WWAMI students

[WMN]

For those of you who have interviewed at the University of Washington, have you heard back from them yet?

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[SMW]

Haven't interviewed yet, but have been doing a lot of thinking about finances lately, what with FAFSA, etc. Found this interesting tidbit on another thread:

•••quote:•••Originally posted by ccryder:
•some schools will consider time spent studying as fulfilling residency requirements but I don't think there are too many of those. U Wash is one of them. •••••Is this really true? If so, then any WWAMI student would automatically become a WA state resident for years 3 and 4 (assuming they only require one year spent studying in-state). So we'd only be on the hook for out-of-state tuition for 2 years, significantly reducing future debt?

Mpp, I'm betting you'll know the answer to this one!!

WMN: have you heard anything yet? And thanks for your good wishes on the previous WWAMI thread!

 

[WMN]

From what I understand, when you are accepted into the WWAMI program you must sign a contract. This contract states that you will abide by the pay back rules and I do not know of any way to get aroung that. The State of Alaska pays the UofW the difference between in and out of state fees and I doubt that Washington would be willing to forfeit that revenue. But I could be wrong.

 

[mpp]

I think it is as WMN said. You have to sign that contract and it says that for each year you study at UWSOM you will owe so much to the state of Alaska and that each year you practice in Alaska they will forgive 20 percent plus interest. This is new stuff since 1998.

P.S. Notice all the Alaskans have short usernames:

SMW, WMN, jdub, mpp

Perhaps it means were extra resourceful somehow...saving those keystrokes...

 

[wolferman]

Just wanted to say "Hi" to all the fellow WWAMI students on this post. Though I'm not an Alaskan like the rest of you, I too share your appreciation for UWash. Good luck to all of you.

 

[jdub]

hey guys,

i got the "you are a competitive applicant" email just a few days after my interview. they give this really lame statistic that goes something like: "32% of applicants that get this email are either accepted or picked as an alternate". since being an alternate isn't the greatest thing and definitely doesn't mean that one will get in, what is the point? anyhow, dr hunt said that most folks who get in are put on this list first, who knows?

hopefully the rest of you guys will get in right away. best of luck.

 

[ccryder]

hey guys,

i thought wwami students paid in-state tuition for all four years. i'm not a wwami student myself but i thought that's what they said.

 

[squeek]

I'm an Alaskan who rescinded my UW application due to residency problems (I'm currently in med school in NYC, of all places--and I REALLY wish I was back home!)

UW and the Alaskan government are both very strict about the residency requirements. I had maintained my alaska residency as a student in Seattle for 4 years (planning to apply to UW as an Alaskan resident), then had to take on Washington residency because I got married and remained in Seattle for the 9 months prior to med school. To sum it up, Alaska wouldn't let me apply as an Alaskan resident, and UW wouldn't let me apply as a Washingtonian, even though I'd lived in Seattle for four years (and was working at UW hospital!), as my WA residency had been in place less than a year.

The policy is so strict because it is the state government that pays the difference between in- and out-of-state tuition. For those of you that don't know, Alaskans are required to pay back one year of in-state service for every year AK subsidizes your UW tuition. This policy is new since 1998. WA students are not required to pay back time. I don't know about ID, MT, etc.

One of my best friends is at UW in WWAMI, from Montana. She has had to maintain very strict records of her state citizenship, and it has been difficult as she recently married a Washington resident. She has to maintain Montana status, though, or they will not subsidize her UW tuition.

Finally, each year they allocate a specific number of slots for students from each state, and you are accepted to UW out of that state pool. For some states, it can actually give you a leg up--I think the WA acceptance rate is ~1/7, while the AK rate is ~1/4 (at least, that was for the year I applied to med school). As they have a specific number for each state, it is highly unlikely that they will allow you to switch.

So, if you could work it out, that would be great, but my guess is that even if they DO allow you to switch residency status, which is highly unlikely from the WA end (the state will have to take on your tuition), it would be an enourmous amount of red tape. Trust me--I speak from experience with trying to communicate with the WWAMI offices.

good luck!

 

[SMW]

Hey, squeek, thanks for the info. I'd pretty much given up on the idea anyway. Which NYC school are you at? Do you not like the school, or do you just miss AK/WA?

 

[squeek]

I'm at Cornell. The school itself is great (as far as medical school can be), and it's been a good fit for me. I just miss the sight of green trees and mountains and water, and I could do without the smell of refuse and pollution...I would move back to either seattle or anchorage in a heartbeat! (I'm hoping to do a UW residency, as I loved the hospital when I worked there).

I wish you the best with your applicatiions!

 

[wolferman]

I found a comment by an admissions personnel from UW that says when interviewing will be done. Thought you all might be interested.

<a href="http://interviewfeedback.com/cgi-bin/questionnaire.pl/browse?rid=11688" target="_blank">REMARK 11688 of InterviewFeedback.com</a>