What does it take to get a $40k/year or full tuition scholarship?

[Gauss44]

What does it take to get a $40k/year or full tuition scholarship?

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I'm guessing something like...

Top gpa like 3.8-4.0 and top MCAT like 35-45 (period).

or

Top MCAT, okay gpa, and something else (like distance traveled, other major accomplishment, diversity, etc.).

or

Top GPA, okay mcat, and something else (").

(All of the above assumes at least a typical extracurricular load, with typical volunteer work, etc.) Of course it may depend on the school...

FYI - I AM NOT A URM* for the sake of being relevant.

*Or not applying as one, long story short.

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[nabilesmail]

What does it take to get a $40k/year or full tuition scholarship?

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I'm guessing something like...

Top gpa like 3.8-4.0 and top MCAT like 35-45 (period).

or

Top MCAT, okay gpa, and something else (like distance traveled, other major accomplishment, diversity, etc.).

or

Top GPA, okay mcat, and something else (").

(All of the above assumes at least a typical extracurricular load, with typical volunteer work, etc.) Of course it may depend on the school...

top GPA top MCAT and strong leadership qualities- they want to offer scholarships to people that will impact healthcare so that their education gets the credit!

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

It takes a promise to spend four years after residency working in the armed forces branch of your choice.

 

[WhovianDO]

I secured a $30,000/year scholarship. No commitment to armed forces, but I do have to spend 4 years in a rural area, which is what I was going to do anyway.

My GPA and MCAT are far from "top"

 

[Dick Jones]

What does it take to get a $40k/year or full tuition scholarship?

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I'm guessing something like...

Top gpa like 3.8-4.0 and top MCAT like 35-45 (period).

or

Top MCAT, okay gpa, and something else (like distance traveled, other major accomplishment, diversity, etc.).

or

Top GPA, okay mcat, and something else (").

(All of the above assumes at least a typical extracurricular load, with typical volunteer work, etc.) Of course it may depend on the school...

I was offered more than one full tuition scholarship from different schools.... Because of my race/upbringing, I was a very "different" applicant... My mcat score an gpa weren't stellar.... Just play to your strengths and apply to schools where you match their mission

 

[Gauss44]

.

 

[QofQuimica]

There's no one thing that will guarantee you a scholarship. It's a matter of whether you're the kind of rock star applicant that med schools want to recruit. Adcoms give scholarships to people with a track record of success who they deem will be future leaders in medicine. So yes, it helps if you have stellar stats, but not everyone does. It helps if you come from a disadvantaged background and have succeeded in spite of that. It helps if you have strong service-oriented experience, especially if you combine that with strong leadership experience. (Raising the money to found a new free clinic is way more impressive than volunteering for a few hours per week at your local hospital, but volunteering consistently at your local hospital over a period of a few years is way more impressive than spending a week or two on a medical mission vacation in Latin America.) It helps if you have impressive accomplishments in the arts, sports, research, or any other field of endeavor.

In general, if you think about the kinds of people who inspire and amaze you, it will give you some idea of what impresses an adcom to the point that they want to pay that person to come to their school. An adcom is, after all, just a group of people.

 

[MilkIsGood]

be above average in everything, but not necessarily have to be a superstar in anything.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

One of the most socially awkward people I've ever met got a full ride to WashU SOM (the one in St. Louis) apparently based solely on strong numbers and research credentials. He is Chinese.

Schools definitely give out a lot of merit aid to URMs. I know of at least one school that has a policy of offering scholarships of some amount to every admitted URM.

 

[Mr Avante]

I had no idea this existed.
Keep them coming!

 

[mystifire]

.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I qualified for a full ride at my school because I applied disadvantaged and had a very low family AGI reported in my financial aid information

How low was that AGI?

 

[Ellie Arroway]

I put together $40k for this year from a 50/50 combination of school need-based scholarship and a small handful of outside foundation scholarships (competitive merit-based diversity scholarships). But I'm also OOS at a state school, so my total cost of attendance for first year is $81k. Makes that $40k look a little less impressive, lol.

 

[BigBear123]

...

 

[Gauss44]

I qualified for a full ride at my school because I applied disadvantaged and had a very low family AGI reported in my financial aid information

Just to get a sense of the requirements for the scholarship, are you a URM, and is this your state school or one that gives a regional preference?

I really appreciate the real life examples here.

 

[mystifire]

Just to get a sense of the requirements for the scholarship, are you a URM, and is this your state school or one that gives a regional preference?

I really appreciate the real life examples here.

PMed

 

[Dbate]

Go to MDapplicants and look up NickNaylor and Tots. They both received full tuition scholarships, if I am not mistaken.

You will need a 3.9+/40+ to have a shot.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

Go to MDapplicants and look up NickNaylor and Tots. They both received full tuition scholarships, if I am not mistaken.

You will need a 3.9+/40+ to have a shot.

There is also another person who got a full ride at BCM with a 4.0/35

 

[Dbate]

There is also another person who got a full ride at BCM with a 4.0/35

That's really surprising. A 4.0 seems like a dime a dozen in the premed applicant pool. And a 35 MCAT is only slightly above average for Baylor.

I guess this just goes to show you that stats aren't everything.

 

[Narmerguy]

Go to MDapplicants and look up NickNaylor and Tots. They both received full tuition scholarships, if I am not mistaken.

You will need a 3.9+/40+ to have a shot.

Eh, people have gotten scholarships with less. But I agree that the better your stats, the more scholarships you have a shot at.

 

[Temperature101]

One of the most socially awkward people I've ever met got a full ride to WashU SOM (the one in St. Louis) apparently based solely on strong numbers and research credentials. He is Chinese.

Schools definitely give out a lot of merit aid to URMs. I know of at least one school that has a policy of offering scholarships of some amount to every admitted URM.

Would mind sharing that school?

 

[gettheleadout]

Go to MDapplicants and look up NickNaylor and Tots. They both received full tuition scholarships, if I am not mistaken.

Also chronicidal, tsiana, and a number of other superstar SDNers.

 

[dahassa]

One of the most socially awkward people I've ever met got a full ride to WashU SOM (the one in St. Louis) apparently based solely on strong numbers and research credentials. He is Chinese.

Schools definitely give out a lot of merit aid to URMs. I know of at least one school that has a policy of offering scholarships of some amount to every admitted URM.

What schools give scholarship preferences to URM? I was pretty decent candidate, and I received only 1 partial scholarship offer from a school that gives money to almost every student. I didn't even get a scholarship from my state school even though my LizzyM score was a lot higher than the average. I personally don't know a single urm that got a full merit scholarship.

Most urm receive generous financial aid, because they tend to be from low income families.

 

[Mr Avante]

One of the most socially awkward people I've ever met got a full ride to WashU SOM (the one in St. Louis) apparently based solely on strong numbers and research credentials. He is Chinese.

Schools definitely give out a lot of merit aid to URMs. I know of at least one school that has a policy of offering scholarships of some amount to every admitted URM.

I qualified for a full ride at my school because I applied disadvantaged and had a very low family AGI reported in my financial aid information

My first year is going to be fully covered (tuition + cost of living) by the school I'm matriculating at...

Mind sharing the schools?😕

 

[AnthonyBourdain]

personally don't know a single urm that got a full merit scholarship.

.

A lot of URMs at my state school ended up with full rides to med school. Merit or not is still up in the air. They don't come right our and say, you're poor, here's a scholarship. It isn't very transparent. Sometimes, You never know if it was merit or not. You can guess though.I do know that overall URMs did better at getting scholarship money even though some of the non-URMs came from lower income backgrounds.


You applied to many top tier schools where it is strictly need based. Had you applied to some low tiers, you may have had more luck. Who knows.

Congrats on the cycle btw. You kicked some ass.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

What schools give scholarship preferences to URM? I was pretty decent candidate, and I received only 1 partial scholarship offer from a school that gives money to almost every student. I didn't even get a scholarship from my state school even though my LizzyM score was a lot higher than the average. I personally don't know a single urm that got a full merit scholarship.

Most urm receive generous financial aid, because they tend to be from low income families.

PDF page 60. http://louisville.edu/medschool/cur...e - U of Louisville 2013.pdf/at_download/file

The Medical School Admissions Office awards scholarships to incoming students based on academic merit, MD/PhD status, rural county of residence and minority status. The school has consistently given full or partial scholarships to all minority students. The Office of Admissions, Office of Medical Student Affairs and the Office of Minority and Rural Affairs/Diversity Initiatives have a process in place to provide scholarship assistance to disadvantaged and rural students. However, the most competitive students attracted to and nurtured by these programs are also highly desirable to other schools of medicine, and attract significant scholarship offers. The dual challenges of increasing tuition and reduced returns on SOM endowments have limited available scholarships and reduced our competitiveness for the best of the well-prepared applicants we are helping through our pipeline programs to enhance diversity.

 

[swallday6400]

The schools that give money consistently are the top schools. Like I know people who got accepted into Yale, Harvard, and UPenn this year. And all their scholarships were 200k+. I also believe these aren't urm based either. Yale and Harvard are both unit loan. UPenn just had a big gift towards its endowment so that is why so much free money was being given out to everyone this year.

 

[darkjedi]

It is pretty much completely random. Can depend on random merit things, but also need based, and varies enormously from school to school. Can depend on when you were accepted, if they over committed scholarships, or had some left over.

I was awarded near-full tuition scholarships even off a waitlist, with 'okay' compared to my peers. Honestly, you just never know and you can never bank on whether or not you will get aid from a particular school or not. At the very best, you can shop your awards from your acceptances, and sometimes they can work with you, though far from always.

 

[yehhhboiii]

ucla has a lot of money for scholarships now thanks to that huge donation

 

[annonymous819]

I secured a $30,000/year scholarship. No commitment to armed forces, but I do have to spend 4 years in a rural area, which is what I was going to do anyway.

My GPA and MCAT are far from "top"

Are their opportunities for this that don't require a person to commit to primary care?

 

[WhovianDO]

Are their opportunities for this that don't require a person to commit to primary care?

There are.

I don't suggest that you take any scholarship that makes you commit unless you're 100% sure you want that.

I am doing primary care in a rural area regardless. The commitment isn't a big deal for me at al.

 

[yehhhboiii]

Are their opportunities for this that don't require a person to commit to primary care?

you can commit to the military

There are.

I don't suggest that you take any scholarship that makes you commit unless you're 100% sure you want that.

I am doing primary care in a rural area regardless. The commitment isn't a big deal for me at al.

don't be so hasty. your attraction to the integumentary system may become more than skin deep

 

[Lambda Phage]

There are.

I don't suggest that you take any scholarship that makes you commit unless you're 100% sure you want that.

I am doing primary care in a rural area regardless. The commitment isn't a big deal for me at al.

Are there scholarships for individuals interested in specializing and serving the underserved?

 

[WhovianDO]

Are there scholarships for individuals interested in specializing and serving the underserved?

There are loan forgiveness programs, but not many support specialists, even in rural areas. I assume the reasoning is that specialists will be better able to afford the student loan repayments than will a PCP in a rural area.

 

[Classof2013PreM]

I'm just one applicant, but I was fortunate enough to receive a merit scholarship (not quite 40K a year, but close) at a top 20 school. My application consisted of a GPA ~3.7 from a top 5 undergrad, MCAT 40+, solid EC's, and a great interview (best one of my season by far).

 

[swallday6400]

I know university of Iowa is very generous to out of state students who get accepted like 40k+. However, they are ranked highly so I'm guessing its hard to get in. Vanderbilt is another that comes to mind that gives a lot of students 75% tuition scholarships. Mayo is generous too but is getting to be less so especially last cycle.

 

[einstein1990]

I got 29k/year and my stats are by no means impressive (check my MD apps). 13k of it was financial need based, though.

 

[swallday6400]

I got 29k/year and my stats are by no means impressive (check my MD apps). 13k of it was financial need based, though.

Still big congrats. However, I know three people who got accepted to Iowa: one got 40k, another 48k, and someone else who is Urm above 40k all out of state. But not trying to offend, its pretty impressive you got that much money with your stats since it is alittle below average which kinda proves my point (http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/md/profile/). I'm assuming the others had higher mcat/gpa or urm status to boot.

 

[Lil Mick]

MD/PhD students get full tuition and usually a stipend. All uniformed service students and military scholarship students have full tuition. Military financial aid from previous service can also help with tuition, though this may not cover all of the expenses if the school has particularly high tuition.

The other students I've known who received scholarships usually had outstanding MCAT/GPA/leadership. Some schools also give out more financial aid than other schools...