Merit Based Medical School Scholarships

[MarcusAureliusoftheUS]

I am really inquiring about the University of Kentucky and Louisville medical schools as they are where I am considering going, but any information on other schools merit-base scholarship systems would be helpful. My question is, what qualities do medical students possess that allow them to get scholarships when you are NOT from an underrepresented demographic? MCAT Scores? GPA? Research in Undergrad? etc.

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[DermViser]

All of the above.

 

[sazerac]

The medical school scholarship process is so opaque, random, and misappropriated that it makes medical school admissions appear straightforward and deterministic.

I've gotten several scholarships where I clearly do not in any way meet the criteria established for them by the donors. Basically the school decides through some black magic that they want some students to have a lower tuition than others, and then they bend any rules to see that the money gets where they want it to go. This process somewhat disturbs me because I myself have given strings-attached donations to educational institutions in the past, and now I have serious doubts that my own wishes have been followed.

Despite the inherent unfairness of people like me getting scholarships they neither need nor deserve, I cash them checks instead of returning them. Make of that what you will.

 

[compstomper]

I am really inquiring about the University of Kentucky and Louisville medical schools as they are where I am considering going, but any information on other schools merit-base scholarship systems would be helpful. My question is, what qualities do medical students possess that allow them to get scholarships when you are NOT from an underrepresented demographic? MCAT Scores? GPA? Research in Undergrad? etc.

Some schools do not make clear the distinction between merit and needs based/other types of scholarships. i.e., a scholarship/grant would have a generic name without specifying the exact criteria of eligibility. What I did was leverage my acceptances to multiple schools once the multiple acceptance report came out in the spring. This worked for me as several schools offered me scholarships (but some schools flat out said no, understandably so).

For scholarships that are explicitly merit based, they can depend on any one or a combination thereof of the 3 factors you listed.

 

[MarcusAureliusoftheUS]

Well Thanks for the information. I guess the exact *numbers* answers I want are not out there, or at the least, very hard to find.