2014-2015 University of Arizona Application Thread

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Can anyone current or prospective student comment on how accurate the cost of living budget is?

http://financial-aid.medicine.arizona.edu/cost-of-attendance

I looked at several cost of living calculators comparing Tucson to other cities and the cities I'm looking at are within a few percent of Tucson, for example Winston-Salem, NC. However their cost of living budgets are way different.

Wake Forest roughly $17k and UofA Tucson is roughly $26k. Like I said according to Bank Rate these cities are within 4.3% of each other in terms of total cost to live. (http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx) Is one high or one really low? Any thoughts?
 
Can anyone current or prospective student comment on how accurate the cost of living budget is?

http://financial-aid.medicine.arizona.edu/cost-of-attendance

I looked at several cost of living calculators comparing Tucson to other cities and the cities I'm looking at are within a few percent of Tucson, for example Winston-Salem, NC. However their cost of living budgets are way different.

Wake Forest roughly $17k and UofA Tucson is roughly $26k. Like I said according to Bank Rate these cities are within 4.3% of each other in terms of total cost to live. (http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx) Is one high or one really low? Any thoughts?

Deciding between these schools as well. Would be very interested to know!
 
Im not sure how much faith I would place in this site.... Gasoline is not $3.37 in Tucson right now - it's around $2.05. I didn't look at other prices for comparisons but that one is a long way off. What are these numbers they give based off?
 
I live in a fairly nice apartment complex about 1.5 miles from campus where I pay ~500 a month for rent, including everything but electricity. People with houses near campus also pay around that amount, give or take, with roommates.

Cost of living in Tucson is very low. Cheap rent, gas, etc. I don't know what it says online, but anyone who has lived here can attest to the very affordable reality.

Edit: Should add that if you live in a student apartment complex, leases are per bedroom, not unit. For example, I live in a 3 bedroom 3 bath, and me and each of my roommates have a lease for each of our bedrooms. To my knowledge, that's how all fully student apartment complexes work, of which there are many. Many people live in houses they rent around campus, which are abundant and more affordable than what most people outside of Tucson would expect for housing near a university.
 
I'm in the same boat here. :uhno:
 
So for those of us who have received like 1,000 deferral emails are we pretty much going to get waitlisted/ rejected?
 
I interviewed back in October. I think it is safe to say that our chances are pretty much unknown. The University of Arizona has one of the most drawn-out application processes. None of us know where we stand because there are only acceptances (of an unknown number) and deferrals. There are no post-interview rejections and to add on to that there is the fact that this school does tons of interviews. Any other person who posts otherwise is just making stuff up.

I am an alumnus and would love to go back to Tucson, so I still am holding on to some hope. There really is nothing else we can do since they do not take any updates. Just going through this thread you can see the stress and tension this application process causes.
 
Hey all, member of the Feb. 7th interview group here. I talked to a few of the students on my interview day and got some information that might be encouraging to those of you getting a waves of deferrals.

What I was told is that there is an equal number of acceptance slots set aside for each interview group. Decisions for those slots are usually made about a month after your interview date, so the acceptances that went out today went mostly to those who interviewed on 1/24. What happens is that whenever a wave of acceptances goes out, everyone who is waiting to hear back gets an update email, even if they weren't part of the group that was largely under consideration, which means that if you don't get one of those spots set aside for your interview group, you are likely to see a ton of deferral emails.

That said, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Once all of the interview groups have been considered and their reserved acceptance slots filled, everyone is considered for the remaining spots. From what I understand, the decisions for those "community spots" are usually made at the end of March.

Long story short, if you have been on the receiving end of a million deferrals, don't get discouraged until the end of March, when you will be reconsidered for the spots left over after the interview-specific spots have been filled.


Fellow Feb. 7th interviewees: we can probably expect a decision to be made about our interview-specific acceptances around mid-March, so we still have quite a bit of waiting to do.


Once again, this is what I heard from the students I talked to, and the admissions presentation that they gave on my interview day, so it isn't right from the mouth of the admissions committee. It's been helping give me hope during the waiting period though, so hopefully it will do the same for those that read this. Good luck all!
 
But there are people who have posted who have heard back and been accepted after two deferral emails

I didn't mean to suggest that the ONLY acceptance decisions made are about the previous interview group, but from what I heard, the majority of them are. If what was told to me is correct, the majority of people who have been getting deferrals would be reconsidered strongly at the end of March. Once again, though. This is information from students, not from the selection committee.
 
haha no worries I was just wondering. I don't think anyone will ever know for sure what the Admissions board does, how they do it, and when they do it 😛
 
"What in the hell is acceptance? Acceptance was the name of an old, old wooden ship used in civil war times."
 
On my interview day, I was told that you are reviewed on a semi-rolling basis. So if you were not offered acceptance, you would still be considered in the following group for review.
 
Anyone ever hear follow up after that "interview hold" email from earlier this month went out? Probably safe to say it's not gonna pan out at this point...
 
Anyone ever hear follow up after that "interview hold" email from earlier this month went out? Probably safe to say it's not gonna pan out at this point...

I am in that same situation. Whenever I receive the hold email, I have been taking it as a rejection-I think that is a pretty safe guess seeing that they get so many applications. Luckily I have been accepted to a couple of other schools...I hope the best for all of the others who are in the same boat!
 
True, it's just you'd like to think they were actually going to consider you for an interview when they say, "we'd like to give your application a more thorough review for a possible interview invite." Just seems a little misleading...
 
Hey all, member of the Feb. 7th interview group here. I talked to a few of the students on my interview day and got some information that might be encouraging to those of you getting a waves of deferrals.

What I was told is that there is an equal number of acceptance slots set aside for each interview group. Decisions for those slots are usually made about a month after your interview date, so the acceptances that went out today went mostly to those who interviewed on 1/24. What happens is that whenever a wave of acceptances goes out, everyone who is waiting to hear back gets an update email, even if they weren't part of the group that was largely under consideration, which means that if you don't get one of those spots set aside for your interview group, you are likely to see a ton of deferral emails.

That said, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Once all of the interview groups have been considered and their reserved acceptance slots filled, everyone is considered for the remaining spots. From what I understand, the decisions for those "community spots" are usually made at the end of March.

Long story short, if you have been on the receiving end of a million deferrals, don't get discouraged until the end of March, when you will be reconsidered for the spots left over after the interview-specific spots have been filled.


Fellow Feb. 7th interviewees: we can probably expect a decision to be made about our interview-specific acceptances around mid-March, so we still have quite a bit of waiting to do.


Once again, this is what I heard from the students I talked to, and the admissions presentation that they gave on my interview day, so it isn't right from the mouth of the admissions committee. It's been helping give me hope during the waiting period though, so hopefully it will do the same for those that read this. Good luck all!
Thanks for your encouraging post/update! Did they happen to say how many people they have accepted so far? Or how many people they accept per round?
 
Thanks for your encouraging post/update! Did they happen to say how many people they have accepted so far? Or how many people they accept per round?

They didn't have specifics about either of those questions, unfortunately. I did ask many of the students I talked to when they were accepted and the majority of them said it was relatively late into the cycle, though. It's nothing definitive, but it would indicate that if this year is like last year there are probably still a good number of acceptances yet to go out.
 
Got my first hold yesterday for here and I am kind of bummed. Just wondering any success stories on hear about people getting multiple holds and still getting in.
 
For those accepted, how long did it take for the official acceptance letter to arrive in the mail?
 
So for those of us who have received like 1,000 deferral emails are we pretty much going to get waitlisted/ rejected?
I'm expecting to, yea. I'm actually hoping they just flat reject me, again, so I can get on with life and not have the slim chance of being pulled off wait list hanging over me for three more months.
 
I'm expecting to, yea. I'm actually hoping they just flat reject me, again, so I can get on with life and not have the slim chance of being pulled off wait list hanging over me for three more months.
So just to be sure, after the last interview group is considered by the committee (~30 days after Feb. 28th) all the other applicants are either wait-listed or rejected? Essentially, everyone who has applied will more or less know their fate by around the beginning of April?
 
So just to be sure, after the last interview group is considered by the committee (~30 days after Feb. 28th) all the other applicants are either wait-listed or rejected? Essentially, everyone who has applied will more or less know their fate by around the beginning of April?
To my understanding, this sounds accurate. The national deadline to decide for students holding multiple acceptances is April 30th. I would guess that additional acceptances would follow after this date depending on how many students withdraw their acceptance.
 
Last year, they sent out a few more rounds of acceptances between now and the end of March. They then followed with an email with either waitlist or rejection the first week of April.
 
So just to be sure, after the last interview group is considered by the committee (~30 days after Feb. 28th) all the other applicants are either wait-listed or rejected? Essentially, everyone who has applied will more or less know their fate by around the beginning of April?
That's how it went last year, yea.
 
Ah I got that one too, I could have gone without that tease email earlier this month, not a fan of the roller coaster rides...
 
My phone showed the title of the email as: "The University of Arizona - Tucson: Interview Invite" and left off the 'update' at the end.

So cruel.
 
If anyone has an interview scheduled and doesn't want to go to UA, just a PSA: please cancel your interview and be considerate. Thanks.
 
I had a wonderful interview experience and enjoyed touring the city and campus as well as going on a pub crawl with the med students last night. The MMI experience was very similar to UA-P.
 
Hi guys quick q- are all clinical rotations in AZ? I believe they are, but didn't have luck finding a list of hospitals for rotations. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks
 
Hi guys quick q- are all clinical rotations in AZ? I believe they are, but didn't have luck finding a list of hospitals for rotations. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks

I didn't hear any mention of built-in away (OOS) rotations like Dartmouth has, with rotations in California or Alaska. I'm sure you can schedule away rotations, however, during fourth year like at other schools.
 
Hi guys quick q- are all clinical rotations in AZ? I believe they are, but didn't have luck finding a list of hospitals for rotations. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks
I remember looking into this because if accepted I would like to do some rotations in Phoenix, but I was under the impression that all organized rotations are in Tucson/surrounding areas.
 
Does anyone know about preference (or lack there of) for OOS students from the South/Mid West? I noticed form the class profile that there are no students from out this way 🙁
Just curious if it was applicants not applying, or the school not offering interviews to students on this side of the country 🙂
 
Does anyone know about preference (or lack there of) for OOS students from the South/Mid West? I noticed form the class profile that there are no students from out this way 🙁
Just curious if it was applicants not applying, or the school not offering interviews to students on this side of the country 🙂

I'm from Kansas and I had my interview on 2/7. One of the med students showing me around was from the midwest and I was interviewing there with about 10 other people from the midwest.
 
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