Home » Student Affairs » SOM Financial Aid » Scholarships
General Information
The UW School of Medicine’s (UWSOM) need-basedscholarship application willbeopen in Spring quarter 2024for the 2024-25 academic year.Scholarships are awarded on a yearly basis and all students need to reapply each year. Incoming students should only apply after theyaccept their admissions offer.
Scholarship eligibility is evaluatedbased on parent taxinformation. We will collect this information separately, via this Google Form and email communication will be sent to all students. See below for exceptions.Sincestudents do not work while in medical school, if UWSOM Financial Aidonly reviewed student information, everyone would be eligible for a scholarship. We use parent data to determine eligibility and to distribute the need-based scholarship fundsin the most equitablemanner.
UWSOM Financial Aid realizesall medical students are considered independent forfederal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus). Adding yourparent data will not count as aresourcefor determiningfederal loan eligibility.
For the 2023-24 academic year, approximately365 students received a UWSOM scholarship.Theexact amounts are subject to change eachyear.
Below isa list of exceptionsthat would result in youreceiving a smaller scholarship amount if you qualify for a UWSOM scholarship:
- If you are a Washington studentreceiving a grant, your grant will be included in your scholarship total.
- If you rejectedall ofyour loans, your scholarship may bereduced.
- If you are only attending 1-2 quarters of the academic year, your scholarship may bereduced.
Watch the recording from the May 5 UWSOM Scholarship Overview and Q&A Session (this video was from a few years ago).
2024-25 Timeline
- Spring quarter 2024: Scholarshipapplicationopens and supplemental Google form available to complete for parent information
- June 30, 2024: Scholarship application closes
- June – October: Applications are reviewed by UWSOM Financial Aid
- December 2024: All students are notified whetherthey qualified for a scholarship
For incoming students admitted after May 1, see Information for Incoming E-23 Students below.
Application Requirements
Please complete both steps. Incomplete applications will not be considered for a SOM scholarship.
- Provide SOM Financial Aid Office with parent tax information.
- As of 2024-2025 school year, the FAFSA no longer asks graduate/professional students for parent information. We are still requiring this information to process SOM scholarship funds. Each student will need to complete this Google form to submit parent tax information to us. However, wemayneed torequestspecifictax documentsincertain situations to verify the parent tax information that was provided. If we need tax documents from you, we will email your UW email address fromsomfao@uw.edu between June and October.If you do not submitthe requestedtax documents, your application will beconsidered incomplete.
- Submitthetwo-partscholarship applicationthrough Academic Works
- Part 1: General Application
- Part 2: SOMScholarship Detailed Application
- Admitted before May 1:Your application is due June 30.
- Admitted after June 1: You will still have one month to submit your scholarship application and provide parent tax information. Your scholarship application will be dueonemonth after you receive access to your UW Net ID. If you cannot access the application after you have access to your UW Net ID,emailsomfao@uw.edu.
If any of the situations below apply to you, you do not need to add parent information to the FAFSA.
- Bothof yourparents are deceased
- You were emancipated from your parents at a young age
- You were in foster careor a ward of the court
You still need to complete the appeal survey by June 30, 2024. You may be asked to submit additional documentation.
Students maysubmit anappealeach yeartoexclude parent tax information from their scholarship application. If you submit an appeal, you stillmust provide your parent information, unless you met an exception above. We will communicate with you on how to submit this information to us. Appeals will not be considered if you do not include parent information on this Google form.
Below is a list of situations for which you can appeal to exclude parent tax information:
- An appeal was approved in a prior year andyourfinancial situation isunchanged
- Parent tax information has changed significantly since 2022,including changes due to COVID-19
- Parent marital status has changed since 2023
- You areover 30years oldand havesupportedyourselfindependently forat leastsixyears
- You aremarried and/or havechildrenandhavesupportedyourselfindependentlyfor at least sixyears
If your appeal was approved in a prior year, you must re-submit an appeal for the 2024-25 academic year indicating your financial situation has not changed.
To submit an appeal, complete this survey by June 30, 2024.
Parent unwillingness to provide tax information in and of itself is not grounds for an appeal.
I qualified for a scholarship, what happens next?
Scholarship funds will be assigned to Autumn,Winter, and/or Spring quarters. The scholarshipwill be addedunder“Resources” on yourfinancialaid page onMyUW.
All funds, including loans and scholarships, are processed through your student aid account onMyUW. Tuition and fees are always covered first and any remaining funds are sent to you via direct deposit as a lump sum.If scholarship funds are used to repay loans within the quarter it is disbursed, it is as if you never received that loan amount. You will not be charged interest or originationfees.
Certain scholarships require thank-you notes to be sent to the donor. The UW Advancement Office will contact students needing to write thank you notes. Students need to send these to their donors as soon as possible. Scholarship funds may be held until thank you letters are received.
SOM Scholarship FAQs
Untilwereviewyour parent information, we cannot determine your eligibility. Please submit the scholarship application and the supplemental Google form for consideration.
Your financial aid awardcannot exceedyourCost of Attendance.Ifyourbudget is fully met by loans, UWSOM Financial Aidwill reduce the highest interest loan first.
Medical students are considered independent for federal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus). However, for scholarship eligibility, we useyourparents’ tax information to distribute our need-based scholarship funds in the most equitable way.If we only considered student information, all students would be eligible for a scholarship due to not working while in medical school.
No.Youreligibility forfederal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus)isonlybased onyourinformation.
You will receivetwoconfirmation emails– onefor successfully completing a General Application and one for successfully completing a UWSOMScholarship Detailed Application. These emails are sent fromAcademic Works–our scholarship application system.
If you are a Washington resident student receiving a grant, we include the grant in your scholarship total. For the 2023-2024 school year, if you received a $4,500 grant, your scholarship totaled $11,500 for a total of $16,000 in gift aid.
Most Washington resident students who qualified for a grant in 2023-24 received $4,500. You could have received less if you attended fewer than 3 quarters or fell below 12 credits in a quarter. If you received less than $4,500 in grants, you would have received a higher scholarship to equal the total funds received.
Emailsomfao@uw.edu. We do our best to respond to all student questions within 5 business days.
Outside Scholarships
If you receive an outside scholarship, instruct the organization to include your name and student ID number in the memo line of the check.
Checks should be sent to:
University of Washington School of Medicine
Attn: SOM Financial Aid
Box 357430
1959 NE Pacific Street, HSB T-557
Seattle, WA 98195-7430
Current Outside Scholarship Opportunities
Military Scholarships
Annual Scholarships
- American Medical Association (AMA) Underrepresented in Medicine Award (formerly the Minority Scholars Award)
- Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarships
- Committee on Minority Faculty Advancement (CMFA) Endowed Diversity Scholarship
- GE-NMF Primary Care Leadership Program
- Indian Health Service Scholarship Program
- National Health Service Corps
- National Medical Fellowships
- Washington Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP) Minority Diverse Constituencies Scholarships
Scholarship Databases
Scholarships Navigation
- Timeline
- Application Requirements
- Appeals
- SOM Scholarship FAQs
- Outside Scholarships
