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Top 53 Medical School Scholarships in October 2022
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, doctors are among the highest paid professionals, earning over $200,000 per year on average. However, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average medical school student will also accumulate roughly $250,000 in student loan debt. So, while doctors can expect to earn a high salary, many prospective medical students must rely heavily on medical school scholarships to finance their education.
Jump ahead to…
- Top medical school scholarships
- How to win medical school scholarships
- Need-based financial aid in med school
- Frequently asked questions
- Explore these additional scholarship categories
Top 53 Medical School Scholarships in October 2022
The Scholarships360 Research Team reviews all scholarships individually and strives to exclude any scholarship where any of the below applies:
- The scholarship requires a fee to apply
- The scholarship provider’s privacy policy allows for the misuse of student data
- The scholarship requires paid membership in an organization (with certain exceptions for reputable trade organizations and others)
- Student are required to sign up for a site or service to apply*
- The scholarship seems primarily used for lead generation** or idea harvesting purposes***
- The scholarship website has many grammatical errors and/or advertisements
- The scholarship or scholarship providing organization seem untrustworthy
- There is no evidence the scholarship was previously awarded
- The scholarship has not been awarded in the past 12 months
- There is no available contact information
If you believe a scholarship has been published in error, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll take a look!
* There are certain exceptions to this, for example if the sponsoring organization is a major corporation or nonprofit with its own scholarship application system.
** Lead generation scholarships will require students to sign up for an app or website and require minimal (if any) application requirements.
***Idea harvesting scholarships will require students to submit blog posts or other materials that companies may use for marketing purposes.
“Tuition Solution” Scholarship for STEM Students
Scholarships360 Exclusive
Open to current high school seniors and current university students pursuing or planning to pursue a STEM degree.
Annual Prevounce Preventive Health Scholarship Program
Offered by Prevounce
Open to high school seniors, college, and graduate students pursuing a career in healthcare, medicine, nursing, and public health
Vince’s Pre-Veterinary Student Scholarship
Offered by Vince Kotchian Test Prep
Open to undergraduate students enrolled in a pre-veterinary or animal science program in the U.S.
L. Dwight Schwartz Travel Scholarship
Offered by American Association of Avian Pathologists
Open to students enrolled in a DVM/VMD program at an AVMA-accredited college of veterinary medicine.
Armenian American Medical Society Scholarship
Offered by Armenian American Medical Society
Armenian students enrolled in a U.S. healthcare program who are actively involved in community service to benefit the Armenian community.
SMART Scholarship Program
Offered by U.S. Department of Defense
Open to postsecondary students studying one of SMART's 21 approved STEM disciplines.
APhA Foundation Student Scholarships
Offered by American Pharmacists Association
Open to pharmacy school students who have completed at least one year of courses.
VSTONE Scholar Award
Offered by Veterinary Scholarship Trust of New England
Open to New England residents in their final year of their AVMA-accredited veterinary school or college program.
$2,000 Nitro College Scholarship – No Essay
Sponsored
Easy scholarship open to all high school, college, community and graduate students.
Niche $2,000 “No Essay” College Scholarship
Sponsored
Open to all high school and college students.
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How to win medical school scholarships
Remember, finding scholarship opportunities is only half of the task involved in earning funds for your education. Once you’ve found some good fits from our list, it’s time to start applying. Before you begin your applications, sit down and do some reflection to decide what approach you’ll take. Ask yourselves some questions and write down the answers with no regard to grammar, word limits, or anything like that; just get them out on the page to pull from as you begin to write. Here are a few questions you might ask:
- When did I first become interested in medicine?
- What change do I hope to make in the world through my career as a doctor?
- When have I demonstrated skills that indicate my potential as a future doctor?
- Where do I see myself in 10 years?
You can also try asking these questions to your friends, family, and other trusted adults. Oftentimes, they have some insight into your past accomplishments that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.
Writing your essays
Writing scholarship essays is an art, and we are here to teach you how to do it as efficiently as possible. We have guides to help with every aspect, such as starting your essay, writing to a 250 or 500 word limit, and answering the common prompt, “Why do you deserve this scholarship?”. Here are a few more articles to help you out:
- How to write an essay about yourself
- “Show, Don’t Tell” essay primer
- How to write a winning scholarship essay
Need-based financial aid for medical school
Medical school students can also apply for need based financial aid to pay for their M.D. There are two main applications that students should know about when thinking about need-based financial aid:
- FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid is how financial aid from the federal government is awarded, which includes federal student loans.
- CSS Profile is a financial aid application offered by the College Board. The CSS Profile is how some medical schools will award institutional financial aid, which can include grants, scholarships, and student loans. Yale School of Medicine is one medical school that uses the CSS Profile for both scholarships and Yale student loans.
Students who need even more financial aid can consider private student loans. Remember, these private loans should be a last resort as they may have higher interest rates and less flexible repayment options than loans from the federal government.
Frequently asked questions
Can doctors qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
Doctors who work in a non-profit or public sector and make regular loan payments for ten years should be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This would mean that any remaining federal loan balance after those ten years would be forgiven; they would never have to repay it.
It’s worth noting that PSLF has a notoriously strict set of rules for eligibility, so if you plan to take advantage of the program, be sure to educate yourself on all of the stipulations to ensure that you fulfill them.
Also see: How to get PSLF as a healthcare worker
Can you use the Pell Grant to pay for medical school?
Only undergraduate students are eligible for the Pell Grant, so although you can use it to pay for a pre-med education, you won’t be able to use it for med school.
