How likely is it to get a scholarship at an MD school? What factors do they take into account when extending a scholarship offer? Is it just having a high GPA and MCAT? Is it based on your experiences? Is it based on your family income?
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It's less likely than gaining an acceptance to an MD school. Work your hardest to get in, and if you're lucky and exceptional, a scholarship may follow.
Depends what you mean by "scholarship". There is need-based aid, which is based entirely off family income. Then there are restricted merit scholarships that target particular groups, like women or minorities. Then at a lot of schools there are general merit scholarships, which are used to recruit and boost yield on superstars that will likely have other attractive options. Superstar usually means high stats and impressive in other areas.
I also got a hefty scholarship. My scholarship had distinguished in the title. I don't have amazing stats what so ever. I think I just got the school mission well with my past work with underserved communities. It all depends on the school.
Schools give out a mix of need-based and merit-based aid. The need-based aid is based on how much your parents make - you're still tied to them until you're like 30 or so I think, depending on the school. Merit-based aid is based on not only GPA and MCAT but how much a school wants you. If the school thinks that you'll be in high demand and they want you there, they'll extend you a merit scholarship and see if you bite. There's no automatic numeric threshold where if you're above that threshold you get an automatic scholarship - that I know of, anyway. So the key is to be a strong applicant that is highly desirable, which is what you should be aiming for regardless.
