Written by: Fantasi Pridgon on March 12, 2012.

UNLV students who apply to certain institutions will not be accepted no matter their qualifications because of a UNR policy agreement

Higher education institutions within the Western Interstate Commission of Higher Education (WICHE) have informal agreements that allows for decisions on medical school admissions to be based on where an applicant resides without regard to academic achievement.

Under WICHEs Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP), which includes the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNSOM), institutions have the option to refrain from admitting applicants from other states with medical schools.

That means that UNLV students who apply to a medical school that participates in PSEP can be denied admittance no matter their qualifications because there is a medical school at UNR.

The states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming make up WICHE.

WWAMI, a partnership between the University of Washington School of Medicine and the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, which makes up the acronym, also seeks to provide its residents with opportunities to attend medical school.

Some of the medical schools in the system no longer engage in the practice of rejecting students due to their place of residence. But historically, institutions within WICHE were not allowed to consider any out-of-state applicants to a medical school if they lived in a state with a public medical school.

The University of Nevada, [Reno] School of Medicine still adheres strictly to that, Nika said.

The University of Colorado School of Medicine also continues to practice stringent admissions policies.

Originally posted here:

Western med schools exclude students from certain states