admissions paranoia theory

[pekq]

Now that it's march and schools will be forced to make decisions soon, it's time to get paranoid about the process. Here's some theories that I have been thinking about:

1) LOI = asking to be waitlisted if done before your waitlist
Think about it, med schools want the best class possible before classes start in August. If you write a LOI before your decision, aren't you telling them to waitlist you? That way, med schools can admit better candidate who are less likely to attend and when they need to fill classes, pull you from the waitlist knowing that you are an excellent candidate who would withdraw from wherever you have planned to attend and attend the school you wrote your LOI for. Thus, if the better candidate matriculates, they win. If they ended pulling you off the list, they still wait because they do not need to scramble much.

2) ADCOM backdoor dealing
ever wonder why some ppl get rejected by one school and accepted by another despite the fact both schools are similar? I've heard that adcom of diff schools talk to each other. Perhaps they also talk to each other about trading med school students? For example, the following conversation:
Adcom A: Bob, I need this peacecorps applicant (to diversify the
student body) who really wants to be in NYC but I got a
feeling you guys are his number 1 choice.
Adcom B: Indeed, we got the LOI and are planning to waitlist
him and take this research powerhouse instead.
Adcom A: I got a LOI from the research powerhouse. I'll have him
rejected if you do likewise for peacecorps applicant.
Adcom B: Sweet Deal! *shakes hand to seal the deal*

All right, I am getting too creative & paranoid.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[spidermonkey11]

haha. makes you wish you could be a fly on the wall huh?!

I say call Oliver Stone and see if they can do some research and make a movie out of this. Instead of the Pefect Score you can make a movie like the Perfect Applicant

 

[pekq]

Originally posted by spidermonkey11
haha. makes you wish you could be a fly on the wall huh?!

I say call Oliver Stone and see if they can do some research and make a movie out of this. Instead of the Pefect Score you can make a movie like the Perfect Applicant

I wouldn't mind turning the app process into an espionage intelligence operation movie where applicants that bug the adcom office and tap the lines are the succesful apps. I'll write the scripts and Peter Jackson can do an epic trilogy.

 

[linus]

haha, that's great. the first theory makes some sense, although i doubt adcoms have such complex and evil schemes. in reality i think a properly written LOI can only help one's chances of admission, whether immediate or off the waitlist.

 

[fullefect1]

back door dealing is something i never really gave thought to until now. I wonder if any schools do this, maybe tufts and BU?

 

[jlee9531]

humourous...esp the trading of medical restricted free agents haha.

but obviously none are true.

 

[lealf-ye]

Originally posted by pekq
Now that it's march and schools will be forced to make decisions soon, it's time to get paranoid about the process. Here's some theories that I have been thinking about:

1) LOI = asking to be waitlisted if done before your waitlist
Think about it, med schools want the best class possible before classes start in August. If you write a LOI before your decision, aren't you telling them to waitlist you? That way, med schools can admit better candidate who are less likely to attend and when they need to fill classes, pull you from the waitlist knowing that you are an excellent candidate who would withdraw from wherever you have planned to attend and attend the school you wrote your LOI for. Thus, if the better candidate matriculates, they win. If they ended pulling you off the list, they still wait because they do not need to scramble much.

2) ADCOM backdoor dealing
ever wonder why some ppl get rejected by one school and accepted by another despite the fact both schools are similar? I've heard that adcom of diff schools talk to each other. Perhaps they also talk to each other about trading med school students? For example, the following conversation:
Adcom A: Bob, I need this peacecorps applicant (to diversify the
student body) who really wants to be in NYC but I got a
feeling you guys are his number 1 choice.
Adcom B: Indeed, we got the LOI and are planning to waitlist
him and take this research powerhouse instead.
Adcom A: I got a LOI from the research powerhouse. I'll have him
rejected if you do likewise for peacecorps applicant.
Adcom B: Sweet Deal! *shakes hand to seal the deal*

All right, I am getting too creative & paranoid.

 

[Elizabeth1028]

speaking of admissions paranoia, how about the subtle but nagging fear in the back of my head that adcoms are reading my posts, figuring out who I am, and deciding not to accept me because I have posted elsewhere that another school is my first choice.


I don't seriously think this is happening ... I hope ...

 

[lealf-ye]

Originally posted by Elizabeth1028
speaking of admissions paranoia, how about the subtle but nagging fear in the back of my head that adcoms are reading my posts, figuring out who I am, and deciding not to accept me because I have posted elsewhere that another school is my first choice.


I don't seriously think this is happening ... I hope ...

This is possible.....

 

[Tas]

Originally posted by jlee9531
humourous...esp the trading of medical restricted free agents haha.

but obviously none are true.

If we think they trade med students, could we possibly have Fleer come out with med student rookie cards? We can have them put stats on the back of them, then - we can distribute these to schools we're interested in

Just think, what would a Surgeon General rookie card be worth?

 

[bigbaubdi]

Originally posted by Elizabeth1028
speaking of admissions paranoia, how about the subtle but nagging fear in the back of my head that adcoms are reading my posts, figuring out who I am, and deciding not to accept me because I have posted elsewhere that another school is my first choice.

Hehehehe....

I had this fear too when I started posting about politics....

Then I said who cares and then changed my avatar to Che Guevara, MD.

 

[pekq]

Originally posted by Elizabeth1028
speaking of admissions paranoia, how about the subtle but nagging fear in the back of my head that adcoms are reading my posts, figuring out who I am, and deciding not to accept me because I have posted elsewhere that another school is my first choice.

According to my theories, it wouldn't hurt you if your application is stronger than the ppl who wrote them LOIs

 

[Elizabeth1028]

Originally posted by pekq
According to my theories, it wouldn't hurt you if your application is stronger than the ppl who wrote them LOIs

 

[linus]

this question is for applicants to "top-10" schools who don't have superstar stats (38+, 3.8+):

have any applicants to such schools sent an LOI and then gotten immediate acceptance? just testing out the theory.

 

[umass rower]

My pre-med advisor told me directly that some schools talk to some other schools. He wasn't very specific about it, but he did say that people on adcoms keep in touch with each other. Who knows, maybe there is some sort of arranging that goes on with who to give interviews/acceptances to.

As an interesting note along these lines, I got three pre-interview rejections within a week of getting my acceptance to UMass. Coincidence? You decide.

 

[Catalyst]

This thread is about to give me a heart attack. Moderators, please close it!!!

 

[Eraserhead]

Seriously, what is the point of all of this speculation (besides to drive us crazy??)

 

[CalBeE]

What still puzzles me is how could schools possibly have the time and energy to share information about many applicants. Even if this happens, it gotta be happening to only a selected few applicants, right?

 

[Eraserhead]

I don't know, I'm hoping that UCLA rejected me because they talked to Irvine and San Diego and decided that no one deserves 3 UC acceptances. However, that's delusional. Obviously there are people that get accepted to all 5 UC's. I think that some deans of admissions are probably friends and probably chat about the superstar applicants that they remember best, but for most of us we are in one ear and out the other I'm sure. There's just too many people and c'mon these people also have their own lives and their own work to do.

Everyone RELAX! I'll start....

 

[BaseballFan]

Originally posted by rmp
How about this experience I just had! Sitting in an interview recently for "X" school, when a (unique) topic I've wrote about in my supplementals for schools "Y" and "Z" is mentioned. On this particular interview day you interview with two different people.

The first time the subject was brought up I didn't think much about it. Just thought it was a coincidence. So I was happy to discuss the topic since it was something I know a lot about.

However, during my second interview a different interviewer mentioned the same topic. Again, I jumped at the opportunity to discuss something I'm passionate about. But, I started thinking about this schools particular supplemental. I was pretty sure I didn't mention the topic in my supp application for them, nor was it in my personal statement. When I got home that night I pulled out my supp for that school to verify, and I was right. I did not mention that topic in any correspondence with them.

So some of you guys are thinking well maybe this is something generic to most applicants (research, hospice care, international travels) so it would be normal to discuss this in an interview for medical school, no it is not!

The only conclusion I can come to is that the adcoms from at least two of these schools have dicussed me. What do you guys think? Am I paranoid? Has anyone else had this experience? Help me out guys I'm freaking just a little bit? What are their motives, of course, I'm thinking about all the negative things this could signal.

I also started to wonder if I accidentally enclosed the essay/app to the wrong school (switched) but some of them were online supps so I doubt it seriously.

What do you guys think?

Cheers!
rmp

I feel like the offices have plenty to do without wasting time calling each other to chat about applicants, at least this early in the application cycle.

I'd guess the "source" was something in a letter of recommendation that you would never have guessed would be there.

In my first interview of the year, the first question asked to me (1 min into the interview) was about something that had happened to me 4 years ago, totally unrelated to my application, that was def. not part of my personal statement or secondaries.

The only thing I could deduce was that I must have mentioned it over the years to someone who ended up writing it in my letter of recommendation, as strange as that seems...