Acceptance / May 15 Deadline

[batman1983]

So, I had a couple questions about the deadline process to declare acceptance to one medical school:

1) Is May 15 the official deadline that we must declare acceptance for one school?

2) Is this also the date upon which medical schools communicate with each other or can see applicants' admissions progress(schools admitted to, waitlisted at, etc)

3) Do medical schools only know what schools applicants have been accepted to? Or, do they also find out what other schools applicants have applied to and either have been waitlisted or rejected at?

Sorry if these questions has been covered, I just wanted to get some clarification. Thanks

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[michigator04]

1) Yes, you are required to narrow your acceptances down to 1 by May 15th or risk losing them.
2) Yes, the schools will know what other acceptances you are holding.
3) Not sure, but it wouldn't affect anything if they did.

 

[talbo]

I have a question about 2) as batman has stated.

Do they know what schools you have been waitlisted at bc to me that seems really shady. It can either be positive or negative information depending on how they view it.

 

[justpremed]

one correction (just b/c i just discovered this last week)

not all schools follow the may 15 deadline. for schools who begin class on or before july 30, the deadline is april 15. i received an e-mail from one such school last week that told me i was holding multiple acceptances and that i needed to make a decision by april 15 for schools that started earlier.

 

[09medstudent13]

I have an additional question... Does anyone know what kind of effect holding an acceptance at one school has on the likelihood of gaining acceptance off a waitlist at another school?

In other words will my acceptance at school A, help me or hurt my efforts to get in off the waitlist at school B?

 

[chessodoc]

I have an additional question... Does anyone know what kind of effect holding an acceptance at one school has on the likelihood of gaining acceptance off a waitlist at another school?

In other words will my acceptance at school A, help me or hurt my efforts to get in off the waitlist at school B?

Was thinking the same thing.

 

[kac714]

justapremed- i dont know if you can answer this, but do you have any idea of what schools those are? I'd assume that their waitlists would start moving sooner...

 

[Spiker]

I have an additional question... Does anyone know what kind of effect holding an acceptance at one school has on the likelihood of gaining acceptance off a waitlist at another school?

In other words will my acceptance at school A, help me or hurt my efforts to get in off the waitlist at school B?

Not that it would matter since you are not going to drop an acceptance to "better" your chance on another waitlist right? You are stressing too much.

 

[09medstudent13]

Not that it would matter since you are not going to drop an acceptance to "better" your chance on another waitlist right? You are stressing too much.

This is true. I am in no way trying to belittle the acceptance that I hold. I could not be happier. The waitlist school just happens to be my dream school and the school to which I submitted a letter of intent, so I was just curious.

 

[richse]

For question 2, I was told at one of my interviews the schools find out about your other acceptances around March 15th. So most likely they already know what you are holding. May 15th is the deadline to be holding just 1 so there would be no point to them finding out then.

 

[tallface]

For question 2, I was told at one of my interviews the schools find out about your other acceptances around March 15th. So most likely they already know what you are holding. May 15th is the deadline to be holding just 1 so there would be no point to them finding out then.

This is true. When one admissions director called last week to give me a status update, he began the conversation with, "Oh, so I see you got into _____ and ____."

 

[talbo]

so if you are on the WL at school X, does school X know what other schools you are WL at and what acceptances you are holding? To me it's only fair for them to see your acceptances after they accept you, but I don't know how the rule works. Anyone?

 

[batman1983]

1) Yes, you are required to narrow your acceptances down to 1 by May 15th or risk losing them.
2) Yes, the schools will know what other acceptances you are holding.
3) Not sure, but it wouldn't affect anything if they did.

so if you are on the WL at school X, does school X know what other schools you are WL at and what acceptances you are holding? To me it's only fair for them to see your acceptances after they accept you, but I don't know how the rule works. Anyone?

Thanks for the info ppl. In regards to question #3, the reason I ask is because I recently interviewed at my two top choices, and at both schools, I was asked by my interviewers about other schools that I interviewed and had been accepted at. In addition, at both schools, I seemed to get the impression that my interviewers looked down on my reapplicant status (this is my 3rd time applying) as I was asked numerous questions on this (Why werent you accepted the first two times?, How have you improved yourself, etc).

While I am very fortunate to have been accepted at some very competitive schools this time around, I also applied to a lot of schools and I am afraid that the “beauty pageant” mentality, where one school wants you if another school has accepted you, may play some part in my decision at those schools. Thus, I wanted to know what kind of information (number and type of schools I applied, status at those schools, etc) about my medical application progress do medical schools have on me.

 

[DrWookie]

I have an additional question... Does anyone know what kind of effect holding an acceptance at one school has on the likelihood of gaining acceptance off a waitlist at another school?

In other words will my acceptance at school A, help me or hurt my efforts to get in off the waitlist at school B?

A school you are on the waitlist for will not judge you for holding an acceptance...it is only natural to accept at SOMEWHERE while waiting for a waitlist, if you really want to become a doctor.

 

[Shayden]

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[Pattycake25]

.

Gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume that you revived this thread because you're genuinely confused about this topic (instead of just being an ass).

Many applicants have more than 1 ACCEPTANCE by now. By May 15th, you are required to decline all of them but one, so that schools can start going into their waitlists. On May 15th, all schools where your application is active know your complete list of acceptances - if schools see you failed to decline enough offers, there is a very good chance ALL the offers will be yanked. Certainly, you will receive a nasty letter from each school with an ultimatum to choose immediately.

This does not interfere with waitlist status. Past May 15th, schools can and will continue to make offers to people who have already been accepted to other schools. If you receive one of these offers, it will give you a timeframe within which to make a choice - it could be as much as a couple of weeks to as little as a day. Both schools expect you to call the declined school and let them know promptly, once you've confirmed a spot somewhere. As far as I know, having an acceptance at one school does not interfere with other schools' decisions on offering spots - they'll let you make your own decision.

 

[Wall of Ice]

What is the best way to decline an acceptance? email, letter?

 

[darkjedi]

What is the best way to decline an acceptance? email, letter?

email is fine

 

[tantacles]

one correction (just b/c i just discovered this last week)

not all schools follow the may 15 deadline. for schools who begin class on or before july 30, the deadline is april 15. i received an e-mail from one such school last week that told me i was holding multiple acceptances and that i needed to make a decision by april 15 for schools that started earlier.

That April 15 deadline is for the school to give out its acceptances, not for you to decline. You can hold multiple acceptances until May 15, and the only recourse the school has against you is to keep your security deposit.

In addition, after a certain date, all schools you've applied to can see what schools you've been ACCEPTED to. Not waitlisted, not interviewed, not rejected. They can only see what schools you are ACCEPTED to.

Whether or not that has any bearing on your admission is likely school specific, and there's no way to know unless you are involved with the admissions process for a particular school. My feeling, though, is that schools aren't concerned with purposely offering admission to those who don't have acceptances, so holding other acceptances won't hurt your chances for admissions off the waitlist.

 

[fourhumours]

That April 15 deadline is for the school to give out its acceptances, not for you to decline. You can hold multiple acceptances until May 15, and the only recourse the school has against you is to keep your security deposit.

In addition, after a certain date, all schools you've applied to can see what schools you've been ACCEPTED to. Not waitlisted, not interviewed, not rejected. They can only see what schools you are ACCEPTED to.

Whether or not that has any bearing on your admission is likely school specific, and there's no way to know unless you are involved with the admissions process for a particular school. My feeling, though, is that schools aren't concerned with purposely offering admission to those who don't have acceptances, so holding other acceptances won't hurt your chances for admissions off the waitlist.

When I interviewed at Hofstra they said that an LOI from someone on the waitlist means more if they have been accepted elsewhere than if they hadn't. their reasoning was that if you have an acceptance you are not desperate to just get in anywhere. if you have no acceptance and send an LOI they view it as you sending one to every school trying to just get in somewhere.

I am sure most schools have a similar mentality, but i agree it probably varies school to school

 

[watercress]

Do we need to email a school to confirm that we take its acceptance besides emailing other schools that we withdraw? Or withdrawing from all others and leaving one is enough?

 

[Girly X]

Do we need to email a school to confirm that we take its acceptance besides emailing other schools that we withdraw? Or withdrawing from all others and leaving one is enough?

If you are worried, I'm sure a quick "this is to confirm that I am matriculating to XX this fall" email to your chosen school by May 15th would not hurt. But I'm certain they'll get the point when they are the last one standing on the 15th.

 

[watercress]

But I am on the waitlist on other schoools I like better, I cannot guarantee that I will matriculate to the my chosen school this fall.

If you are worried, I'm sure a quick "this is to confirm that I am matriculating to XX this fall" email to your chosen school by May 15th would not hurt. But I'm certain they'll get the point when they are the last one standing on the 15th.

 

[quechua]

That April 15 deadline is for the school to give out its acceptances, not for you to decline. You can hold multiple acceptances until May 15, and the only recourse the school has against you is to keep your security deposit.

In addition, after a certain date, all schools you've applied to can see what schools you've been ACCEPTED to. Not waitlisted, not interviewed, not rejected. They can only see what schools you are ACCEPTED to.

Whether or not that has any bearing on your admission is likely school specific, and there's no way to know unless you are involved with the admissions process for a particular school. My feeling, though, is that schools aren't concerned with purposely offering admission to those who don't have acceptances, so holding other acceptances won't hurt your chances for admissions off the waitlist.

Some schools start before July 30th... The April 15th deadline applies to students matriculating to those schools.

 

[Girly X]

But I am on the waitlist on other schoools I like better, I cannot guarantee that I will matriculate to the my chosen school this fall.

You still need to commit to one school for May 15th, but can stay on as many waitlists as you like until orientation.

Your May 15th school will understand if you decide to go elsewhere in the end. I believe the school that pulls you off their waitlist will call your school/help you smooth things over etc. so no bridges are burned.

 

[avisualperson]

That April 15 deadline is for the school to give out its acceptances, not for you to decline. You can hold multiple acceptances until May 15, and the only recourse the school has against you is to keep your security deposit.

In addition, after a certain date, all schools you've applied to can see what schools you've been ACCEPTED to. Not waitlisted, not interviewed, not rejected. They can only see what schools you are ACCEPTED to.

Whether or not that has any bearing on your admission is likely school specific, and there's no way to know unless you are involved with the admissions process for a particular school. My feeling, though, is that schools aren't concerned with purposely offering admission to those who don't have acceptances, so holding other acceptances won't hurt your chances for admissions off the waitlist.

does anyone know if schools can see where you have been ACCEPTED and, where you have WITHDRAWN your acceptances? or do they only see "active" acceptances that you decided to keep? This applies for trying to retain acceptances in order to get leverage for financial aid packages, as well as schools where you are still waitlisted, and want to show them how "desirable" you are.

 

[ashylarry23]

does anyone know if schools can see where you have been ACCEPTED and, where you have WITHDRAWN your acceptances? or do they only see "active" acceptances that you decided to keep? This applies for trying to retain acceptances in order to get leverage for financial aid packages, as well as schools where you are still waitlisted, and want to show them how "desirable" you are.

im pretty sure they cant see any withdrawn schoools, accepted at or otherwise