🙂 Understood, but the "C" in CTE has a legal meaning, if anyone were properly motivated to enforce it, and that might induce schools to follow the "rules" as set forth in the "recommendations" published by AAMC. From the Protocols for Admissions Officers - "Making an offer of admission to an applicant who has already matriculated at another school could result in the other school having an unfilled slot in its class. Each school is encouraged to take reasonable measures, including asking applicants under consideration whether they have already matriculated at another medical school, and carefully consider that information when deciding whether to make an offer to an applicant."
Given that this whole new environment was precipitated by AAMC's fear of some remote possibility of litigation stemming from your ability to see other acceptances, it would be pretty ironic if individual schools would be willing to risk litigation by interfering with the contractual rights of peer institutions by luring away students who have made a binding "CTE" at another school!
You obviously know way more about this world than I ever will, but, tell me, when schools poached in the past, was there language similar to the CTE language involved with the matriculation? If not, then I would suggest that it is only safe to poach from schools that have not adopted the CTE protocol, if any. If so, then CTE doesn't mean anything and never will (so you might as well do away with it), in which case there is no reason for you or any of your peers to be stressing over your PTE/CTE ratios, since nothing means anything until classes start everywhere, the music stops, and all seats are filled!
If CTE is not going to be respected for the commitment that it represents, backed up by the threat of litigation against schools that poach if students are induced to break binding commitments by other schools, then there is just no reason to have it at all. In the real world, non-compete clauses have value because companies do not hesitate to sue competitors for damages when key employees are lured away.
I wouldn't be surprised if schools avoid the issue by actually following the "rules" and only accepting folks who have not CTE'd elsewhere once CTE deadlines roll around.
If you're really curious about something, ask to PM a person. This thread has been plenty helpful so far, the truth is that we just don't have any real answers, nor will we until this is done. Yay for being the guinea pigs!
