Yes, waiting is painful. If someday you find yourself faculty in a medical school and serve on or chair an admissions committee, you will understand the logistics from the other side of the process. Only then will you appreciate why medical school admissions is both so expensive and so time-consuming.
We could make it simpler and less expensive: Limit the number of applications to no more than 10 or 15 per student; in the UK five is the maximum. The students rank their choices of medical schools: first choice, second choice etc. After a deadline date, uniform for all medical schools, put all applicants names in a cental computer, rank order by grades and MCAT scores, treat applicants identically: no personal statements, no explanations, no interviews, ignore everything else, and by the next morning each medical school will have a class and a wait list, and you will know your exact status: accept (to whatever medical school came up numerically for you), where you may be on a wait list, or you were rejected outright from all.
And all medical schools compelled to work within a uniform time frame, no matter their resources.
Not fair, you say, let's give brownie points for college attended; I didn't fight my way in and pay to go to Harvard for nothing.
So now we have to have a numerical system for weighting college attended.
What about postbacs who had poor undergrad grades but now have all A grades, high MCAT scores, experience, maturity maybe?
OK, it seems reasonable to make adjustments for them.
What about "I worked 40 years a week while taking 18 credits a semester; I don't have all As, but my GPA and MCAT scores are good.
OK, lets make ....
And on and on!
Then after the dust has settled and you look around, What, that dork got into Harvard!!
What, she got into medical school; she cheated all the way through college.
Assume adjustments for all the reasons. Now we have to screen, to interview, to have meetings where we make decisions; humans not machines are involved. Decisions are made by humans, not machines. Faculty are not paid extra for serving on committees or interviewing, yet service on an adcom eats into time available for other responsibilties, including research and teaching, and being available for medical students.
Even with no adjustments of any kind, applications have to be submitted, transcripts and MCAT scores forwarded. Letters sent? Even if only electronically all this takes time. Firm deadlines for submission, no excuses accepted.
Make exceptions for this, that and the other and bibbity, bobbity, boo, what have we got?
The present system!
Time consuming, expensive, decisions which depend on human judgement, anxiety producing to the applicant.
