I am currently a senior from California getting ready to choose a college and I have a dilemna. University of Washington has one of the best if not THE best medical school in the nation, but the out of state tuition, even with a merit scholarship is minimal. UCI is way cheaper, closer to home, and has a decent medical program. My parents are helping out with college and can help out a lot more if I were to go to UCI and save money, but I don’t want money to define where I end up going. UW will give me so many more opportunities, but I don’t know which one to choose. Does anybody have any insight that would help me make my decision?
I didn’t mean that the tuition for UW is minimal. I meant the scholarship is minimal
UW’s on campus medical school and academic medical center are great resources for students who wish to develop a competitive medical school application. However, you should bear in mind that the UW School of Medicine almost exclusively enrolls students from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho by compact with those states (http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/documents/md-program/UWSOM-brochure.pdf). Thus, as a Californian, you would apply to other medical schools (most apply to around 10-15 schools, from what I have read), unless you were applying to UW’s MD/PhD program (http://www.mstp.washington.edu).
That said, (1) medical school is very expensive, and the standard advice is to conserve your resources during undergrad, and (2) UCI is an excellent school that can provide all the training and opportunities you would need to be successful.
Congratulations, and good luck!
No dilema. As a Californian you’re not likely to be admitted to the UW Medical school. Go to UCI its fine.
Why go to UW as a Calif resident? You’d NEVER get into their med school.
Go to UCI
@UWfromCA What if I become a resident of Washington? cuz here’s the thing…I wasn’t exactly accepted to UCI…I was waitlisted…which I’m pretty upset about because my stats were way higher than the majority of the people that I know who got in. So this is sort of a hypothetical assuming i get off the waitlist
Do not assume anything in regards to waitlists. Consider it a rejection and move on. If by chance you get off the waitlist then great, you have another option and another decision to make. Right now you need to focus on the schools where you have been admitted and SIR to one by May 1.
@worriedsenior713 Agree with the above post that make sure to pay the fees among the accepted college of your choice by May 1st. But very high chance you will get accepted in UCI in May. As you know, UC admission has become extremely competitive and unpredictable. Hence very common most students apply to 5-6 UC itself with a single application. So many students get accepted may not matriculate and hence in May so much acceptance happens in UC. So don’t give up.
In case if you get UCI, go with UCI than going to UW. Because A. you can save money. B. What you do in the next 4 years determines your MD seat and not UW or UCI when they are almost same level to offer the opportunities.
Remember, MD admission is independent of where you did UG and doing UG in a particular school has no bearing to admission to that MD school, whether it is Ivy or bottom ranked school. GL.
RE: becoming a WA resident.
Becoming a resident in WA state for med school admission purposes is hard to do. You cannot used your time instate while attending undergrad to qualify for residency. You must be physically be present without any breaks for a minimum of 6 months PRIOR to submitting your UWSOM secondary (and you cannot be a student enrolled in educational institution in WA) and must you must submit this questionnaire w/complete documentation.
http://depts.washington.edu/registra/forms/UoW1819.pdf
If you have receive any financial assistance at all from your family (even insurance coverage or occasional cash gifts) during the past 2 years, you are not a qualified Washington state resident
As mentioned above, it would be almost impossible for you to become a resident.
And would your parents pay the high OOS costs for four years at UW anyway???
Where else were you accepted?
<<<
My parents are helping out with college and can help out a lot more if I were to go to UCI and save money, but I don’t want money to define where I end up going.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Reality check…money will define where you’re going. How would you pay for UW???
I got into UCR, Penn State, UCR. I regret not applying to more instate schools. I thought I could’ve at least gotten into UCI and maybe even UCSD… but right now UW and UCI are the only schools I’m considering right now.
I got the purple and gold scholarship, which is minimal, but my parents are helping out with tuition. They have a certain amount of money to get me through school, I’m not sure exactly but around enough to get me through my bachelor’s at UW, but they wouldn’t be able to help out as much for medical school. On the other hand, UCI is so much cheaper and they would be able to help me out more with tuition for medical school.
So I ultimately decided UCI, assuming I can get off the waitlist. I have a 2000 SAT and a 4.7 weighted GPA and a 3.86 non weighted GPA. My UC GPA is around a 4.3or 4 if I remember correctly. Crossing my fingers! But realistically, what do you think my chances are for getting off the waitlist?
Looks like tuition, room and board for UCI instate total about $30,300 and for UW OOS (with est. $4,500/yr scholarship) about $41,900. As I said in #2, the standard advice for premeds is to conserve resources during undergrad, so hopefully the UCI waitlist works out, but fortunately your two schools are not $40,000/yr apart.
UCI… If you get off the wait list.
But if you don’t, where would you go?
UW is an excellent university but not a good choice for a California premed especially considering the costs.
Ucr is good for premeds.
(penn state is even more expensive than uw so it doesn’t really count.)
@worriedsenior713 As I said #7, make sure to pay the minimal fees by May 1st to UW or what ever school where you have acceptance NOW.
But wait until you actually start the school in Fall. Very high chances you will get acceptance from wait list in UCI. No one can chance, but hope for the best. Though old info (2013), look here.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/percent-504734-year-admission.html
UC Irvine said proportionally more students received admission offers this year because the campus admitted “almost all” of its wait-listed students last year
Last year also, heard many acceptances from wait list. Students shuffle around within UC also. 1 student went from UCI to UCSD in Aug and 1 moved from UCSD to UCD. Until you have to pay the big semester/quarter fees in Sep, don’t give up. Maximum you will loose what ever the minimal fees which you need to pay before May 1st. GL.
@MYOS1634
I honestly didn’t even want to consider UCR because idk it’s one of the lower UCs and I feel like I could do better than UCR. Yeah of course it is a decent school, but based on my academic achievement these past few years, I feel like it would be disgrace going to UCR (especially b/c of family pressures). Like I’ve taken 10 AP classes in HS and practically got straight A’s throughout. If i go to UCR, I would be going to the same school that all my friends who took no AP classes and got poor grades.
Yes UW is expensive considering the costs, but if it is worth it academically and if it would provide more opportunities for research and volunteering I would rather go there.
Don’t discount UCR if you want to go to a medical school.
UCR has a new medical school and reserves 24 spots (this is a big number) for UCR pred meds. Also check UCR FastStart and other programs if you can qualify.
https://medschool.ucr.edu/admissions/haider_program.html
https://medschool.ucr.edu/pipeline_programs.html
And seriously 10 APs in high school does not mean a lot. People with 12 APs, 14 APs still cannot get into a medical school.
How serious are you about medical school?
As a Californian, your best bet for med school is UCR.
If you can imagine doing another job - and there are so, so any - then
look more broadly.
Around May 5th, there will be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield (called “the nacac list” because it’s on Nacac’s website). There are always at least a dozen excellent colleges on that list - I would strongly recommend you apply there.
Right now, neither of your colleges works: UCI has not admitted you and UW is too expensive.
Well, that is the most AP classes offered at my school…so I mean I thought it was considered a lot. I will discuss UCR with my parents, so we’ll see. @coolweather
I am 99.99% sure about medical school. The .01% is my self-doubt that I may not be good enough considering the fact that I didn’t get into UCSD and got waitlisted at UCI even though I thought I could get in. And ultimately, The difference between UCI/UCR and UW is only like 5k, so I mean it’s not a significant a price difference.