Oh, that’s great if they’ve actually started the getting off the waitlist process earlier!! My guess is that they may not want the process to drag out so long as it has in the past and to bring closure earlier as to a final decision.
Based on that Reddit thread, my guess is that high school applicants now are much more comfortable turning down the UMKC BA/MD acceptance earlier compared to previous cycles where you got a month to really think about it and do your research.
I imagine that is especially the case in the out-of-state pool just because UMKC BA/MD tuition & fees for that group is just SO HIGH now. $51,392 for Year 1, $63,320 for Year 2, and $79,163 for Years 3-6 is pretty crazy and would rightfully give pause to any high school applicant and their parents, unless they were already pretty financially wealthy: https://med.umkc.edu/bamd/finance/
Charging med school rate for first 3 semesters is a bit excessive for OOS candidates. From year 2 spring, probably that makes sense since most of the curriculum is med school.
There are DO schools that charge more than UMKC tuition now. CCOM in Chicago is one - over $83k. Many lower tier private MD schools are also closer to $70k for tuition and fees (RFUMS in Chicago, SLU, Drexel etc.).
I am not sure if there are any MD schools with tuition and fees below $65k for OOS students. OOS students may have to weigh saving 2-4 years and guarantee vs the higher tuition if they don’t have any other BS/MD options.
I am assuming some OOS students - especially from east coast - may have options closer to home as three are lot more colleges in NY, NJ, PA area with BS/MD than west coast.
Other cost to consider may be the application costs in the traditional path. From students that went through traditional path(2 cycles, 1 gap year), cost of MCAT prep+ application seems to be close to $10-$15k. Then some who get into DO schools first may end up paying non-refundable deposits (sometimes at multiple schools).
Yes, in the past, UMKC BA/MD students (regardless of in-state, regional, or out-of-state status) in the first 2 years of the program were charged a UMKC School of Medicine rate for all credit hours taken, not the UMKC undergraduate rate. You would think that we’d be charged the undergraduate rate for the undergraduate classes that we take and the School of Medicine rate for the med school classes (meaning the MED and BMS designated classes in Years 1 & 2) that we take, but that’s not how it works.
The overall university budget of UMKC relies a lot on its professional schools (Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, etc.), in terms of bringing in tuition revenue.
In the 2022-2023 year, what I laid out above was still the case:
The summer semester (which is outside of the normal academic year) is still calculated per credit hour in BA/MD Years 1-2 and a flat rate in BA/MD Years 3-6: https://www.umkc.edu/cashiers/tuition-fees/summer/
They have a lot more scholarship opportunities now, although I don’t know how many of those actually go to out-of-state students:
Yes, I understand the deadline is 2 weeks ago. But the question is how hard the commitment was. The admission team is asking for an email to confirm whether they are planning to attend or not. So, to buy time they can false commit and rescind at the time to pay the registration fee. I just want to highlight the possibility. Until they pay the registration fee they are not committed.
If the goal of OOS and regional classification is to raise additional revenue, I find it interesting when read comments from OOS and regional candidates that are looking for ways to avoid the higher tuition (in various forums including this one). If most regional and OOS students can establish residency and avoid the OOS surcharge, that defeats the purpose of increased revenue generation.
I was always curious why UM system doesn’t adopt a model like Indiana University where multiple med school campuses are established across the state that share the same school’s name/resources. IU may be the largest MD school across 3-4 campuses. Rutgers in NJ is merging their med schools now. UMKC and Mizzou are ranked similarly (as is the case with these two NJ med schools). Would something like this help both schools long term?
Johnson said it makes “very little sense” for Rutgers to continue to operate two separate medical schools that are competing for students, research grants, faculty and philanthropic support. “When we come together, we become one of the largest medical schools in the country,” he said. “That gives us more power.”
Also, is it better for med schools to be located closer to larger metro areas so that students have access to more diverse set of patients/pathologies - especially for subspecialties? I understand the increased revenue for teaching hospitals attached to med schools can be important - especially for smaller towns.
I am assuming your concern is with those who may have committed at multiple programs by 5/1 and delaying the decision because there is not a large financial commitment.
However, you can’t fault someone who may be on the wait list for an ivy that was their first choice, but joined UMKC as the next best and leaving it if they got accepted at the ivy later.
yes, you are correct. Also they might also got into another BS/MD program but hard to make decision. So to buy time they could have false commit since there is no payment involved.
So I guess I’m not really understanding, are you talking about a scenario where someone who agreed and committed to UMKC’s BA/MD program by May 1st is still waiting to get off a waitlist from some other place (whether it’s Bachelor/MD or a normal 4 year undergrad)? I guess that’s always possible in theory, although I don’t know how often that really happens realistically.
What you are describing is completely unethical and violation of what you agree to when application is submitted through common app
Most of these programs require putting the deposit down when you commit. It may not be a large amount, but it sets a lot of things in motion - like course registration, reslife etc.
** I affirm that I will send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to only one institution; sending multiple deposits (or equivalent) may result in the withdrawal of my admission offers from all institutions. [Note: students may send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to a second institution where they have been admitted from the waitlist, provided that they inform the first institution that they will no longer be enrolling.]*
Yes, I understand. But for UMKC they ask the accepted students to confirm their acceptance by Apr 19. It is only an email commitment not paying any registration / enrollment fees. They can say, Yes, I’m coming in email to buy sometime and finalize their decision at the time of enrollment fee payment. Do you know by when students have to pay the enrollment fees (May 1st or 10th or 15th)?
Acceptance is not through email, students commit and pay through the school portal by the deadline (or decline from portal, I think that is the case with almost all schools not just UMKC).
Deposit is due by the deadline and for those who committed from the initial list would have paid long before 5/1.
Students by that date pay the confirmation fee (which goes towards Student Orientation and Welcome Week activities) as well as registering for and attending an Orientation date (in the past, you could only sign up for coursework once you attend an orientation). Specific orientation dates start in June: https://futureroo.umkc.edu/portal/freshman-orientation.
I would think anyone from the original list that didn’t commit by deadline in April would have lost the spot by now and those would have been offered to waitlisted students. I don’t think potential delay due to FAFSA in paying the deposit can be used as an excuse to delay committing to the program.
Reddit thread that I posted yesterday shows students from waitlist being accepted two weeks ago from all categories including OOS.
Yes, but that’s because UMKC still has to follow Missouri state law when it comes to establishing residency for tuition purposes. I’m not sure in terms of hard data as to how successful regional & out-of-state students have been in recent years when it comes to getting in-state tuition (you’ll only hear about it anecdotally, for obvious reasons, when it is successful for a BA/MD student). Also not everyone will attempt to try to gain in-state tuition, just because it requires a lot of steps to be completed. And just speaking more candidly, many (although not all) students in the regional and out-of-state categories tend to be from families that are HIGHLY economically & financially privileged, to where even the VERY high level of tuition now is not a big deal for their finances. Again, that’s not all students in those categories, but it’s a sizable number.
The New Jersey medical schools have gone through a few name changes and mergers what used to be University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. I believe both schools have been under Rutgers University since 2013.
UMKC does have a rural satellite campus now in St. Joseph, Missouri that just recently started in 2021, but that seems to be a smaller cohort (about 20 students) and just for MD only students: https://med.umkc.edu/md-st-joseph/. Their first graduating cohort would be in 2025.
Most allopathic medical schools are in academic medical centers and are located in cities. There are several reasons for that:
Access to teaching hospitals: Medical schools rely heavily on teaching hospitals for clinical rotations, where students gain hands-on experience with patients. Cities tend to have a higher concentration of large, well-equipped hospitals with diverse patient populations. This variety allows students to be exposed to a wider range of medical conditions.
Faculty recruitment: Top medical professionals are often drawn to urban areas for research opportunities, career advancement, and access to cultural amenities. A city location makes it easier for medical schools to attract and retain qualified faculty to teach the next generation of doctors.
Research opportunities: Cities typically boast strong research institutions like universities and medical centers. Being located near these hubs allows medical schools to collaborate on research projects, providing students with research opportunities and exposure to cutting-edge medical advancements.
Funding: Urban areas often have a larger tax base and philanthropic community, potentially leading to more funding opportunities for medical schools. This funding can be used for infrastructure, research, and scholarships, which can be crucial for attracting talented students and faculty.
There are some exceptions, of course, especially with more newer medical schools being built in suburban or even rural areas. This might be due to a specific mission to train doctors for underserved communities, or because of a strong partnership with a local hospital system.
I believe he/she is more talking about the scenario of someone “fake” committing to UMKC BA/MD for now while still waiting to get off the waitlist at some other institution (whether that’s a Bachelor/MD or more likely a higher tier undergrad). I really don’t think that happens very often, realistically speaking, just based on my personal experience.