a question about the early decision plan

[asharma11]

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Hello,

I am a third-year undergraduate majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience and minoring in philosophy, political science, and cognitive science. My overall GPA is 3.89 and my MCAT score is 35R (V-10, P-14, B-11). During the summers between academic years, I have done research in biomedical and natural sciences. Though my clinical experience is limited, I do have volunteering experience as an organic chemistry tutor and a senior counselor at a children's camp. I have done some research on potential medical schools and the MD/MPH program at the Yale School of Medicine is particularly attractive to me. Does anyone know how applying under the Early Decision Plan affects an applicant's chances of admission? Would applying under this plan to Yale be a good idea for me?

 

[DW]

at least i've been told ED is a bad idea. Especially at a big name school, you better be an unreal candidate, great gpa, 36 plus mcat, lots of extra curriculars. Cause in the chance you DONT get in early, you're already 3 months behind everyone else in AMCASing off your other apps, and timing is of the essence here as kids will have already gotten into your "safety" schools already.

thinking MPH ehh? I'm a MPH student working at CDC. Most med schools dont even require you apply to the program separately, you can just say "hey, i wanna get a masters" between M2 and M3 or whenever. I would do a little research into if saying you want MD/MPH is an advantage or disadvantage or makes no difference for you (i know apparently at emory its a good thing to say you want to do MD/MPH)

 

[SeeGulz]

I was dead set on applying to GWU as early decision next this coming year ... until I called. They told me that 5 people applied EDP last year (I assumed more) and only one person got in this way (I assumed a higher percentage). They also said that those numbers are typical at GW. The odds just aren't good for that program. Other schools have much better EDP acceptance rates. Call Yale, let them know your stats and your MD/MPH leanings and see if the will tell you what kind of a chance you have. Good luck!

 

[Doctor Pepper]

Depends on the school.. I'd look in the MSAR or call the admission's office and ask for statistics on total acceptances via the early decision route.. Typically, state schools that I know of sometimes accept as much as 1/3 of the class via edp in order to attract high caliber students that would like to get some of the burden off their back...I would probably be skeptical of applying to an extremely competitive schools via this process. It would still be a good idea to talk to the admission's office and assess your chances of getting in this route. Best of Luck