2009-2010 NYU Application Thread

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does anyone know if there's an official way to file complaints, maybe through the AAMC? i bet if enough of us do it they'll start to listen...

Or the Attorney General's office...

Signed up for an SDN account because I'm really angry about this. Definitely unethical, possibly illegal.
 
only 'cause you asked:

"Admissions Committee,

I hereby withdraw my application from your medical school.

I have learned that you have given out all of your interviews, but didn't deign to update mine and other applicants' pages.

Enjoy spending my application fees.

Sincerely,
Scapermoya
Class of 2014
Better Medical School"

I respect your courage in writing this -especially because we do not know the consequences - but the sad part is that we don't know if this is first going to some minimum wage secretary is going to delete it without passing it along to the higher ups who are responsible for admissions decisions.
 
Edited: Had the contact info for the LCME here, but never mind. That would most likely hurt us more than them.

Hmm...
 
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Though it might seem unfair, isn't this how rolling admissions works? A school can agree to accept your application up to a certain point with the understanding that they are going to be giving out interviews in the meantime. As they review in chronological order, if they like the applicants they see they are free to hand out interviews as much as they want, even if it means they end up giving out all of their interviews before reaching a certain (later-applying) group. I'm pretty sure that rolling admissions implies that there is this risk.
 
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Though it might seem unfair, isn't this how rolling admissions works? A school can agree to accept your application up to a certain point with the understanding that they are going to be giving out interviews in the meantime. As they review in chronological order, if they like the applicants they see they are free to hand out interviews as much as they want, even if it means they end up giving out all of their interviews before reaching a certain (later-applying group). I'm pretty sure that rolling admissions implies that there is this risk.

Well, to some extent that's true. There definitely is an inherent risk in applying later with rolling and probably non-rolling admissions. But it seems this would be an extreme and unacceptable case because of the time between applications that they seem to have actually reviewed and the deadline they advertised.

Who knows though. It probably goes on at other schools too.
 
Though it might seem unfair, isn't this how rolling admissions works? A school can agree to accept your application up to a certain point with the understanding that they are going to be giving out interviews in the meantime. As they review in chronological order, if they like the applicants they see they are free to hand out interviews as much as they want, even if it means they end up giving out all of their interviews before reaching a certain (later-applying group). I'm pretty sure that rolling admissions implies that there is this risk.

after taking a step back and thinking about it, i agree with you. what NYU does is very, very crappy and disrespectful of all of our hard work... but ultimately it's pretty much within the bounds of what they're allowed to do. unfortunately.
 
After telling the lady I was marked complete in mid november, she admitted that it was most likely not reviewed. she wouldnt specify what "review" meant- it was obviously checked for the mcat, trancripts, essays etc...but said it was most likely submitted too late for serious consideration...take from that what you will peeps. and good luck!

I just called intending to ask for a refund and had an extremely testy exchange. I said that I understood that people who were marked complete after a certain date in October were not given a full review, despite submitting a full application and application fee. The woman said that all applications are reviewed and that if you were not offered an interview it's because you were not competitive. (for the record, I have a 4.0/41 and a top-5 acceptance). I said that another applicant had called the office and had been told that their application was not reviewed due to their completion date. She said that is not true and "there are three people in this office and we would remember saying that to someone." I asked if they could verify that someone whose application was marked complete on or after October 20th was reviewed and offered an interview. She said that they do not provide those statistics and that they are not required by AAMC to provide those statistics. I asked to speak to a Dean. She said there was not a dean available, I could email Joanne McGrath who will tell me the same thing, repeated that all applications are reviewed and that if I was not offered an interview it was because I am not competitive, and then slammed the phone down.

I don't want to interview here and in the future I will advise friends not to apply here. I do, though, really want my money back.
 
The money charged in accordance with you app is the filing fee... i.e. a simple administrative cost. To somehow suppose that because you applied to a school they have to look at your app is a bit extreme. Is it unfair- yes. Is it unique to NYU or illegal- 100% no.
 
I just called intending to ask for a refund and had an extremely testy exchange. I said that I understood that people who were marked complete after a certain date in October were not given a full review, despite submitting a full application and application fee. The woman said that all applications are reviewed and that if you were not offered an interview it's because you were not competitive. (for the record, I have a 4.0/41 and a top-5 acceptance). I said that another applicant had called the office and had been told that their application was not reviewed due to their completion date. She said that is not true and "there are three people in this office and we would remember saying that to someone." I asked if they could verify that someone whose application was marked complete on or after October 20th was reviewed and offered an interview. She said that they do not provide those statistics and that they are not required by AAMC to provide those statistics. I asked to speak to a Dean. She said there was not a dean available, I could email Joanne McGrath who will tell me the same thing, repeated that all applications are reviewed and that if I was not offered an interview it was because I am not competitive, and then slammed the phone down.

I don't want to interview here and in the future I will advise friends not to apply here. I do, though, really want my money back.

haha, 4.0 and 41 mcat...but you're not competitive at NYU. Right. 🙄
 
The money charged in accordance with you app is the filing fee... i.e. a simple administrative cost. To somehow suppose that because you applied to a school they have to look at your app is a bit extreme. Is it unfair- yes. Is it unique to NYU or illegal- 100% no.

No, that's silly. When you pay the application fee you are paying a school to review your application. You're not paying them for the chance that they might review it. That's why schools have deadlines.
 
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No, that's silly. When you pay the application fee you are paying a school to review your application. You're not paying them to for the chance that they might review it. That's why schools have deadlines.


If it were non-rolling admissions, I would see your point. But unfortunately rolling admissions means that a school is not bound to keep interviews available until their application deadline has closed.
 
Some of you are going overboard here. Interviews at nearly all schools are granted on a rolling basis, whether their admissions are rolling or non-rolling. Thus the earlier you get your app in, the better your chances at an interview. For rolling admissions schools, the stakes are even higher: the earlier you get the secondary in, the better your chances at an interview, and the earlier you interview, the greater your chances of admission.

If a school can fill its interview schedule up with the applicants it has reviewed before the secondary deadline, then there is nothing unethical about them doing that.

Most schools urge applicants to send in the secondary ASAP. Without looking back over anything I received specifically from NYU, I entered the app cycle knowing that, all else equal, sending in the primaries and secondaries early will yield better results than sending them in late.

SDNers argue all the time about what constitutes a "late" app, but suffice to say, if you don't submit a secondary until right before the so-called deadline, you are very late and your chances at an interview are in all likelihood less than they would have been with a more timely app. Personally, I think that any secondary submitted after September 1 is getting late, and after October 1 is definitely late.

Bottom line: I see nothing unethical about what NYU has done here. Unless you can find some sort of written guarantee from NYU, or any other school for that matter, that all secondaries are given equal treatment no matter when received, or something like that, I think you are wasting your time writing angry emails to the school and raising ethical issues with AAMC.
 
Some of you are going overboard here. Interviews at nearly all schools are granted on a rolling basis, whether their admissions are rolling or non-rolling. Thus the earlier you get your app in, the better your chances at an interview. For rolling admissions schools, the stakes are even higher: the earlier you get the secondary in, the better your chances at an interview, and the earlier you interview, the greater your chances of admission.

If a school can fill its interview schedule up with the applicants it has reviewed before the secondary deadline, then there is nothing unethical about them doing that.

Most schools urge applicants to send in the secondary ASAP. Without looking back over anything I received specifically from NYU, I entered the app cycle knowing that, all else equal, sending in the primaries and secondaries early will yield better results than sending them in late.

SDNers argue all the time about what constitutes a "late" app, but suffice to say, if you don't submit a secondary until right before the so-called deadline, you are very late and your chances at an interview are in all likelihood less than they would have been with a more timely app. Personally, I think that any secondary submitted after September 1 is getting late, and after October 1 is definitely late.

Bottom line: I see nothing unethical about what NYU has done here. Unless you can find some sort of written guarantee from NYU, or any other school for that matter, that all secondaries are given equal treatment no matter when received, or something like that, I think you are wasting your time writing angry emails to the school and raising ethical issues with AAMC.

👍
 
If it were non-rolling admissions, I would see your point. But unfortunately rolling admissions means that a school is not bound to keep interviews available until their application deadline has closed.

I agree that's what is rolling admissions are, but then what would you say the reason for an application deadline is?

It just seems obvious that applications submitted prior to the deadline that are properly complete will get reviewed. Now of course they could just say "we reviewed it, you're not competitive" but it'd be quite telling if not a single person who submitted their app from late august/early september on received an interview.
 
If it were non-rolling admissions, I would see your point. But unfortunately rolling admissions means that a school is not bound to keep interviews available until their application deadline has closed.

generally yes, but they stopped reviewing applications that were submitted THREE MONTHS before the 12/1 deadline. Legally I guess they can do that, but is it really ethical? They should at least detail in their application literature approximately when they ran out of interviews in previous years.
 
Also, there is nothing on the NYU website or in their emails about being a rolling school or about earlier applications receiving greater consideration. All it says is "It is not possible to interview all applicants. Only those students who, on the basis of application data, appear to merit serious consideration for admission are selected for an interview." and "Once your application is received by NYU School of Medicine, we will invite you to complete an on-line secondary application (Due December 1st)"
 
And lastly, the admissions officer on the phone made no suggestion that applications submitted later were considered any differently. She just claimed that all applications were reviewed and that no interview means not competitive. But not a single person on this site has reported an interview offer with a completion date later than early october/submission later than august
 
Most schools urge applicants to send in the secondary ASAP.

Keep in mind that there are factors out of our control - undergrad committees that have a policy of not sending LORs until September, MCAT release dates for re-testers, and those LOR writers who consistently "forget" despite constant reminders.

All in all I would say that at least 30% of "late" submitters sent their secondaries in around July and were delayed by other factors.
 
generally yes, but they stopped reviewing applications that were submitted THREE MONTHS before the 12/1 deadline. Legally I guess they can do that, but is it really ethical? They should at least detail in their application literature approximately when they ran out of interviews in previous years.

Also, there is nothing on the NYU website or in their emails about being a rolling school or about earlier applications receiving greater consideration. All it says is "It is not possible to interview all applicants. Only those students who, on the basis of application data, appear to merit serious consideration for admission are selected for an interview." and "Once your application is received by NYU School of Medicine, we will invite you to complete an on-line secondary application (Due December 1st)"

And lastly, the admissions officer on the phone made no suggestion that applications submitted later were considered any differently. She just claimed that all applications were reviewed and that no interview means not competitive. But not a single person on this site has reported an interview offer with a completion date later than early october/submission later than august

Totally agree with you on all points.
 
Also, there is nothing on the NYU website or in their emails about being a rolling school or about earlier applications receiving greater consideration. All it says is "It is not possible to interview all applicants. Only those students who, on the basis of application data, appear to merit serious consideration for admission are selected for an interview." and "Once your application is received by NYU School of Medicine, we will invite you to complete an on-line secondary application (Due December 1st)"

But clearly their interviews are granted on a rolling basis, and their admissions are at least a "modified" rolling basis with the first wave of acceptances going out in mid December.

It seems like you think that schools should not act on applications received prior to their deadline, or that they should at least hold back some interview dates. Does any school wait until after their secondary deadline before granting interviews? I don't know of any.

It is common knowledge that rolling interviews / admissions favors early applicants. Are you saying you were not aware of that?
 
But clearly their interviews are granted on a rolling basis, and their admissions are at least a "modified" rolling basis with the first wave of acceptances going out in mid December.

It seems like you think that schools should not act on applications received prior to their deadline, or that they should at least hold back some interview dates. Does any school wait until after their secondary deadline before granting interviews? I don't know of any.

It is common knowledge that rolling interviews / admissions favors early applicants. Are you saying you were not aware of that?

I believe we are all aware of that. The obvious issue here is that they have a deadline of 12/1 and stopped reviewing applications late August but gladly collected application fees for another 3 months without having the decency to tell people they may not even be reviewed.
 
The sad truth is that when it comes to the bottom line (like all things) its about money. They have such a rediculously late deadline for the same reason that most schools don't screen for secondaries they want the $$$$. It just disgusts me to know that for some schools admissions is a business, where applicants are second to profit.
 
And lastly, the admissions officer on the phone made no suggestion that applications submitted later were considered any differently. She just claimed that all applications were reviewed and that no interview means not competitive. But not a single person on this site has reported an interview offer with a completion date later than early october/submission later than august

Or "no interview" means that all interviews have already been given out. I think some of you are reading way too much into what some secretary is telling you over the phone...

Think of interviews as "first come, first served." Then, like on Black Friday, when they run out the special sale priced items, even though the sale was advertised to run until 11 AM, the sale is effectively over.
 
But clearly their interviews are granted on a rolling basis, and their admissions are at least a "modified" rolling basis with the first wave of acceptances going out in mid December.

It seems like you think that schools should not act on applications received prior to their deadline, or that they should at least hold back some interview dates. Does any school wait until after their secondary deadline before granting interviews? I don't know of any.

It is common knowledge that rolling interviews / admissions favors early applicants. Are you saying you were not aware of that?

If a school does not identify itself as practicing rolling admissions on their website or in their correspondence, I don't think it's an unreasonable assumption that they do not practice rolling admissions. Furthermore, an hour ago I spoke with an admissions officer who herself claimed that admissions are not rolling. Once again, she claimed that all applications were reviewed, and if an interview was not granted it is because an applicant is not competitive.
 
Think of interviews as "first come, first served." Then, like on Black Friday, when they run out the special sale priced items, even though the sale was advertised to run until 11 AM, the sale is effectively over.

Yeah, but on Black Friday, they don't charge you admission at the door.
 
Or "no interview" means that all interviews have already been given out. I think some of you are reading way too much into what some secretary is telling you over the phone...

Think of interviews as "first come, first served." Then, like on Black Friday, when they run out the special sale priced items, even though the sale was advertised to run until 11 AM, the sale is effectively over.

The problem is that they must have realized at some point during those 3 months that they weren't going to get to any other applications and they didn't notify applicants about it.
 
I believe we are all aware of that. The obvious issue here is that they have a deadline of 12/1 and stopped reviewing applications late August but gladly collected application fees for another 3 months without having the decency to tell people they may not even be reviewed.

not true - they stopped reviewing applications that were submitted after late August. The review process continued until a week or two ago.
 
I believe we are all aware of that. The obvious issue here is that they have a deadline of 12/1 and stopped reviewing applications late August but gladly collected application fees for another 3 months without having the decency to tell people they may not even be reviewed.

What are you basing this claim on? On the limited number of people who post on SDN?

Who knows what constitutes a "review" of an applicant's file? And once they have given out all their interview slots, whenever that occurs, why would you feel that they owe you a "review" or any further consideration?
 
not true - they stopped reviewing applications that were submitted after late August. The review process continued until a week or two ago.

That is what I meant -- that the last applicants' files to be reviewed were ones from late August. Not that they just stopped reviewing applications arbitrarily at that point.

What are you basing this claim on? On the limited number of people who post on SDN?

Who knows what constitutes a "review" of an applicant's file? And once they have given out all their interview slots, whenever that occurs, why would you feel that they owe you a "review" or any further consideration?

You're right, this hasn't been confirmed in any real way. Although it does lend some to credibility to the "limited number of people who post on SDN" since nobody who submitted beyond the end of August has been given an interview.

Are you saying it's logical that not one person who submitted an application in those three months was competitive?

Granted, most applicants are not on SDN, but it between mdapps and this forum, I do believe that's enough of a sample size.
 
If a school does not identify itself as practicing rolling admissions on their website or in their correspondence, I don't think it's an unreasonable assumption that they do not practice rolling admissions. Furthermore, an hour ago I spoke with an admissions officer who herself claimed that admissions are not rolling. Once again, she claimed that all applications were reviewed, and if an interview was not granted it is because an applicant is not competitive.

Read my earlier post: interviews are granted on a rolling basis; whether for admissions purposes a school is rolling, or non-rolling, or something in between, is irrelevant.

When they run out of interview slots, game over. The app deadline is no guarantee that they will still have interview slots to give out.
 
Or "no interview" means that all interviews have already been given out. I think some of you are reading way too much into what some secretary is telling you over the phone...

Think of interviews as "first come, first served." Then, like on Black Friday, when they run out the special sale priced items, even though the sale was advertised to run until 11 AM, the sale is effectively over.

Good analogy.

I believe we are all aware of that. The obvious issue here is that they have a deadline of 12/1 and stopped reviewing applications late August but gladly collected application fees for another 3 months without having the decency to tell people they may not even be reviewed.

Your 3 months seems preposterous. My application was complete in the second week of sept and I was invited in late Nov so they were still reviewing. And I guarantee they have been reviewing this entire time (even the later submissions) but in all likelihood the later submissions did not get a second look over.

This undoubtedly happens to all of us at one school or another through this entire process....we just get the shaft, especially people like me who didn't have all their **** done by July. NYU, for you, just isn't meant to be this year I guess. That's why the avg applicant will throw down for 12 to 15 schools. It happens.

And SwineSue, you are in a top 5 school, you don't need NYU's love anyway. I understand you aren't getting your money back, but forget it. This is a pointless fight.
 
not true - they stopped reviewing applications that were submitted after late August. The review process continued until a week or two ago.

Not to get caught up on a technicality, but I submitted my app in late Sept and was apparently reviewed since I was offered an interview. Your point still stands - it appears that a number of competitive applicants who submitted by the deadline weren't given fair consideration - but it's good to have all the facts straight.

I understand your anger with the process, but it sounds like you, at least, are in great shape. Incidentally, I remember one of your replies to my post about the Northwestern group interview - you were right, it was just as awkward and excruciating as expected!
 
Good analogy.



Your 3 months seems preposterous. My application was complete in the second week of sept and I was invited in late Nov so they were still review. And I guarantee they have been reviewing this entire time (even the later submissions) but in all likelihood the later submissions did not get a second look over.

This undoubtedly happens to all of us at one school or another through this entire process....we just get the shaft, especially people like me who didn't have all their **** done by July. NYU, for you, just isn't meant to be this year I guess. That's why the avg applicant will throw down for 12 to 15 schools. It happens.

And SwineSue, you are in a top 5 school, you don't need NYU's love anyway. I understand you aren't getting your money back, but forget it. This is a pointless fight.

It's not *my* 3 months, and it's not the 'complete' date. It's the submission date, since that is relative to the deadline they imposed (they don't say you're app has to be marked 'complete' by 12/1, they say it has to be submitted.)

And it isn't that I'm so in love with NYU that this news absolutely crushed me. Honestly, I don't know much about it besides it being ranked 31. That's why I like the chance to interview at schools and learn more about them. But it just seems entirely unethical to continue to accept application fees when they were well aware they wouldn't get to them.
 
Not to get caught up on a technicality, but I submitted my app in late Sept and was offered an interview. Your point still stands - it appears that a number of competitive applicants who submitted by the deadline weren't given fair consideration - but it's good to have all the facts straight.

When were you marked complete?
 
Not to get caught up on a technicality, but I submitted my app in late Sept and was apparently reviewed since I was offered an interview. Your point still stands - it appears that a number of competitive applicants who submitted by the deadline weren't given fair consideration - but it's good to have all the facts straight.

I understand your anger with the process, but it sounds like you, at least, are in great shape. Incidentally, I remember one of your replies to my post about the Northwestern group interview - you were right, it was just as awkward and excruciating as expected!

ha - totally!
 
I believe we are all aware of that. The obvious issue here is that they have a deadline of 12/1 and stopped reviewing applications late August but gladly collected application fees for another 3 months without having the decency to tell people they may not even be reviewed.

No no no no no no no this is bogus. I was complete in September, reviewed in December, interviewed in January.
 
What are you basing this claim on? On the limited number of people who post on SDN?

Who knows what constitutes a "review" of an applicant's file? And once they have given out all their interview slots, whenever that occurs, why would you feel that they owe you a "review" or any further consideration?

Because they accepted $100 from me. I feel they quite literally "owe" me a review. that's quite a lot of money. The website should say "limited number of apps are reviewed each year, submit at your own risk" and hopefully next year it will.
 
No no no no no no no this is bogus. I was complete in September, reviewed in December, interviewed in January.

the current theory is that applications marked complete after mid october and thus submitted in september were not reviewed.
 
No no no no no no no this is bogus. I was complete in September, reviewed in December, interviewed in January.

Again, 'submitted' date is different from 'complete' date. When did you submit? August?

How can it be bogus if only a single person on SDN has gotten an interview who submitted from Sept. on?

I'm not claiming to know what the admissions committee at NYU did but from SDN and mdapps it's apparent that people who submitted after late August are simply not getting interviewed (with the extremely notable exception of tacitturngirl above.)
 
Congrats to all accepted! 🙂 Does anyone know:

1. When is second look?
2. When does orientation start?
3. When do classes start?

I couldn't find any of this information in the very short one page note they attached to the acceptance letter.
 
if you guys are this adamant about getting to the bottom of this, i suggest you write up an email to NYU admissions and get your facts straight. there is way too much speculation going on and people are just getting riled up over no good reason. either side could be right, but until someone contacts the adcom, theres no way of definitively knowing.
 
Because they accepted $100 from me. I feel they quite literally "owe" me a review. that's quite a lot of money. The website should say "late applications at a disadvantage, submit at your own risk" and hopefully next year it will.

Again, this is common knowledge. Every source - SDN, AAMC, various books, etc. - tell applicants to "apply early" for this very reason.

Somebody said it earlier, but the $100 is an administrative fee, not an assurance that any specific action will be taken on your file no matter when you submit.

You also keep saying that they owe you a review, but what makes you think that they didn't review your app? Did someone tell you they didn't review your app? You are going on someone else's secondhand conversation here, right? Someone higher up in the thread?
 
if you guys are this adamant about getting to the bottom of this, i suggest you write up an email to NYU admissions and get your facts straight. there is way too much speculation going on and people are just getting riled up over no good reason. either side could be right, but until someone contacts the adcom, theres no way of definitively knowing.

kryptonite888's post from yesterday:

After telling the lady I was marked complete in mid november, she admitted that it was most likely not reviewed. she wouldnt specify what "review" meant- it was obviously checked for the mcat, trancripts, essays etc...but said it was most likely submitted too late for serious consideration...take from that what you will peeps. and good luck!

i suppose possible he could have made that up
 
Again, 'submitted' date is different from 'complete' date. When did you submit? August?

How can it be bogus if only a single person on SDN has gotten an interview who submitted from Sept. on?

I'm not claiming to know what the admissions committee at NYU did but from SDN and mdapps it's apparent that people who submitted after late August are simply not getting interviewed (with the extremely notable exception of tacitturngirl above.)

tacitturngirl not an exception - she was marked complete in early october. they evidently marked people complete out of order.
 
kryptonite888's post from yesterday:

After telling the lady I was marked complete in mid november, she admitted that it was most likely not reviewed. she wouldnt specify what "review" meant- it was obviously checked for the mcat, trancripts, essays etc...but said it was most likely submitted too late for serious consideration...take from that what you will peeps. and good luck!

i suppose possible he could have made that up

thanks for that. sorry for not checking previous posts.

then by all means, continue.
 
This whole business is shady, yes, but is it really any worse that, say, having an internal GPA/MCAT cutoff?
 
This whole business is shady, yes, but is it really any worse that, say, having an internal GPA/MCAT cutoff?

meh.

anyway, why so invested in this, flip? just like arguing with people on the internet?
 
kryptonite888's post from yesterday:

After telling the lady I was marked complete in mid november, she admitted that it was most likely not reviewed. she wouldnt specify what "review" meant- it was obviously checked for the mcat, trancripts, essays etc...but said it was most likely submitted too late for serious consideration...take from that what you will peeps. and good luck!

i suppose possible he could have made that up

Take kryptonite888's post literally - he says that he was told his app was reviewed, but the "lady" said it was "most likely" submitted too late for serious consideration.

From this you have decided to conclude that your app was not reviewed. I don't see how you can conclude this from this other dude's post.

But I do think that you can reasonably conclude that by the time they got around to your reviewing your app, they were either out of or were running very low on available interview slots, and whatever the merits of your app, it did not fit the profile of what they were looking for at that point in time.
 
Congrats to all accepted! 🙂 Does anyone know:

1. When is second look?
2. When does orientation start?
3. When do classes start?

I couldn't find any of this information in the very short one page note they attached to the acceptance letter.

I seem to have to have gotten caught in the middle of a ruckus, but if anyone knows the dates I would be super grateful so that I could plan accordingly!
 
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