Best and Worst Rejection Letters?

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google12 said:
Idk if anyone saw the post on r/premed about the person who got an accidental invite from Indiana and then Indiana sent an email back saying something like “your app isn’t good enough for us to send an interview” - idk if it was an official rejection they send to everyone but that was probably the most cold hearted one I’ve read.

Nicest - I personally liked UWisconsin’s “it was a privilege to review your app”
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Wow that is absolutely brutal
 
Georgetown's says something along the lines of "we emphasize five major areas of an application. We invite applicants to review these before re-applying." It's pretty neutral, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way lol
 
Indiana's R which says "Your record does not make it possible for us to include your application in the group selected for further consideration" almost had ME apologizing to THEM for making it impossible to accept me. Don't u put this on me, Hoosiers, the ball was in your court!

Edit: oh wait I didn't see @google12 's post lol. maybe I DO make it impossible to accept me.
 
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gonnif said:
I repeat this concept ad nauseum: Everyone is NOT accepted from the moment they submit AMCAS. Or, you are rejected until notified otherwise. Schools are making solely to decision to admit and there are under no obligation or LCME requirement any applicant about any action other than acceptance or waitlist. And make no mistake about this: a school's mission is to produce physicians. Applicants are merely the raw material in the process
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1572377930367.png
 
gonnif said:
I repeat this concept ad nauseum: Everyone is NOT accepted from the moment they submit AMCAS. Or, you are rejected until notified otherwise. Schools are making solely to decision to admit and there are under no obligation or LCME requirement any applicant about any action other than acceptance or waitlist. And make no mistake about this: a school's mission is to produce physicians. Applicants are merely the raw material in the process
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Like one of those vending machines that takes your money, but doesn't spit out a soda. You can call the corporate number and get the runaround, but in the end you sit there soda-less, with no choice but to insert another dollar and hope that this go around everything will be different.
 
82Scout said:
Like one of those vending machines that takes your money, but doesn't spit out a soda. You can call the corporate number and get the runaround, but in the end you sit there soda-less, with no choice but to insert another dollar and hope that this go around everything will be different.
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$125 is a lot for a can of soda
 
82Scout said:
Like one of those vending machines that takes your money, but doesn't spit out a soda. You can call the corporate number and get the runaround, but in the end you sit there soda-less, with no choice but to insert another dollar and hope that this go around everything will be different.
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Still gonna call the machine a meanie tho
 
ChymeofPassion said:
I liked BU. Said something along the lines of "this may hurt for you, but it actually hurts us just as much because we cant interview qualified applicants like you
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I read the BU rejection to a friend (she's an artist and knows nothing about medical school) and she was like "Oh my God, they sound so distraught. Do you think you should call someone?" Aww it's OK BU, I knew you were a stretch, so no hard feelings - thank you for caring about me though!

Got the R from Pitt today and they were really kind about it, too. I appreciated the sentiment.

Georgetown's rejection, OTOH, really drove home that, despite their absolutely holistic review of my app, I am just holistically unqualified for a medical education at their institution.
 
Cornfed101 said:
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Jeremy Bearimy said:
Indiana's R which says "Your record does not make it possible for us to include your application in the group selected for further consideration" almost had ME apologizing to THEM for making it impossible to accept me. Don't u put this on me, Hoosiers, the ball was in your court!

Edit: oh wait I didn't see @google12 's post lol. maybe I DO make it impossible to accept me.
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Adcoms really victim blaming in 2019
 
DrDommy said:
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this seems like an ironic standpoint coming from the institutions that want their own applicants to value other people and demonstrate empathy
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They want the *applicants* to be empathetic and humanistic.

Important distinction.

The toxicity still exists, it just has a PC veneer now for deniability reasons.
 
gonnif said:
I repeat this concept ad nauseum: Everyone is NOT accepted from the moment they submit AMCAS. Or, you are rejected until notified otherwise. Schools are making solely to decision to admit and there are under no obligation or LCME requirement any applicant about any action other than acceptance or waitlist. And make no mistake about this: a school's mission is to produce physicians. Applicants are merely the raw material in the process
Click to expand...
With all due respect, the fact that the schools have the market power to do this, and that the rules they themselves created allow for it, doesn't make it right. Applicants put a tremendous amount of time and effort into applications, as well as spend a small fortune submitting them (between application fees, post-baccs, MCAT prep and fees, etc.).

It really doesn't seem like too much to ask for an e-mail once a decision has been made, even though we are owed nothing and are rejected until notified otherwise because we are nothing but raw material schools use to make physicians!
 
Michigan State throws at you the whole "look, with this rejection, you know we think you're trash. But we need to know that YOU know WHY you're trash."

You have to fill this questionnaire checking "are you satisfied with: your GPA? Volunteer hours? Clinical shadowing? Your life?"

I know they're trying to help you assess yourself for potential reapplication. But I couldn't help but to think that lol.

EDIT: You fill it out and send it back to admissions so, if unsuccessful at the end of the cycle, they will assess your app and tell you how you can/should improve.
 
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gonnif said:
Right or wrong is irrelevant. I am simply setting reality for applicants. The mistake here that most applicants make is unrealistic expectation of how this process works and how you will be treated. Whether it should be like that is an entirely different issue that has no impact on this application cycle
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Why is it unrealistic to expect an answer of any sort? It's not as if we are asking that the schools provide catered feedback on our applications.
 
The phrase "don't shoot the messenger" comes to mind. @gonnif isn't defending the practice, but merely stating things as they are. It isn't unrealistic to think that someone could spend 30 seconds to send you a form email. The reality is that the schools really don't care. Self centered behaviors, lack of empathy, and narcissism are abundant in the medical field. Sadly you need to get use to it now.
 
this one felt tame/nice-ish:

"After a careful review of your application, I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you an interview, which removes you from consideration for this year’s class. We are on pace to receive a record number of applications to our school this year, which has forced our Admissions Committee to make some very difficult decisions. Our inability to offer you an interview should not be viewed as a comment on your suitability for a career in medicine, but rather, as a result of the extraordinarily large number of highly competitive applicants to our medical school.

On behalf of the Admissions Committee, I wish you the very best with your career goals."
 
limeyguydr said:
this one felt tame/nice-ish:

"After a careful review of your application, I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you an interview, which removes you from consideration for this year’s class. We are on pace to receive a record number of applications to our school this year, which has forced our Admissions Committee to make some very difficult decisions. Our inability to offer you an interview should not be viewed as a comment on your suitability for a career in medicine, but rather, as a result of the extraordinarily large number of highly competitive applicants to our medical school.

On behalf of the Admissions Committee, I wish you the very best with your career goals."
Click to expand...

I’m starting to recognize these rejection letters like songs I hear on the radio.
 
DrDommy said:
Why is it unrealistic to expect an answer of any sort? It's not as if we are asking that the schools provide catered feedback on our applications.
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I'm still waiting to hear from CSU Long Beach for the faculty job I interviewed for 20 years ago.


RNthenDoc said:
They want the *applicants* to be empathetic and humanistic.

Important distinction.

The toxicity still exists, it just has a PC veneer now for deniability reasons.
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Lol....toxicity. Kindly show us the gun placed to your head that forced you to apply to med school.
 
Goro said:
Lol....toxicity. Kindly show us the gun placed to your head that forced you to apply to med school.
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Your logic is ....non-existent here.
Just because something is voluntary doesn’t mean it can’t be toxic. Women join the military all the time, and sometimes the military is toxic to them. Does the voluntary nature of it magically make it non-toxic?

I knew what I was getting myself into, and I did so with no false pretenses. Doesn’t mean medical school/medicine isn’t filled with narcissists and abusive people!

I have no false illusions about what I’m doing; I worked in the industry alongside physicians at all career levels and thought long and hard about what I was going to be doing.

If you don’t think physicians and physician educators have a tendency to be toxic, you live a rather charmed life.
 
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KCDot said:
And/or: remember this crappy feeling for when we're all farther along in our journeys. Perhaps some of us will be lucky enough to serve on admissions committees and be the person to send those mass rejection emails.
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I wouldn't have the heart necessary to be an adcom. I would empathize and sympathize too much for those whose potential career dreams I was killing.
 
DrDommy said:
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this seems like an ironic standpoint coming from the institutions that want their own applicants to value other people and demonstrate empathy
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I don't think it's disrespectful to criticize institutions that you pay a significant amount to apply to, to at the very least give a courtesy of a ****ing response. It's one thing to ghost people in job applications where you can shotgun 100 apps on a good day, but at the very least send me a "you are too dumb for this lol" email, if I pay you money to look at my ****.
 
It would be a drop in the bucket for every school to hire IT to develop an automated system where adcoms could click "this ****bag is definitely not studying here even if we have 50 open seats to lose millions of dollars on" and extend the same professionalism that they expect from us to applicants. I think we're all aware that schools expect us to have this "we don't deserve anything" attitude as we grovel on our knees for someone to throw us a bone, but like a ton of people said, doesn't make it right. If you're currently in the profession and you think it's totally reasonable for young kids eager to be the next generation of medicine to spend thousands of dollars, not to mention several years, building themselves to the point of application season, just to never hear even an automated rejection response from the schools they've spent that fortune on, you're completely jaded and I feel sorry for you.

It's not a good start for us as preemptive beginners in the field to already expect this sort of lopsided treatment that is a one-way street of our best behavior to get looked at while expecting nothing in return.. it basically sets my expectations for the entirety of medicine - which yes we know this reality exists (even for other fields) and is alive and well, but is quite sad that that is what we're sensitized to. So much for the field of caring for others lol.

And yes, I'm still signing up for this despite all my critique. Like someone mentioned, wanting to jump on the bandwagon for the compulsory reasons we each have doesn't make the bandwagon invincible to scrutiny.
 
"Thank you for your recent application to XXX MD/PhD program. I regret to inform you that you have not been selected for an interview... This year we saw nearly a 25% increase in the number of applications we received. We processed over 500 applications for 18 positions in the incoming class. The decision not to offer you an interview therefore should not be construed to mean that the Screening Committee does not consider you to be qualified for a career as a physician-scientist. Unfortunately, we find that the very strong competition for a limited number of places in the incoming class means that we must reject candidates that are of very high quality."

Seems fine and all until you put into context that I got this email two months before the application deadline :eyebrow:
 
limeyguydr said:
this one felt tame/nice-ish:

"After a careful review of your application, I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you an interview, which removes you from consideration for this year’s class. We are on pace to receive a record number of applications to our school this year, which has forced our Admissions Committee to make some very difficult decisions. Our inability to offer you an interview should not be viewed as a comment on your suitability for a career in medicine, but rather, as a result of the extraordinarily large number of highly competitive applicants to our medical school.

On behalf of the Admissions Committee, I wish you the very best with your career goals."
Click to expand...

Yea I got this one before and I dont remember which LOL
 
The Committee on Admissions of Boston University School of Medicine has completed its review of your application. It is with great regret that I inform you that we will be unable to offer an interview this year. This is a disappointment, as much for those who are responsible for the decision, as it may be for you. Most of the candidates we are considering this year, like you, are qualified to attend medical school and are likely to make important contributions to our profession and to society. Sadly, with more than 100 applicants for every seat in the class, we are forced to decline many exceptional people. We acknowledge and respect your accomplishments and recognize that our inability to offer you an opportunity to complete the admissions process is a loss for Boston University. Please accept our best wishes for all your future endeavors.

The actual BU email with helpful highlights.
 
ChymeofPassion said:
The Committee on Admissions of Boston University School of Medicine has completed its review of your application. It is with great regret that I inform you that we will be unable to offer an interview this year. This is a disappointment, as much for those who are responsible for the decision, as it may be for you. Most of the candidates we are considering this year, like you, are qualified to attend medical school and are likely to make important contributions to our profession and to society. Sadly, with more than 100 applicants for every seat in the class, we are forced to decline many exceptional people. We acknowledge and respect your accomplishments and recognize that our inability to offer you an opportunity to complete the admissions process is a loss for Boston University. Please accept our best wishes for all your future endeavors.

The actual BU email with helpful highlights.
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Literally sounds just like Tulane.
 
I'll let you guys know when I get my rejection from Tufts/UMASS/RowanDO and any of the other programs on my list of school that give pre-II rejections :asshat:
 
A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I was a poor student.

But then...

For the last four years, I've been a full-time student, completing two degrees in that time period with a 4.0 GPA. The University of Utah sent me a rejection along with an email telling me that perhaps I should meet with my academic advisor about strategies to improve my GPA and in-class performance.

I lawl'd...

...Then I cried.
 
This was not a rejection letter, but was an email reply from Emory to an accepted student who withdrew their acceptance. The person in the admissions office took it upon himself/herself to correct the accepted student’s grammar in the reply email.
forums.studentdoctor.net

Emory's SAVAGE tho LOL

me: "your school is expensive" admissions: "your grammar is incorrect" disclaimer - this is a f***ing fantastic school and am thankful to have gotten in and i hope my spot goes to someone on the waitlist but also LOL damnnnnnnnnn like whats up emory? ***EDIT: the title of this person was...
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
 
ak-aka-dak said:
This was not a rejection letter, but was an email reply from Emory to an accepted student who withdrew their acceptance. The person in the admissions office took it upon himself/herself to correct the accepted student’s grammar in the reply email.
forums.studentdoctor.net

Emory's SAVAGE tho LOL

me: "your school is expensive" admissions: "your grammar is incorrect" disclaimer - this is a f***ing fantastic school and am thankful to have gotten in and i hope my spot goes to someone on the waitlist but also LOL damnnnnnnnnn like whats up emory? ***EDIT: the title of this person was...
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
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I emailed Emory to ask a question that was specific to my case and the answer was not on their website. The response I got was a few paragraphs long (longer than what it needed to be), hints of sarcasm, subtle jabs, and some snide remarks. The overall message was basically "I don't know, but if you need to ask us, then you probably don't belong here" but with more words than necessary. Perhaps they have a lot of free time on their hands.
 
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AZCOM’s is fun.



"This year you applied to our Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine but unfortunately your application did not advance through the process as you had originally planned. With that in mind, we would like to help you consider another option to help further your academic goals at Midwestern University (MWU). If you consider yourself dependable, conscientious, good with details, collaborative, ethical, and willing to serve; the profession of pharmacy may be a great option for you! While we still encourage you to pursue your first-choice program we want you to know there are alternative ways to become the health care provider you desire to be.”
 
camoixu said:
AZCOM’s is fun.



"This year you applied to our Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine but unfortunately your application did not advance through the process as you had originally planned. With that in mind, we would like to help you consider another option to help further your academic goals at Midwestern University (MWU). If you consider yourself dependable, conscientious, good with details, collaborative, ethical, and willing to serve; the profession of pharmacy may be a great option for you! While we still encourage you to pursue your first-choice program we want you to know there are alternative ways to become the health care provider you desire to be.”
Click to expand...

“Is the field of medicine becoming too saturated? Might I interest you in pharmacy?!”
 
camoixu said:
AZCOM’s is fun.



"This year you applied to our Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine but unfortunately your application did not advance through the process as you had originally planned. With that in mind, we would like to help you consider another option to help further your academic goals at Midwestern University (MWU). If you consider yourself dependable, conscientious, good with details, collaborative, ethical, and willing to serve; the profession of pharmacy may be a great option for you! While we still encourage you to pursue your first-choice program we want you to know there are alternative ways to become the health care provider you desire to be.”
Click to expand...
OH MY GOD THAT'S THE " YOU DON'T HAVE A 3.8 UGRAD GPA MAYBE CONSIDER PHARMACY " THAT YOUR CYNICAL ADVISORS WOULD SAY TO YOU TRANSPOSED IN A REJECTION MAIL I'D BE ****ING FURIOUS.
 
camoixu said:
AZCOM’s is fun.



"This year you applied to our Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine but unfortunately your application did not advance through the process as you had originally planned. With that in mind, we would like to help you consider another option to help further your academic goals at Midwestern University (MWU). If you consider yourself dependable, conscientious, good with details, collaborative, ethical, and willing to serve; the profession of pharmacy may be a great option for you! While we still encourage you to pursue your first-choice program we want you to know there are alternative ways to become the health care provider you desire to be.”
Click to expand...

Email them back kindly rejecting their rejection.
 
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