Applicants from AZ...

[Jacobim]

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I was wondering how other AZ applicants have been doing. I realize that there will likely be no response to this, since there probably aren't any other AZ applicants reading this...

--Mugatu

[still bored and unable to study for finals]

 

[LoneCoyote]

Hey there,

Im bored with my studying as well. So I'm not applying this cycle and I'm not an AZ resident, but I am at U of A and know several people who are and are in the process now. I spoke with one last night who interviewed at U of A in late October/early November and was told that they would have a decision for her by Febraury at the latest. She did not apply to Mayo. I know 2 other people who are waiting for interviews from both U of A and Mayo, both applied pretty late in the cycle. And then there is one guy I know a bit from my classes who has gotten into both U of A and Mayo (full ride). From what I hear he is a pretty amazing applicant with great stas and eveything else. Hope that helps and good luck with finals.

 

[turley8]

Hey-

I'm an AZ resident who is originally from CA (same as azpremed, I think!). I interviewed at UofA in October. UofA is a great school, and since it only takes Az residents, the chances are decent for getting an acceptance. Other than UofA, I have only one other interview, with another in the pipeline (maybe).

So azpremed, will you change to AZ residency? UC's seem like a headache! Just wondering...😉

 

[LoneCoyote]

Yeah, the UC's are going to be a challenge but I am not going to switch over. I never intended to make AZ a long-term home and while I have enjoyed living here somewhat, I definitely am ready to leave when I am done in May. So I'm just hoping that I can do well enough on the MCAT's to have a good shot at the UC's since my GPA is strong. Also, I was told by the U of A residency office that if you came mehre only for school you couldn't become a resident anyway. Did they tell you that when you switched residency or is there some way around that? Good luck with U of A... all of the doctors I work with had a great time there 🙂

 

[Jacobim]

Did someone already get into UA with a full ride for this season? That's kind of amazing.

 

[LoneCoyote]

Supposedly that's the word on this guy in a bunch of my classes right now. I did not hear that directly from him though so I can't confrim it 100% but I do know he's for sure into Mayo on a free ride which is pretty amazing.

 

[Jacobim]

I heard he is going to Mayo for sure, is that true?

 

[turley8]

Actually, I was living here in Arizona for two years before I decided to go to med school. So the residency thing wasn't too hard to establish. I think the biggest factors in becoming a resident of Arizona is paying taxes and living here for 12 continuous months -- they force you to endure the horrendous summer at least once.

But I've heard the same thing: you have to be here for something other than school. Maybe a way around it would be to work during school or during the summer. That way, you can claim you were also paying state tax while fulfilling the 12 month rule. At the ASU residency office, there were a lot of undergrads attempting to change their tuition status to in-state.

I can understand wanting to keep your CA residency...UC's are excellent, and some won't take non-residents...living in California isn't too shabby either.😛

 

[Jacobim]

I am not sure that UA is worth the hastle of changing residency.

 

[coredump]

How bad is the heat in AZ? Just curious..med school there would be nice, but not if it's 110+ in the summer.

 

[LoneCoyote]

You have to pick one address and use it to apply from on your applications. You could probably keep your IL residency if you wanted when moving to Arizona if you did not change your car, license, voter registration and continued to pay taxes to IL (and possibly to AZ as well). That is what I have been doing with CA. Or you could move to AZ and change everything over. If you opt for the latter, I would strongly recommend you call U of A and find out what the deadline would be to have all the stuff changed over before applying so you don't get screwed because you registered your car 3 days too late. This happened to a friend of mine in another state.

Another thing you could is talk to IL and see if they give preference with people with strong ties to the state ie if you grew up there, went to high school there, lived and paid taxes there for awhile and are only leaving to work for awhile. A lot of states pick their out-of-staters based on strong ties to the state. So that might be the closest you could come to having a shot at both... go with AZ and try to use your IL connections to get an advantage there. And definitely research the schools and see which ones you like better. That might just decide it all for you 🙂

 

[Ramoray]

Nobody got into U of A, they dont give out any acceptances until jan 15, and thereafter it is the 15th of feb, and march, when they will also give out all the rejections and the waitlist spots. u of A is non rolling and nobody is in yet.. that is purely untrue

 

[jargon124]

Hi all. I'm a first-year student at UofA and I can also confirm that no one has been accepted yet this year. The first round of acceptances will be distributed mid-late January. UofA is really a great school to attend as a medical student for lots of reasons which I won't bombard you with now. It doesnt have the NIH money or the name-recognition value as others do, but I can say with all honesty (having been admitted to several top-20 schools and ending up choosing UofA) that you get a great education here. Most people I know in my class are very happy and that has a lot to do with the fact that the administration is extremely student friendly and that is reflected in the scheduling, curriculum, etc. If you guys have any questions about UA and whatnot I can do my best to answer them. Good luck...

 

[Jacobim]

Hey Jargon-

I was wondering if the quality of the student body at UA is a problem or bothers you. That is one of the reasons that I am strongly considering other schools.

 

[LoneCoyote]

Sorry if the second-hand info I heard about someone already into U of A was wrong. In light of that I am suspicious as to whether this person is really already into Mayo on a free ride. Could be true, or could be completely made up or just info that has gotten garbled passing from one person to the next. Just goes to show not to trust stuff you hear other people saying in your classes.

 

[jargon124]

Jacobim - You've hit on one of the few negatives with regard to UA. I share your sentiment - I thought about going somewhere else because of this too but I eventually came the the conclusion that I didn't care. It's always awe-inspiring when you go to places like Columbia and meet all sorts of amazing students (I met a guy there with a Harvard MBA and a perfect 43-45 MCAT score - no joke). Bottom line, however, is that you don't learn medicine from your classmates. The quality of the student body has very little impact on your education in my opinion. Plus, while there's no question that the student body at UA is not of the quality of "top" schools, it's not that bad overall. People tend to work hard and do well - our exam averages are consistently in the low-mid 80s...

It's important to remember that there are no doors closed to you by coming to UA. You can match into the most competive residencies and the whole deal...last year one of our students matched Otolaryngology at Hopkins...so if you're thinking about residency already (like I was), don't worry about UA negatively impacting your chances...

And if you really think about it, the only real reason for the diminished quality of students is because many applicants with multiple acceptances go elsewhere. If more of these people came to UA, we could really change things!

Feel free to PM me in the future if you have more questions...

Okay all - feel free to keep the questions coming, but I have finals so I may be slow with the replies from now on....

 

[ERob]

I am an applicant to this year's entering class at the U of A. My application is now complete (including interviews). I can corroborate as well that no acceptances have been sent out until the end of January. I wouldn't be surprised if "the applicant" got into Mayo with a full-ride though, that is not unheard of. I believe that I have a good chance of getting into the U of A this year, as they look very highly at repeat applicants who have improved their application (my case). I'm interested to hear how other applicants come out as the acceptance dates near. Good luck!

 

[turley8]

About the residency thing for coredump --

AMCAS limits you to one state. I don't know if you can have two or more legally though. I agree with azpremed - contact the schools and get the deadlines down pat. I imagine that the IL schools would like a non-res w/ IL ties. You could emphasize your IL ties in your essays and interviews...On the other hand, UofA doesn't even look at your app if you are non-res. The crazy thing is UofA gets about 500 non-res applicants every year even though they explicitly state that they reject all non-res pre-secondary!

Another factor to consider is how much you actually like it down here. I've known some ppl who move here, hate it immediately, and get homesick, whereas others love it and never want to leave. Once you are living here, you might have an inclination to stay or go back. BTW, congrats on moving down.

My 0.02 cents on AZ residency as it pertains to med schools-

If you are a bargain hunter, AZ is one of the best states. UofA is very good school - the Univ Hospital is ranked by USnews in some categories (cancer for sure). And it's very reasonable dollar-wise(~10k). Mayo is very cheap for AZ applicants as well (~5k), and Mayo might give slight preference for AZ students(not sure about this).

Also, there is a DO school in Glendale, AZ, that is VERY friendly to residents (expensive though). If you decide to go the DO route, AZCOM is there for you. The USnews stats prove that AZCOM loves Arizonans. NOTE: I'm not saying to go DO or that MD/DO is better/worse.

If your stats are great, you can still get accepted to other state schools. I think jacobim got accepted to Univ of Michigan...I think Ohio, Texas, and Indiana have more for options for the pre-med student, but AZ is good.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I second what Turley has to say about Arizona for pre-meds. There are definitely some advantages to living here... good school for cheap tuition, low cost of living, gorgeous scenery and great hiking (if you have time). But definitely check it out for awhile before you make the decision to change residency. For me it has definitely been unlike anywhere I had lived before (Northeast and California) and while it has some aspects I love, it is not for me long term. I too have friends from other places who are divided about staying... though I must say that if you are coming from a cold climate the weather here may make you never want to go back 🙂 And if you do decide to stay for med school and you don't already know some Spanish, definitely try to take a little at U of A or Pima Community College or do some tapes or something. It really helps since many of the patients here only speak Spanish, and my volunteer experiences have shown me there sometimes isnt anyone who can translate available.

As for Mayo, supposedly they give slight preferences to residents of AZ, MN and FL, I believe. You get a tuition reduction since Mayo has a branch in Scottsdale and I think you have the option of doing some of your electives in Scottsdale as well your 4th year. I know that most pre-meds here do apply there and kind of see it as their 2nd state school due to the low tuition, though I do not know how much preference there really is.

Good luck with moving down here and I hope you enjoy it

🙂

 

[wildcat]

Hey,

Im a senior at the U of A and I have only gotten 3 interviews thus far including U of A. Have any other U of A or AZ residents gotten interviews at a lot of other schools? And does anyone know if U of A is having a entering class of 110 this year, or still 100?

 

[Jacobim]

I know several UA seniors with a lot of interviews (>10). But I guess that is only a handleful out of A LOT. UA placement numbers are probably real weak.

 

[DoctorWannaBe]

That's not an encouraging comment Jacobim! I go to U of A and will be applying next summer/fall. What is your reasoning for assuming low placement? I know U of A isn't a top undergrad school, but it supposedly shouldn't make a difference for applicants with strong credentials, right?

 

[Jacobim]

UA undergrads have a low placement for sure, because many apply hoping to get into UA Med with low numbers that are not really nationally competitive. Also, I think the pre-med staff at UA is pretty weak...they have not helped me any. I do not think being from UA is a disadvantage really, because people do get in everywhere. I do not think it hurt me, plus UA has a ton of money for undergrad research...which is good.

 

[ERob]

Yes, the U of A med school has upped the number of students for this year's entering class to 110 students, and should up the number of students to 120 for the 2004 entering class.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I think Jacobim in right on about U of A having weak numbers for getting people in. I too have found that the advising is not very good sometimes. A friend of mine asked the advisor point blank about acceptance rates of U of A applicants last year and she said something in the 10% range. That seems very low, but I guess if you take into account all the people who are applying who probably don't have a shot at getting in, it could be true.

But I also don't think it really matters as long as you have a good application. I know people from U of A who got into Tufts, Cornell, Mayo, and Stanford, and who got interviews at UCSD, UCLA, Baylor, NYU, and Univ. of Chicago. So I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[coredump]

Thanks for the responses.

 

[JScrusader]

Does UA have a secondary?

 

[Angel_Eyes]

Hi all of you Arizona People!!
I've been really busy these last few weeks and wasn't able to get online...but I am so happy to see a thread for us AZ pre-meds!!!!

Good luck to all of you!! Lets keep each other posted on UofA stuff!

and...JScrusader, uofa does have secondary materials but not like essays or anything....just a residency questionare thing and some other documents...nothing too complicated! 🙂

 

[LoneCoyote]

coredump,

you know, I really did not find the heat to be too awful my first summer here. I was used to much more humid climates so the "dry heat" thing really was great for me. I kept thinking it was about 10 degrees cooler than it really was. Then again, I quickly learned not to try to go hiking during the day... 😱

And to add to the earlier discussion about U of A acceptance rates... the roommate of one of my best friends, and a U of A undergrad, just got into Stanford. So definitely don't sweat it if you have a strong application.

 

[Pinki]

I moved to AZ from Ohio two years ago, did post bacc work at ASU and applied this cylce as an AZ resident. I've had 4 interviews thusfar, including U of A in September, 2 privates and will interview at U of Cin next week. Establishing residency is cake, as long as you change your car, bank and voter registrations.

My .02...

I was really impressed the U of A facilities, notably the anatomy lab - special ventillation system means absolutely no formaldehyde funk in the air whatsoever. Also, U of A students seemed very happy and raved about how the school really is student centered. Typically overworked, etc.

HOWEVER, I also closely compared 1) the groups of students I met and 2) the applicants with whom I interviwed at U of A with other schools and found both the students and applicants to be rather young and perhaps not as diverse as I would prefer. I was the oldest person of both groups at 30, and the only one over 23, which has not been the case at other schools. There was a hint of immaturity in a few with whom I interviewed, Question to student tour leader: "Do you have time to party, dude?"

That's my only reservation about U of A - young, non-diverse students. As for cost, education, match and support, U of A is as good as or better than "higher" rated schools, IMO. Who knows, maybe I'll be there next fall, January letters willing!!!

 

[sundevil1]

Hey Guys,

Good luck on your pending applications and upcoming interviews. Like jargon, I too am a 1st year med student at UofA. Feel free to drop me a line either on this thread or via PM. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have and at the least maybe I can provide you with another point of view on things you're wondering about. Jargon is a smart dude, but we're diverse enough at UofA so that each of us has somewhat of a different opinion or perspective. I think students here are diverse, maybe not as many African americans, but you'll see more hispanics an native americans. 2006 class is young, but we still have a fair share of older students and married students such that not everyone here is worried about partying. 2005 has a much older student population. As jargon eluded to, there are people in our class who are below average. I think that's a product of our class size relative to the number of applicants and the fact that only AZ residents are considered (with the exception of wiche). There may not be enought stellar applicants in the pool to fill the class to begin with. I don't know what else to say, I'll let you guys ask the questions. I'm happy to be at UA despite the fact that like jargon I could have attended some highly ranked schools. UA is very student oriented and is committed to the education and success of its students.

hope to hear from a few of you and
have a happy new year

 

[Jacobim]

Why did you pick UA over schools with better reputations? Do you ever regret your decision? I will be deciding between UA (maybe) and Top 15 schools, and I might be frustrated by the feeling that I could have 'gone someplace better" if I went to UA. I understand that you do not learn medicine from your classmates, but I still think they are important. Any thoughts??

 

[Pinki]

Jacobim,
As I said in my earlier post, I'm using my fellow interviewees and the caliber of students I meet at interviews as one of my top selection factors when deciding schools. These are the folks who will, in large part, determine the climate of your learning environment for the next 4 years!

 

[Ramoray]

thats quite funny pinki as i was there the day you were and i dont recall anyone of the U of A group being even slightly immature, rather i found them quite friendly quiet, and fairly diverse, as there was asian, hispanic and white students there, varyign in ages 21-30.. not sure where ur getting that info from.

On another note, does anyone know if 1st acceptances will be sent out jan 15th or jan 30th. On their site it says jan 30th but i could have sworn the lady had said jan 15th on interview day.. just curious if anyone remembers. Good luck!

 

[sundevil1]

Jacobim,

I've never regretted my decision to attend UofA. I really liked UofA when I interviewed, had I not liked it I probably would not be here right now. I liked the facilities (comparable to higher ranked schools) and my impression at the time was that the faculty, staff, and students were very friendly (which they are). As far as education goes, I think the education I'm receiving is a good one and I'll be well prepared for the clinical years and residency. I'm saving $10-$15k in tuition per year as well, so that also makes it very attractive. After taking into consideration outside factors like family, spouse and location, UofA was just the best choice for me. Good students match into good residencies, regardless of what med school they come from, and students at UofA match pretty well, so feel confident that with hard work you can get the residency of your choice coming from UofA. The schools job is to prepare you, and I think UofA does a good job of that. If you want to be intense, go ahead, you can definitely find other students in class with a similar style. However, being intense gets old quickly, you'll get burned out and then you'll learn how to balance your life a little better (not true for all, but most). The classmates who don't want to be as intense won't hold you back, don't worry about that. You can learn as much as you want and spend as much time as you want studying and probably find someone else who wants to do the same. Your classmates will play a large role in the environment around you, so you need the really serious people and those who are more laid back to balance things out. I think it's better this way, it keeps med school manageable and fun. We all get more intense around test time, so distinguish between being intense during tests and being intense all the time. There is a huge difference and make sure you know which one you want.

i hope i answered your questions, sorry I couldn't be more efficient. let me know of any other questions

good luck

ps - as far as I know, acceptance letters won't go out until the end of january

 

[Pinki]

Ramoray -

Do I need to get a restraining order? How do you know when and with whom I interviewed? This is so...creepy! Just kidding!

No offense meant to any other applicants, but frankly, I'm just comparing the group I met with the groups I have interviewed with at other schools with different life experiences and backgrounds. Being the only interviewee over 23 was odd - and not what I've seen at other schools. Naturally, a state school will receive less-diverse (and I'm not just talking about skin-color - let's make that clear!) applicants.

As I said earlier, despite my observances, I just may end up at U of A, when it's all said and done. And I'd be perfectly happy.

 

[Pinki]

Never mind, Ramoray - I knew I recognized your style of writing. You're Dr. Wallstreet. Explains everything.