Is there anyway to get your college/ medical school paid for if you are dedicated to a specific cause?
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You may want to investigate the National Health Services Corps (which focuses on bringing doctors to underserved communities), which seems to be in line with your ambitions. Alternatively, if you are interest in research as well as practicing medicine, there are number of MD/PhD programs that have a certain number of slots for which they offer free tuition and a stipend. Not all such programs offer these benefits and they are quite competitive. Good luck in pursuing your goals. (I have a daughter who shares your ambition and currently is applying to medical schools.)
Go to a Native American reservation, sometimes they'll pay for medical career if you agree to give them years of service after you graduate.
Ask at the medical college you're attending or plan to attend and see if they have or know of any grants you can apply for.
Nothing's free in America. A good way to get a free medical education is to join the military and become a nurse or a doctor and then continue educating yourself throughout your service. You're risking your life and you'll probably go to Iraq but that's the only way I can imagine you getting ANYTHING free, and its a way to use your dedication towards humanity to help heal casualties, enemy and friendly, across the ocean. Once your service is up (usually about 4 years) you can blend back into civilian society and get a job otherwise.
Do it if you are very determined and you are CERTAIN no scholarships and government grants apply to you (have you looked into whether where you work offers a scholarship, or talked to a school counselor about anything you can get that meets your needs).
Look for loan forgiveness programs for medical students/doctors. They usually require a particular length of service for each chunk of money they put toward your student loan debt. Maybe your cause will line up with one of theirs and you can get some moola.
There are tons of scholarships that go unclaimed each year. Many $400, $500 or $1000 scholarships never even get applied for because people think it's chump change and not worth applying for. Well, get a few of those $500 scholarships and it'll really make a dent in your tuition bill.
People make the mistake of looking for one big scholarship to pay for everything when they should be targeting smaller scholarships that are more regionalized or specialized to their intended field or reflect something unique about them (son of Italian policeman, daughter of registered nurse, etc). Everybody goes for the big scholarships, the competition for those is much higher and your chances are smaller of getting it. Research and apply for anything and everything you are close to being eligible for no matter how small the scholarship.
Do a search on scholarships, search your major, your ethnic heritage, your town, your parents employers, your employer, hobbies, high school, local Chamber of Commerce/Rotary/ Lion's Club etc. Left-handed? There is a scholarship out there for you! Older woman returning to school? There are scholarships out there for you. Do combined searches on more than one criteria "hispanic women aviation scholarships" etc.
Go to the library and ask the reference librarian for a reference book on scholarships. They usually have more than one. There are all kinds of scholarships out there, you just have to start applying yourself and make it your summer career to send out letters everyday for scholarships. Good luck!
I have heard that Alaska sometimes pays for schooling. Look into it. You would have to practice there for a while. It is on contract.
You might consider, for example, joining the Peace Corps in a program that brings medical help to a third-world country.
But BE CAREFUL and make sure the particular country and program for which you volunteer is SUSTAINABLE AID, "bought into" by the country's officials and aid recipients, and having a DEFINITE ENDING DATE to avoid the program becoming a never-ending Aid Empire. Unfortunately, only about a third of Peace Corps programs (at most) really satisfy this requirement.
How will this help? You'll meet many health workers at all levels on the international scene, and your resume will look great, if and when to decide to go to medical school. The contacts are the most important benefit, however.
Be really cautious about letting romantic stars blind your practical vision of the medical career you choose... For example, many nurses, and even doctors, find out way too late this is just too hard, and quit in despair. That's where the contacts come in... Their advice is precious to you.
Good Luck!
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