Trying to help DS senior pick colleges

<p>Hello,
My sons ultimate goal is to go to Med School at University of Washington. We are Alaska residents so the least expensive undergrad is University of Alaska. He is looking at Biochemistry as a major.</p>

<p>As an out of state student U of Washington is about $45,000 per year wow they don't participate in the WUE Western undergraduate exchange which gives a tuition break to out of state students.</p>

<p>Will going to Our state university hurt his chances of getting into medical school? </p>

<p>Should he try to go to a better undergrad out of state? or do 2 years at University of Alaska and transfer to University of Washington to finish undergrad to save money?</p>

<p>I want to lead him in the right direction as I feel he is choosing the local university to save us money so we can help pay for med school later.
I appreciate any suggestions.
Kelli in AK</p>

<p>I am just wondering why he wants to go to u of Washington? If it is because you think it will help it get into there medical school easier that is not necessarily the case. If I was your son I would go to the best school he can get into and he can afford. Also if you don’t apply you won’t know how much scholarships and financial aid you can get so that you can afford the school.</p>

<p>He should go to the instate option, get the highest grades and mcat scores to make a successful application. It seems that medical schools don’t care where you went to undergraduate school. It will be a godsend to be able to reduce the med school loans. Go to the Medical School forums to read more.
[Pre-Med</a> & Medical School - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-medical-school/]Pre-Med”>Pre-Med & Medical School - College Confidential Forums)</p>

<p>The instate option is the University of Washington. Because of the WWAMI (sp?) agreement, UW will not look down on a UA degree from any of the three campus options.</p>

<p>Medical schools don’t care where the applicant went to school as long as 1° GPA is high 2° MCAT is high 3° there’s research/shadowing/internship experience.
Actually getting an undergrad degree at UWA would not help get into UWA’s med school in any way (and may actually hinder that goal since public med schools try to have applicants who are both in state and from a variety of colleges).
However don’t limit yourself to Alaska! It may be the cheapest option, but it may not, depending on your son’s stats (GPA + SAT/ACT score) and/or extracurriculars.
Your son should also apply to private schools in the Midwest, Mid Atlantic, etc. Since the cold isn’t likely to scare him off, Minnesota, the Dakotas, even Iowa, Nebraska… should be fine. Not to mention the South if he wants to! They have so few applicants from Alaska that he’s almost sure to get a nice financial aid package from these colleges, and if he’s got good stats (which I assume since he’s potentially premed) he’d probably get either merit aid or preferential packaging.
He could also apply to one or two WA schools that participate in the WUE program.
In the end, you could end up with several offers, and once you know net costs, you could choose more easily than if you only apply to UA. That’s a more comfortable position to be in than if you only apply to UA, and you’ll be sure your son attends UA because he wants to, not because he was “forced to” as it sounds like you’re worried about.</p>

<p>The reason he wants to go to UW, he has met several people during volunteer work at the Alaska native medical center that are very happy at UW, some are in the WWAMI program.</p>

<p>His brother goes to school in NC and had a health emergency last year. It took me 3 days to get to him because my flight in Chicago got snowed in, it should take three flights and 13 hours. If he goes to school in Seattle I can get a direct flight. </p>

<p>In all honesty he is very bright but he is a young 17. He is taking duel credit at the University of Alaska Anchorage to see how he likes it. He will apply to several schools in and out of state, trying to help him decide which. I am glad to know that if he chooses to stay local it should not hurt his chances if he decides to go to med school.
Thank you
Kelli</p>