Calling Admissions Office about Status

[Dr. ThorStrange]

Should applicants call the admissions office to ask about their status?

Does it show that the applicant is really interested in the school? And increases chance of II or acceptance?

Or

Does it show that the applicant is impatient and unable to trust the committee?

What do you guys think?

@LizzyM

@gyngyn

@Goro

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[Drakozord X]

Most will reply "still under review." Does absolutely nothing.

 

[CarmexMe]

Dozens of posts about this, use the search function. Also if you’ll notice you posted in a specific forum that doesn’t deal with this topic. It’s for school specific discussion.

 

[TaiLopez]

It’s harmless to check on your status and make sure you aren’t missing anything for your app. So yes calling once to check is fine

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

There is no point in calling IMO. If you are missing anything significant for your app at this point, too late for this year. Calling could only come across as bothersome. If each of the 4000-14,000 applicants called an admissions office, even just once, and the person who answers the phone has to do anything to honestly answer the question asked, that would waste a lot of time that could be used in a much better way. ADCOMS have a process, and it is assumed that most everyone who applies is interested in the school and would try to come for an interview if they were invited. I know it takes the patience of Job to apply to medical school and it is an incredibly humbling and often depressing process, but once submitted, it is nothing but a waiting game.

 

[Roostercat]

Hey man if they want to charge $100 to apply, I say call them as often as you want.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This is totally anecdotal, so don’t take it as data. But the only school I called to check my status at told me they WLed me and will be sending me an email soon haha.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

LOL it's not bothersome. That person's job is literally to answer questions from applicants. And your theoretical is just that - it's theoretical fallacy. 5,000 applicants don't call every year and wouldn't call even if people presumed it to be "okay" to call. A lot of the time, schools will tell students that they'll hear back in a certain timeframe. If that timeframe passes, and you've paid egregious application fees, the school should be ready to field calls from applicants.

Please understand that it is not that person's job to just answer the phone, at least in the adcom offices that I know. Adcom offices often work with a very small staff. The person in our office who answers the phone is a high level admin who has to wear many, many, many hats to ensure that those who are invited have a great interview experience - and we interview students 3 FULL days a week, plus a night before option, and MSPE's might have 2 days. The admin person makes sure each interview day runs smoothly and on-time, answering all questions of the interviewees throughout the day, schedules interviewers, ensures best matching of interviewers with applicants, finds emergency replacements for interviewers who cancel, finds places for off-site interviewers to interview students, chases down interviewers to turn in their reports, finds students for overnight hosting, dinner the night before, and tours, etc. etc, etc.

I can tell you that though that person has a multitude of responsibilities, they have no input in who gets invited, and little direct contact with the people who do the inviting (a grp of admission committee folks who mostly work remotely with the head of admissions to review applications). If this admin does have a negative experience with an applicant, they can make sure that person is NOT invited or accepted, so though I doubt most people on SDN would be rude, it can't help and could only hurt. YMMV, but since our school does not review applicants in any real order by date of completion, the person can not even comment on a predicted pre-II decision date. It would depend on how fast the two assigned reviewers get to the application and turn in their pre-II scores, and then those need to be compared to the other applicants' scores that are coming in. Crystal ball needed in our office in order for that person answering the phone to have any decision dates for pre-II students. I do think that once interview season finished, the person will have a lot more time to answer the phones for those who are WL and understandably have questions about that. (Our school used to be transparent about telling students whether they were top, middle or bottom third of WL, which was pretty helpful.)

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

This is totally anecdotal, so don’t take it as data. But the only school I called to check my status at told me they WLed me and will be sending me an email soon haha.

I think OP was referring to pre-II calls, which since there could be thousands, seems like could be bothersome. Most schools only interview hundreds, and since they invited the student to come for an interview, they are interested in the student and the student should feel free to call with any legitimate question after an interview.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I think OP was referring to pre-II calls, which since there could be thousands, seems like could be bothersome. Most schools only interview hundreds, and since they invited the student to come for an interview, they are interested in the student and the student should feel free to call with any legitimate question after an interview.

Missed the pre-II part. But still, I think calling either way is unnecessary and not likely to get you anything you want to hear.

 

[Goro]

Should applicants call the admissions office to ask about their status?

Does it show that the applicant is really interested in the school? And increases chance of II or acceptance?

Or

Does it show that the applicant is impatient and unable to trust the committee?

What do you guys think?

@LizzyM

@gyngyn

@Goro

They know you're interested because :
a) you sent them an app
b) they interviewed you, IF you go that far

Often the person answering the phone may have no idea what your status is.

With 5000-> 10000 apps, calling to find out about your status pre-II will serve no function except to annoy the Admissions staff
Once you're on the wait list, there's nothing you can do but wait. See Med Ed's most recent post on this.

Hey man if they want to charge $100 to apply, I say call them as often as you want.
This comment is so ignorant of the admissions process that it's almost malicious. Med schools have a seller's market, and this isn't like you're a customer at Delta gate 39 waiting for your flight.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

What about calls post-II?

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

What about calls post-II?

It will be more effective to send any updates by either portal or email, whichever the school prefers. However, if there is a genuine question to ask a human, occasional calls from WL applicants will not likely drive the human who answers completely crazy, especially once the main interview season is over. The bulk of the WL movement will be from April 15-May 15th.

One Director of Admissions even had a call-in hour a couple days a week for WL applicants to call. He would give them information about whether they were likely to come off the WL, without being able to give specifics of course. Seems like a fair thing to do - those at the bottom of the list could mentally move on to their other options more quickly.

 

[chlorocruorin]

U obviously want to call them, so do it. I've done it. I mean what's the worst that can happen.

 

[Osteosaur]

i got advice like this from a "medical school admissions for dummies" book i bought during a bookstore outting with my mom during a very depressing period of unemployment after graduating.

its like the equivalent of a "attach your resume to balloons and float it up to a prospective employer's window!" from an old school job search guide

 

[Rachapkis]

Calling the admissions office should not be a problem if you use common sense. If you have a legitimate question or a reasonable concern that they may not have received something from you (e.g., your secondary), a call to clarify is in order. However, if you are simply nervous about the process and call too frequently with questions that could be answered with a little research or call simply to quell your anxiety, you run the risk of annoying them.

 

[JustaDO]

I like how people never fail to @xyzadmissionpeople for something that is easily searchable.