WICHE - Preference for admission?

[PremedGirlCO]

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I've been looking over the WICHE information, and it mentions "preferential" treatment during the admission process to the various participating MD schools. I would love some info if you have some insight into this program!

1. If you are a WICHE participant, do you have an *advantage* over regular in-state applicants?

2. Are you considered an in-state applicant at all of the participating MD schools?

3. As a WICHE participant, are you compared equally with other in-state applicants?

4. Will the schools to which you are applying know that you are a WICHE applicant? If so, will they look favorably on this, or unfavorably?

Thank you very much for the info! I have an unusual circumstance (kind of hard and boring to explain), but the gist of it is that I have the option to claim residency either in Colorado or in Wyoming.
Colorado is a tough school to get into, and I would love to go there. My grades are on the lower side, and I would like to choose the state of residency that will help me the most (or at least hurt me the least!)

Thanks again!

 

[MT Headed]

I've been looking over the WICHE information, and it mentions "preferential" treatment during the admission process to the various participating MD schools. I would love some info if you have some insight into this program!

1. If you are a WICHE participant, do you have an *advantage* over regular in-state applicants?

2. Are you considered an in-state applicant at all of the participating MD schools?

3. As a WICHE participant, are you compared equally with other in-state applicants?

4. Will the schools to which you are applying know that you are a WICHE applicant? If so, will they look favorably on this, or unfavorably?

Thank you very much for the info! I have an unusual circumstance (kind of hard and boring to explain), but the gist of it is that I have the option to claim residency either in Colorado or in Wyoming.
Colorado is a tough school to get into, and I would love to go there. My grades are on the lower side, and I would like to choose the state of residency that will help me the most (or at least hurt me the least!)

Thanks again!

1. A WICHE applicant does not have an advantage over in-state applicants

2. At some schools like Nevada and North Dakota you are considered out of state, but that's better than genuine out of state applicants who can't apply at all. At other schools like OHSU and Colorado you are considered somewhere between in-state and truly out of state.

3. No, you are not considered equivalent to in-state applicants, though like I said above you are often considered more than truly out of state applicants.

4. Yes, the konw you are WICHE and you will be looked upon favorably as compared to genuine out of state applicants.

WICHE is a program that gives a small bonus for medical school applications. I see the bonus more in terms of getting interviews than anything else. Besides myself (you can read my experiences in my MDApps profile) I know several WICHE students both on and off of SDN this application season, and beyond the benefit of gaining interviews at western state schools a little easier than most outsiders, the WICHE program is essentially worthless. You aren't in-state, and despite promises of cash you will most likely be paying out of state full tuition wherever you go.

TL;DR: Colorado has a medical school. Wyoming doesn't. Nothing more needs to be said.

 

[PremedGirlCO]

1. A WICHE applicant does not have an advantage over in-state applicants

2. At some schools like Nevada and North Dakota you are considered out of state, but that's better than genuine out of state applicants who can't apply at all. At other schools like OHSU and Colorado you are considered somewhere between in-state and truly out of state.

3. No, you are not considered equivalent to in-state applicants, though like I said above you are often considered more than truly out of state applicants.

4. Yes, the konw you are WICHE and you will be looked upon favorably as compared to genuine out of state applicants.

WICHE is a program that gives a small bonus for medical school applications. I see the bonus more in terms of getting interviews than anything else. Besides myself (you can read my experiences in my MDApps profile) I know several WICHE students both on and off of SDN this application season, and beyond the benefit of gaining interviews at western state schools a little easier than most outsiders, the WICHE program is essentially worthless. You aren't in-state, and despite promises of cash you will most likely be paying out of state full tuition wherever you go.

TL;DR: Colorado has a medical school. Wyoming doesn't. Nothing more needs to be said.

Thanks very much for the response! May I ask where you learned all this? (The WICHE site is pretty sparse).

Also, when applying to one of the participating schools, are there a certain amount of spots saved for WICHE applicants?

I am getting the impression that the WICHE students are compared only to one another during admissions; essentially only competing against each other for a certain amount of spots. Is this true? If not, can you point me in the direction of where you are getting your info?

Thanks again!!

 

[MT Headed]

WICHE is designed primarily as a FUNDING mechanism, has its own certification and ranking systems. That money and support can differ wildly year to year as it is dependent on home state legislatures to authorize funding.

I wouldn't say it is primarily a funding mechanism... from the home state it might be a funding mechanism or it might not, but to the state school you are applying to it serves as an admissions consideration. And you can't even think about getting access to the funding until some out of state participating school has already accepted you.

 

[MT Headed]

Thanks very much for the response! May I ask where you learned all this? (The WICHE site is pretty sparse).

Also, when applying to one of the participating schools, are there a certain amount of spots saved for WICHE applicants?

I am getting the impression that the WICHE students are compared only to one another during admissions; essentially only competing against each other for a certain amount of spots. Is this true? If not, can you point me in the direction of where you are getting your info?

Thanks again!!

I learned it from studying the national and state WICHE websites for my state, peppering my state certifying officer with numerous questions, paying attention to other schools' websites, buying the MSAR, and discussions with students from my state who have been accepted previous years or are applying with me this year, and asking questions in person when I was at interviews.

The schools' treatment of WICHE applicants varies by school. At North Dakota they take a maximum of eleven WICHE applicants, but it might be less depending on how many qualified ND applicants they get that year. At Nevada they take a pretty constant five. Again it varies from school to school.

Consider this: as a WICHE applicant you have a priority application to every state school in California. Your application will be given almost as much consideration as those applicants from California itself. Would this really give you any benefit at all?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

I'm guessing from your post history that you are a CO resident wondering whether you'd have a better shot if you moved to WY and changed residency? I think you'd be better off staying in Colorado.

 

[PremedGirlCO]

I learned it from studying the national and state WICHE websites for my state, peppering my state certifying officer with numerous questions, paying attention to other schools' websites, buying the MSAR, and discussions with students from my state who have been accepted previous years or are applying with me this year, and asking questions in person when I was at interviews.

The schools' treatment of WICHE applicants varies by school. At North Dakota they take a maximum of eleven WICHE applicants, but it might be less depending on how many qualified ND applicants they get that year. At Nevada they take a pretty constant five. Again it varies from school to school.

Consider this: as a WICHE applicant you have a priority application to every state school in California. Your application will be given almost as much consideration as those applicants from California itself. Would this really give you any benefit at all?

Thanks for all the info! I just wonder how each school decides the "priority" for WICHE students... If I claim Colorado residency, I would have absolutely zero chance at any CA school. I wonder if I would be better off doing WICHE and taking my chances with CU, and perhaps getting a better chance at CA...?

As far as CU, do you think WICHE would give me an advantage or disadvantage?

When you say there a set number of spots at a participating school (such as 5 at Nevada), how many WICHE students are competing for those spots?

Thanks again for all the help!!

 

[MT Headed]

If you moved to california you would have near zero chance if getting into a california school. Your chances with WICHE would be even lower.

WICHE would give you a disadvantage at Colorado as compated to the Colorado candidates.

Your questions are getting awfully schoool specific. If you want to know the exact numbers for each school, you can browse the school specific threads or call the school admissions directly.

I know what you are trying to do because I was in a similar situation last year. The fundamental fact is that Colorado has a medical school and Wyoming doesn't. As a Wyoming resident you get a teeny better chance at UWash via thw WWAMI program. As a Colorado resident you get a much much bigger shot at getting into Colorado. And if you want to play this kind of game to maximum advantage, move to Texas for a year.

 

[PremedGirlCO]

I'm not planning on moving anywhere. My family lives in Wyoming, but I have been living in Colorado.

 

[music2doc]

I'm not planning on moving anywhere. My family lives in Wyoming, but I have been living in Colorado.

Are you independent or simply going to school in CO? If you qualify as a CO resident and qualify for CU's purposes as well, then I'd go with CO residency. Otherwise, you have no choice but to rely on WICHE and hope for the best. CO isn't exactly an easy place to apply from because of the competitiveness of CU, but it's a lot better than WY, I would suspect. (You could always check on the state avg stats on the AAMC site, though. I know that only about 35% of CO applicants get in somewhere. I don't know WY's numbers. You should take a look at avg accepted MCAT and GPA as well, though....)