Cancelled Admission to Med School

[deleted737125]

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[Lifeblood_20]

Sorry this happened, OP, but she did fail to meet the deadline, and if there had been written communication from the school about the consequences of it, this was entirely negligence on her part & not the school. For instance my school was very clear that if we did not commit to enrolling by xxx date our acceptance will get rescinded.

If this is how they handle issues that arise in medical students, who are supposedly learning how to exercise empathy and understanding for their patients, I am absolutely disgusted and speechless.

Yes, but doctors also have to complete paperwork and read emails carefully and on time.

 

[Lifeblood_20]

I understand, but this was unusually busy time as she frantically moved between states, looked for housing, quit her job, travelled, and needlessly, completed all the insane amount of paperwork such as vaccinations.

In real life, if the email goes unread, said person would try to reach her by different method of communication such as phone call or mailing to address. They don’t just mercilessly fire her out of her job.

I am just saying this was an unusually harsh and stringent consequence when my sister absolutely did everything else.

So please do not deduce all her efforts into just “in real life, doctors gotta read emails and fill out paperwork too.“ that does not help.

I get that, but this process is hard for everyone, and nobody is entitled to their spot if they don’t follow the protocol.

 

[Goopy]

Sorry to hear about this. However, there was communication, and these requirements are made fairly well-known. If you went to this school's admissions page, there is most likely a timeline that lists these deadlines. There is not a lot of room for forgiveness when schools are whittling down thousands of applicants to fill their class which starts school soon, and someone can't follow instructions carefully. Sorry to be harsh, but mistakes were made and consequences must be paid.

The PTE and CTE buttons are two different things. Yes, it's a confusing process, but students are expected to do their research and understand what is required of them, and you should too if you want to understand the method to the madness. It's not the med school's job to hunt down all of their acceptances and make sure they are coming. If she was PTE, then the med school has no idea if she's actually coming until she commits.

Again, sorry this happened. I'm sure she deserves to go to med school, and I hope she does eventually.

 

[theendisnigh]

I agree with you that this is an awful situation for her and should be better handled. There are questions regarding PTE and CTE on this forum all the time.

 

[deleted737125]

Sorry to hear about this. However, there was communication, and these requirements are made fairly well-known. If you went to this school's admissions page, there is most likely a timeline that lists these deadlines. There is not a lot of room for forgiveness when schools are whittling down thousands of applicants to fill their class which starts school soon, and someone can't follow instructions carefully. Sorry to be harsh, but mistakes were made and consequences must be paid.

The PTE and CTE buttons are two different things. Yes, it's a confusing process, but students are expected to do their research and understand what is required of them, and you should too if you want to understand the method to the madness. It's not the med school's job to hunt down all of their acceptances and make sure they are coming. If she was PTE, then the med school has no idea if she's actually coming until she commits.

Again, sorry this happened. I'm sure she deserves to go to med school, and I hope she does eventually.

Thanks for the explanation, just really hard to research it before everything happens. We were notified of it with the cancellation email. Confusing is the least volatile word to describe it. But it is probably for the best as it sounds like med students are treated as number and not a person.

 

[Med Ed]

Plus, why does she have to “enroll“ twice, when she already “plan to enroll“? It’s either Yes or No. But then again, I went to pharmacy school, and so did my husband, so I dont know.

But I do work at hospital, and I know communication is important. I just wish the school contacted her about this besides email, which can be buried so easily.

I don't know how familiar you are with the application process, but the whole "enroll twice" thing is not a school-specific system. It is part of AMCAS, and therefore something used by all 20,000+ AMCAS applicants who will matriculate this year. It is called the Choose Your Medical School (CYMS) tool. It is incumbent upon the applicant to know the rules of the game: every school has a commit-to-enroll (CTE) deadline, and if you do not CTE by that deadline your acceptance can be rescinded. CTE is the mechanism to mutually lock in a relationship between applicant and school. Not knowing that is a bit like not knowing that you have to say "I do" at the altar.

My school would not rescind an application without a phone call, but I can understand why another school may not be so kind to an accepted applicant who does not follow basic instructions and is not responsive to multiple reminder emails. I'm not trying to sound overly harsh, and I do feel sorry that this happened to your sister, but it was her ball to drop. Being unusually busy isn't an excuse. We're all busy, and everyone who is matriculating at the school this year is dealing with the same demands.

 

[deleted737125]

I agree with you that this is an awful situation for her and should be better handled. There are questions regarding PTE and CTE on this forum all the time.

I see. It is frustrating indeed but I understand she could have done her research on here. I am sure she will bounce from this, she is a clever one. Thank you for your sympathy.

 

[Fano]

I sincerely hope she gets this resolved satisfactorily. Not to make light of it, she better get used to non-intuitive UIs. Just wait until she has to use some of these EMR systems & websites run by state health depts!

 

[deleted737125]

I don't know how familiar you are with the application process, but the whole "enroll twice" thing is not a school-specific system. It is part of AMCAS, and therefore something used by all 20,000+ AMCAS applicants who will matriculate this year. It is called the Choose Your Medical School (CYMS) tool. It is incumbent upon the applicant to know the rules of the game: every school has a commit-to-enroll (CTE) deadline, and if you do not CTE by that deadline your acceptance can be rescinded. CTE is the mechanism to mutually lock in a relationship between applicant and school. Not knowing that is a bit like not knowing that you have to say "I do" at the altar.

My school would not rescind an application without a phone call, but I can understand why another school may not be so kind to an accepted applicant who does not follow basic instructions and is not responsive to multiple reminder emails. I'm not trying to sound overly harsh, and I do feel sorry that this happened to your sister, but it was her ball to drop. Being unusually busy isn't an excuse. We're all busy, and everyone who is matriculating at the school this year is dealing with the same demands.

Saying I do is simple, this process is not. It can not be compared. There is nothing “basic” about the instructions, it’s actually quiet confusing. Lol they should really make PTE and CTE on the SAME SCREEN so it’s easy to check both boxes. Clicking “edit” sounds like she wants to edit PTE, like uncheck it.

and she was only unresponsive because it is system generated email and she thought they were talking about “PTE” which was already done. It is not like she did not check the inbox multiple days. She even went on the PTE screen on the day of the deadline to make sure she checked it. Yea, misunderstood, but she knows how to follow instructions, quiet obviously lol.

Yea, she is not perfect. But can we really blame her for not being perfect?

 

[Med Ed]

Saying I do is simple, this process is not. It can not be compared. There is nothing “basic” about the instructions, it’s actually quiet confusing. Lol they should really make PTE and CTE on the SAME SCREEN so it’s easy to check both boxes. Clicking “edit” sounds like she wants to edit PTE, like uncheck it.

and she was only unresponsive because it is system generated email and she thought they were talking about “PTE” which was already done. It is not like she did not check the inbox multiple days. She even went on the PTE screen on the day of the deadline to make sure she checked it. Yea, misunderstood, but she knows how to follow instructions, quiet obviously lol.

We're just talking about one teeny little piece of the process, but one that happens to be imperative. Here is the downloadable PDF guide showing how to do it. The only ways to fail at this are to not know that CTE exists, not know the school's CTE deadline, or not know what day it is. None of these options are particularly savory.

Yea, she is not perfect. But can we really blame her for not being perfect?

The system does not demand perfection. If it did, there is no way 20,000+ people (even smart ones) could successfully navigate it each year.

Just wait until @gonnif gets here.

 

[deleted737125]

We're just talking about one teeny little piece of the process, but one that happens to be imperative. Here is the downloadable PDF guide showing how to do it. The only ways to fail at this are to not know that CTE exists, not know the school's CTE deadline, or not know what day it is. None of these options are particularly savory.


The system does not demand perfection. If it did, there is no way 20,000+ people (even smart ones) could successfully navigate it each year.

Just wait until @gonnif gets here.

All her friends who applied to med school had issues as well. But a lot of them chose between schools, so it was easier for them to see “edit” button after April . For my sister, she committed to this school very early on in March. At that time, only PTE was available for her to choose. Like I said, she thought the reminder emails were talking about PTE, which she thought was CTE back in March.

and please, see the bigger picture. Like in statistics, look for the patterns. It was literally HER school. She did everything else and just because she missed that button the school can say, you must not want to come here? That is kind of extreme. She even committed CTE on the school portal. Just on AMCAS website, she committed early on in March when the CTE button was not available and did not come back because she withdrew from all other schools.

yes, that little button must be imperative, but so are the other paperwork she completed, her lease statement she sent to school, CTE she pressed on her school portal, etc.

yea, she was very excited, over committed to this one school very early on, did not think to confirm it because she did not choose between schools.

 

[LizzyM]

PTE is not CTE. She should have known that she needed to CTE and if she could not find the button to do so, she should have contacted AMCAS and the school that admitted her.

Given that I deal with people every day who do not read emails and who suffer the consequences, I would say that the school taught this applicant a hard lesson that she will not forget and the school will make its life easier by taking a hard line on the requirement to read carefully and follow instructions to the letter. Administrators spend 90% of their time dealing with the 10% of studnets who don't appropriately follow-through.

She should ask the school what "early assurance" is assuring her and make a decision whether to accept or not.

 

[deleted737125]

PTE is not CTE. She should have known that she needed to CTE and if she could not find the button to do so, she should have contacted AMCAS and the school that admitted her.

Given that I deal with people every day who do not read emails and who suffer the consequences, I would say that the school taught this applicant a hard lesson that she will not forget and the school will make its life easier by taking a hard line on the requirement to read carefully and follow instructions to the letter. Administrators spend 90% of their time dealing with the 10% of studnets who don't appropriately follow-through.

She should ask the school what "early assurance" is assuring her and make a decision whether to accept or not.

I really think if my sister made one mistake, it wasn’t that she doesn’t know how to read emails, or know what day it is, know what the deadline is, it is that she over committed and put all her eggs in one basket. She should have weighed all her options until late in application process. From this, I no longer think that the school is a good match for her. But it really is up to her to carve her future.

It is really easy to say all the condescending remarks questioning my sister’s intelligence. You were not personally involved in this, so it is easy to say that instead of offering real advice and concern. Thank you for the few people who emphasized with her.

 

[Med Ed]

Sounds like you don’t like your job.

I’m just kidding,

Unfortunately it's not a joke. Spending much of one's professional life browbeating the recalcitrant minority through medical school and across the graduation stage is both exhausting and demoralizing.

 

[gonnif]

We're just talking about one teeny little piece of the process, but one that happens to be imperative. Here is the downloadable PDF guide showing how to do it. The only ways to fail at this are to not know that CTE exists, not know the school's CTE deadline, or not know what day it is. None of these options are particularly savory.


The system does not demand perfection. If it did, there is no way 20,000+ people (even smart ones) could successfully navigate it each year.

Just wait until @gonnif gets here.

That sounds too much like "wait until your father gets home"

The whole process of applying to medical school is complicated and convoluted, even more so the PTE/CTE system. I would give my opinion about the PTE/CTE but cursing like a drunken sailor is discouraged here. Lets just say it should go take an acrobatic intercourse at a locomoting pastry.

Let me just three things

1) I find the vast majority of applicants solely look at AMCAS and the MSAR. And many dont really fathom that AMCAS is simply a central service and that each individual medical school makes the decisions. Few applicants really read each individual medical school website for details on their specific requirements and process. I will say most advisors fall into this as well.

2) Very few applicants realize that the moment they add individual medical school name to AMCAS and the application has been transmitted to the school, you have agreed to fall all rules and regulations in their student handbook or other published policies. But you say "I am not a student yet, how can this be?" Every medical school has published policies and dates usually in handbook for applicants. Oh, you didnt know that? well you should as when you submitted AMCAS you agreed it was your responsibility to know as in the following certification statements
(emphasis added)

I have read, understand, and agree to comply with the AMCAS Applicant Guide, including the provisions noting that I am responsible for monitoring and ensuring the progress of my application process by checking the Main Menu of my application.

have read, understand, and agree to comply with the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants, which sets forth guidelines for ethical conduct during the application process and defines important application cycle dates.

understand that I am responsible for learning the admission requirements, application policies, and due dates for each school to which I am applying and that I am not eligible for a refund of AMCAS fees if I do not meet the admission requirements of the medical schools to which I apply

3) Most of the software that schools use for intake and monitoring their application can be automated. Some schools have the CTE system automated to rescind automatically on the cut off date. Every year I have had at least 1 or 2 people who have something along the lines "well that cut off date is Saturday but surely no one will do it on weekends so I can wait." And there is no legal recourse if this happens.

 

[deleted737125]

Unfortunately it's not a joke. Spending much of one's professional life browbeating the recalcitrant minority through medical school and across the graduation stage is both exhausting and demoralizing.

Lol you are funny

 

[Med Ed]

I'm calling troll.

 

[Goro]

I'm calling troll.

Joined 2015, only posts today. I agree.

 

[gyngyn]

Closing.