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[nverqrui]

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[frosted_flake]

I believe people withdraw after interviewing if they feel they are not a good fit for the school/area.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

The biggest withdrawal comes after someone gets accepted. Then they will withdraw from schools they would not attend over their accepted school. Then others have the great fortune of getting more interview invites than expected, and cull the list. Then some of us burn out after 25 secondaries, and just decide not to do that last one. It is all about information management, with recaliberation after New information received. It is not a game of collecting the most acceptances, it is about getting into a program that works for you.

 

[avgn]

^ Good post. It also happens when people blindly apply to a thousand places and then stop being as neurotic later in the cycle to actually sit down and reevaluate their choices and realize some of them were quite ****ty and neurotic. Some people's school choices make absolutely no sense, it's like they never even did any research at all

 

[panda16]

I second the posts above, esp @Rainbow Zebra

And as someone else above already said, it's often b/c you get in one place at the end of the interview season and that was your target, so you don't maintain the acceptance at the others.

 

[On Eagle's Wings]

Most people rank the schools they apply to. Once they get accepted at one school, they withdraw from all schools below that school on their rank list. If you get into your dream school (ranked number 1 on your list), you usually withdraw from all your other schools unless you have multiple dream schools and you want to see which one offers you the most scholarship money🙂

 

[WedgeDawg]

Most schools don't pre-screen secondaries, so getting one means absolutely nothing. They also cost around $100 to fill out, so if someone doesn't think it's worth applying somewhere after listing them on the primary, they just won't complete the secondary and put that time, effort, and money to better use.

 

[CellPowerhouse]

Thanks for all the replies guys! It sounds so obvious now why applicants withdraw in the interview stage.

However, one thing I'm still unsure about is why people don't fill out secondaries. @avgn talked about it a bit. Aren't people usually pretty happy if they get a secondary since it kinda sorta means that the school is interested in you? I just don't understand why someone wouldn't complete a secondary. Why not just complete it and apply if you get one?

Most schools (or at least, most of the ones I applied to) don't screen, taking away that "this school is interested in me" aspect. And some secondaries are just too much work for the little interest an applicant might have for the school.

 

[gannicus89]

I'm not filling out secondaries for two schools- had not done the proper research, didn't know about the huge in-state bias. I think I would only withdraw from an II if it clashed with an interview at a school I want to go to more.

 

[strictlyanon]

Sometimes you apply to schools not realizing you haven't fulfilled and are not planning on fulfilling certain requirements. Sometimes you realize you don't have a certain LOR needed, sometimes you look at the secondary and think.. wow no.

 

[avgn]

Thanks for all the replies guys! It sounds so obvious now why applicants withdraw in the interview stage.

However, one thing I'm still unsure about is why people don't fill out secondaries. @avgn talked about it a bit. Aren't people usually pretty happy if they get a secondary since it kinda sorta means that the school is interested in you? I just don't understand why someone wouldn't complete a secondary. Why not just complete it and apply if you get one?

Mostly because they didn't know something about the school that later made it unappealing on top of the essays and fee to be paid. Lots of people don't do their hw before selecting schools

 

[GrapesofRath]

The biggest withdrawal comes after someone gets accepted. Then they will withdraw from schools they would not attend over their accepted school. Then others have the great fortune of getting more interview invites than expected, and cull the list. Then some of us burn out after 25 secondaries, and just decide not to do that last one. It is all about information management, with recaliberation after New information received. It is not a game of collecting the most acceptances, it is about getting into a program that works for you.

This is also why some of those stats schools put online about number of students offered an interview and number of students accepted are misleading.

Top tier applicants get interviews from the Tulane and Albany's of the world and immediately forget about them even existing as soon as Northwestern or Cornell comes in with a letter of acceptance. That's why in reality the number of people who actually interview is lower than many think and for the majority of schools if you actually show up to the interview you have a better than 50% of being admitted(note there are exceptions).

 

[mw18]

Or you get a secondary from a school like the university of Florida (a great school) and they want you to read essays and write about them and you realize you likely wouldn't attend over your state school so it doesn't seem worth it.

Or maybe that was just me.