calling school to ask why they rejected you?

[Fritz]

I got rejected from Mayo, but I can't figure out why. Would you think that it would be appropriate for me to call them and ask them what was wrong with my application.
Thanks.

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[mlw03]

i don't have any experience with this, but my thought would be that it's VERY unprofessional to call and ask a school why they rejected you. first off, the admissions office staff probably won't have access to that information anyway, and even if they did i doubt they'd be willing to share it. think of it this way, if a school called you to ask why you rejected them, wouldn't you think that was inappropriate?

 

[Alcon]

I don't see anything wrong or "very unprofessional" about it, as long as you approach it from the "What can I do to improve my application?" angle.

I haven't used this technique myself, however, so YMMV

 

[thackl]

Originally posted by Alcon
I don't see anything wrong or "very unprofessional" about it, as long as you approach it from the "What can I do to improve my application?" angle.

I haven't used this technique myself, however, so YMMV

I don't see any problem with this approach. Asking "what can I do to improve my application" is the same a asking "why did you reject me".

 

[cmudan]

There is nothing unprofessional about asking a school why they rejected you. As long as you are not whining about it to them. Some schools even encourage this.

 

[xanthines]

I think the answer you will always get is the ol' "There are so many qualified applicants that we can't offer a spot to everyone" response.

I'm pretty sure the real "reason", ie some stupid little detail that someone on the admissions committee got hung up about, is kept secret.

It won't hurt to ask, but I don't think it'd really help. After all, if you want constructive criticism, this is the perfect place to get some. Fellow applicants? People with acceptances? CURRENT medical students? They all peruse these boards!

😉

-X

 

[velouria]

I went to an open house at a school this week. The dean said if you get rejected you can call and set up a phone appt with her and she'll spend 10-15 minutes with you and let you know what you could improve. She said she's honest - e.g., "your mcat scores are low; your letters of rec weren't strong; you need to get a life outside of being a premed."

So this dean saw no problem (and even encouraged) people to call if they're rejected. I think it's appropriate. You've invested a HUGE amount of time and energy to get to this point, and they've invested time in reviewing your app. It's fair to expect an explanation.

I would definitely call. My $.02.

 

[Amy B]

There is nothing wrong with that with most schools. There might be some that wont like it. I would suggest calling in the winter and asking if you could talk with the director of admissions either in person or over the phone. Set up a time with them and they will go over your application and tell you what you need to work on, change or add to make you more competetive.

That is the way to go, BUT you are going to be accepted somewhere else so you don't have to worry about why one school turned you down.😀 😀 😉 😉

 

[omores]

Speaking from personal experience, a phone call to Mayo to find out why you were rejected could prove enlightening.

I was crushed when I got the thin envelope from Mayo, so called up to ask (politely and professionally) what had happened. Jane, the woman in the admissions office, was wonderfully kind and sympathetic. She explained their process (first a numbers screen, then if you pass that, a file review). She then pulled my file and actually read me some of the reviewer's comments.

Turned out the reviewer had some idea that I had little clinical experience. This wasn't the case, but I realized that I hadn't described my experience in much detail, and it would be easy to get the impression that it was limited.

When I discovered this, I wrote another "supplemental essay" talking about my work in a rural family med clinic -- and I think this essay was probably a whole lot more interesting than my AMCAS personal statement had been. Then I sent this essay to the other schools to which I had applied (I assumed it was too late for Mayo). At subsequent interviews, I was asked about things I had mentioned in that essay, not in my AMCAS statement.

And I got into a wonderful school with a full scholarship and lived happily ever after. So far.

So by all means call Jane at Mayo -- she's a wonderful warm, kind person (at least based on her voice), and she made me feel a whole lot better about being rejected -- instead of feeling totally demoralized and powerless, I felt as if there was something I could fix. She sounded genuinely apologetic and concerned, reassured me that I'd get in somewhere, and really went out of her way to help me out. Make that call! Just be sure to take the right tone: you don't want to sound as if you're questioning their decision (even if in your heart of hearts you are); you're just trying to learn from it.

 

[kito]

And if you can't find Jane, lots of folks around here are students or residents who are intimately involved with the admissions process. Besides, you'll get a more wholesome and brutal assessment on these boards.

 

[Neuronix]

Fritz, seriously, the game is a game. Don't take these things personally. If you actually don't get in anywhere (which it doesn't sound like is going to happen), I would call these places after the season is over and ask them how your application might be improved. They're likely to just blow you off or give you a BS answer, but it might make you feel better.

Good luck!

 

[Paws]

I was flat out rejected from Northwestern and they said in their letter that if I wanted to know why, I could make an appointment in the spring and they would let me know. I thought that was a decent way to let me down, and I plan on calling them in the spring to learn what made them reject me right out like that.

I think we're allowed to ask why, and it's helpful to do it as a 'how can I improve myself' thing. I can think of some reasons why they might not have accepted me, but the real reason might not be any of them so it would be helpful for me to know.

 

[AverageMan]

They said the the same thing at OSU during the interview sessions, that if we were rejected, we could call and find out what they didn't like about us. On another note, why worry about being professional if a school has already rejected you? I mean, you'll have to be tactful if you want to get the information from the person on the phone, but other than that, you're pretty much the dog doo on their shoe at that point, and it's pretty much a matter of whether they take the time to wipe you away with a stick, or just don't notice you and let you wear away as the day goes on.

 

[HollyJ]

What are they going to do, reject you some more?

I say call. You might learn something, and I don't see how it could hurt if you are polite and professional.

Good luck!

 

[Paws]

Dog doo, thanks AverageMan. That's just about how I felt when they wacked me with their 'rejection' stick. Well said ...

 

[Da Vinci2]

Hi, I am a fourth year in an US medical school. You can definitely call if you want to. I mean, they have rejected you, what can happen now. Reject you again? Just ask nicely (in case you need to reapply next year). Most of the time, they will give you standard response like "we have multiple people screening your application, therefore, its very hard for us to tell you why even if we want to" or "you need to improve your clinical/MCAT/publication (which you should already know)". Don't get too bothered by one school. I don't know of anyone who ended up where they thought they were going before and after they applied (I for one thought I was going to CA and ended up on the other side of the coast). If your grades were good enough for you to apply to Mayo, you are likely to get in some place else.

 

[dpy]

Originally posted by mlw03
think of it this way, if a school called you to ask why you rejected them, wouldn't you think that was inappropriate?

actually, a lot of schools send you a questionnaire type thing and ask you to compare the school you decided to matriculate and their school. sometimes they even ask what was the deciding factor between the 2 schools.

 

[Fritz]

Thanks for all your responses. I think I'll call in a couple of days. I know I should not let this bother me too much, but since my stats were in the Mayo average, and everything else research ECs, etc were well balanced, I just can't find a reason. Maybe my application does not show well some things; I don't know, but I would like to find out.

 

[Blade28]

That'd be a lot of phone calls for me to make... 😉

 

[Fritz]

Funny how things work out with Mayo. I talked to them today. The person was very nice to me, and tried to make me feel better. She also told me that the reviewer of my file seemed to think that I did not have enough medical exposure in the last few years.
I guess for my other schools I will have to write a detailed essay describing my experiences, so that they do realize that I know what medicine is about.
Well, I guess it never hurts to call.
Good luck everyone.

 

[bullsI]

Originally posted by omores

I was crushed when I got the thin envelope from Mayo, so called up to ask (politely and professionally) what had happened. Jane, the woman in the admissions office, was wonderfully kind and sympathetic. She explained their process (first a numbers screen, then if you pass that, a file review). She then pulled my file and actually read me some of the reviewer's comments.

Can anyone lend some insight on this Mayo numbers-screening business? there is a SDN moderator from there that insists there is no formula, althought this is right from the adcom office. Indeed, SDN "Applicant profiles" (if true) of some accepted Mayo students don't make the 67 formula cut-off.

 

[Fritz]

She told me that my numbers were in their range, that's all.

 

[omores]

Thinking back, what she told me was that the cutoffs were slightly flexible -- they liked to see MCAT and GPA above a certain range but would make exceptions in a few select circumstances. I believe (but can't guarantee) that geographic location was one of them (slightly lower numbers allowed for residents of MN, AZ and FL). Ethnicity or disadvantaged status may have been another.

 

[bullsI]

Originally posted by omores
Thinking back, what she told me was that the cutoffs were slightly flexible -- they liked to see MCAT and GPA above a certain range but would make exceptions in a few select circumstances. I believe (but can't guarantee) that geographic location was one of them (slightly lower numbers allowed for residents of MN, AZ and FL). Ethnicity or disadvantaged status may have been another.

Thanks, this makes more sense.