ATSU/SOMA (Arizona) Discussion thread 2008-2009

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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rennykim, is your friend sure that the interview invite is for ATSU-SOMA and not for ATSU-KCOM? I know KCOM is sending interview invites for waitlist only. Just an idea as to what may be going on... if not, that is very strange indeed that they are sending out invites for "waitlist only" at the same time as non-waitlist only.
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natrod13 said:
rennykim, is your friend sure that the interview invite is for ATSU-SOMA and not for ATSU-KCOM? I know KCOM is sending interview invites for waitlist only. Just an idea as to what may be going on... if not, that is very strange indeed that they are sending out invites for "waitlist only" at the same time as non-waitlist only.
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I'm pretty sure it was SOMA but you could be right since she also applied to KCOM...!
 
I am pretty sure rennykim is talking about KCOM. I just received this from KCOM...

"You have been approved for an interview at KCOM and I wanted to let you know where we are at in the application cycle since we have rolling admission. Currently the 172 seats at ATSU-KCOM are filled and our March interview slots are also filled. We may open one additional day in March or we may offer late interviews in April/May for the possibility of a seat for this year or a guaranteed seat for the following year. If KCOM is your top choice for medical school, I would encourage you to go ahead and consider an interview with us. If you are accepted by the Admissions Committee, you would be accepted pending the availability of a seat. Each year we have seats that open up throughout the spring and summer due to various reasons. Last year everyone that was accepted pending a seat had the opportunity to join us in August 2008--we can't make any guarantees since each year is different. If you are accepted pending a seat and one does not become
available, you would be offered an advance seat for the class beginning in August 2010."

and I just received a normal interview invite from ATSU-SOMA that did not mention anything about the class being full.
 
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awwadcj: Here's the link to the full list of CHCs:
http://www.atsu.edu/soma/medschool_future/community_health_centers.htm

Regarding SOMA's class of 2013: Take it for what it's worth, but the official Facebook group only has 32 members, several of who are admins. I'm sure not everyone's going to join the group, but I thought that number was a little low. I want to know my classmates!!
 
I just signed up for an interview and there were at least 6 days still available in March, including 2 times on the 10th. Just an FYI to anyone waiting on that (though I'm unsure as to how many more people they can fit into each day).
 
I'm interviewing on the 20th. Anyone else going to be there?
 
GoGreen said:
awwadcj: Here's the link to the full list of CHCs:
http://www.atsu.edu/soma/medschool_future/community_health_centers.htm

Regarding SOMA's class of 2013: Take it for what it's worth, but the official Facebook group only has 32 members, several of who are admins. I'm sure not everyone's going to join the group, but I thought that number was a little low. I want to know my classmates!!
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Wow. This will be a tough decision. Almost all of them would be really cool places to be.
 
awwadcj said:
Wow. This will be a tough decision. Almost all of them would be really cool places to be.
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That was my consolation in not getting the acceptance to a CHC with our SOMA acceptance. Although I really like one of the CHC's, (which one I'm not saying cause then you'll all go there, although you could probably figure it out pretty easily, haha) I really could be happy at a lot of them.
 
brucecanbeatyou said:
That was my consolation in not getting the acceptance to a CHC with our SOMA acceptance. Although I really like one of the CHC's, (which one I'm not saying cause then you'll all go there, although you could probably figure it out pretty easily, haha) I really could be happy at a lot of them.
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hmmmm....does it rhyme with Shmawaii???
 
GoGreen said:
awwadcj:

Regarding SOMA's class of 2013: Take it for what it's worth, but the official Facebook group only has 32 members, several of who are admins. I'm sure not everyone's going to join the group, but I thought that number was a little low. I want to know my classmates!!
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If the new class is anything like last year, our facebook group did not have a lot of members until late. It was around May, June that people really started to get on.
 
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I just withdrew my acceptance so there's another open seat for someone. SOMA is super impressive and I can only say good things about it. Good luck to everyone interviewing or waitlisted!
 
im sorry if this has been asked before but does anyone know how the timing works for the interviews at Soma. I signed up for the 11:00 interview but does that mean the interview begins at that time, or only that i should be present at that time. Is it true that interview is only 30 minutes? Does it ever extend past 30 minutes? thanks a lot
 
JPanda said:
im sorry if this has been asked before but does anyone know how the timing works for the interviews at Soma. I signed up for the 11:00 interview but does that mean the interview begins at that time, or only that i should be present at that time. Is it true that interview is only 30 minutes? Does it ever extend past 30 minutes? thanks a lot
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You should be there at 11. I was in the morning group and we had all our interview stuff before 11, then we joined up with the aftrnoon group at 11 for tour, presentations, etc, then we left about 2:30 or 3 and the afternoon group went to their interviews. I'm not sure what time the afternoon group ended, but I imagine it was around 5. You will have a group exercise, an interview, and a file review, each of which last about 30 min. They wil also give you a financial aid and community health center presentation and you will try on white coats so they can get your size. I think that was my favorite part :) I hope that answered all your questions, feel free to PM me if you want more info.
 
does KCOM's decision have any impact on SOMA?? do they have access to each others files?
 
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What are some of the opinions about the accreditation in the school? For a more direct question, how is the future accreditation status for the school looking? Also, for the current students, how do you feel about the boards?
 
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supergumbo said:
What are some of the opinions about the accreditation in the school? For a more direct question, how is the future accreditation status for the school looking? Also, for the current students, how did you feel about the broads?
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My feeling is that since this school was established by KCOM, the founding school of osteopathic medicine, they have plenty of practice in this sort of thing and they know what they are doing. So I'm not too worried about the accreditation status, although I would like to hear from some current students as well about how prepared they feel for the boards!
 
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supergumbo said:
What are some of the opinions about the accreditation in the school? For a more direct question, how is the future accreditation status for the school looking? Also, for the current students, how do you feel about the broads?
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I would not be concerned at all about the accreditation status; in fact, the only reason why it would be of concern is if you were applying for the Military scholarship. It would have been an issue with the National Health Service Corps Scholarship too, but they since removed that stipulation because of ATSU-SOMA's collaboration with all those CHCs across the nation, they decided to deem SOMA students eligible to apply; very cool move by the NHSC!

oh and btw, i hope there are nice lookin' broads coming out of ATSU-SOMA ;)
 
yes, i would also like to know how the 2nd years feel about the upcoming boards and is the consensus that most people want to do primary care?
 
I asked Joyce a while ago about the accreditation status. Here's what she said.

"We have achieved the highest level of accreditation possible until we graduate a class. No Osteopathic school that has reached this level has not gone onto to receive full accreditation. We have a yearly visit from the accrediting body - COCA. They review documentation, meet with faculty, staff, administration and students and will also visit our community campuses.

From a student's perspective, provisional accreditation means your education is accredited. In the unlikely event that the school would not complete its accreditation we were required to put a teach-out fund of $18 million in an escrow account for student to complete their education at another institution so no matter what you are covered."
 
jrosario84 said:
I asked Joyce a while ago about the accreditation status. Here's what she said.

"We have achieved the highest level of accreditation possible until we graduate a class. No Osteopathic school that has reached this level has not gone onto to receive full accreditation. We have a yearly visit from the accrediting body - COCA. They review documentation, meet with faculty, staff, administration and students and will also visit our community campuses.

From a student's perspective, provisional accreditation means your education is accredited. In the unlikely event that the school would not complete its accreditation we were required to put a teach-out fund of $18 million in an escrow account for student to complete their education at another institution so no matter what you are covered."
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That's awesome. Thanks.
 
Anyone thinking of withdrawing an acceptance from here? I'm very eager to get off the high waitlist! Btw, anyone know how many students are in the high, med, and low waitlist? I know they already took off 20 students from the high waitlist but I wasn't one of them. So i guess they have a pretty big waitlist. I also got off the phone w/ Amy Stradling yesterday and she said they will be holdling off on taking people off the waitlist until late April. So any fellow waitlisters are going to have to sit tight until then.
 
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hey sean...i havent exactly withdrawn yet.
just wanting to make sure I have everything squared away with Penn State first. Cuz if I run into a problem for whatever reason, i want to have something to fall back on! but fear not, i'll make sure to make all my moves sometime this upcoming april. Not sure if it will benefit you personally, but id like to think it would :thumbup:
 
DrMattOglesby said:
hey sean...i havent exactly withdrawn yet.
just wanting to make sure I have everything squared away with Penn State first. Cuz if I run into a problem for whatever reason, i want to have something to fall back on! but fear not, i'll make sure to make all my moves sometime this upcoming april. Not sure if it will benefit you personally, but id like to think it would :thumbup:
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Well you've been pretty helpful to a lot of people on these forums, so it would've been nice to be classmates, but I'll be hopeful that it did benefit me by opening up a seat for someone ahead of me, me personally, or another eager applicant waiting to study at soma. After speaking to Amy theres 82 confirmed seats for 105 or 106 spots. I think today was the last or 2nd to last interview day.
 
brucecanbeatyou said:
Man, I'm supa bummed that we probably aren't going to the same school.
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I'm sure there will be many Borat impersonators wherever you go :xf:

Anyways, my plan is to attend both Penn State and SOMA simultaneously...ya know, 1st year at SOMA, then 2nd and 3rd at Penn St, and 4th year at a CHC :laugh:

....if only schools allowed that kind of blasphemy :rolleyes:
 
sean3130 said:
Anyone thinking of withdrawing an acceptance from here? I'm very eager to get off the high waitlist! Btw, anyone know how many students are in the high, med, and low waitlist? I know they already took off 20 students from the high waitlist but I wasn't one of them. So i guess they have a pretty big waitlist. I also got off the phone w/ Amy Stradling yesterday and she said they will be holdling off on taking people off the waitlist until late April. So any fellow waitlisters are going to have to sit tight until then.
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Hi Sean
I am anticipating hearing back from a school within the next couple weeks that is my top choice, and I hold a seat at SOMA. If I were to get an acceptance to this other school, I'd be withdrawing my acceptance. Just want to let you know, since I know this whole waiting process is pretty much the worst thing ever. Im sure I'm not the only one in this situation, and as time nears the summer months, more and more spots should become available. At my interview, Joyce told us that something like 50-80% of people have gotten accepted off the waitlist in the previous two years (not sure which ranked waitlist she meant or if that included all of them). Good luck!!
 
shockadvised said:
Hi Sean
I am anticipating hearing back from a school within the next couple weeks that is my top choice, and I hold a seat at SOMA. If I were to get an acceptance to this other school, I'd be withdrawing my acceptance. Just want to let you know, since I know this whole waiting process is pretty much the worst thing ever. Im sure I'm not the only one in this situation, and as time nears the summer months, more and more spots should become available. At my interview, Joyce told us that something like 50-80% of people have gotten accepted off the waitlist in the previous two years (not sure which ranked waitlist she meant or if that included all of them). Good luck!!
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Thanks. Where is your first choice?

Also, I thought the class size was 135 students, but I guess its about 105? Anyone else know for sure? Anyone know how other students feel in preparation for the boards?


Also, anyone know how the rotations work, I guess you do them at your CHC, but can you venture out of your CHC for electives?
 
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sean3130 said:
Thanks. Where is your first choice?

Also, I thought the class size was 135 students, but I guess its about 105? Anyone else know for sure? Anyone know how other students feel in preparation for the boards?


Also, anyone know how the rotations work, I guess you do them at your CHC, but can you venture out of your CHC for electives?
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In my interview session last friday, March 20th, i was told by Director of Admissions that there are 107 seats in total and 70+ or so of them are filled up and there is a waitlist of 80 applicants. I was told that you can do your own electives outside of the CHC, however, I was not given details on this. None of the students present at the interview were part of the 2nd or 3rd.
 
I gave the admissions office a call today. She said that she can't tell me whether I got accepted, denied, or wait listed except that "the dean hasn't signed it yet. Hint Hint." Apparently, I'll hear back from them on Monday but she said that it'll be good news. So I'm assuming that I got accepted. lol

But anyways, ATSU-SOMA is a pretty cool school. I liked the CHC and everything but my only concern is that there aren't any board exams with which I can base my decision on. Also, I really want to specialize but all I've been hearing about is how ATSU-SOMA is really bent on cranking out primary care doctors. The dean assured us that this was not the case but I'd also like some feedback from other people as well (preferably current students).
 
CitySlicker said:
I gave the admissions office a call today. She said that she can't tell me whether I got accepted, denied, or wait listed except that "the dean hasn't signed it yet. Hint Hint." Apparently, I'll hear back from them on Monday but she said that it'll be good news. So I'm assuming that I got accepted. lol

But anyways, ATSU-SOMA is a pretty cool school. I liked the CHC and everything but my only concern is that there aren't any board exams with which I can base my decision on. Also, I really want to specialize but all I've been hearing about is how ATSU-SOMA is really bent on cranking out primary care doctors. The dean assured us that this was not the case but I'd also like some feedback from other people as well (preferably current students).
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hey cityslicker, when did you interview? i interviewed on the 20th and was hoping for a call today, but it didn't come.
 
Many of you here have been asking for current student’s perspective about the school. Well I am a 2nd year student, so I thought I could help.

CitySlicker said:
I really want to specialize but all I've been hearing about is how ATSU-SOMA is really bent on cranking out primary care doctors. The dean assured us that this was not the case but I'd also like some feedback from other people as well (preferably current students).
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Even though the school would like to produce more primary care physicians, the deans also realized that most students change their mind throughout medical school and that not every student will go into primary care. As a matter of fact a lot of students in my class have already changed their mind about primary care. That being said, I think they are more concerned about producing physicians who will go back and practice in their respective/rural communities, that the whole reason behind the CHCs.

BTW Here is a Quote from ATSU-SOMA website (FAQ’s section):
“I've heard that if I attend SOMA, I have to commit to becoming a Primary Care Physician and work at a Community Health Center or a facility that serves rural or underserved communities. Is that true?
-- This is not true! SOMA wants its graduates to be one thing: excellent osteopathic physicians. It is our hope that the experiences that you have at the Community Campuses will inspire and encourage you to consider serving these communities in the future. Ultimately though, whatever specialty you decide to pursue, and where you choose to practice, is entirely up to you.”

http://www.atsu.edu/soma/prospective_students/academic_questions.htm

Now here is my thought on the curriculum and preparation for the boards.
Personally I love the school, the faculty (most) and the curriculum. There is no other medical school out there that gives their second year students as much clinical experience as we are having. At this point I think I am more than ready to start my 3rd year. I have done so many H&P with and without supervision and many presentations that I feel much comfortable. Now regarding boards, no school will teach you every little thing you need to know. Trust me on that, I have plenty of friends in other medical schools, most of whom are in the process of graduating or getting ready for the next residency application cycle. Most students end up paying for prep course or review books to study for the step 1. At SOMA , we are provided with discounted online Kaplan prep course at the beginning of the 2nd year. Going through their materials, I really felt that we were well prepared and have the necessary background for the boards as far as basic sciences go.
I hope this is not to long of a post, and that you find it helpful.
 
awwadcj said:
hey cityslicker, when did you interview? i interviewed on the 20th and was hoping for a call today, but it didn't come.
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Same here! I was in the morning interview. They haven't called me yet but the committee did meet today so I figured that I'd give them a call.
 
gildas said:
Now here is my thought on the curriculum and preparation for the boards.
Personally I love the school, the faculty (most) and the curriculum. There is no other medical school out there that gives their second year students as much clinical experience as we are having. At this point I think I am more than ready to start my 3rd year. I have done so many H&P with and without supervision and many presentations that I feel much comfortable. Now regarding boards, no school will teach you every little thing you need to know. Trust me on that, I have plenty of friends in other medical schools, most of whom are in the process of graduating or getting ready for the next residency application cycle. Most students end up paying for prep course or review books to study for the step 1. At SOMA , we are provided with discounted online Kaplan prep course at the beginning of the 2nd year. Going through their materials, I really felt that we were well prepared and have the necessary background for the boards as far as basic sciences go.
I hope this is not to long of a post, and that you find it helpful.
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Thanks! That helped a lot. What sort of residency programs are you guys looking into? Also, what do some of the students want to specialize in?
 
gildas,

do you feel that the curriculum is actually effective at helping you retain and learn the info better/faster, bc it sounds good on paper doesn't mean its actually effective... just playing devils advocate.
 
I have questions that about AT STill-SOMA basic science preparation.
I read that the Dean stated on 3/09/09 that the basic sciences were (only) adequate. He downplayed the importance of Primary Care docs need for good board scores; however, curriculm changes are in progress.

Can anyone validate the above info? What are the changes to the curriculm? Is administration willing to shorten the busyness of the clinics and allow student to learn more basic sciences? It seems that basic sciences are being short changed in lieu of producing technicians who follow a set script.

Please defend this concept or misconception. I like this school, was impressed with it's concepts presented during interviews; but I did not
have a chance to ask importance questions for the dean.

Thanks
 
sean3130 said:
gildas,

do you feel that the curriculum is actually effective at helping you retain and learn the info better/faster, bc it sounds good on paper doesn't mean its actually effective... just playing devils advocate.
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In medical school, you will quickly learn that it is easy to forget a lot of what you learned after a module or course. What I like about SOMA is that you just don't learn a subject once, it's all about repetitions. For example we just did not learn about "autoregulation" in one module, we talked about it in the Neuroscience, Cardiopulmonary and Renal modules. So you have many opportunities to get the concept down.
Now regarding the boards, like I said in the previous post I feel like I have the basics down. I don't know if there is a school out there that will guaranty you a 90%ile on the boars. It is all about how much effort you put in. Every curriculum has its plus and minus. It is up to you to find which one will be the best fit for you. Just my .02
Good luck
 
Prettyperky, plenty of students have answered this question already. There's a lot to sift through, but there is a lot of good information in past posts on this very thread.

Like Gildas said, the question you should be asking is, "would this curriculum help me?" It might make more sense to some people to divide each basic science into its own class; for others it makes more sense to discuss the basic sciences together, in context.

According to "The Student Osteopath," a current first year student's blog, the Dean has said that there will be changes, but they seem like very small ones. The writing on it isn't too clear - because in one instance, the Dean is announcing changes to emphasize the basic sciences, and in another instance, the writer of the blog describes the Dean defending a deemphasis of the basic sciences. I'm not sure what the Dean actually said, but here's my take on it - apparently the school is making changes to emphasize the basic sciences while still, of course, using the scheme presentation model. And I don't have a problem with that - adjustments such as these are to be expected, given that SOMA is in just its second year.

Of course SOMA wants you to be a primary care physician. The whole school's focus is on primary care. But that doesn't mean that they expect everyone to do primary care. They can't expect that - and shouldn't. I'm definitely not sure that I want to go into primary care, in fact, I'm leaning toward Emergency Medicine (at the moment, haha - some days I think I want to do surgery, and at other times I could see myself being a rural PCP.) But whatever specialty I do, I will benefit immensly from my exposure to primary care at SOMA, and here's why. Patients generally see a PCP before seeing any kind of specialist. If I choose to be a specialist someday, I will be able to better treat my patients, knowing more about their journey through Primary Care that led them to my front door. It's just something that I want as part of my education, no matter what I end up doing.

If you like what SOMA has to offer - great! If you would learn better at a more traditional school - great, go there!

But if the newness of it all makes you uncomfortable, but you like something that SOMA has to offer, don't be afraid to sit down and really ask yourself, is this how do I want to learn medicine? Because thankfully, because of SOMA, we now have a choice.
 
misswho said:
I just withdrew my acceptance so there's another open seat for someone. SOMA is super impressive and I can only say good things about it. Good luck to everyone interviewing or waitlisted!
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Looks like they gave me an interview because of MissWho ;).

Just got the invite tonight, so I felt legit to post on this board finally!

Interviewing next Friday, April 3, on the 8 a.m. schedule. If anyone is interviewing that same day, or is otherwise around, pls lemme know via post or PM. We can even carpool or share lodging if you'd like. I'm driving in from Orange County, California, so I'll have my own car, and I'm coming in Thursday nite. Looking forward to it!
 
I need some advise... I am on the wait list at ATSU and REALLY want to go here. Joyce said i am in the high group and there is a pretty good shot at acceptance. The only problem is i currently have an acceptance at Midwestern and need to let them know by tomorrow. I have already gotten an extension from them, so i am not sure how readily they would grant me another one. Does anyone know how much of a shot i really have here being in the high group of the wait list? I am leaning towards just taking a chance and hoping i am getting an acceptance, because i think i would be much happier at ATSU than i would at midwestern, but don't want to make a stupid decision.
 
megaroo612 said:
I need some advise... I am on the wait list at ATSU and REALLY want to go here. Joyce said i am in the high group and there is a pretty good shot at acceptance. The only problem is i currently have an acceptance at Midwestern and need to let them know by tomorrow. I have already gotten an extension from them, so i am not sure how readily they would grant me another one. Does anyone know how much of a shot i really have here being in the high group of the wait list? I am leaning towards just taking a chance and hoping i am getting an acceptance, because i think i would be much happier at ATSU than i would at midwestern, but don't want to make a stupid decision.
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Honestly, if I were you I would see if they would grant you another extension, and if not, pay the deposit at midwestern and then if you get accepted at SOMA decide if you would rather go there, and if you would, then just forfeit the deposit. I just wouldn't want to risk not getting in anywhere, especially since it is sometimes harder to get in as a reapplicant. It sucks thinking about losing all of that money, but this is a huge part of the rest of your life and it may be worth the extra $1000 to make sure you have a place. Just my $.02. Good luck and I hope you get in!
 
natrod13 said:
Honestly, if I were you I would see if they would grant you another extension, and if not, pay the deposit at midwestern and then if you get accepted at SOMA decide if you would rather go there, and if you would, then just forfeit the deposit. I just wouldn't want to risk not getting in anywhere, especially since it is sometimes harder to get in as a reapplicant. It sucks thinking about losing all of that money, but this is a huge part of the rest of your life and it may be worth the extra $1000 to make sure you have a place. Just my $.02. Good luck and I hope you get in!
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I agree with natrod. It stinks, but I would certainly pay 1000 bucks to go to SOMA over midwestern. (I seem to remember a 30 day period where you could get a refund? Maybe that was in SOMA's contract... I may be confusing myself here.) I would read Midwestern's contract super carefully to see if you can get a refund, even if it is just partial.

But even if you can't get it, I would pay it anyway. Good luck!!!
 
Natrod, in my interview, the Dean mentioned how if you get accepted at another school but SOMA is your first choice, then you need to let them know- it might help you get get in.
 
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