2010-2011 University of Arizona Application Thread

Good luck everyone! This is really exciting! By which I mean it's time for me and Lrkoehle to begin a year long cycle of pranks and misinformation

Just kidding. I'm sure everyone from last year's thread will be an incredibly helpful resource. Maybe we should introduce ourselves so that applicants will have people to PM with questions?

shepardsun said:

Good luck everyone! This is really exciting! By which I mean it's time for me and Lrkoehle to begin a year long cycle of pranks and misinformation

Just kidding. I'm sure everyone from last year's thread will be an incredibly helpful resource. Maybe we should introduce ourselves so that applicants will have people to PM with questions?

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Whoa whoa whoa, speak for yourself shep. I have no intention of being helpful, resourceful, or for that matter incredible either. In fact, I plan on utilizing this thread for the sole purpose of increasing my number of posts.



On a more serious note, although those of us who applied last year have not started at UA yet, many of us had numerous acceptances and chose UA over many other incredible schools. I say this, because this time last year I thought there was no way in hell I'd want to stay in AZ and definitely no way in hell I'd choose Tucson over Phoenix. Well, hell has frozen over apparently, because even though I was accepted out of state I chose to stay in state. Then as a sign hell was definitely in a deep ice age, I, a die hard Sun Devil, chose to go to Tucson. This is how strongly I feel that UA is a great school, so for those Arizonans out there, don't write off UA as just your lowly state school. It really is much more than that!

Still on the waitlist, but living like I'm not. Round 2 begins June 1st! sheeesh

Hi, I attended the premed session hosted on the Phoenix campus this weekend - did anyone else? I am ready to get going!

Hey 2010-2011 Applicants!

I will be in the entering class this Fall at UA-Tucson. Like ShepardSun and Irkoehle said, if you have any questions about the application process or about UACOM in general we would be happy to answer them

Also, I have a roommate who went to the Pre-Med Session last weekend at Phoenix. She said it was very informative. Class size will stay at 48 for 2010-2011 application cycle and then will nearly double for 2011-2012 cycle. The final decision day will still be April 15th, 2011 for UA-Phoenix because they start in July. I think that is about all the facts I can remember for the moment.

Good luck Everyone!

MedHopeful777 said:

Hey 2010-2011 Applicants!

I will be in the entering class this Fall at UA-Tucson. Like ShepardSun and Irkoehle said, if you have any questions about the application process or about UACOM in general we would be happy to answer them

Good luck Everyone!

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ditto.

MedHopeful777 said:

Hey 2010-2011 Applicants!

I will be in the entering class this Fall at UA-Tucson. Like ShepardSun and Irkoehle said, if you have any questions about the application process or about UACOM in general we would be happy to answer them

Also, I have a roommate who went to the Pre-Med Session last weekend at Phoenix. She said it was very informative. Class size will stay at 48 for 2010-2011 application cycle and then will nearly double for 2011-2012 cycle. The final decision day will still be April 15th, 2011 for UA-Phoenix because they start in July. I think that is about all the facts I can remember for the moment.

Good luck Everyone!

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They're just going to straight up double in 2 years in PHX? Dang, I feel like it would be smart for them to do it more slowly, like 24 more in '10-'11 and then 24 more in '11-'12. Are they planning on having some facilities expanded by '11-'12 to accommodate those expansions that wouldn't let them do it more gradually?

lrkoehle said:

They're just going to straight up double in 2 years in PHX? Dang, I feel like it would be smart for them to do it more slowly, like 24 more in '10-'11 and then 24 more in '11-'12. Are they planning on having some facilities expanded by '11-'12 to accommodate those expansions that wouldn't let them do it more gradually?

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The session I attended this weekend included quite a few slides about the new education building. Construction is starting (you could see the area already fenced off). It is a really big building, something like 6 stories tall. It was clear that the class won't increase unless the building is ready and faculty is in place to teach. I think these people are paid to be strategic and smart about these big things

ichy4life said:

The session I attended this weekend included quite a few slides about the new education building. Construction is starting (you could see the area already fenced off). It is a really big building, something like 6 stories tall. It was clear that the class won't increase unless the building is ready and faculty is in place to teach. I think these people are paid to be strategic and smart about these big things

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I'd like to think politicians are paid for the same thing, but we know that's not the case...anyways, I am sure they are doing their best to plan for everything, but doubling the class in one year seems like a heck of an undertaking that even with the best planning will likely have issues (but what doesn't I guess?).

With the 115 in Tucson and 96 in Phoenix, Arizona will have 211 allopathic spots. I guess that will make it easier to get into UA. Did they make any mention of accepting more out of state students to help fill those extra spots?

lrkoehle said:

I'd like to think politicians are paid for the same thing, but we know that's not the case...anyways, I am sure they are doing their best to plan for everything, but doubling the class in one year seems like a heck of an undertaking that even with the best planning will likely have issues (but what doesn't I guess?).

With the 115 in Tucson and 96 in Phoenix, Arizona will have 211 allopathic spots. I guess that will make it easier to get into UA. Did they make any mention of accepting more out of state students to help fill those extra spots?

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Where did you hear double? The presenter mentioned a number in the low 80s, maybe even 80. Out of state is 25% between both campuses, so as the class increases, naturally the number of OOS increases. The regents would be the ones to change the 25% figure, not either campus per se. You don't have to worry about this since you are a student. Man, what a good feeling that must be.

ichy4life said:

Where did you hear double? The presenter mentioned a number in the low 80s, maybe even 80. Out of state is 25% between both campuses, so as the class increases, naturally the number of OOS increases. The regents would be the ones to change the 25% figure, not either campus per se. You don't have to worry about this since you are a student. Man, what a good feeling that must be.

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Oops, I read one of the previous posts, which said, "nearly double," as simply double.

As for OOSers, I was more wondering if the percentage of them was going to increase with the increased class size. I know that 25% of 48 is less than 25% of 80-90... The reason I ask is because Arizona as a state doesn't have a lot of applicants if I recall correctly, so I'd hate to see unqualified people in school failing neuro block or something...we have a doctor shortage here, but let's fill it with high quality doctors, not just anyone who applies.

I know I don't have to worry about these things anymore, but that doesn't mean they're not important to me to know. If nothing else, I'm a native Arizonan, so I'm concerned about my state.

ichy4life said:

Where did you hear double? The presenter mentioned a number in the low 80s, maybe even 80. Out of state is 25% between both campuses, so as the class increases, naturally the number of OOS increases. The regents would be the ones to change the 25% figure, not either campus per se. You don't have to worry about this since you are a student. Man, what a good feeling that must be.

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Sorry about that, I couldn't remember the actual number so I just said nearly double. But anyway, somewhere around 80 is what the slide said.

I understand starting 2010-2011 UA is going to let in up to 25% OOS. I'm not applying this year, but I was a AZ resident from 2003-2008. Worked only, no school, and paid a lot of AZ taxes. Are they looking for OOS that have ties to AZ, kinda like Texas schools? I still have my License that, of course, is good for like another 30 years. You think this would give me a leg up on the OOS competition? Also, any difference between Phoenix and Tucson campus besides location? All my friends are in Phoenix, so would love to be back there if it makes sense school wise

I can't answer your questions about the favorability of traits being an OOS student, though I imagine if they had to choose between one with no Arizona ties and one who has lived in Arizona and plans on contributing to the community, they'd choose the latter. I can however answer your question about the differences between the two campuses and say that while they are quite similar in their capacities to be great medical schools, they are far different than just the locations would suggest. A major factor that may not exist by the time you get around to applying is the size of the classes. Tucson, as an established campus, has a class size around 110 I believe while Phoenix will be at 48 for my year starting in July as well as the following year, with the number expected to double with the construction of the new Biomedical building. As the class sizes are different some features of the curriculum are adjusted to compensate for these differences. Tucson has teams of students working with practitioners in the clinic and classroom where Phoenix has a similar program with medical students working one-on-one every other week with a PCP for the first two years. In addition, Phoenix has a feature called Capstones that culminate at the end of each block that Tucson does not. Tucson has the attached hospital, whereas Phoenix has many different clinical affiliates where clinic time takes place. These are just some of the many differences between the two campuses but note that I say differences and not advantages or disadvantages. Both campuses have fantastic programs with slightly different flavors and it really comes down to the best fit for you personally. Please feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

MedHopeful777 said:

Hey 2010-2011 Applicants!

I will be in the entering class this Fall at UA-Tucson. Like ShepardSun and Irkoehle said, if you have any questions about the application process or about UACOM in general we would be happy to answer them

Also, I have a roommate who went to the Pre-Med Session last weekend at Phoenix. She said it was very informative. Class size will stay at 48 for 2010-2011 application cycle and then will nearly double for 2011-2012 cycle. The final decision day will still be April 15th, 2011 for UA-Phoenix because they start in July. I think that is about all the facts I can remember for the moment.

Good luck Everyone!

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I will also be entering class this fall at the UA-Tucson and will answer any questions you may have about the application process.
Good Luck!

AMCAS now has a separate thing for PHX and Tucson... which most likely means separate secondaries... bummmmmer

Has anybody received a secondary yet??? My AMCAS was processed today, I will post 2ndary essays when I get them, wondering if anyone got them first.

One800Packaging said:

Has anybody received a secondary yet??? My AMCAS was processed today, I will post 2ndary essays when I get them, wondering if anyone got them first.

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I heard that instead of secondary essays this year UA is making everyone fight a minotaur. In a spike pit. Naked. Something about whittling down the number of qualified applicants quicker than last year. Just reportin' what I heard.

One800Packaging said:

Has anybody received a secondary yet??? My AMCAS was processed today, I will post 2ndary essays when I get them, wondering if anyone got them first.

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If I remember correctly, the secondary wasn't sent out until early August last year. A little later than other schools.

ichy4life said:

Hi, I attended the premed session hosted on the Phoenix campus this weekend - did anyone else? I am ready to get going!

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Ditto. I did =-)

One800Packaging said:

Has anybody received a secondary yet??? My AMCAS was processed today, I will post 2ndary essays when I get them, wondering if anyone got them first.

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I talked with COM-Phoenix today and learned that anyone who submitted the AMCAS on June 1st just now got to the admissions office - AMCAS takes so long to "process" us that the first wave of apps arrived on Friday, June 25. Phoenix has been reviewing and will start sending secondaries on Friday. I got the impression they had A LOT of work to do since AMCAS held on to nearly a month of applications. HERE WE GO!

ichy4life said:

I talked with COM-Phoenix today and learned that anyone who submitted the AMCAS on June 1st just now got to the admissions office - AMCAS takes so long to "process" us that the first wave of apps arrived on Friday, June 25. Phoenix has been reviewing and will start sending secondaries on Friday. I got the impression they had A LOT of work to do since AMCAS held on to nearly a month of applications. HERE WE GO!

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Plus, they have all of us PITA accepted students from last cycle (mainly me) emailing them all the time making sure they have all of our necessary documents and bugging them about info regarding the upcoming school year. School starts in 3.5 weeks! Eep!

Just got an email from Arizona. It only gives a link to the status page, and says that the secondary is not up yet... What a let down!

noshie said:

Just got an email from Arizona. It only gives a link to the status page, and says that the secondary is not up yet... What a let down!

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Check back in a few minutes - my status page changed. I think the email message from Phoenix said it can take up to 24 hours to change on the status page, but mine changed within 1 hour.

ichy4life said:

Check back in a few minutes - my status page changed. I think the email message from Phoenix said it can take up to 24 hours to change on the status page, but mine changed within 1 hour.

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My status now says that I am under review to receive a secondary... So I guess they have some heavy screening for it... Sucks.

Got the secondary invite (OOS).

Questions:

4. According to 2000 Census Data, over 25% of Arizonans speak a language other than English. Besides English, can you fluently speak/write/read other languages?

5. We are interested to know if you have previously applied to The University of Arizona College of Medicine (Phoenix or Tucson) and how you have remained focused on your pursuit of becoming a physician during the time in between applications. (250 words)

1. What is your specific interest in The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, and how will you contribute to our program? (350 words)

1. Describe how a recent activity (i.e. research project, patient care experience, service-learning) furthered your commitment to a career in medicine.
(350 words)

Good luck everyone!

DancinSarah said:

Got the secondary invite (OOS).

Questions:

4. According to 2000 Census Data, over 25% of Arizonans speak a language other than English. Besides English, can you fluently speak/write/read other languages?

5. We are interested to know if you have previously applied to The University of Arizona College of Medicine (Phoenix or Tucson) and how you have remained focused on your pursuit of becoming a physician during the time in between applications. (250 words)

1. What is your specific interest in The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, and how will you contribute to our program? (350 words)

1. Describe how a recent activity (i.e. research project, patient care experience, service-learning) furthered your commitment to a career in medicine.
(350 words)

Good luck everyone!

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I like that they are different this year! They are a bit more specific than than the usual "Tell us why you want to go to XYZ?"
Thank you for posting them!!

DancinSarah said:

Got the secondary invite (OOS).

Questions:

4. According to 2000 Census Data, over 25% of Arizonans speak a language other than English. Besides English, can you fluently speak/write/read other languages?

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Translation : Do you speak Spanish?

noshie said:

My status now says that I am under review to receive a secondary... So I guess they have some heavy screening for it... Sucks.

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I'm pretty sure that as long as you have a MCAT score of 24 or higher you get a secondary application. Although you seem to be OOS so I can't tell you that with 100% certainty. Now that the floodgates have opened with respect to OOS students I'm not sure the admissions committee has the time to do a really detailed screening just for the purposes of a secondary app, so I would feel pretty comfortable to say it'll be coming for you sooner or later.

nickmx50 said:

Translation : Do you speak Spanish?

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It's probably going to be ridiculously useful to be able to, which is why I regret not taking it seriously in high school and stuff but it's totally possible to get accepted not knowing anything beyond "Hola. Como Estas? Me llamo Juan."

shepardsun said:

It's probably going to be ridiculously useful to be able to, which is why I regret not taking it seriously in high school and stuff but it's totally possible to get accepted not knowing anything beyond "Hola. Como Estas? Me llamo Juan."

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I know! I took French, which will be useful to me...never. I do know a few medically related words and phrases from working at the hospital, but could not carry on a simple conversation for the life of me.

Phosphorus Ylide said:

I know! I took French, which will be useful to me...never. I do know a few medically related words and phrases from working at the hospital, but could not carry on a simple conversation for the life of me.

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On the other hand, if there's ever a health care emergency that requires little to no knowledge of medicine and a rudimentary grammatical understanding of French, you and I will be heroes!

shepardsun said:

On the other hand, if there's ever a health care emergency that requires little to no knowledge of medicine and a rudimentary grammatical understanding of French, you and I will be heroes!

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Yes, "Can I get a cheese sandwich" and "Where is your toilet" FTW.

Does anyone know for certain if UA Arizona and UA-Phoenix are sending separate secondaries this year?

Has anyone received one from the tucson campus yet?

shepardsun said:

It's probably going to be ridiculously useful to be able to, which is why I regret not taking it seriously in high school and stuff but it's totally possible to get accepted not knowing anything beyond "Hola. Como Estas? Me llamo Juan."

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I too am kicking myself. I lived in AZ from 2003-2008 and wish I had taken spanish classes then because I could have practiced everyday. About 30% of my employees spoke spanish.

prospectivmed said:

Does anyone know for certain if UA Arizona and UA-Phoenix are sending separate secondaries this year?

Has anyone received one from the tucson campus yet?

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That's actually a good question. I know that UofA has two AMCAS entries this year (unless something changed in like the past month) and so you would think the secondaries would be separate. I think that most everyone will get them, I didn't hear of one person who applied last year who didn't, so I wouldn't really worry.

prospectivmed said:

Does anyone know for certain if UA Arizona and UA-Phoenix are sending separate secondaries this year?

Has anyone received one from the tucson campus yet?

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i only got a secondary from Phoenix so far! the questions are specific to Phoenix campus so one may assume there will be a different application for Tuscon

shepardsun said:

That's actually a good question. I know that UofA has two AMCAS entries this year (unless something changed in like the past month) and so you would think the secondaries would be separate. I think that most everyone will get them, I didn't hear of one person who applied last year who didn't, so I wouldn't really worry.

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I find this pretty annoying. I wanted to be able to apply to UA and then just say I'd be happy at either campus.

sustentacular said:

I find this pretty annoying. I wanted to be able to apply to UA and then just say I'd be happy at either campus.

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I can totally understand this point of view but each campus is quite different and I really believe that while both are great schools someone will find they really do fit in better at one or the other. I think Lrk and I can attest to this

shepardsun said:

I can totally understand this point of view but each campus is quite different and I really believe that while both are great schools someone will find they really do fit in better at one or the other. I think Lrk and I can attest to this

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I think it just comes down to money. Paying twice to send the primary to the same school and paying two secondaries.
Finding out that I'm applying as an OOS for one of 48 spots I probably wont submit the secondary.

sustentacular said:

I think it just comes down to money. Paying twice to send the primary to the same school and paying two secondaries.
Finding out that I'm applying as an OOS for one of 48 spots I probably wont submit the secondary.

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yeah 12 spots to phx unless you are from MT of WY... no point as an OOSer

ShameFame said:

yeah 12 spots to phx unless you are from MT of WY... no point as an OOSer

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Right? 40/163 seems a little more do-able.

is the class size really that small?? can i have a website link?

jjwoo said:

is the class size really that small?? can i have a website link?

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www.medicine.arizona.edu - Tucson is 115 and Phoenix is 48. The Phoenix premed session I attended said between the two campuses, they could not exceed 25%, so if Tucson is lower, Phoenix can be higher. Phoenix entering class has a larger class of nonres than Tucson, something like 14 of the 48 seats. This is 30%. From this, I assume Tucson did not fill all of the nonres seats?

sustentacular said:

I think it just comes down to money. Paying twice to send the primary to the same school and paying two secondaries.
Finding out that I'm applying as an OOS for one of 48 spots I probably wont submit the secondary.

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It's entirely possible that the application process was traumatic enough to induce retrograde amnesia, but I don't remember paying a secondary application for U of A. Am I entirely off base in saying that guys? And if so, the small class size is such a nice thing in my opinion that it's worth taking the chance if one is OOS. I know Phosphorous at least is happy to have done so!

shepardsun said:

It's entirely possible that the application process was traumatic enough to induce retrograde amnesia, but I don't remember paying a secondary application for U of A. Am I entirely off base in saying that guys? And if so, the small class size is such a nice thing in my opinion that it's worth taking the chance if one is OOS. I know Phosphorous at least is happy to have done so!

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They will take your money. I got another email today with a form to fill out. It requires a photo and $75, I think, for them to look at your secondary.

Choo said:

They will take your money. I got another email today with a form to fill out. It requires a photo and $75, I think, for them to look at your secondary.

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hey choo, how long did it take to get that email? i just submitted my essay and info on that application page and now im just waiting for that email....

jjwoo said:

hey choo, how long did it take to get that email? i just submitted my essay and info on that application page and now im just waiting for that email....

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It took two days from the time I finished it.

Choo said:

It took two days from the time I finished it.

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kk thanks, thats reassuring.