There is no doubt about it, medical school is expensive. Even most state schools have tuition bills of at least 15K per semester. When you add in fees, books, and living expenses, you can understand why many premeds wonder if there are any scholarships available for medical school students.

Unfortunately, there aren’t. Most scholarship granters view medical students as people with high future earning power who will be able to pay off their loans. Therefore they would rather spend their money on other things. However, there are a few things you can do to minimize your loan burden.

What You Can Do

Speak to Your Premed Adviser About Medical School Scholarships

Occasionally there are scholarships available to students from a certain undergraduate institution given by alumnae of that institution. Your premed adviser should be in the best place to know about those.

Work Hard as a Premed.

Although they do not advertise it, there are a select few medical school that have a couple of academic scholarships to use as recruitment tools. Proceed with the application process as you normally would and try and do your best. You will find out if a school wants to use such a recruitment incentive when they accept you. Don’t get your hopes up too high though, though, since this is a very rare occurrence.

Don’t Limit Your Application list to State Schools

While state schools may seem cheaper at first, they often have less scholarship or grant money to give to students. Sometimes a higher tuition school may be able to give you more grant money from their endowment, resulting in a lower tuition bill. Once you are finished with the application process and have your acceptances in hand speak to the financial aid officers at schools that accepted you. Work with them to find out what they can have to offer you. You might be surprised.

Think Outside the Box

While no scholarship is specifically geared towards medical students there are some that do not omit them. The Paul and Daisy Soros Scholarship for new Americans, for instance, will cover medical school fees. Get creative!