"Let us know if you have other offers" -what to say?

[walktopus]

Hi guys! I've mostly been a lurker around here, but I bet I've met a few of you on interviews.

So I'm waiting to hear news post-interview from my first-choice school. (They made two offers, and are putting everyone else "on hold" until interviews are finished.) Every time I have contact with the program administrator, she tells me to let them know about any other offers I have.

I'm wondering about why they want this information and whether I should tell them. Will it make me seem less desperate to get in just anywhere, and more sincere when I say they're my first choice program, if I let them know I have other offers? Or could the information work against me?

TIA for any input!

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[LunderKind]

From another thread:

OK, I'll bite. To set the record straight, AMCAS does not transmit to programs the list of schools you have applied to. Duke only knows that you applied to Duke, unless you tell them otherwise. Beginning in March, schools where you have accepted an admissions offer will be able to find out the names of other schools you have accepted offers from. (If a school has put you on a wait list, rejected you, or made an offer that you declined,your name will not be listed.) AMCAS provides this information to schools at that time to allow them to manage their waitlists. (If you have acceptances from Wayne State, Stanford, & UCSF, and have never lived outside California, the admissions folks at Wayne State may figure that you will probably withdraw you acceptance, and they will make plans to offer a position to a waitlisted applicant.) Contrary to what has been posted here numerous times, MD-PhD programs, while tight, do not routinely share information on applicants during the admissions season. It is only in the summer, after all positions have been filled, that programs share their class lists and a national MD-PhD matriculation report is compiled. There is no running database, only static data at the end of process. That static data lists the following: first name, last name, gender, citizenship, self description (race/ethnicity), MD-PhD funding source, undergrad institution, and matriculating program. No information on which programs you applied to or what the outcome of your applications were.

Neuronix, perhaps you could post this information in the sticky at the top of the forum.This issue appears in the forum with a high degree of frequency, and there are always claims by individuals not involved in MD-PhD admissions that programs circulate lists, consult on admissions decisions, etc. This is simply not true. The only way we know where you have applied, have interviewed, or have been accepted is if you tell us. In March, AAMC tells us where individuals who have accepted our offer are holding other acceptances, but nothing more. Do not take my word on this; contact your MD-PhD administrator or Gwen Garrison at AAMC for corraboration.

Since schools will have that information very soon from AMCAS, I don't think it can hurt much to tell them yourself. I have been pretty open about other offers in my most-recent interview, and I still did get accepted to that program.

Have you sent (or considered sending) a letter of intent?

 

[sirrileydog]

I have been completely honest with interviewers who ask directly but I would never volunteer any information. I don't want them thinking that they were the only one to invite me. I don't think you get any leverage in the process by providing playing coy. They can get interview invite lists from other programs at will, anyway.

I have one more interview coming up, and now I hold a program acceptance. I will make sure they know that I wouldn't be at the upcoming interview if I wasn't very interested in their program.

I think the question is intended as an ice breaker for the interviewer to get a sense of your interests in specific programs and rationale for applying to the schools that you did. Be prepared to fit your interview visits to your narrative. There's not much to worry about, in my opinion.

 

[walktopus]

Thanks for the feedback. I just couldn't figure out why they would be asking now, after I've already interviewed. So I sent an email disclosing my acceptances, and I think it might be time to draft that letter of intent.

 

[Maebea]

Just to reiterate what Iveshchmive quoted, other programs will not know anything about your status at other medical schools UNTIL they accept you. Iveshchmive's subsesquent statement that "Since schools will have that information very soon from AMCAS..." is incorrect in your case. Other schools will have that information only when they offer you acceptance, not before.

The AAMC does not give schools access to acceptance information pre-decision because your status with other programs has absolutely nothing to do with their evaluation of your suitability for their program. As an MSTP director, why should I care whether Penn, WashU or Cornell accepted you? Don't I have enough confidence in my own judgement to make a decision on your suitability for my program without waiting to see what Skip or Wayne or Olaf thinks of you? For the life of me, I cannot figure out why a program would ask you to let them know about other offers that you might get.

To sirileydog's point "They can get interview invite lists from other programs at will...", I personally do not know of any programs that do this. A program may ask me about a specific applicant, but the context has always been that they have already decided to interview an applicant and are attempting to coordinate schedules. (For example, a candidate flying in from the UK who is attempting to fit 5 interviews into a 10-day span.) I do not care who Duke or UCLA is interviewing, and it has no bearing on who we interview or offer admission to.

A final point, the AAMC multiple acceptance list does not indicate whether an individual has been accepted to the MD or the MD-PhD program. When the report lists that you have an acceptance from Baylor, I only know that you have an BCoM MD acceptance. As far as the Baylor MSTP goes, you may be accepted, waitlisted, or rejected. Some MD-PHD program directors would like AAMC to report the MD-PhD status on the multiple acceptance report. This increased granularity is not currently available, but may be in future years.

p.s. Iveshchmive's suggestion of sending a letter of intent is not a bad idea. It can actually provide a program director with some useful information (unlike your record of interviews or acceptances at other schools).

 

[LunderKind]

Just to reiterate what Iveshchmive quoted, other programs will not know anything about your status at other medical schools UNTIL they accept you. Iveshchmive's subsesquent statement that "Since schools will have that information very soon from AMCAS..." is incorrect in your case. Other schools will have that information only when they offer you acceptance, not before.

Thanks for correcting me. Even though you were very clear in your post, I had it put in my head the wrong way for so long that I still misinterpreted it.

As an MSTP director, why should I care whether Penn, WashU or Cornell accepted you? Don't I have enough confidence in my own judgement to make a decision on your suitability for my program without waiting to see what Skip or Wayne or Olaf thinks of you? For the life of me, I cannot figure out why a program would ask you to let them know about other offers that you might get.

Since I have gotten the question, I really thought the purpose was to gauge how likely the applicant is to attend that particular institution. This doesn't quite apply in walktopus' case, given that he has expressed that the program is his top choice. Can it hurt to provide the information on where one has received other offers?

 

[walktopus]

I'm a lady