2014-2015 University of Wisconsin Application Thread

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Do you just get loans after submitting a FAFSA? (Or any free money as well? Scholarships/grants/etc?)
 
Do you just get loans after submitting a FAFSA? (Or any free money as well? Scholarships/grants/etc?)

I was offered a scholarship earlier in the cycle. The financial aid summary reflected that and additional loans to cover the additional cost of attendance.
 
Do you just get loans after submitting a FAFSA? (Or any free money as well? Scholarships/grants/etc?)

I'm guessing that if you were offered a scholarship, you would have been notified by now. You should be able to see the breakdown of your financial aid now.
 
I was offered loans but about $10,000 less than the total cost. Am I expected to arrange that on my own or are there any other loans available (other than private loans)?

I realized there is no need based aid for 1st year. Are there any need based aids for 2nd, 3rd or 4th year or everything is loan?

I would greatly appreciate any input from the current students on the financial aid at UW SMPH. Thanks in advance.
 
I was offered loans but about $10,000 less than the total cost. Am I expected to arrange that on my own or are there any other loans available (other than private loans)?

I realized there is no need based aid for 1st year. Are there any need based aids for 2nd, 3rd or 4th year or everything is loan?

I would greatly appreciate any input from the current students on the financial aid at UW SMPH. Thanks in advance.

The financial aid office recommends the Grad PLUS loan to cover the difference. They also offer the Perkins loan which is need based.
 
The financial aid office recommends the Grad PLUS loan to cover the difference. They also offer the Perkins loan which is need based.
Thanks. Would you happen to know if there are any need based aids available on 2nd, 3rd, or 4th years?
 
Thanks. Would you happen to know if there are any need based aids available on 2nd, 3rd, or 4th years?

The Perkins loan (and the equivalent - I can't remember its title but there is one for men and one for women) are need based, but since UW doesn't use parent information in the 1st year fin aid calculation, everyone should get it unless you are independently wealthy from a career before med school or something. At least thats how it worked in our class. So if you don't have a Perkins loan (if you're a female) or something else worth around 3-5k by a diff name (if you're a male) in your aid package maybe call or email Amy Whitford at the financial aid office to ask if they're not doing that this year?

In my year, the only students I know that didn't get loans up to the total cost of attendance were a few people off the waitlist and even they were only a couple thousand short. I would think that 10k short would be a mistake, unless they are handling financial aid drastically different this year. I say definitely contact the fin aid office for your situation!

Also last year at second look they said that there IS more need based aid 2nd-4th year, but after hearing more this year, I don't think its much, I think its mostly scholarships that are partly based on merit too. However if your parents' financials are such that you think you would qualify for aid, there are a lot of scholarships you can apply for first year, especially from the WMS if you grew up in WI that are all need based (and it seems like most of my classmates' parents are loaded, so the pools for those scholarships probably aren't too huge haha).

However obviously all of this info is a year old, so if anyone attended Amy's financial aid talk at THIS year's second look, feel free to correct me if anything has changed. Hope this helped!
 
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The Perkins loan (and the equivalent - I can't remember its title but there is one for men and one for women) are need based, but since UW doesn't use parent information in the 1st year fin aid calculation, everyone should get it unless you are independently wealthy from a career before med school or something. At least thats how it worked in our class. So if you don't have a Perkins loan (if you're a female) or something else worth around 3-5k by a diff name (if you're a male) in your aid package maybe call or email Amy Whitford at the financial aid office to ask if they're not doing that this year?

In my year, the only students I know that didn't get loans up to the total cost of attendance were a few people off the waitlist and even they were only a couple thousand short. I would think that 10k short would be a mistake, unless they are handling financial aid drastically different this year. I say definitely contact the fin aid office for your situation!

Also last year at second look they said that there IS more need based aid 2nd-4th year, but this would now be including your parents finances, because if it didn't basically everyone would qualify like they do for the low interest Perkins loan.

However obviously all of this info is a year old, so if anyone attended Amy's financial aid talk at THIS year's second look, feel free to correct me if anything has changed. Hope this helped!

Re. Perkins loans, Amy mentioned that if you do not have one in your package it is because they ran out of funds. I think it is in her letter about the awards linked in the email.
 
I was offered the max Unsubsidized loan ($43,833) plus $4k of loans by a diff name (male version of Perkins maybe?), which sounds exactly like what you described.
If you are male, it should be called the Manchester loan, with the amount equivalent to Perkins ("female")
 
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Does anybody know if waitlisted applicants get financial aid? I know that this seems like an obvious question, but I received a financial aid letter/package. I thought I was waitlisted?

Did anybody else on the waitlist receive financial aid?

I also have a login with the My UW-Madison portal.
Is this available to waitlisted applicants?

Thank you!
 
The Perkins loan (and the equivalent - I can't remember its title but there is one for men and one for women) are need based, but since UW doesn't use parent information in the 1st year fin aid calculation, everyone should get it unless you are independently wealthy from a career before med school or something. At least thats how it worked in our class. So if you don't have a Perkins loan (if you're a female) or something else worth around 3-5k by a diff name (if you're a male) in your aid package maybe call or email Amy Whitford at the financial aid office to ask if they're not doing that this year?

In my year, the only students I know that didn't get loans up to the total cost of attendance were a few people off the waitlist and even they were only a couple thousand short. I would think that 10k short would be a mistake, unless they are handling financial aid drastically different this year. I say definitely contact the fin aid office for your situation!

Also last year at second look they said that there IS more need based aid 2nd-4th year, but this would now be including your parents finances, because if it didn't basically everyone would qualify like they do for the low interest Perkins loan.

However obviously all of this info is a year old, so if anyone attended Amy's financial aid talk at THIS year's second look, feel free to correct me if anything has changed. Hope this helped!
Thanks @kittykattat for the info. I was offered the max unsubsidized loan plus $4,000 in Manchester loan but that amounts to about $10,000 less than the COA. Do you know if you are guaranteed the rest in the form of Grad PLUS loan?
 
I was offered the max Unsubsidized loan ($43,833) plus $4k of loans by a diff name (male version of Perkins maybe?), which sounds exactly like what you described.
I was offered exactly that as well but that's significantly less than the COA.
 
I was offered exactly that as well but that's significantly less than the COA.
I am in-state so that's actually the full COA or pretty close.

After tuition it's about $21k.
 
I was offered exactly that as well but that's significantly less than the COA.

Are you OOS? I admit I was being nearsighted yesterday and totally forgot that there are two diff COAs, one for IS and one for OOS. In this case you will probably need the grad plus loan to cover the rest. I still find it strange that they didn't list it as part of your loan package b/c some of the expensive private schools I got into last year that needed grad PLuS to cover the last 20-30k still listed it as part of the package. But I'm sure you'll easily be able to secure that money, there must just be some reason they haven't listed it in your aid package yet! I would just email Amy Whitford tomorrow. In my experience she's a very quick responder 🙂
 
Are you OOS? I admit I was being nearsighted yesterday and totally forgot that there are two diff COAs, one for IS and one for OOS. In this case you will probably need the grad plus loan to cover the rest. I still find it strange that they didn't list it as part of your loan package b/c some of the expensive private schools I got into last year that needed grad PLuS to cover the last 20-30k still listed it as part of the package. But I'm sure you'll easily be able to secure that money, there must just be some reason they haven't listed it in your aid package yet! I would just email Amy Whitford tomorrow. In my experience she's a very quick responder 🙂
Yes, I am OOS. Not sure why they didn't list the Grad PLUS loan in my package if I am going to need it. I will email Amy Whitford and ask about it. Thanks.
 
Does anybody know if waitlisted applicants get financial aid? I know that this seems like an obvious question, but I received a financial aid letter/package. I thought I was waitlisted?

Did anybody else on the waitlist receive financial aid?

I also have a login with the My UW-Madison portal.
Is this available to waitlisted applicants?

Thank you!

I'm also on the waitlist (OOS) and got offered a package. I came here because I was also very confused! Hah I feel like they're mocking me.
 
I'm also on the waitlist (OOS) and got offered a package. I came here because I was also very confused! Hah I feel like they're mocking me.

Is your ranking high (close to 1)? Cause mine is not (atleast consider for 4 years there has been no OOS WL movement) and I have neither of those things to the best of my knowledge
 
Does anybody know if waitlisted applicants get financial aid? I know that this seems like an obvious question, but I received a financial aid letter/package. I thought I was waitlisted?

Did anybody else on the waitlist receive financial aid?

I also have a login with the My UW-Madison portal.
Is this available to waitlisted applicants?

Thank you!
I don't think any of us can answer that question for those folks who are confused - this is definitely something best directed to the Admissions office. If you are accepted off the waitlist, you will receive official notice, and the list should start moving now that it's April 30th (but it's a different story for OOS folks, unfortunately). Good luck!
 
I called yesterday and they offered acceptances to 16 people off of the IS waitlist. They give these people 2 weeks to decide so by the end of this week there should be an update. I know this because I was originally 21st, and they told me I’m now 5th.
It's also possible some people removed themselves from the waitlist after accepting an offer elsewhere. They may have made less than sixteen offers.
 
I had a random question for the OSers:

What is it about UWSMPH that you like so much? (People from harvard, UofC, NW seem to love this place; The waitlist barely moves; its incredibly competitive for OSers)

So what draws you to UWSMPH?
 
I had a random question for the OSers:

What is it about UWSMPH that you like so much? (People from harvard, UofC, NW seem to love this place; The waitlist barely moves; its incredibly competitive for OSers)

So what draws you to UWSMPH?
What isn't there to like about UW? 😉

The competitiveness for OOSers and the fact that the waitlist doesn't move for us is for a variety of reasons that are not related to how amazing UW is though. :laugh:
 
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