2010-2011 Application Season: The Airing of Grievances

[fiznat]

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For an increasing number of us SDN DO'ers, the 2010-2011 application season is coming to a close. I thought it would be fun for us to take this opportunity to air some grievances regarding the application process at specific schools. This can be a pretty frustrating process, so I hope people here have some good stuff to contribute.

I'll start:

NOVA, NYCOM, OU-COM, and UMDNJ: thanks a lot for never getting back to me regarding my application! It really was a lot of fun filling out your application and paying your fees, but call me crazy- I was sorta expecting to get a little communication in return. You couldn't bother to even shoot out an email to let me know I've been rejected? It's been six months! Especially you, UMDNJ, who thought it was necessary to charge a $90 secondary fee, and then the last word I hear is about you cashing my check. Thumbs down.

NYCOM , your admissions staff was rude. When I called to request information about my application, the lady on the phone was mean and nasty. I was asked if my parents were "poor," because that might help me get in. When I answered to the negative, it was suggested that I apply to Caribbean MD schools. Piss on you.

Anyone got any others?

 

[shushumiga]

For an increasing number of us SDN DO'ers, the 2010-2011 application season is coming to a close. I thought it would be fun for us to take this opportunity to air some grievances regarding the application process at specific schools. This can be a pretty frustrating process, so I hope people here have some good stuff to contribute.

I'll start:

NOVA, NYCOM, OU-COM, and UMDNJ: thanks a lot for never getting back to me regarding my application! It really was a lot of fun filling out your application and paying your fees, but call me crazy- I was sorta expecting to get a little communication in return. You couldn't bother to even shoot out an email to let me know I've been rejected? It's been six months! Especially you, UMDNJ, who thought it was necessary to charge a $90 secondary fee, and then the last word I hear is about you cashing my check. Thumbs down.

NYCOM , your admissions staff was rude. When I called to request information about my application, the lady on the phone was mean and nasty. I was asked if my parents were "poor," because that might help me get in. When I answered to the negative, it was suggested that I apply to Caribbean MD schools. Piss on you.

Anyone got any others?

I think you should email each school those exact thoughts that you have on here because I think they are funnyyyyyyyyyy and who cares what they say anymore cuz you got in!

I should prepare myself for the next cycle, its good to know that some schools you apply don't give a damn to even send you a rejection letter 😡

 

[Sinfest]

Festivus

 

[DocEspana]

SERENITY NOW! Ugh, It's no good George. No matta what I do, you always read this in my voice. YOU'RE THE ONE AT FAULT!

p.s. It takes all the strength of will I have to not put Zoolander quotes up here now.

 

[Slane]

NOVA, NYCOM, OU-COM, and UMDNJ: thanks a lot for never getting back to me regarding my application! It really was a lot of fun filling out your application and paying your fees, but call me crazy- I was sorta expecting to get a little communication in return. You couldn't bother to even shoot out an email to let me know I've been rejected? It's been six months! Especially you, UMDNJ, who thought it was necessary to charge a $90 secondary fee, and then the last word I hear is about you cashing my check. Thumbs down.

If they do it like last year, you'll get a rejection letter from OU-COM on fancy paper in like May or June. They apparently wait until the end of the cycle and do them all at once using a form letter.

 

[fiznat]

Nobody with any grievances to air?? Come onn...... 😉

 

[Badgers326]

Nobody with any grievances to air?? Come onn...... 😉

Fine...I'll bite

MSUCOM: I really should have known better applying OOS to a public university, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. I completed that insane secondary of filling out all this information in THEIR specific way and getting different LOR because they want them on THEIR form supposedly to make it easier to evaluate all the candidates. I even paid the $85 secondary fee. I've been complete since mid-October, but I haven't heard a word from them. It was one of the few schools I didn't withdraw from after my first acceptance. I know the class is full and I wouldn't go their, but I feel like I still deserve at least some recognition from them that I even applied. Maybe in these next few meetings of their adcom I will finally get a decision from them.

 

[SLC]

MSUCOM here too.

It's mostly my fault for not double-checking the requirements one last time before applying, but if You're going to require a semester of genetics then don't take money from applicants who haven't taken that class. I knew about this requirement, but somehow spaced it at the end of the AACOMAS app and checked their box anyway.

 

[zann0324]

Haha...hilarious...I am an alternate at two schools so I will refrain from being too psychotically truthful until I have an acceptance..but for the MSU app--much agreed, in fact...I declined to fill out the secondary because I thought it was ridiculous to have to get other weird, useless recommendations..my friends and I have a theory that adcom people sit around drinking mamosas in the morning and brainstorming premed torture tactics..and I know they will argue against this but its true..in fact, I dream of one day enjoying a bagel with a handful of 2 week old acceptance letters making bets with my cohorts about how many kids have already vomitted in anticipation of a decision... oh and to add to ridiculous secondaries...what the H gives PNWU, a currently unaccredited institution, the right to charge $175 for a secondary fee? I would like to stay in the northwest but I'll be damned if I am going to give anyone $175 to decide if I am good enough to throw another few hundred thousand to their school...besides, I have the inside gossip on that school and word is that tuition will be steadily rising in the next few years...

 

[SLC]

oh and to add to ridiculous secondaries...what the H gives PNWU, a currently unaccredited institution, the right to charge $175 for a secondary fee? I would like to stay in the northwest but I'll be damned if I am going to give anyone $175 to decide if I am good enough to throw another few hundred thousand to their school...besides, I have the inside gossip on that school and word is that tuition will be steadily rising in the next few years...

As for PNWU, I believe their high secondary fee is directly related to the fact that they Pre-screen applicants prior to secondary invite.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Meh, I'll bite...(all in good fun):

Western-Lebanon Campus: What part of my personal statement where I mentioned working full time and taking 20+ credits made you think that I would have no problem dropping everything when you call me on a Tuesday asking me to interview 4 days later on Saturday?

PNWU: So you're going to try to get to know me as a person by asking a bunch of ridiculous standardized questions and giving me no response and not even a pity smile at some of my lame jokes? I've had better conversations with my dogs...

Thank you Northwest DO schools but no thank you, maybe I'll be back for residency.

 

[dreamingaway05]

Fine...I'll bite

MSUCOM: I really should have known better applying OOS to a public university, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. I completed that insane secondary of filling out all this information in THEIR specific way and getting different LOR because they want them on THEIR form supposedly to make it easier to evaluate all the candidates. I even paid the $85 secondary fee. I've been complete since mid-October, but I haven't heard a word from them. It was one of the few schools I didn't withdraw from after my first acceptance. I know the class is full and I wouldn't go their, but I feel like I still deserve at least some recognition from them that I even applied. Maybe in these next few meetings of their adcom I will finally get a decision from them.

In their defense, MSUCOM does not do interviews for a good deal of their acceptances (I was accepted without an interview). So, in my opinion, crazy secondary > interview weekend.

HOWEVER... 71K for out of state tuition??? WHAT?!?

 

[cliffhuxtableDO]

UMDNJ kinda irked me as well taking my money and nothing else. WVSOM also never responded, and when I went to check on my app one day they said it basically never existed . Oh well, alls well that ends well.

 

[Bravetown]

I'm in

DMU: Why the hell do you have interviews at the end of the day? No, no I'm not stressed out I would love to wait to the end of the day to talk to people who might as well have been faceless.

NYCOM and PCOM: Go **** off, you know why.

 

[GainesvilleOwl]

DMU: Why the hell do you have interviews at the end of the day? No, no I'm not stressed out I would love to wait to the end of the day to talk to people who might as well have been faceless.

I like this idea, actually. For one, interacting with other interviewees in my group before the interview itself puts me at ease. Second, you should have a better answer to "Why this school?" if you've gone on the tour first and heard more about their opportunities/points of pride (as some school websites are more informative than others)

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

I like this idea, actually. For one, interacting with other interviewees in my group before the interview itself puts me at ease. Second, you should have a better answer to "Why this school?" if you've gone on the tour first and heard more about their opportunities/points of pride (as some school websites are more informative than others)

Meh, I agree with Bravetown. If I've flown halfway across the U.S. and no matter how nice the hotel is I'm lucky to be going off of 5 hours of sleep. Usually by the end of interview days I'm a space case.

 

[zann0324]

Meh, I agree with Bravetown. If I've flown halfway across the U.S. and no matter how nice the hotel is I'm lucky to be going off of 5 hours of sleep. Usually by the end of interview days I'm a space case.

Ditto....at one interview they didn't have coffee anywhere to be seen...so after lunch I'm exhausted and I have to go be a charming little person...not cool...I teased them about either providing me with a pre-interview nap or giving me some form of chemical for staying awake (I said preferably coffee but I wasn't picky) 🙂

 

[DoctorJDO]

NSU, LECOM: Thanks, but no thanks for inviting me to interview about 2 months after I called and wrote to withdraw my application.

PCOM: I was invited to interview at every other DO school I applied to before November, but I'm pretty sure you haven't even looked at my application yet. Also, thank you for acting annoyed when I called to check on the status of my application because your online website comes up as a reported attack site on both of my computers.

 

[robertch8]

Yeah let's see grievances for before interview....
Western/COMP: What's up with not giving me a secondary application because I didn't take 6 credits of behavioral science?
MSUCOM: You sure have to be super particular with everything and make life confusing for both myself and my recommenders.
UMDNJ, PCOM,NYCOM: I haven't heard a word about anything (well at least NYCOM responds to receiving my e-mails) and PCOM, so you go through my app so fast in the Georgia branch (interviewed and accepted w/in 1 month) and don't even look at my app yet in the Philly branch now at the middle of March?

Interview Grievances:

Touro-Nevada: Having an interviewer ask me right away "Did you take an anatomy course in college?" "Did you take a physiology course in college?" And then berating me and saying that my world will be turned upside down in med school and that I will struggle big time.

LECOM-B: Not really me but just scaring the hell out of other interviewees haha....

 

[drctother]

Yeah let's see grievances for before interview....
Western/COMP: What's up with not giving me a secondary application because I didn't take 6 credits of behavioral science?
MSUCOM: You sure have to be super particular with everything and make life confusing for both myself and my recommenders.
UMDNJ, PCOM,NYCOM: I haven't heard a word about anything (well at least NYCOM responds to receiving my e-mails) and PCOM, so you go through my app so fast in the Georgia branch (interviewed and accepted w/in 1 month) and don't even look at my app yet in the Philly branch now at the middle of March?

Interview Grievances:

Touro-Nevada: Having an interviewer ask me right away "Did you take an anatomy course in college?" "Did you take a physiology course in college?" And then berating me and saying that my world will be turned upside down in med school and that I will struggle big time.

LECOM-B: Not really me but just scaring the hell out of other interviewees haha....

For Western, thats weird cuz I didnt have 6 credits of behavioral science and I got accepted. Who knows, there is always some kind of exception your way or my way😕

LECOM-E: Thanks for not sending a SINGLE update after I applied. No secondary no nothing. Even when I tried to call them, they said they would call me back. Bastards

LECOM-B: Way to promise you accept Canadians, and than take my secondary money and then send me snail mail saying "we do not accept international students". Also way to not respond when I emailed you asking for my money back

MSU-COM: 80,000 for OOS, are you kidding me? How can you charge that much when your secondary is literally the most ******ed thing I have ever seen in my life. As much as you think you are a special school, you dont have any right to ask pre-meds to get special packages filled out by their references. Getting the letters is hard enough for most people in most cases. Absolute BS with this school, they have a HUGE chip on their shoulder

 

[cydonia]

This has to be the BEST thread ever. Hilarious. Thank you to everyone here for making me feel better about this cycle. Let's not forget the interviewers who apparently have the need to act like complete asses (I am talking to you, LMU and TouroNY). Is there really any need to be so nasty? We as applicants are evaluating you as much as you are us. If interviewing is such an inconvenience, please stop and we will be happy to interview with the other individuals that our group had, that were much more pleasant than you according to their feedback. And yes, no love from UMDNJ, NYCOM or PCOM Philly as previously mentioned...

 

[Postal]

NYCOM: Because they won't let me check the status of my application. What's the point of paying an application fee?

 

[MightyMoose]

Meh, I agree with Bravetown. If I've flown halfway across the U.S. and no matter how nice the hotel is I'm lucky to be going off of 5 hours of sleep. Usually by the end of interview days I'm a space case.

I completely agree. That was annoying. I didn't end up interviewing until ~3PM... My interviewers even looked like they were falling asleep after the long day.