrate leadership, etc. They typically inform recipients concurrently with their acceptance letter, so it really is a recruiting tool. I wouldn't count on having one pay for even a majority of your tuition and fees, though. I'm on a military scholarship with the Air Force, which pays all tuition and fees plus a $1300/month stipend. I owe them 1 year active duty per year of school paid for, and then a few years inactive reserve after graduation. I have to enter the military match, and only if they don't want me or I decide to go into a low-need specialty like OB or peds can I enter enter a civilian residency. It's not for everybody, and I wouldn't advise it just to pay for school. You should have other, better reasons as well.

 

[chameleonknight]

Uh, Tic, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you owe the AF more than one year of active duty. 😉 I'm sure you meant to type one year of pay back per year of school paid. Don't want anybody getting their hopes up on 'easy air force' money.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Uh, Tic, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you owe the AF more than one year of active duty. 😉 I'm sure you meant to type one year of pay back per year of school paid. Don't want anybody getting their hopes up on 'easy air force' money.

Definitely.

 

[dynx]

My full-ride scholarship was based on my incoming GPA and MCAT scores. I had to keep my grades high in order to keep my scholarship money. It was administered by the Financial Aid department at my medical school. My pathology (summer) fellowship was based on my performance in my sophomore Path class, this scholarship was administered by an outside agency. I also received a scholarship that covered my travel and hotel expenses for a couple of my fourth year visiting medical student clerkships. These were administered by the institutions that invited me for the medical student clerkship again, based on my performance during my first three years of medical school.

Start with the Financial Aid office at the medical school that you attend. They are going to be able to tell you if you are competitive for various scholarships and they are going to be able to tell you where to look for outside scholarship money.

Two questions:
1. What field are you going into?
2. Are you a URM?

 

[chocomorsel]

Two questions:
1. What field are you going into?
2. Are you a URM?

She's actually a surgery resident already and she's black. Well actually half black half white from what I remember reading, but in any case a minority. And from what I read about her, she's my idol (except for the surgery part).

 

[bigdan]

Ahoy-

I received the Humanitarian Scholarship from NJMS.

I do not know entirely what it's based on; I worked in the field of Occupational Therapy for seven years before medical school, was a department director for a couple of those, worked in Portugal in healthcare for a year plus, great GPA from not so popular, tiny school in upstate NY, MCAT got me in but nothing impressive.

I've got to tell you guys - PLEASE ASK about money on your interviews and once accepted. It makes a huge difference!

dc

 

[SteveUTexas]

The easiest way to get a full ride at my school is to not be of white or asian decent. In fact I think that all the "minorities" in my class have full scholarships.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

The easiest way to get a full ride at my school is to not be of white or asian decent. In fact I think that all the "minorities" in my class have full scholarships.

You know, I have heard that about Baylor. I actually applied for a Ph.D. program there a few years back, and they were glowing over the amount of Uncle Sam money that they were getting due to URM admissions.

What I have heard is that they have multiple waitlists for different minorities so that their statistics EXACTLY match national averages. I was told that my numbers were too low for a white guy there, i.e. that their MCAT averages are actually pulled down by URMs. I have no actual proof of that though.

 

[chocomorsel]

The easiest way to get a full ride at my school is to not be of white or asian decent. In fact I think that all the "minorities" in my class have full scholarships.

Man I missed out. Should have gone to Baylor. Too bad, I didn't even apply.

 

[fun8stuff]

i'm white and I got one. I was accepted to multiple schools, but I don't feel my stats were that high. 33 mcat, 3.98 gpa from small unknown undergrad.There are definately people in my class with higher stats. I had research and clinical experiences (worked as home healthcare aid). Was very active in undergrad.

I feel I interviewed well and wrote good essays. The person who interviewed me had spent his life researching the same thing that I had a couple of pubs in.... so we had a lot to talk about. He was influential at the school and I am sure he went to bat for me.


If I had to give someone advice, I would tell them do well on MCAT and in undergrad courses, be active in 2-3 campus organizations that interest you (and try to do something creative in these organizations), spend a lot of time thinking about why you want to go medical school and formulating how you want to convey this in your essays and during your interview, practice interviewing with faculty. The rest, is luck.

 

[DizzyNT]

Uh, Tic, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you owe the AF more than one year of active duty. 😉 I'm sure you meant to type one year of pay back per year of school paid. Don't want anybody getting their hopes up on 'easy air force' money.

Definitely.

Actually I think it's one year per year of school paid OR # of years in residency (doesn't matter whether it's civilian or not). Whichever ends up being more is the time commitment: So for example if you do IM for 3 years and had 4 years of school paid for you'd do 4 years of active service post residency. If you did ortho for 6 years and had 4 years of school paid for you would pay back 6 years back post residency because time spent in residency was longer... I think you can choose whether you want to do civilian residency or not but if you do residency through armed forces it will count toward your retirement years or years of service overall, however it will not count towards the years you are required to pay back. This was what was explained to us when recruiter spoke to our class... Hope this isn't news to you or that I'm wrong 😉

 

[SoCuteMD]

Actually I think it's one year per year of school paid OR # of years in residency (doesn't matter whether it's civilian or not). Whichever ends up being more is the time commitment: So for example if you do IM for 3 years and had 4 years of school paid for you'd do 4 years of active service post residency. If you did ortho for 6 years and had 4 years of school paid for you would pay back 6 years back post residency because time spent in residency was longer... I think you can choose whether you want to do civilian residency or not but if you do residency through armed forces it will count toward your retirement years or years of service overall, however it will not count towards the years you are required to pay back. This was what was explained to us when recruiter spoke to our class... Hope this isn't news to you or that I'm wrong 😉

Ummmm...it's time spent in residency IF you do a military residency. If you can manage a civilian deferment for a longer residency you don't have to pay the extra years back, just the original 4.

 

[MadameLULU]

The easiest way to get a full ride at my school is to not be of white or asian decent. In fact I think that all the "minorities" in my class have full scholarships.

There are 10 people who aren't minorities in each class who receive a Presidential scholarship equal to full tuition. I don't know of any in our class, but I do know of a couple in the third year class.

 

[potato51]

There are 10 people who aren't minorities in each class who receive a Presidential scholarship equal to full tuition. I don't know of any in our class, but I do know of a couple in the third year class.

I know a 4th year Caucasian at Baylor who has a scholarship for tuition and fees. But he/she has to stay in the top quartile in order to keep it.

 

[njbmd]

Two questions:
1. What field are you going into?
2. Are you a URM?

Out of a class of 110, four people received full-ride tuition scholarships upon entry. Only one, that was me, was an URM and I was not listed as a URM when the scholarship was awarded. Basis was solely incoming GPA and MCAT score. Other three folks were two caucasian and one asian.

 

[Dr. Josh]

Out of a class of 110, four people received full-ride tuition scholarships upon entry. Only one, that was me, was an URM and I was not listed as a URM when the scholarship was awarded. Basis was solely incoming GPA and MCAT score. Other three folks were two caucasian and one asian.

Congrats! Do you mind posting your incoming GPA and MCAT score?