Merit scholarships for non-trads

[blee]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I suspect I know the answer to this question, but I'll ask anyway. 🙂

Are there any non-trads out there who were offered some amount of money based on merit *despite* having a subpar undergrad record? In other words, could a high MCAT score and a high post-bacc GPA make up for an old and unattractive undergrad transcript?

My guess: no. Too many students, nowhere near enough money at most schools. But it would be nice to keep the hope alive nonetheless.

 

[QofQuimica]

I would not describe my undergrad record as being "subpar," but it was definitely impossible to evaluate in the normal sense b/c of there being no grades, GPA, or credit hours for it. So I don't know if my experience is really what you're looking for, because I'm honestly not sure whether the schools considered my undergrad record as a "blank slate" that they mainly ignored, or whether they saw it as a "subpar record" that I had overcome with a strong graduate record and MCAT score. But FWIW, I was offered scholarships at a few schools in spite of having no undergraduate numbers whatsoever.

Edit: Just to clarify, my undergrad transcript is basically a list of the courses that I took and passed, in random order. So the med schools can see, for example, that I took something called General Chemistry with lab, and that it lasted two full semesters, but that's the only information my transcript provides. The medical schools would have no way of knowing whether I took one class per semester or twenty, which classes I took when (and my college did let us skip pre-reqs with the professor's permission), or even whether I had failed a class. I didn't ever fail any classes, but if I had, the college simply would just not list them on the transcript, and it would be like those classes never existed.

That being said, we did get narrative evaluations, and I copied the ones for my pre-med courses and sent those to the med schools. The NEs explain what we covered in the course, and describe my performance and my work ethic. (It's funny to go back and read ten years later that my professors were all so impressed that I always came to class and turned in my HW on time! ) My NEs ranged from saying that my work was average (physics, biology,) to above average (biochem, literature) to saying that I was the top student in the class (calculus, gen chem, organic). It's kind of like every prof wrote a little LOR, some of them painstakingly detailed down to how I performed on each question on the final, and many of them a bit too critical for me to enjoy showing them to outsiders like med school adcoms. But they are all I have, so....

 

[omores]

Like QofQ, I have a undergrad transcript with no grades on it, but with detailed narrative evals. Unlike her, I had not a single undergrad science class to my name -- the comments descibe in detail my use of varnish and my highhat technique (major in art with a minor in percussion).

So the only markers of my academic performance were my post-bacc GPA and my MCAT score -- though I think my ugrad degree bought me some "diversity" points. And yes, this was enough to get my tuition covered, thank heavens. There's always reason for hope.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Like QofQ, I have a undergrad transcript with no grades on it, but with detailed narrative evals. Unlike her, I had not a single undergrad science class to my name -- the comments descibe in detail my use of varnish and my highhat technique (major in art with a minor in percussion).

So the only markers of my academic performance were my post-bacc GPA and my MCAT score -- though I think my ugrad degree bought me some "diversity" points. And yes, this was enough to get my tuition covered, thank heavens. There's always reason for hope.

This is becoming an interesting thread...

So, to both of you: Do you know what your scholarship was based upon, if not GPA? Did you have really high MCAT scores? I'm now curious, because I was thinking along the lines of the OP that there would be no way to qualify for any scholarships as a non-trad.

Thanks,

Jota

 

[omores]

In my case, I did manage to rack up a really high post-bacc GPA and MCAT. Yet at my school, plenty of folks have stellar numbers but did not get any merit money. I think what really made the difference was my extreme non-traditionalness (and how I spun it). My aim was to convince adcoms that a 10-year stint as a painter and diner waitress was the best possible preparation for a career in medicine.

My application seemed to have a polarizing effect on schools: I was either rejected pre-interview, or accepted with a scholarship.

Good luck everybody!

 

[QofQuimica]

This is becoming an interesting thread...

So, to both of you: Do you know what your scholarship was based upon, if not GPA? Did you have really high MCAT scores? I'm now curious, because I was thinking along the lines of the OP that there would be no way to qualify for any scholarships as a non-trad.

Thanks,

Jota

Yes, and I also have two graduate school GPAs. My MS GPA was a 3.5, and I'm finishing my PhD in organic chemistry this semester with a 4.0 GPA. I scored 43 on the MCAT.

However, I think it is wrong to conclude that people get awarded scholarships primarily based on their stats. I'm not saying that my GPA and MCAT didn't help, but good stats are definitely not *sufficient.* You'd be amazed how many applicants there are out there with 3.8+ GPAs and 35+ MCAT scores. There are literally HUNDREDS of them. I've personally met dozens on the interview trail. So you have to have strong stats, AND you have to have something else that makes you a unique addition to the class. The people I know who have received scholarships tend to be highly accomplished people in many areas. I've met applicants who are professional athletes, symphony orchestra players, people who've done amazing research and volunteering in this country or abroad, etc. Many of these people are traditional-aged students who manage to do all of this while still keeping an A average in a full load of college courses and smoking the MCAT.

There, in my opinion, lies the difficulty for many non-trads. If you're supporting a family or staying home to raise your children#, you aren't going to be able to spend 80 hours per week working in the lab, build rural health clinics in Bangladesh, or play minor league baseball. But you're competing for a very limited pool of money against younger applicants with equally good or better stats than yours who don't have families, and who *are* doing these kinds of things. The med schools aren't inherently biased against older students in my experience, but they don't give you any breaks for being older, either. If anything, the expectations of you are higher, because you're *supposed* to be more accomplished as a more mature, experienced person in comparison to a 21-year-old.

# I want to make clear that I am in no way meaning to denigrate those of you who choose to stay home and raise children, because you have my utmost respect for that decision. Unfortunately, it's tough to list "stay-at-home-parent" as an EC on AMCAS, and there isn't anyone who can write a LOR to tell the med schools about how great of a parent you are. 🙁

 

[njbmd]

I suspect I know the answer to this question, but I'll ask anyway. 🙂

Are there any non-trads out there who were offered some amount of money based on merit *despite* having a subpar undergrad record? In other words, could a high MCAT score and a high post-bacc GPA make up for an old and unattractive undergrad transcript?

My guess: no. Too many students, nowhere near enough money at most schools. But it would be nice to keep the hope alive nonetheless.

Hi there,
There is nothing to stop you from doing well in medical school and picking up a merit scholarship after your first year. Borrowing money to pay for one year is certainly a lot better than having to borrow for four years.

While I received a scholarship as an incoming student, many of my classmates received scholarships and awards after first year for good performance. A couple of students lost scholarships after the first year because they were not able to maintain the grades required by the scholarship.

Having a high incoming GPA and MCAT score is by no means a guarantee that you are going to do well in medical school. You are dead even with everyone else in your class and you have the same opportunity to do well. Aim high, study hard and study smart. You are the only person that you are in competition with. If you have done well, you will be contacted by the dean or the office of financial aid for a merit-based scholarship.

njbmd 🙂

 

[captainbsm]

Hi there,
There is nothing to stop you from doing well in medical school and picking up a merit scholarship after your first year. Borrowing money to pay for one year is certainly a lot better than having to borrow for four years.

While I received a scholarship as an incoming student, many of my classmates received scholarships and awards after first year for good performance. A couple of students lost scholarships after the first year because they were not able to maintain the grades required by the scholarship.

Having a high incoming GPA and MCAT score is by no means a guarantee that you are going to do well in medical school. You are dead even with everyone else in your class and you have the same opportunity to do well. Aim high, study hard and study smart. You are the only person that you are in competition with. If you have done well, you will be contacted by the dean or the office of financial aid for a merit-based scholarship.

njbmd 🙂

I agree, actually that is what I am counting on when I get into medical school. A professor at Vandy told me the exact same thing.