Question about Merit Scholarships

[pete0643]

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I am in the position that I will have to have scholarships, already owe $200,000 in loans for undergrad and grad education (ugh!), to finance my medical education. Basically, without significant scholarships I will not be able to attend. When I apply to medical, the school that offers the best "deal" will be where I have to attend.

For those of you that received significant scholarships to attend med school, how did it happen? Did you mention your need for scholarships during interviews? Did you know you would be receiving x amount of dollars before you decided on attending a school? I'm just wondering how this works.

Pete

 

[2008orbust]

Hi pete. everyone in here is still trying to get into school, so we really don't have the specific answers you are looking for. Sorry, James

 

[DrMidlife]

Hi pete. everyone in here is still trying to get into school, so we really don't have the specific answers you are looking for. Sorry, James

Not true. Just wait for the nontraditional med students and residents who got scholarships and do read this forum (such as njbmd) to respond.

I will speculate that the answer depends on how compelling a candidate you are.

Best of luck to you.

 

[QofQuimica]

I am in the position that I will have to have scholarships, already owe $200,000 in loans for undergrad and grad education (ugh!), to finance my medical education. Basically, without significant scholarships I will not be able to attend. When I apply to medical, the school that offers the best "deal" will be where I have to attend.

For those of you that received significant scholarships to attend med school, how did it happen? Did you mention your need for scholarships during interviews? Did you know you would be receiving x amount of dollars before you decided on attending a school? I'm just wondering how this works.

Pete

There are two kinds of aid for med school: loans and free money. Free money can either be grants (usually need-based) or merit scholarships. Merit scholarships are given out to stellar candidates for exactly the reasons that you would expect. There are way fewer merit scholarships than there are deserving candidates, and thus you absolutely, positively should NOT count on receiving one, even if you believe that you are a top candidate. Depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for need-based aid. In particular if you are over age 30, the school may agree to consider you to be financially independent and will only look at your income and not your family's. Some schools will still consider your family's income no matter how old you (and they) are, and of course if you are married, then your spouse's income will be counted as well. You will receive your financial aid package in the spring from each school that has accepted you, and this will happen before the May 15 traffic date, assuming that you are accepted during the regular season and not last-minute off the wait list.

My advice to you is to apply right now without worrying about cost. Many private schools that are very expensive give more financial aid than your ostensibly cheaper state schools will, and you may find that it is cheaper in the long run to go to a private school. I think that your plan to go to the cheapest possible school is a good one. However, do NOT mention the money issue in your app or during your interview, because frankly, if you don't get accepted to that school, they don't give a flying rip about your financial situation. You don't want to start talking about dollars when they're still trying to decide if they even want you at all. Once you've been accepted somewhere, and especially if you get accepted to multiple schools, THEN you are in more of a position to bargain. The best case scenario would occur if even one school offers you a scholarship; then your ability to ask other schools to match them will be very strong, and you will possibly be able to go to med school for free on a merit scholarship. But again, you cannot count on this happening, as only a few very lucky people will find themselves in this enviable position.

to you. 🙂

 

[Captain Fantastic]

There are also many "forgiveness" loan programs that allow you to pay with time instead of money. The military is the most well-known, but there are others. My state, for example, will lend you $25,000 a year in a one-for-one trade. Every year you take the money is a year you owe them in primary care in an underserved county. The nice thing is that most of the state is underserved, which leaves one a lot of options as to where one can decide to practice and pay-back the loan (the county with the medical school and teaching hospital is underserved -- go figure).

Some group practices have a loan repayment benefit, where basically for every year you're with the group they'll pay a portion of your loans ($10K, $25K, etc.). This is highly variable.

Anyway, there are creative ways to pay for medical education, especially if you're willing to saddle yourself with a time-in-service obligation.

 

[efex101]

I was offered merit scholarships from the school w/o asking. I was notified via snail mail.

 

[limpkitty]

Also, you can apply for a national service health scholarship. They pay for you're med school in return for practicing primary care for 3 years in an underserved community. My mom did this to pay for medical school and worked in an indian hospital

 

[njbmd]

I am in the position that I will have to have scholarships, already owe $200,000 in loans for undergrad and grad education (ugh!), to finance my medical education. Basically, without significant scholarships I will not be able to attend. When I apply to medical, the school that offers the best "deal" will be where I have to attend.

For those of you that received significant scholarships to attend med school, how did it happen? Did you mention your need for scholarships during interviews? Did you know you would be receiving x amount of dollars before you decided on attending a school? I'm just wondering how this works.

Pete

I was offered a scholarship money at all except one school. I ended up attending the school that offered a full-ride tuition. This was based on my incoming GPA/MCAT but I had to maintain a high GPA in order to keep my scholarship from year to year.

I filled out every financial aid form that the schools sent me and included my parental information even though I hadn't lived under my parents roof in 30 years. In the end, being anal about filling out those forms helped.

My awards and offers were included in my acceptance letters or were sent within a week of my acceptance letters. At this point, I am happy with my decision as to the medical school that I attended and have very little to pay back.