Has anyone contested a rejection before? If so, do you have any recommendation of how to go about it? Should I have my pre-med advisor send a packet along with my beautifully written letter?
LizzyM said:LOL. I know a guy ... He didn't get a secondary from a school he really liked. 🙁 His pre-med advisor contested it for him. 🙂 He didn't get an interview 😡 - he contacted the Dean & asked that his application be given a second look. 🙄 His mother's college roommate was on the faculty so a few phone calls were made 😳 (3 degrees of separation) so that the Dean knew that this guy was "worthy" of a second look. 😎 He was interviewed & waitlisted. 😱 He wrote a letter of intent giving some personal reasons why he really wanted to attend. 😍
He graduated from THAT med school last Spring and went into a good residency.![]()
LizzyM said:LOL. I know a guy ... He didn't get a secondary from a school he really liked. 🙁 His pre-med advisor contested it for him. 🙂 He didn't get an interview 😡 - he contacted the Dean & asked that his application be given a second look. 🙄 His mother's college roommate was on the faculty so a few phone calls were made 😳 (3 degrees of separation) so that the Dean knew that this guy was "worthy" of a second look. 😎 He was interviewed & waitlisted. 😱 He wrote a letter of intent giving some personal reasons why he really wanted to attend. 😍
He graduated from THAT med school last Spring and went into a good residency.![]()
RayhanS1282 said:To have connections....sigh...one can dream.
LizzyM said:LOL. I know a guy ... He didn't get a secondary from a school he really liked. 🙁 His pre-med advisor contested it for him. 🙂 He didn't get an interview 😡 - he contacted the Dean & asked that his application be given a second look. 🙄 His mother's college roommate was on the faculty so a few phone calls were made 😳 (3 degrees of separation) so that the Dean knew that this guy was "worthy" of a second look. 😎 ....
LizzyM said:But Jack Shack's mom hadn't graduated from that school - he wasn't a legacy.
His mom's roommate wasn't a grad of that med school either but she was on the faculty.
Jack's mother's college roommate knew someone who was on the admissions committee, asked about Jack's chances and that person asked the Dean "what's up with Jack Shack's application?"
The Dean filed that bit of information away and Jack still got waitlisted.
His letter saying that he really wanted to be in "med town" in order to be near an ailing family member reached the Dean when there was an empty seat to fill. Maybe the Dean remembered that both the pre-med advisor and someone on the admissions committee had made an effort on Jack's behalf (the admission's committee member didn't know Jack -- no surprise there 🙄 -- but respected a fellow faculty member who had known Jack's mom before Jack was born!)
Moral of the Story: Ask around -- you may be four degrees of separation from the Dean.
RayhanS1282 said:To have connections....sigh...one can dream.
Law2Doc said:Just bear in mind that out of the thousands of applicants who get rejected each year, it is extremely rare for a rejection to be rescinded. Sadly, In most cases the best tactic tends to be to arrange a meeting with the dean to talk about how you can improve your application for next year, as a reapplicant. I think it is telling that all the examples described in this thread occurred over four years ago (as those applicants have since graduated from the med school). Given the rise in applications in recent years, the rescinded rejection scenario is probably even rarer now.
LizzyM said:LOL. I know a guy ... He didn't get a secondary from a school he really liked. 🙁 His pre-med advisor contested it for him. 🙂 He didn't get an interview 😡 - he contacted the Dean & asked that his application be given a second look. 🙄 His mother's college roommate was on the faculty so a few phone calls were made 😳 (3 degrees of separation) so that the Dean knew that this guy was "worthy" of a second look. 😎 He was interviewed & waitlisted. 😱 He wrote a letter of intent giving some personal reasons why he really wanted to attend. 😍
He graduated from THAT med school last Spring and went into a good residency.![]()
Law2Doc said:Just bear in mind that out of the thousands of applicants who get rejected each year, it is extremely rare for a rejection to be rescinded. Sadly, In most cases the best tactic tends to be to arrange a meeting with the dean to talk about how you can improve your application for next year, as a reapplicant.
QUOTE]
Agreed. In this case, it was a decision not to invite the applicant to make a supplemental application that was recinded and later a decision not to interview that was recinded.
The guy was never declined admission. The Dean took the guy off the waitlist perhaps because he seemed to keep coming back -- really showed determination in wanting to matriculate at "Med-town".
MB in SD said:I worked with a doctor that contested his initial rejection at the med school where his undergrad was. This was pre-interview and he said the only reason they considered him was because he had really good numbers. I think it starts with a letter to the dean.
dreamcrusher said:You got rejected. Get over it and move on.
jbrice1639 said:yeah, i can only imagine if i were on an admissions committee and got a letter from someone requesting an "unrejection" that i would probably just giggle a little and toss it in the trash. this process already takes the better part of a year, it will only get longer and worse if applicants start challenging decisions...
jbrice1639 said:totally unrelated to anything...but i just noticed i have 500+ posts! man...i need to find a hobby...i just joined SDN the night april MCAT scores came out, there's no excuse to be posting that much....![]()
prana_md said:If it's important to you, what could it hurt? The very worst that could happen is they could reject you again. But if you're just trophy-hunting, put your energy into the schools you still are being considered at.
PS - I love those freaky, seat-of-your-pants stories!
BMW M3 said:Jbrice, maybe you should get out more?
haha .. i keeed, i keeed!
I'm averaging about 25 posts a week, so i should catch up pretty soon!