== Schools With Merit Scholarships ==

[Centinel]

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I think it'd be useful to have a thread that details which schools have merit scholarships.

Vanderbilt - 20 (full-tuition, if I understand correctly) scholarships are given per year.

Anyone have other schools that can be added so we can make a list?

 

[Shredder]

i dont think ppl should sell their souls to schools based on a few 10k here and there. i strongly regret doing it for college. i think ppl should just go where they want to go, money be damned. there are options for financing. its recuperated in due time anyway. my $0.02

 

[spoon]

Penn - ~10 full-tuition, some partial-tuition per year
Vanderbilt - 20 (full-tuition, if I understand correctly) scholarships are given per year.

Anyone have other schools that can be added so we can make a list?

 

[sandg]

Schools I interviewed at last year that have at least some form of merit money: Penn and Vandy (as mentioned), Pitt, Case Western, Ohio State, WashU, Michigan.

I wouldn't completely dismiss financial considerations in choosing a school if you are lucky enough to have a choice. It shouldn't be the whole story, but it shouldn't be left out either IMHO.

 

[GoodEats]

shouldn't be left out, but the more i think about it, the more i believe that money should play a lesser role than i was first considering. probably swayed some by my growing desire to get out of state, though...

 

[QofQuimica]

Cost is a huge concern for me. Medical education is an investment, to be sure, but if you're hoping to reap the maximum dividends from it, you'd best keep your costs to invest as low as you can. 😉

 

[MollyMalone]

Penn - ~10 full-tuition, some partial-tuition per year
Mayo - every student gets some scholarship support, ~10 full-tuition scholarships per year
Vanderbilt - 20 (full-tuition, if I understand correctly) scholarships are given per year.

Doing my little part to add to the list. Ahh, Mayo. 😍 🙂

 

[Shredder]

Cost is a huge concern for me. Medical education is an investment, to be sure, but if you're hoping to reap the maximum dividends from it, you'd best keep your costs to invest as low as you can. 😉

thats true, however its undermined by the fact that not all degrees are created equal. even if the education is equal, the prestige and avenues opened up are not. the peers as well. so its my view that it should take a sizeable sum of money to sway a school decision--upwards of 100k, probably 200k even. but i wouldnt do it for even that much

 

[GoodEats]

yeah, i interviewed with one doctor who seemed pretty bitter on the price of medical education. she said that when she entered school, medicine was still at its peak of earnings, so she heard a lot of "don't worry about the cost, you'll pay it off in no time!" she came out as the industry went in decline somewhat and found a bunch of loans staring her in the face. when i asked her to basically give me advice with her benefit of hindsight, she told me to minimize the amount of debt i entered into. she said that i could go ahead and stay in state for med school, and then head out for residency as then i'll be making some (not much, but some) money.

not a bad idea, but i'd love to live on one coast for school and then another for residency. no use worrying about it now...gonna have to wait till spring to see how finances shake out (after acceptances, which follow those invites which are still taking their time coming in).

 

[amberm4]

In my local community, there were a group of general practice/internists who joined a corporation to make it easier to purchase equipment for their office, hire personnel etc. The corporation has folded and there are two doctors in bankruptcy. No, money is NOT like it used to be in the world of physicians. I'm not doing it for the money - I WANT to be a primary care physician. But that means I have to keep my debt as low as possible.

 

[QofQuimica]

thats true, however its undermined by the fact that not all degrees are created equal. even if the education is equal, the prestige and avenues opened up are not. the peers as well. so its my view that it should take a sizeable sum of money to sway a school decision--upwards of 100k, probably 200k even. but i wouldnt do it for even that much

I realize that my views seem to be in the minority around here ( ), but here are my reasons for wanting to go to school as cheaply as possible: One is that I'll be paying for medical school completely by my lonesome. The school may decide that Mom and Dad should fork over a chunk of change when they calculate my financial aid, but Mom and Dad in my case are getting ready to semi-retire, and they aren't going to be able to afford spending a quarter of a million dollars putting me through school. So whatever I can't get as a grant, I'll be borrowing. Second is the fact that I'm ten years older than a lot of you are, which, assuming that we all retire at around the same age, means that I lose out on a decade of earning my post-MD salary and I have that much less time to pay back the debt. Finally, as an academic researcher, my salary, while it will be high compared to the majority of the population, is not going to be comparable to someone who goes into a superspecialty. So I'm not going to have the disposable income that some of you will have, either. I'm not saying any of this to complain, because I'm choosing the path that is right for me. But I just want to make clear why money is such an important consideration for me. Shredder, if you go and become CEO of a hospital or an HMO with your MD/MBA, don't forget about all of your friends here on SDN. 😉

 

[sunnyjohn]

Q,

I'm with you.

I"ll take the loans if I have too, but if I can get scholarship and grant money, I'll grab fist fulls!

With no loans you could buy a nice house or investment property, take better vacations and invest more of your earnings during residency.


How cool would it be to finish residency and owe nothing!

For non-trads I think it becomes even more of an issue.
😛

 

[catalystman]

without a doubt!!! When I do apply the school that gives me the best price is where I will be!

Ps... I know I will blast the boards at any school🙂

 

[panorama]

I agree! I think pre-meds should spend more time doing research on what life is like after starting med school, during residency and in the real world. Start figuring out now what you really want out of life and how you can achieve that.
Debt sucks period. I'll be trying to minimize mine as much as i can (That's what every resident and doctor will tell you) Great docs come out of every medical school.
good luck to all who have the luxury of choice!

 

[LadyBulldog]

i heard Pitt started making pre-interview 4 year full tuition scholarship offers (?)

 

[45408]

UWisc said that they give out a number of them (no more than 20, IIRC, but I don't know exactly how many), up to almost a full-ride for in-state applicants. They're automatically given out based on your undergrad performance (MCAT, GPA, or both).

 

[Kateroni18]

i heard Pitt started making pre-interview 4 year full tuition scholarship offers (?)

Pitt offers "several" full-tuition scholarships for students interested in academic medicine, but not MD/PhD or CSTP. Anyone who gets an interview gets invited to apply for the scholarship (at least that's how it's been the last few years). They're called merit scholarships, but your grades don't actually have to be that stellar to get one. This year 7 people got the scholarship.

Btw, Pitt rules 🙂

Kateroni18 (Pitt MS1)

 

[DeadorAlive]

I'm actually interested in getting folks' opinions: would you choose significant grant money to attend a school, ie. pick based on cost, or pick based on reputation or fit for you? I'm assuming that no one would drop their dream school to save $$ but if the schools are relatively similar? Or if one is only slightly higher on your list?

I ask because this has been a raging (and completely hypothetical) debate around these parts lately. Just curious!

For me, for undergrad, it wouldn't have swayed me: there was one school i wanted, i got in, i went. For med school though... I feel like I would go where the money is. How about you?

 

[DrBowtie]

I'm actually interested in getting folks' opinions: would you choose significant grant money to attend a school, ie. pick based on cost, or pick based on reputation or fit for you? I'm assuming that no one would drop their dream school to save $$ but if the schools are relatively similar? Or if one is only slightly higher on your list?

I ask because this has been a raging (and completely hypothetical) debate around these parts lately. Just curious!

For me, for undergrad, it wouldn't have swayed me: there was one school i wanted, i got in, i went. For med school though... I feel like I would go where the money is. How about you?

I was opposite. I knew that I was going to have atleast 80K debt for med school so I took the cash for undergrad. I think for med school there is much more to gain by going to your school of choice than undergrad.

 

[dajimmers]

I was opposite. I knew that I was going to have atleast 80K debt for med school so I took the cash for undergrad. I think for med school there is much more to gain by going to your school of choice than undergrad.

I took the cash for undergrad as well, and it hasn't hurt me yet. Of course, I have no acceptances to back that up, yet. Not sure what I'd do about $$ and medschool yet, I'll have to wait till I'm accepted to start thinking about what I'd do for each school, based on money. It is one of many concerns for me, but not the top.