a hundred questions about rolling admissions

[Cantal]

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Please correct me on any misconception I have in anything I write here.. I am a little in the dark about this rolling admissions process.

So some schools have an admissions process called rolling admissions where you fill out your AMCAS, fill out your secondary, go and interview, and find out in a few weeks whether you're in or not. This is the alternative process to the other schools that have a set acceptance/denial date sometime in March (or some schools that have 2-3 of these dates) where all the people who have interviewed are reviewed and either accepted or rejected on the same date.

The impression I get from rolling admissions is that if a school has rolling admissions, it favors the student since he/she will know immediately which school he can go to and not even waste time interviewing at those "fall back" schools that all of us are appyling to. one thing I don't understand is if you get offered an acceptance at School A, can you defer accepting the offer until you find out in March what other schools that are not rolling accepted you, or do you have to accept/reject it immediately? In the MSARs, there's always a notice that says "applicants must reply within 3 weeks of their notification of acceptance." Does this reply mean they will accept/reject or just if they acknowledge it and then say they will decide later to attend the school or not?


More questions: Why do schools with rolling admissions say to apply early? I understand that slots fill up, but are slots
#80 through #100 necessarily harder to get than slots #1 through #20? and maybe if you wait until February to apply and the med school has gotten only low-quality applicants up to that point, you'd be accepted easily even though people with lower stats than you were rejected earlier in the year, no?

also, it seems like all the top tier schools (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Columbia, etc) all have non-rolling admissions. Does non-rolling seem to favor the university since they will be able to select the absolute best students to fill their slots in March and not have to "waste" slots on lower quality applicants if they had decided to use rolling?

-Cantal

 

[idq1i]

-->The impression I get from rolling admissions is that if a school has rolling admissions, it favors the student since he/she will know immediately

Not immediately, takes 2-8 weeks at most schools post-interview

-->one thing I don't understand is if you get offered an acceptance at School A, can you defer accepting the offer until you find out in March what other schools that are not rolling accepted you, or do you have to accept/reject it immediately? In the MSARs, there's always a notice that says "applicants must reply within 3 weeks of their notification of acceptance." Does this reply mean they will accept/reject or just if they acknowledge it and then say they will decide later to attend the school or not?

You accept a spot by mailing in a deposit (100 or so) within 3 weeks or whatever. If you decide not to attend by May 15th, you withdraw and get your deposit back. It's really as simple as that

-->Why do schools with rolling admissions say to apply early? I understand that slots fill up, but are slots
#80 through #100 necessarily harder to get than slots #1 through #20? and maybe if you wait until February to apply and the med school has gotten only low-quality applicants up to that point, you'd be accepted easily even though people with lower stats than you were rejected earlier in the year, no?

The later in the year you apply, the less spots you are competing for since most schools have a pre-set # of offers that they send out. I really don't follow what you are trying to say.

-->also, it seems like all the top tier schools (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Columbia, etc) all have non-rolling admissions. Does non-rolling seem to favor the university since they will be able to select the absolute best students to fill their slots in March and not have to "waste" slots on lower quality applicants if they had decided to use rolling?

Yes, that allows schools to select the most qualified candidates

For God's sake, stop using "low quality", and "waste" when talking about people perusing the board

 

[Cantal]

Originally posted by idq1i
[B


For God's sake, stop using "low quality", and "waste" when talking about people perusing the board [/B]

ah, this all helps a ton! and I definitely didn't mean those phrases offensively of course ;-) I wrote them to describe a student who is overall better than another according to adcom rating systems, not that either is "low quality" person or a "high quality" person

-Cantal

 

[idq1i]

Glad to help.

The rolling admissions system is easier on the applicants - less of a waiting game

 

[Jtak]

Originally posted by idq1i
Glad to help.

The rolling admissions system is easier on the applicants - less of a waiting game

unless you're waitlisted ... then it's the worst kind of waiting game. also, i don't think you get your deposit back if you withdraw from a school that you saved a spot in

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by Jtak
unless you're waitlisted ... then it's the worst kind of waiting game. also, i don't think you get your deposit back if you withdraw from a school that you saved a spot in

Yes you do, but only before May 15th

 

[IrishOarsman]

Do not make the assumption that there will be many if any med schools who get less competitive applicants... spots 80-100 may be harder just because the non-SDN infected world tends to apply later in the summer and everything backs up around Christmas.

 

[LunaMoth]

idq is right; you can definitely get your deposit back prior to may 15th.

I also wanted to mention that U Mich and Wash U, both of which are considered top tier schools of the same caliber as Harvard, Yale, and Columbia are rolling. I doubt that either institution has a problem attracting qualified applicants. I imagine that the admissions offices probably have a good feeling for the type of student that will be accepted (based on past years), and use this information to make decisions earlier.

 

[bnichols0330]

One part of the rolling admissions process has not been mentioned yet on this thread. What happens if you are not picked up right away? Typically, rolling admissions schools interview weekly and hold AdCom meetings monthly. At these meetings interviewers present each applicant to the committee and the committee gives each applicant a score (how this score is determined varies from school to school). These scores are then placed on a ranked list. At the end of the meeting, the adcom will decide to accept x number of students that month. For instance, if they accept 20 students, then they will take the top 20 from the ranked list and send out acceptance letters. Now the applicant who was at 21 does not get a rejection letter. He/she is just next in line. So if the next adcom meeting his rank is 35 (14 new interviewees surpassed his rank), and the adcom decides to accept another 20 students (21-40). The applicant gets in. The waitlist and rejections are not set until the rolling admissions process is over (Usually April). Good Luck.

 

[missmod]

I've heard so many people advise others to get those secondaries out as early as possible...

does this matter with all these schools that are non-rolling? is it still advantageous to get all your stuff in early or does it really not make a difference?